An Engaged Bride

When you think of common metaphors that are used to describe the church and the people of God from the Bible, what comes to mind?

Well, we have ones like–the body

Colossians 1:18 —“And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”

We have it as a pillar

1 Timothy 3:15 —“if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.”

Members of a household and fellow citizens

Ephesians 2:19 —“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,”

Or Even later…a Holy Temple

Ephesians 2:21 —“in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”

There are many metaphors that the Bible uses to help us understand what the Church is, and what God has done for us.

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You may have wondered before why God does this. Joe Rigney, in his excellent book, “The Things of Earth.” Shares,

Analogy and metaphor, whether in Scripture or in the natural world, are the primary ways that God has chosen to reveal himself to us. Created realities bring God’s perfections home to us in ways that are visible, concrete, and particular. They keep God’s attributes and characteristics from being mere abstractions because it’s impossible for us to love a list of qualities. God is a person, not an alpha-numeric list of attributes, and thus He reveals himself in and through his mighty works.

The point being, often when God communicates to us, he uses in his Divine word metaphor and analogy that comes right from the world…and he does this to only increase our knowledge of Him and our love for Him.

One of the most common ways that the church and the people of God are described is through the metaphor of the Bride.

For Example, we see this in.

Isaiah 54:5–6 —“For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God.”

Or Even Christ, when he was discussing why his disciples did not fast, and his own future remarked…

Mark 2:20 —“The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.”

Now, many of you are married, you were married, or you hope to be married.

In some ways, whatever position your have in lift is meant to, in many ways, inform you and I of this pictures…but there is also the reality that your marriage may be leading to a distortion.

Meaning, for example, one of the common metaphors for God in the Bible is that of Father.

That is meant to be a powerful metaphor of a Divine Being who love you, cares for you–even in your most vulnerable and foolish moments, a God who knows you well, who made you, and so on.

But, there are many of you that have had situations with your father that have caused a lot of pain and consternation.

You have suffered at the hands of a Father. That can often lead to a warped view of who God is.

That is sad, and your church family weaps with you…but the goal of God being known as our father is that it is to help us understand our relationship with him.

The same is true of this metaphor of Christ and the church being pictures as married.

The goal is to demonstrate and highlight the idealized relationship, but I realize that there may be persons coming today whose marriages may be in a rough spot.

In fact, this week it may have gotten so bad that you are thinking that it is finally time to do something about it.

It is time to go to your pastors and get some help! Well, praise the Lord for that. We are here to support and to help.

My point is, however, that it should not be our negative evaluations of a possible troubled marriage that we have, or that our parents had. It should be the idealized picture that the scriptures portray that should be in our mind.

This morning, we are going to consider that metaphor as we continue our series of

Be the Church

This morning, we are considering:

An Engaged Bride

My hope is that as we look at this passage, we will see this powerful metaphor for what it is to be the local church.

And the main text we are going to study is a fairly familiar, I suspect, passage to many of you. We are going to look at Ephesians 5:25-27.

With our time, I hope that we will see…

3 Ways the Body of Christ is to Love as the Bride of Christ

I am actually going to read the entire section from Ephesians 5:22-31 to give us a running start, but we are going to focus our time primarily on verses 25-27.

[READ]

I. Use the Tools of Love

We are going to see in our text that there are two primary ways that Christ loves his body, the church, and there are two ways that we are called to use those same tools to love one another.

The First is this….

A. The washing with the word: The Gospel Message

Ephesians 5:26 —“...having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,”

We are told in our passage that Christ washed the church with the washing of the word.

Now some of you might be thinking that this has something to do with baptism. While Baptism is important, and the Bible doesn’t really have a category for a person who says that they have trusted Christ but are not baptized, that is not what this passage is talking about here.

“Cleansing points to the removal of sin, while sanctification focusses on being set apart to God. To use systematic theological categories, it is positional or definitive sanctification that is in view here, not progressive sanctification.”Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999), 422.

How does Christ love the church??? The greatest thing that he did for her was the removal of sin.

You may be unfamilar with the some of the words that O’Brien used to describe what was happening in this passage. He called it positional or definitive sanctification.

That refers to the moment when a person is “Born again” They have trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and everything about them changes in that moment.

There was a moment for anyone who claimed Christ when they were not a Christian. They were walking in darkness, they were destined for Hell…and yet there was a MOMENT.

There was a time when they realized their sinfulness, they saw that they were doomed, and the cried out for their only help to Christ to save them.

At that moment, their position changed…they had a position as an enemy of God…but now they have the position as a son of God.

It’s a natural time for everyone here to consider if they have had that change in position.

Have you gone from being an enemy of God to a son of God? If not, I would be happy to, or one of the other pastors, would be delighted to talk with you about that.

It could be today, it could be some time this week…you could pick the time and the location and we would make that happen.

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Now, notice further the logic of the passage. This washing happened with the water of the word…and that is the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus.

That Gospel of Christ is captured in the Word of God that you have.

Paul is trying to tie a few things together in this passage.

He wants us to see the tying of the gospel message today for us in the Word of God.

Paul would say it elsewhere like this.

Romans 10:17 —“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Faith in God, be it saving Faith or the daily faith is expressed among the saved…that is generated primarily through the reading and the studying of the word of God.

Let me say that again– saving Faith or the daily faith that is expressed among the saved… is generated primarily through the reading and the studying of the word of God.

So, while the passage is talking about the main way in which Christ loved was through our positional salvation, there is also a focus on the WOG being used for the redeemed as well.

—--PAUSE AND TRANSITION TO APPLICATION—-

If that is true, then let me ask if you would consider some practical application this morning for those of you who call Berean home and would consider yourself as part of the Bride of Christ.

Do you know the WOG well enough that you can share the good news with someone?

more than just taking a person to one verse…but can you really share the good news, and can you even answer some questions that folks might have?

When it comes to some of the key salvation passages, do you know where you can find them in your Bible…without using Google or any other tool to find them?

Just consider for a moment how powerful a picture you paint when you know the WOG so well to an unredeemed person that the WOG just flows off of your moth.

Consider when it comes to ministering to one another… How often do the words of Christ and the Bible flow out of your lips?

I don’t mean here for a moment that you are saying truths that align with the WOG….I am glad for that. I mean that when someone is hurting, the words you are speaking are parrotted after the words of God.

I’m not saying that there is any special magical power that saying those words has. However, what I am saying is that the closer you align your ministry with the WOG, you will see that there is greater power in that.

Meaning, you don’t want a sermon that is informed by the WOG only…you should want to hear from it directly.

Do the same in your personal ministry to each other.

That also might be a moment where you say– I need to take some steps here…Then can I encourage you to do that sooner rather than later? We have the very words of life in our hands…let’s make sure we are a church that knows how to use God’s word.

One final word of application when it comes to washing with the word. In times of Crisis, is the WOG where you turn?

I don’t just mean that you look for an encouraging Psalm…but that you dig in deep to it.

Perhaps it is! PTL, but then I might even ask the converse…is that the only time tha you turn to it?

Are you regularly turning to the WOG for help each day or is it just your lifeline?

The text also says that one of the tools of love is that we are called, like Christ…

B. Sacrifice our desires and our wants for others.

Ephesians 5:25 —“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,”

The word for gave himself up is a powerful word…in fact, its honestly astonishing and I just don’t have the time, and perhaps even the skill, to unpack that.

Its the word

Paradidomi–παραδίδωμι

Used 120 times in the NT, 99% has a negative connotation.

Notice some of these uses in the NT and see if you can find paradidomi in the text…

Matthew 10:4 —“Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.”

Or

Matthew 24:9–10 —“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.”

Just pause and consider for a moment…Christ gave himself up…FOR YOU.

His love for you…his love for the Church Universal…his love for Berean was so powerful…that he gave himself up.

He sacrificed his life, unto death….for you and me…so that we would be saved.

The text here compels us today to see that our giving up of ourselves for others…the same way that Christ did for us…that is what we are called to.

—application—

If then, that is what we are called to do: to paradidomi…then Do you believe that the greatest joy will come from sacrifice?

The world tells us that sacrifice is fine…as long as it gets us what we want.

You can sacrifice time with your family to get ahead at work.

You can sacrifice your finances at church and not give regularly so that you can get ahead with buying a bigger house.

You can sacrifice your quite time of studying the WOG in the morning…when all good Christians study the Bible…and you can stay up late wasting your evening away.

You can sacrifice the purity of your soul for quick entertainment

Oh church…the world will tell you that you can sacrifice all kinds of things…but in doing so…we will ruin our souls.

Christ is calling us to sacrifice, but not the things that the world is calling us to sacrifice…Christ says…give up yourself…give up your desires.

Sacrifice yourself for others…this is what he calls you to! Give up your preferences…for the love of your brothers and sisters…for your spouse…for your church.

So, let me ask—- Is there regular evidence of your own sacrifice?...If we followed you around, would we see examples of it?

Would we see you giving of yourself with your family…with your wife…with your friends…with the members of this church?

Or are you out for you?

Yes, the world will teach you, “me over you.” Christ says I die for you… that is love.

Let us follow and live that out today!

Our text today also calls us to

II. Labor Toward the Effect of Love: The Sanctification of the Church

Ephesians 5:26 —“that he might sanctify her…,”

What is the goal for of all this love?

Well, in our text, it was that we, the Bride might be sanctified. Why does Christ show so much radical love? It is because he is trying to sanctify us.

OK…well that might be some nice church language.

You might have heard the word sanctification several times. You might know what it means and what it does not mean…but sanctification is central to the Christian life.

We talked about positional sanctification a moment ago, but now we are talking about progressive sanctification.

The word means literally to make holy.

What was the goal of Christ’s love? It is to make his people holy.

Positional sanctification, the one that we talked about previously. That is wholly a work of God. You did not contribute one thing to your positional sanctification other than that you were a sinner who needed saving.

If you have trusted in Christ…it was a full work of God that saved you.

However, progressive sanctification, which is being talked about here.. is a work of God and man.

You have to labor to change…but it is God who is giving you all that you need to do it…

Our text tells us that he is working to make us holy…and practically that means being…

A. Transformed into the Image of Christ

Who is the perfect person? Who is the one that is our aim and our goal? Who is the one that we are all striving to become like?

That person is Christ. Paul would put it this way in Romans 8…

Romans 8:29 —“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

The goal of all of this is our sanctification and that sanctification is Christ-likeness.

Your goal is not to become like me, like Pastor Bill…your model is Christ.

What I and the other pastors are saying is, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”

And what is amazing about this goal, if you know your Bible well, is that God says he is working everything in your life… everything to make you like his Son.

Romans 8:28 —“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

God cares a lot about your sanctification…he sent his Son to die on the Cross so that you might become like Christ.

He is working everything, even when it seems hard…he is working everything even when it seems dark…he is working everything, even when all hope seems to be lost

HE IS WORKING EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE TO MAKE YOU LIKE CHRIST.

I hope and pray that you would see how seriously that God is taking our sanctification this morning.

The labor of his love toward us is to make us like Christ…so it would be wise to consider…what do I need to do in that.

Maybe it is joining one of the many excellent Sunday schools that are here at Berean.

I had the privilege of attending the Truth Seekers this past Sunday since I was not preaching…and I was just so thankful for a group of Christians…coming to the church house nice and early…on a Sunday…to seriously study the WOG.

Maybe it's going to the Library and finding some books on growth in a topic that you know you need to grow in. That library is filled with more books than you and I will ever be able to read through…

Perhaps it is talking to an older more seasoned member of the church and asking for some personal discipleship.

I was talking with someone this week and he was sharing that he has a life mentor and coach. He didn’t share much of what they do, but I thought–good for him.

We need more humility that folks would place themselves in those positions.

And there are no doubt a lot more ways that you can take your sanctification seriously…my point is…Church..lets not miss that Christ’s effect of love is that it would make us like him.

God wants you to be like his beloved Son…how serious about that are you?

But the effect of that love is also to see that this is all about one key thing.

—Transition—

Why did God send his Son?

Why did God wash us? Why did Christ die for us?

Why are we being transformed to the image of Jesus?

He does this because he wants the….

B. Display of the Glory of God

There is nothing that God wants more than the glorification of his name.

2 Corinthians 3:18 —“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

He works all things to the council of his word…and that is for the glory of his name.

He wants his infinite holiness on display for all to see…and in us seeing that infinite holiness…we will worship…we will praise

Christ died on the Cross…he washed us…so that the Glory of God would be displayed for ALL for ALL!!! To see.

How are you doing at that this week?

Are you passionate about the glory of God?

Let me make a bit of an illustration for us this morning.

Many of us here work for a company, and if we are not employed now, we were at one point…if you are a stay-at-home mom…this works too.

Your employer wants you to represent your company well… they do not want you going out into the public and painting a terrible image of the company.

If you do enough foolish things that draw the ire of the world… you are probably going to lose your job.

Why? Because that business, to the degree that it can…is zealous for its reputation…and it does not want you ruining that.

We see this so often in our world where a celebrity thinks that they are above this…and all of the sudden they find themselves canceled.

Because they are not representing well.

God is even more concerned about his glory to an infinite more…and a far more appropriate level…than them.

He is zealous for his glory…are you?

The goal of his love–the reason for our sanctification–is his glory…let us be a people that is jealous of the glory of God.

Let that lead to a change in how we speak…how we act…how we interact…that people in this community…people in your life, would see something is different about you.

They would see that you have been washed…and are changing according to the word of God…and those changes are all about the Glory of God reigning supreme in your life.

Lastly, then our texts calls for us to…

III. Marvel at the Future Promise of Love

Ephesians 5:27 —“so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

Notice the future of this..he is going to do this…he is doing it…it has not yet happened.

You might have even caught in in this sermon the progression from positional sanctification to what God did for us. Progressive sanctification…what God is doing, and how we are apart of this…and now we are talking about glorification. What God promises to do.

Just like positional sanctification, this is solely a work of God. He is doing it and him alone.

This is something that is going to happen, but it has not yet happened. We live in the hear and the now.

Notice how Peter O’Brien puts it in his commentary…

“Christ’s people may rightly be accused of many shortcomings and failures. But God’s gracious intention is that the church should be holy and blameless.” Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999), 425.

Paul would put it this way to the Philippians

Philippians 1:6 —“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

There is a promise that one day, we and the church will be made perfectly holy.

There is so much hope for us today…that one day…this Bride that Christ died for. The Bride that he shed his own blood for…he will make fully holy.

See these strengthening words for the end of the Bible…and just try to picture it in your minds-eye…

Revelation 21:2 —“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

We see this picture all through the Bible as the People of God called to be his Bride…bedecked with beauty…a beauty that is for his glory and his glory alone.

I hope that thinking on heaven, even for a moment would generate such a powerful sense of awe and wonder, that it would cause the temporary pleasures of this world to burn off like the morning fog.

That as you consider heaven, you will just get excited!

We have already mentioned that there is only one way to know that you are going to heaven…one way that is secure…that is through placing your faith in the D\B\R of Jesus.

And for those that have…that you would live a transformed life…that you would grow in Holinesss…grow into the image of the Son.

Let me say one more comment on that as we conclude our time.

There are some that say they want salvation without holiness.

You might place yourself in there, though many would not say it out loud.

You might say that one day you will change.

One day you will give up your anger

One day you will give up greed

One day you will give up pornography

None of us know when our day will be…but consider this quote from one of my favorite authors…

“Suppose for a moment that you were allowed to enter heaven without holiness. What would you do? What possible enjoyment could you feel there? To which of all the saints would you join yourself, and by whose side would you sit down? Their pleasures are not your pleasures, their tastes not your tastes, their character not your character. How could you possibly be happy, if you had not been holy on earth?...The inhabitants thereof rest not day or night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty” and singing the praise of the Lamb. How could an unholy man find pleasure in an occupation such as this?...He would feel a stranger in a land he knew not, a black sheep amid Christ's holy flock. The voice of cherubim and seraphim, the song of angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven, would be a language he could not understand. The very air would seem an air he could not breathe.”--J.C. Ryle Holiness

The church is the Bride of Christ.

Christ died for this Bride.

He washed her with the word…so that he might make her holy.

Let us labor toward love toward one another, seeking to grow in our own holiness and to help others do the same.

Let’s pray.