July 29, 2001

Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 19:6-9

We ARE the Bride of Christ!

  1. Introduction
    1. Illustration – In first-century Judaism, they had a distinctively different way of marrying than we experience. The process would start when the groom-to-be and his father would go and visit the home of the potential bride and her father. According to Ray Vander Laan, the two fathers would spend considerable time negotiating the price for the bride, the money or items the woman’s father would ask for in exchange for giving up his valuable daughter, often the equivalent of what we would pay for a house. Once the agreement was reached, the potential groom’s father would hand him a cup of wine and the potential groom would offer it to the potential bride. He would say, "This cup I offer to you." What he was really saying was, "I love you, and I offer you my life. Will you marry me?" She had the choice of accepting his offer and drinking the wine, or refusing it and simply handing the cup back. If she drank it, she sealed their engagement and accepted his life and gave her life to him. The bride went to live with friends, and all communication between her and the groom took place through an intermediary called "the friend of the bridegroom." The period of waiting was generally about a year. The groom spent his free during this time of waiting building the house that the couple would occupy. When he finished the house, he would dress up, gather his friends and they would go to the home of the bride, generally late in the evening. They would take her in her beautiful white robe along with her friends back to the newly completed house. They would feast for about a week with all of the families’ friends and neighbors. The final act was to take the bride to the bridal chamber where a canopy was prepared. And the two became one.
    2. Context – This concept of the process of a wedding is what Jesus was referring to when He said in John 14:1-4 that He was going to prepare a place for His disciples and that He would be coming back for them. The Church has been understood for centuries to be the Bride of Christ. Let’s look at a couple of Scripture passages that talk about this joyful truth.
  1. Scripture Passage
    1. Ephesians 5:25-27 - Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
    2. Revelation 19:6-9 – Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) 9 Then the angel said to me, "Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’" And he added, "These are the true words of God."
    3. Today we’re going to discuss just a little bit what it means to for us to be the Bride of Christ.
  1. B.R.I.D.E.
    1. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we do what the first-century Jewish young woman did – we accept Christ’s gift of His life and His love to us and we give to Him our life and our love. There is beautiful symbolism in that. In the Ephesians passage we see that Christ loved the church and gave his life for her for a wonderful purpose. He wanted to make her holy through cleansing her from all unrighteousness through the purifying power of His word. Why? So He could present her to Himself as a fitting bride, stainless and unwrinkled and unblemished and holy and blameless. That’s exciting! Especially since the church can often be a far cry from those things! But in the Revelation passage we get a picture of the presentation of the bride. She has prepared herself, clothing herself in her righteous acts, to be joined in perfect relationship to the Lamb, Jesus Christ. And, as the angel goes on to say, "It’s party time!!!"
    2. Today, as we prepare to celebrate this community of believers and also to celebrate the ninetieth birthday of one of our dearest members, it’s appropriate that we take a look at what it means for us to be the bride of Christ. And to remember what He sees us as being. For we tend to see those things we perceive as negative, but Jesus sees what He has created us to be AND how He’s going to lead us there. So let’s use the word "bride" as an acronym to see who we are and what we’re going to be.
    3. The "B" in "bride" stands for belonging. Christians belong to Christ. The term was first used in Antioch as a derogatory remark to call believers "little Christs." But instead it’s an appropriate compliment if we will live up to it. So the Church belongs to Christ, but we also belong to each other. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19 and 20 that we are not our own because we’ve been bought with a price, Jesus’ life. But our individualistic society has pulled the wool over our eyes in teaching us that "me" is the most important word in the English language. We’ve lost sight of the joy there is in loving Christian community. In the early Church, there could be no "me", only "we", because the survival of the Church depended on it. The survival and effectiveness of the Church still depends on us Christians realizing that we belong to each other, that we need to be accountable to each other, and that we’ve got to support and pray for each other. What a great support system! Think about it: a group of like-minded people lifting you up in prayer and seeking to meet your needs, all the while giving you the chance to do the same for others! That’s awesome! "B" is for "belonging", both to Christ and to each other.
    4. "R" is for "rest." Because we are the bride of Christ, we have the privilege of being able to rest in His presence if we choose to. Hebrews 4:1-3a says, Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest. The Sabbath rest described in Hebrews is a rest in which we can trust that God will accomplish His purpose in our lives as we follow Him. This also applies corporately – as a body of believers and a part of the bride of Christ, we can rest in His presence knowing that He will accomplish His purposes for our church as we follow Him no matter what happens. Rest does not depend on circumstances; it depends on relationship – our relationship with Jesus Christ. Let’s choose to rest in His presence no matter what!
    5. "I" is for "infilling." Because we are the bride of Christ, we have been infilled by the Holy Spirit. And the more we rest in His presence and obediently follow Him, the more that infilling can take over our lives. Romans 8:9-11 says, You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. We as the bride of Christ have the chance to let His light shine through as we follow and serve Him and rest in Him and as we demonstrate our belonging to each other and to Him. Let’s take advantage of this opportunity to share His love!
    6. "D" is for "dependence." Because we are the bride of Christ, we can depend on Him to give us everything we need. Not want. Not desire. Need. We need Him more than anything else, and when we figure that out, we get all we need. We belong to Him, we can rest in Him, we are infilled by His Spirit, but it all is a moot point if we don’t depend on Him for everything! In Philippians 4:19, Paul says, And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. This verse follows Paul’s praise of the Philippians for their generosity in meeting the needs of others. As the bride of Christ, we don’t have to worry about giving our stuff or our money away, because God will meet all of our needs. He’s just waiting for us to trust Him enough to depend on Him for all of our needs! We can depend on God to give us what is best for our eternal good. Praise God!
    7. "E" is for "eternal perspective." Because we are the bride of Christ, we can have an eternal perspective that transcends the mindset of our culture. 1 Corinthians 2:16 - But we have the mind of Christ. Romans 12:2 - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. By renewing our minds through reading and studying the Bible and prayer and fellowship and doing His will, we can take on a mindset that is totally different from the world around us. We can truly have the mind of Christ! We can recognize that we belong to God and each other joyfully, rest in His presence peacefully, be transformed by the infilling of the Holy Spirit expectantly, depend on Him wholeheartedly, and take on an eternal perspective earnestly. Then we will be truly united as the bride of Christ. Then we can truly celebrate and rejoice in the fact that we are the bride of Christ.
    8. Illustration – Lee Eclov writes, "Side Show" is an unusual musical based on the true story of the Hilton twins. They were conjoined twins who rose from poverty, exploited as a sideshow attraction, to become a singing and dancing act in vaudeville in the 1930s and later stars of a couple of "B" movies. One unusual element of this play is that the two lead actresses must play their parts "joined at the hip." It doesn’t matter how good their individual talents are if they can’t work together, and if they can’t do it convincingly. The success of the show depends on the success of their partnership. If one of them decides to go solo, the show is over! They’re only in business as long as they stick together. That is a good picture of marriage. Once the commitment is made, husband and wife are, as it were, "joined at the hip." They succeed or fail together. Other people don’t generally think of one without thinking of the other. Wherever life’s drama takes them, their success lies in doing it together. Our groom is always willing to work with us. It all depends on whether or not we’re willing to work with Him. We are the bride of Christ, so let’s be sure we work with Him to accomplish His purpose. And let’s also be sure that we constantly look ahead excitedly to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, because when the angel says, "It’s party time!" we’re in for the time of our lives!
  1. A Bride with a Vision

    2. A. God has given His bride as a whole a vision for reaching those who don’t know Him with His good news. God has also given this part of His bride a vision to accomplish His purposes in our sphere of influence.

    B. Our vision: The passion of Sodaville Evangelical Church is to reach people for Christ by accepting all people where they’re at and moving them toward Christ-like maturity. We do this by providing a safe and stable place to share, serve, and grow together into a loving Christian family.

    C. This brings up an important question: how does the B.R.I.D.E. acronym fit into the vision God has given us? Belonging, rest, infilling, dependence, and eternal perspective are all imperative if we’re going to accomplish this vision. We need all of them if we are going to be a bride that reaches people for Christ. We need all of them if we’re going to accept people where they’re at. We need all of them if we’re going to move people toward Christ-like maturity. We need all of them if we’re going to provide a safe and stable place. We need all of them if we’re going to share, serve and grow together. We need all of them if we’re going to become a loving Christian family. Belonging, rest, infilling, dependence, and eternal perspective. We need all of them if we’re going to become the true bride of Christ.

    D. Winston Churchill said, "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give." When we give all we are and all our love to Christ, we will be enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit to begin to live like the beautiful bride of Christ that He sees us as being. The only question is: will we stand up, give all to our Groom, and claim the heritage He has for us? Will we choose to truly rejoice and celebrate in our standing as His bride?

  2. Conclusion
    1. Whether or not you feel like the bride of Christ, you are. Let’s just take a few moments of quiet to let the Spirit speak to hearts and share His heart with us.
    2. If you want to commit to becoming the part of the bride of Christ that He is calling you to be today, if you want to commit to belonging, rest, infilling, dependence, and eternal perspective, if you want to commit to fulfilling God’s vision for our church, please stand right now.
    3. Let’s pray.
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