THE BRIDE OF CHRIST
THEME: THE IMAGE OF THE BRIDE OF CHRIST IS PURE AND BEAUTIFUL.
Here comes the bride, here comes the bride, the bride makes her way through the doors into the auditorium. Everyone is excited to see the beautiful bride make her entrance. But wait, what is this, what is going on; the bride is wearing black spray painted dress. Her hair is greasy with mud in it. She is wearing old running shoes to her wedding. Look at those earrings with Satan symbols hanging down to her shoulders. Her eyes have green make-up on them and her lips are painted purple. And I think there is a tattoo on her face like the one Mike Tyson has. Her arms have oil on them and she smells like sewage. Worst of all she is carrying a purse made of pig skins and pig tails are hanging off it. The bride of Christ is really looking really ugly now.
Someday the church will have to walk down the aisle to meet her groom Jesus Christ. The Lord will be an expected a beautiful and glowing bride to meet him. It will be a glorious occasion. The Bride of Christ should be beautiful and pure on that day. She should be shining with a smile from ear to ear and have a beauty that spreads from one end of the room to the next. The Lord is expected bride to die for. But if the wedding took place this week, what would the bride look like now. Would she be all that the groom expected or would he be disappointed in her looks when she passed through the doors. Would he be shocked at the corruption and sin in the church? Would he be disturbed by the lack of love for one another? Would he cry when he saw the judgmental nature of his bride? Would Jesus be surprised at the lack of commitment in his bride? If the wedding took place today, how would the bride of Christ look? Would she be a pure virgin bride or a dressed up prostitute?
The Lord desires his bride to be beauty to the world. There is a movement in the world today to separate Christ from his church. People just want Jesus but not church membership. They desire Christianity but not church. People are looking for a relationship to God but are opposed to church membership. A prominent Christian author even advocated taking a break from church to become closer with God. He stated that the church was hindering his spiritual develop and formation. There are too many people who have been turned off by church in the past. People are tried of hypocritical churches and judgmental memberships. People are turning away from the institution of church because of dogmatic fights and internal bickering. But this shift away from the church is a shame because God had foreordained the church to be plan of his scheme of redemption. One cannot separate Christ from church nor Church from Christ. Christ shed his blood for his church (Acts 20:28) and you cannot separate Christ the head away from the body which his is church (Col. 1:18).
Unfortunately, it has been easy for Christians to place the blame on those church rejecting souls. This is the easy route and the less controversial. But when the bride of Christ is adorned with her proper clothing the world is automatically drawn to her. She is charming and pretty and people want to know her. We always talk about being lights in the world (Matt. 5:14-16) and glorifying our father in heaven. But it does not seem to be very bright because many people are not noticing us. We state that we are the leaven in the world but many people are not influenced by us. Maybe we need to admit that we are not are attractive as we were. Acts 2:44-47 “And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” In the early days of the church the bride of Christ was radiant and would light up a room.
But history has caused the term church to be a dirty word to many people. This is a pity because Christ intended for his church to bear witness to him throughout the world. People see all the blemishes on the bride of Christ now. They see abusive shepherds who controls through fear and intimidation. Also, they witness a joyless flock that acts no better than the average good person in society. They are sick of hearing about pedophiles as priests and oily-tongued con-artists taking their money in the name of God.
God has always intended his people to be beauty to those around them. God first bestowed this beauty on the nation of Israel which was in a covenantal relationship in the Old Testament just like the church now is in a covenantal relationship with God now. God says that he did everything possible to clean up his Old Testament bride so that she could be a “light to the nations” (Isa. 49:6). God wanted to dress up his people to turn heads and capture hearts. Ezekiel 16:9-14 “"Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you, and anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with embroidered cloth, and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. And I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you," declares the Lord GOD.”
God did everything possible for his covenantal people at that time. But look at how they reacted. Ezekiel 16:15 “But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing.” God’s bride became a prostitute before her lover’s eyes. God’s people became arrogant and haughty.
On a youth group trip one weekend the boys were talking to me about girls of course. They were discussing pretty girls in school. They were going through the list of girls that were attractive to them. I noticed that one girl who was a member of the youth group they are declared that she was very attractive and beauty and all of them would love to have dated her but not after some events that took place that year. They stated that they would never date her because of the guys that she was dating. They said that all she dated were potheads. The girl was dating some of the guys that had reputations for using girls. Though she was pretty and attractive she was using her natural good looks to attract those guys that were bad for her. This is what Israel was doing.
God washed his people of the Old Testament and expected beauty from them. Christ also expects beauty on the part of his church. In the book of Ephesians Paul uses the illustration of marriage to teach about Christ’s relationship with his church. Usually we use this text to preach about a husband and wife’s relationship but really the text is talking about Christ and the church. God is desire the church to be a fit for a king body. Ephesians 5:25-28 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless.” The intended goal of the church was not evangelism, was not worship, was not benevolence, and was not social reform but rather to be beauty to her master. These works of the church are important but they make us pleasing to the bridegroom.
Beauty is what draws people. Look at the major magazines on the racks at the supermarket, and look at the T.V. and movie stars. These people are pretty and beauty. Human are naturally drawn to the beauty. People spend thousands of dollars to see the beauty natural landscape of the world. People travel the world to see the scenes of beautiful buildings and paintings. When the church becomes beauty people will naturally be drawn to it.
But you can drive around on a Sunday morning in a neighborhood and see people mowing grass, fixing garage doors, heading out to go fishing or hunting or another hobby. People are sleeping in on Sunday. There are numerous people who rather stay home then be involved in church. Why? They are not attracted to the Lord’s body. You do not have to force a teenage boy to make time for a pretty young lady. But in the church we do everything to attempt to attract the people’s attention. The key to evangelism is not bumper stickers, T-Shirts, and tracts, but the bona fide imitation of Jesus. When people begin to see what we sing of having the beauty of Jesus in us then people will begin to come. When we run counter to the world’s racism, sexism, jealousy, and rivalry, selfishness, and materialism; the world will recognize us as the people of God. When they see us as people who are full of integrity, cares about others, are joyous, and are committed to what we believe in then they will come. Beauty draws people to us.
Many of us remember the movie Radio. It was about a young man who was handicapped. The coach of the team took Radio under his wing and helped him and allowed him to come to practice. Some of the town’s people were even criticizing the coach for wasting his time with Radio. Radio was just a simple man who loved football and enjoyed the sport. There is one striking and powerful scene in the movie. Radio is at football practice and some of the players trick him into going into this steel building. They lock him in there and begin to hit the building violently. Poor Radio was just crying and screaming in fear. It was hard to imagine boys come be so cruel. Then the coach shows up and realizes what was going on. He was upset with the team. Radio is let out of the building screaming all the way home. This was a touching moment in the movie. No one come watch it and not love the coach for his selfless acts of love and all of us wanted to punish the football players for their actions.
Unfortunately, this is a parable for the church. Sometimes we have blasted others instead of loved them. We have rebuked when we should have loved. We have called sin, sin when we should have encouraged. The coach acted beautifully and the players were just causing more pain. This movie was also based on a true story and at the end you saw a beautiful picture of Radio on the sidelines for the football game. We are always drawn to selfless examples and pushed away for harsh behavior. Kindness and a draw that is more powerful than any sign or tract or T-Shirt.
Someday the great marriage between the church and Christ will happen. In the Day of Judgment the lord will be watching as his bride appeals and presents her. Revelation 19:7 “"Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." Revelation 21:2 “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.” Revelation 21:9 “And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." It will be a wonderful day when the bride and the groom come together.
There most precious moment at any wedding is when the beauty bride comes through the day to meet here future husband. When we enter the room as the bride of Christ let us prayer that our beauty makes Jesus stand in awe when we appeal before him.
