In our current preaching series we’re digging into the question: “What is church?” Over four weeks we’re looking at four pictures. So far we’ve heard how the church is (1) a ship tossed on the waves in a storm, and (2) a city on a hill shining light for those in the darkness.
Today our picture of church is a beautiful bride at her wedding. “The wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. This is true: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” (Revelation 19:7–9). Before we unpack this picture, let us pray:
Heavenly Father, send us your Spirit to open our ears to hear your preached Word. As we hear your Word and receive your Spirit, give us a deep joy and love for you, just as a bride loves and enjoys her groom. In the name of our groom, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
I love weddings. Weddings are full of joy; likewise the church is (or should be) a place of much joy. A bride is beautiful, pure, and holy; likewise God sees you — the church — as beautiful, pure, and holy. Weddings have laughter, music, singing, and dancing; the church also is a place for such gladness. The wedding reception is highly anticipated; likewise the church, particularly when we celebrate Holy Communion, anticipates the coming heavenly wedding supper of the Lamb. This picture of a bride and wedding captures so much about the church that we could spend hours talking about, but alas, we need to be short, so we concentrate on two points.
(1) A bride is beautiful. Every groom thinks their bride is the most beautiful bride in the world. They are without spot, wrinkle, or blemish (Ephesians 5:25–27), adorned in a dazzling dress or robe — typically white to symbolize purity. Here’s a photo of my bride: Jenny. Isn’t she beautiful! The reality is of course is that under the dress, behind the makeup, brides are real people. They do have spots, wrinkles and blemishes; faults and imperfections.
And it’s the same with God’s people. We are blemished and wrinkled. The church is full of imperfect people with many faults. In the parable we just heard (Matthew 22), we’re told the invitation for the wedding goes out far and wide. But nobody comes. So instead, God calls together riff raff from the highways, byways, and street corners. The church is full of all sorts of different people, “riff raff” for Faulty Towers fans; we’re a rough and tumble bunch from every culture, walk of life, and background, somehow united into one!
Author Michael Marshall says the following: ‘The measure of the church should be that it brings together a bunch of people that no other club or society could ever attract into one fellowship. Of course this will include men and women, conspicuous for their good works and their sanctity. But it will also include the struggling and the wayward, the fallen and the weak. … The lovely thing about being a Christian is that you don’t have to be [perfect]: you have to be forgiven.’ (Michael Marshall, quoted by David Watson, 1978, ‘I believe in the Church,’ pg 132).
Despite this eclectic bunch of riff raff that God calls together as church, God looks at us and sees a beautiful bride. In his eyes we are the most beautiful bride in the world. In fact, he dresses us in dazzling white. The prophet Ezekiel writes about God’s love:
9 “I bathed you with water. 10 I clothed you with an embroidered dress. I covered you with costly garments. 11 I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, 12 earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. 14 And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendour I had given you made your beauty perfect,” declares the Sovereign Lord. (Ezekiel 16:9–14).
The embroidered dress that God adorns you with is Jesus. Jesus alone is spotless, faultless, perfect, and pure. And in your baptismal waters, you are washed clean, made ready, sins forgiven. God gives you Jesus’ very own white robe of righteousness. You are not right with God yourself, but covered with Christ’s righteousness. And God, the Father of the groom, looks lovingly upon you as you are adorned with his Son’s robe.
Your beauty is attractive. And God uses this fame to attract people to the church. As St Paul writes: ‘Therefore, as God’s chosen people, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.’ (Colossians 3:2–4). When we as church are compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, and patient — when we clothe ourselves in God’s love — then others are attracted to our beauty. Other “riff raff” from the street corners will want to come and join the wedding party. They too will want to be adorned in Jesus’ white robes of forgiveness and righteousness. And the church will grow in beauty and fame for God.
(2) A bride is called to be faithful. A groom longs and wishes for his new bride to remain faithful to him. Partners in a marriage are jealous of each other, in a good sense: they don’t want to share their spouse with someone else. The jealous groom wants his bride to spend time with him alone. To sing his praises. Imagine a bride who soon after the wedding, instead of spending time with her new husband, is constantly working or off with other male friends. Imagine she’s down at the shops maxing out the credit card on frivolous junk or alcohol. Imagine a neglectful wife who’s too busy choosing the colour of the new carpet for their house, instead of spending time with her husband.
Unfortunately the story of God’s people is littered with cases of infidelity and neglect. God’s very own people have ignored and neglected him. They have chased after pretty much everything and everyone else, except their rightful husband. At the very foot of Mt Sinai, when they can see God’s very presence as a cloud, the Israelites fall down and worship a man-made idol — a golden calf (Exodus 32). An idol is simply anything you trust more than God.
As church, are we faithful to God, our husband? What do we trust more than God? Do we prioritise spending time with God in prayer or Bible study? Is work or reputation more important than our divine husband? Are we chasing after other male friends: money, stuff, sport, pleasure? Have we been caught up choosing a particular colour of carpet, instead of telling people about God?
God desires a faithful and attentive bride. But often what he gets is an immature young girl, who abandons and neglects him. Scripture, paints a very vivid picture of the infidelity of God’s people. It’s put rather crudely, too crudely to share here in a family friendly setting. Simply put: God’s people commit spiritual adultery. As an example, the prophet Hosea is asked to marry a woman who is habitually unfaithful to him, to symbolize how God feels about his people (read Hosea chapters 1 and 2). Imagine the heartache?!
There is the same warning of fidelity in the parable of the wedding feast (Matthew 22). Some who are invited to the wedding turn their back on the king. Their excuse? ‘One went away to another field. One went away to their business.’ (Matthew 22:5). So God invites riff raff from the street corners to take their place. The Jewish people in Jesus’ time turned their back on him, so the Gentiles (non-Jews) were invited instead. But we too are warned: wear appropriate wedding clothes to the feast, or else be thrown out.
The call and challenge for the church as a whole, and as individuals, is to be a faithful bride. Faithful in our actions. Faithful in our beliefs.
(a) Faithful in our actions. We are to behave in a way that brings praise and glory to Christ, our groom. We are to be morally pure. Above reproach. Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. Love God and love others. To forgive as we are forgiven. If you turn to the end of any New Testament letter, you will find a list of exhortations for the church to remain faithful to Christ her groom (e.g. Romans 12:1ff; Galatians 5:1ff; Ephesians 4:17ff; etc).
(b) Faithful in our beliefs. If the church is to be a faithful bride, moral purity is not enough. We are also called to be faithful in our doctrine: what we confess and believe. In particular we are called to be faithful to the teaching of the apostles, who stressed the centrality of the justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. People outside the church are confused by what the good news of Jesus actually means. They don’t see the church as a place of forgiveness and grace, but a place of laws and rules. I think this is because the church has not been faithful in confessing her core beliefs: through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God freely forgives and makes us right with him (i.e. we are freely given the righteousness of Jesus).
Yet to balance this, I wonder if the Lutheran Church in Australia has concentrated too much on being faithful to our doctrines and beliefs, to the point of becoming cold and mechanical. Yes, we are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, but to what end?! Have we forgotten that we are justified in order to love — to love God and to love each other?! The love between a husband and wife, between God and church, is not supposed to be a cold, mechanical kind of love. Has our love of God become cold and mechanical? Moralistic and legalistic, simply going through the motions? Do we lack warmth and spontaneity?
Author Francis Schaeffer writes the following: ‘[Doctrinal faithfulness can be] like the wife who never sleeps with anybody else, but also never shows love to her husband. Is that a sufficient relationship in marriage? No, ten thousand times no. Yet if I am a Christian who speaks and acts for doctrinal faithfulness but do not show love to my divine bridegroom, I am in the same place as such a wife. What God wants from us is not only doctrinal faithfulness, but our love day by day. Not in theory, mind you, but in practice. [The church] must realise the seriousness of modern apostasy [i.e. unfaithfulness]; we must urge each other not to have any part in it. But at the same time we must be the loving, true bride of the divine bridegroom in reality and in practice, day by day, in the midst of the spiritual adultery of our day. Our call is first to be the bride faithful, but that is not the total call. The call is not only to be the bride faithful, but also the bride in love.’ (Francis Schaeffer, 1972, ‘The Church before the watching world,’ pg 51).
You, the church, are called not only to be a faithful bride, but a bride in love. Christ, your groom and husband, loves you dearly. He clothes you in an exquisite white wedding dress: Jesus’ very own righteousness won for you on the cross. God looks at you and sees only beauty. He delights in you and his heart is filled with joy for you. Your beauty attracts others and brings praise to him. He longs that you remain faithful to him. Be faithful in your actions. Do what is right so that you remain pure and attractive, so that you do not spoil your wedding clothes. Be faithful in your doctrine and beliefs. Speak the truth clearly. Yet don’t become cold and mechanical. The mysterious union between you and Christ is to be spontaneous, passionate, and warm. This challenge and calling should not be a burden, but an expression of love that the church as bride shows Christ her groom. And finally, as church, anticipate and look forward to the glorious eternal wedding feast! As it is written: ‘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. … Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” (Revelation 19:7,9). Amen.
