The Bride of Christ

The Bride of Christ

- September 2nd, 2011 was a day that changed my life

o In the grand scheme of the world it seemed small and nothing really changed.

o All that happened that day was there was a simple question asked and a simple answer given.

§ Will you marry me. And Bree said yes

o Bree and I went from boyfriend and girlfriend. To engaged or as I like to call her Breeyonce , betrothed, she turned into my bride and I her bride groom that day

o It changed the course of my life.

§ How I thought, acted prepared, interacted, it changed almost everything

- Today we are go to look at the church (Ekklisia) as the bride of Christ.

- Ephesians 5:22-33

o Vs 32 Marriage is a picture of the church and Christ

o We are the bride of Christ but we are not fully united yet

o We are betrothed, engaged, a bride awaiting the coming of our bridegroom

o One commentator noted this First-century Jewish marriages began with a betrothal period that normally lasted about a year. During this time, the couple was considered married and referred to as husband and wife even though they did not yet live together or consummate the marriage.

o In that time they would prepare

- So today what I want to do is look at what are the markers of the Bride of Christ.

- So I want to take you back to September 2nd2011 the day that I got engaged. I was super excited, I had everything planned out and I had worked for months to plan everything, I even got a professor to cancel a class so the timing of everything would work out. We went out to this fancy restaurant to eat, and then we were going to this private beach of a family friend on the shores of lake Michigan to watch the sunset. I knew Bree enjoyed collecting beach glass, so I got beach glass from a friend and spelled will you marry me out in the sand. And got down on one knee. Now there are some other funny details in there as well that, im sure Bree would love to fill you in on later. But when she turned around and saw me on one knee she was super excited and I had this little speech prepared and I said it, and Bree didn’t remember it. I gave her a hug and a kiss and I looked her and said so I take that as a yes?

- The first marker of the bride of Christ is this

- The Bride says Yes

o In order to be a bride you have to respond to the question. You have to acknowledge the person wants you.

§ John piper in a sermon said this “That at the first coming of Jesus, he was coming to get engaged and the 2ndcoming he is coming to get his bride for the wedding”

o The cross is the proposal, I am going to make a way for us to be together. I want to be united with you fully one day.

o Jesus will wait on the answer.

§ 2 peter 3:9 God is not slow to fufifill his promise, because he does not want any to perish.

o Luke 15:7 says there is more joy in heaven when one sinner repents

§ There is a party there is celebration when one persons says yes to Jesus

o You don’t become the bride when you start acting like it. It doesn’t start when you walk into church building or give money or anything like that. Its starts when you say yes to Jesus

o Your yes is your confession of sin, belief in what Jesus has done, and accepting life in him.

§ And if you have not done that. Please make sure that you have

o So the bride says yes

- The next marker

- The bride prepares

o First let me start with the Bridegroom Jesus. What is he doing?

§ John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

o Ephesians 5:26-27

o This is what is happening now or should be we are preparing for our groom. For our wedding.

o Revelation 19 we see the marriage supper of the lamb. This is what we prepare for, this is what we look forward to the day we get to be fully united to Christ!

§ Revelation 19:6- 9

§ Bride has made herself ready

· She prepared

o How do you prepare

§ You start to care about things differently

· Wedding planning

· Pick out your clothes

§ You write songs

· First dance song

o Yes I was all sappy, do I know how to write songs? Absolutely not but I tried, why because I was in love.

· Ephesians 5:19 also in Colossians 3

o We do it because we are in love. Why do we sing in worship one of the reasons is because we are in love with Jesus

§ Me centric to us centric

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§ We don’t want to be the one that says just tell me where to stand

· Work out your own salvation

§ You serve

· What do you need

§ You sacrifice

· House temp at 59 degrees

§ I prepared because I was in love. And I would look at bree and be reminded of that. Frankly I don’t want to plan your wedding but I joyfully did it because of the one whom I loved cared about it.

§ Its not about me anymore. Its about serving the one whom I am in love.

· 1 John 5:3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,

§ Because I am in love with him. I don’t always want to do what he asks but I am willing to and they are not a burden because love trumps the weight.

§ My flesh has certain desires

- The bride looks at the future not the past

o Scripture tells us that when we say yes to Christ we are a new creation the old has gone and the new has come.

o We are looking forward to our future and not the pain and hurt of our past.

o It is easy to think that your not worthy of certain things.

§ Bree and I come from about as opposite families as you could have. She experienced things in her life that have caused immense hurt and pain and I remember thinking I wish it would have never happened but I was not looking at her past I was looking at our future together.

§ Jesus does the same thing he makes a new person and its not about our past does not matter the decisions that we have made the pain inflicted on us, because God sees the beauty in us and the beauty in our future together and wants us in a relationship with him.

- The Bride Submits

o To come underneath of

o We lay down our desires

§ To come under his loving care

o Trust

o Vulnerable

o Follows

o Respect

o Obey

o Believe

o We prepare we serve we sacrifice we think differently because I want to know what jesus thinks and wants and I lay down my preferences

§ Bree wedding dress what does my groom want.

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§ Yielding to gods headship

§ What is god calling our church to do. When he calls us to things we have to willfully follow and so ok and make the sacrifices that we need to make, even when we don’t see the way right away, 40/20/10 its not easy but we do it because God called us to it. As there are other things that come up in the future we work together to make it happen because it’s the vision that god has given us as a local church to impact the global church.

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