Scripture:
2nd Corinthians 11:2 -- "For I am
jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband,
that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."
Ephesians
5:24 -- "Therefore as the church is
subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything."
Revelations 19:7-9 -- "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage
of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints. And he said unto me, Write,
Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he
said unto me, These are the true sayings of God."
Revelations 21:1-2 -- "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband."
I preach this morning to the Church in
America, across the board, to the Bride of Christ spoken of in 2nd Corinthians
11:2-3 where Paul likens the church to a new bride presented to Christ, and in
Revelations 19:7 and 21:9, where the bride is both the church and the residents
of the New Jerusalem.
If the church today can be likened to a
bride, then the bride has muddied her gown with the vagaries of society's situational
ethics and morals; she has lost some of her beauty by rubbing up against
questionable issues about which God speaks plainly, without question. But too many in the church don't want to
accept it, and so it chafes. The church
has not taken seriously her responsibility to speak the word of truth in a
world fouled with the slippery standards of relativism, rationalizing and
equivocation. Instead of holding high
the light of God's truth, the church of today has attacked and buffeted God's
truth, hiding it under a bushel out of fear of controversy so the world
stumbles along in its own false light.
The church today has ignored and compromised the word of truth that
should have been a lamp to its feet, confusing the world and depriving those
outside the church of moral leadership.
The church today is not at war with evil, but
it should be.
The church today
must announce her independence from the world's system, declaring war on the
blurred dichotomy between the Bride of Jesus Christ and society. The church today needs to go so far as to
publicly state her allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, declaring war on
religious ambivalence, on "go along to get along" church politics, on
everything and everyone opposing the Lord of Glory. The church today needs to abandon the world's
value system and embraces the values of the Word of God, declaring war on
greed, on the preaching of the prosperity gospel, on hunger and policies that
harm the disenfranchised.
The church of
today needs to reach outside the church, love more, attack less, wage war
against evil in ways that heed the Word, lead with the Word, and feed the truth
of the Word into every human situation just as Jesus Christ did when He walked
this earth as the majestic author and finisher of our faith.
This issue of leading
the church down dead-end rabbit trails, away from the personhood of Jesus
Christ, is not unique to 21st century.
Just ask the martyrs who refused to bow their knee or confess that
Caesar was lord. Evil is always at war
with the church, always. Today the
church is not burned at the stake or stoned or crucified. Instead, the church undergoes corrupting
riches, ear-tickling blasphemies, and comforting lies. Riches do not have to be corrupting but when
they become the focus they often are.
Humor and laughs at the expense of others often ride the thin line
between fun and lying blasphemies. And
emotional desires that ignore the truth of God easily give us false hopes,
doctrinal lies, and a false sense of power in our human abilities.
As a result, our
hopes go up in flames, our world is rocked by realities we ignored, and our
dreams and our future die bleeding to death nailed the tree of sinful desires
grown for us by the Father of Lies. As a
church many of us have lost our way, rationalizing God's truth into human
compliance to meet emotional desires.
Unless we have determined to stand on the firm ground of the inspired word of God, we find
ourselves relying upon what we, and others, think is just and right and
good. But God spoke to this long, long
ago, telling us plainly in Isaiah
64:6, "But we are all as an
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do
fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." To put a fine point on it, the "filthy
rags" are translated in the original words as "menstrual
rags." Pure and simple, our idea of
"good" isn't even in the same universe as God's standard of
good. And yet we have repeatedly
abandoned God's standards for our own sense of right and wrong.
The single
reason America is in the ethical, moral ditch it is in today is not because
there are so many evil politicians and fellow travelers, but because the people
who KNOW better, the church congregations and their pastors, sit silently and do not call a lie a lie, do not call evil the evil it is,
do not demand America and Americans live up to the ideals upon which this
nation was founded. To quote former
First Lady Nancy Reagan when speaking of drugs, "Just say NO!" The world that we love needs the church to be
at war against evil.
When we say no to people who mean well but ignore the
precepts of God, we honor God. When we
demand the protection of innocent children from what is termed "adult
entertainment", we honor the God who tells us in Matthew 18:10, "See that you do not look down on
one of these little ones. For I tell you
that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven."
As a church, as the Bride of Christ, somehow over time our vision of
who we are to be, our focus on Jesus Christ, has gone askew.
What is it
that is important to us about our relationship with Jesus Christ? Where should our focus be? Is He fire insurance to avoid the flames of
hell? Is He a guide to teach how to help
and heal the sick, the poor, the disenfranchised? Should we simply lie down and let the world
stomp us into the dust as they curse the Christ? Should we allow those outside of Christ to
call Him by their favorite pagan name, pretending it's all about the One God,
ignoring what Christ said about being the way, the truth and the life?
How far have
we moved away from what God has told us He wants from us, just so we stay part
of the group, not offending anyone, and we don't stand out? Our nature is to avoid confrontation, travel
the easy way, avoid war, even against evil.
In Japan
they have a saying that essentially declares "the nail that stands out
gets hammered." Don't laugh, it's a
societal truth. If you are the only one
whose life stands for Jesus Christ in a room full of people, you are going to
stand out. You will become the object of
their attention. If you apologize for
standing for Christ and deny Him, as Peter did, three times, the human instinct
smells blood and they will come after you with every argument under the sun,
just to gauge your reaction, just to see if what you believe is so true you
will stand up for it at last, under any pressure.
It is only
when people see the results of a relationship with Jesus Christ in you, an
extension of the Living God, only then will they believe in the possibility
that, as God told the ancient Israelites, "I Am," that they will look
to you for support, for affirmation of such a possibility as a Living God.
Is the
church on earth doing this? Not very
well or people would not be leaving the church, there would be no churches
dying and unable to pay their bills, churches would not be empty and up for
sale. But they are, as casualties of not
taking a stand against evil, not waging war against evil.
Hebrews 4:12
says that "The word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the
spirit, and the joints and the marrow, and is a critic of the thoughts and
intents of the heart." If each
individual follower of Jesus Christ would wield a weapon of war like that through
their daily life in the world today, salvation, growth, the cause of Christ
would be successful, for Isaiah 55:11 assures us that God's word never returns
to Him without results. How are you
doing?
The imagery and symbolism of the bride and marriage
is applied to Jesus who is the Christ and to the body of believers known as the
church in order to enhance understanding of the issues involved. The church
consists of those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their personal savior and
have received eternal life. In the New
Testament, Christ, the Bridegroom, has sacrificially and lovingly chosen the
church to be His bride, as we see in Ephesians 5:25-27; "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and
gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not
having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and
without blemish."
Just as there was a betrothal period in Biblical
times, when the bride and groom were separated until the wedding, just so the
bride of Christ is separated from her Bridegroom during the church age. Her responsibility during this betrothal
period is to be faithful to Him, as described in 2nd Corinthians 11:2 and Ephesians 5:24.
At the Second Coming of Christ, this
worldwide church, the Bride, will be united with the Bridegroom, the official
"wedding ceremony" will take place and with it, the eternal union of
Christ and His bride will become actual reality, as set forth in Revelation 19:7-9;21:1-2.
In light of what scripture details about the
Son of God and His bride, the church, it becomes easier to see why it is
important for the church today to understand all that is involved, so the
church can be all it is intended to be when Christ returns. The Father of Lies will wage any battle to
keep that from happening but, praise God, he must fail.
If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your
Lord and Savior, then you are part of that church. For the universal church, His Bride, is made
up of individual worshipers who daily wage war as only the church can. The important question is this, are you
prepared for what He expects of His bride?
Is your church prepared? Perhaps
there is work to be done. Let's be about
it. Even so, come quickly, Lord
Jesus. Amen.
Week of Worship
May 20, 2012
Invocation: Our Lord, before Your trials of
suffering You prayed that all Your disciples might be one in Spirit. Grant that we may be bound together in love
for one another and in obedience to You, that the world may see and
believe. In Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
Read: Psalm 133
Daily Scripture Readings
Monday
1st Peter 1:13-25
Tuesday
Titus 3:1-11
Wednesday
Philemon 1-25
Thursday Hebrews 13:1-25
Thursday Hebrews 13:1-25
Friday
2nd Timothy 1:1-14
Saturday
1st Thessalonians 1:2-10
Sunday
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26; 1st John 5:9-13; Psalm 1; John 17:11b-19
Reflection: (silent and written)
Prayers for the church, for others, for
yourself.
Hymn: "Jesus, United by Thy Grace"
Benediction: Enlarge my heart, dear Lord,
that I may truly love You and live in harmony with all my fellows. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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