WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.120 In our mind as we start this journey, because we're going to talk about human marriages. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:05.599 We're going to talk about our relationships a little bit. 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:08.720 And I understand there's landmines everywhere in that conversation. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:11.359 So I want to frame what we're trying to do here today. 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:17.120 We're not trying to solve every problem in every marriage or even address a whole bunch about human marriages. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:24.000 We're trying to ask the question: what kind of theological statement is God making when he sends Jesus? 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:30.719 And what kind of statement is he making with this metaphor of that the church is the bride of Christ? 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:34.079 We're looking for theology here today, first and foremost. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:38.960 What does this tell us about the covenant love between God and humanity? 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:44.240 But as we have that conversation, it will spill over into our lives. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:49.119 And I think one of the things I want to address, it's a bit of a sidebar here, but I think still critical. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:55.840 And I feel like as lead pastor of a group of people who I'm called the shepherd, sometimes these conversations just need to be had. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:12.000 What I want to say to you this morning is whenever the church enters the conversation about marriage, whether that's amongst ourselves or in a cultural context, we have to enter it understanding what God intended by it, not specifically just for the individuals, but as a theological statement. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:28.000 And what God intended by the covenant of marriage, the metaphor of marriage is to say that there's a husband and a wife, and a husband and wife are to be committed to each other for all of their lifetime, and that's the place where all of the intimacy of marriage happens. 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:28.719 Why? 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:33.840 First of all, that's healthy for us, but it's also a declaration of what God intends. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:36.959 It's a statement about what God wants for his people. 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:47.040 So we really don't have the option to just kind of make that conversation fit any particular cultural norm of the time or of history. 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:47.599 Right? 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:59.200 So we if we're gonna be theologically correct, we have to understand what this thing of marriage means and what was God intending by it, and then from that we can learn how we should approach that. 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:00.879 So again, that's not the main point. 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:07.040 I'm not gonna get into all the debates or whatever about marriage, but I just think as we think about marriage, we need to start there. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:12.639 Let's start with this journey through scripture. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:14.080 We've already touched on Genesis. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:15.840 Let's go back to Deuteronomy. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:20.080 In Deuteronomy, we get the sense of what God is wanting in this relationship. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:21.520 There's a lot of scripture today. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:23.520 I'm gonna read some pretty long passages. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:28.479 I want you to just many of them are sort of poetic, and I just want you to let these words flow over you. 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:32.000 I'm not gonna dig into a bunch of these, but to get the sense. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:34.240 Let's start in Deuteronomy chapter 7. 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:37.840 For you are a holy people who belong to the Lord your God. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:43.039 Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his special treasure. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:46.319 This is God speaking about the children of Israel. 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:55.199 The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than all the other nations, for you were the smallest of the nations. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:59.039 Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you. 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:02.479 And he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:09.680 That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:13.039 Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:25.759 He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who obey him, on those who love him and obey his commands. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:30.879 So God is telling us something here about how he views humanity. 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:34.719 And I want you to think about this in the context of dating. 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:38.879 Some of you will have to go back a little while in your memory bank to remember that. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:41.120 Some of you are like, that's where you're at right now. 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:44.879 But when you're dating, especially the first date, what's going on? 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:48.319 Well, what's going on is performance. 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:49.360 Right? 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:52.800 You want your bust foot forward on that first date. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:04:01.520 And you are also not only interested in saying the right things and going to the right place and doing the right things, but you're also very interested in the other person there as well. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:03.520 You're checking each other out. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:06.560 You're you're you're not gonna, well, if you do, you're not really wise. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:08.639 You're not gonna jump to really deep questions on the first date. 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:15.199 But you're what you're doing is you're you're putting up a front to say, I want you to see the best of me in this moment. 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:17.360 There's nothing wrong with that. 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:25.920 But as you go along in that relationship, that that first moment, you start to have to also have to see, well, over time they're gonna start seeing the real me a little bit. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:33.040 And so after that sort of performance-driven thing at the beginning, you start moving into this, can I trust the other person face, right? 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:38.079 Can I be faithful to them and will they be faithful to me? 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:53.120 And we begin to test that by uh opening up a little bit more of our lives, sharing a little bit more of our story, and and letting the other person see us a little bit more of us until we move along and realize I can trust this person, they can trust me until they can't. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:53.920 Right? 00:04:54.079 --> 00:05:04.800 And many times our dating relationships end with that horrible but honest phrase, it's not you, it's me. 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:11.040 And when we say that most of the time, what we really want to say is, it's not me, it's you. 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:16.800 Because dating is this process of figuring out, is this gonna be a thing? 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:19.040 And there's an exit ramp. 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:19.759 Right? 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:21.519 There's a way out of that. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:26.720 But God shows us something different here. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:33.519 God did not date Israel, He already knew them. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:40.959 They put up a front for God, they had the religious things going on. 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:42.240 God knew them. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:45.680 God didn't move towards him and say, I wonder if I could love these people. 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:47.360 Did you catch the passage? 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:52.639 God chose you simply because he loved you. 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:54.959 Plain and simple. 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:57.759 That's the kind of love God has for us. 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:03.439 That's the kind of love that marriage is to illustrate to a broken world. 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:09.920 And even when we do it wrong, the idea of that covenant love never goes away. 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:18.319 I have been using the phrase lately, and I always feel obligated to explain it because I think it's a powerful understanding of this kind of love. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:22.639 I've been calling it, not original with me, but I've been calling it disinterested love. 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:24.720 Disinterested love. 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:32.000 Not that you're not interested in the person that you're loving, but you're not interested in their response. 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:36.160 I will love you because I love you. 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:41.839 Even if your performance isn't correct, even if you mess up on the first day, I will love you because I love you. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:44.319 So God has that kind of love. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:49.040 So when he sets this up in the Old Testament, he says, I love you because I love you. 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:52.399 And then God says, I'm gonna be faithful to you. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:56.800 He doesn't have to test us, he already knows we're gonna fall short. 00:06:56.959 --> 00:06:58.079 We don't have to test him. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:01.360 We he said, I will be faithful to you. 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:04.800 So as you get to know me, as I get to know you, I will be faithful. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:08.480 And then he says, I will lavish love upon you. 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:11.920 You know, when we're dating, we lavish love upon each other, but it's conditional. 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:15.279 God says, I will lavish my love upon you. 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:27.920 And he even says at the end of that passage that that works best in a relationship when you walk in obedience with me, that as I lavish my love upon you, you respond to that in ways that you understand the depth of that love even more and more and more. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:33.040 As you respond in obedience, you understand what I mean when I say don't go there or do go there. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:35.519 So that love becomes a growing thing. 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:47.759 So the covenant of marriage, again, the idea of the covenant of marriage, even as humans have fallen short, the covenant of marriage in the Bible is a metaphor reminding us that God chooses us because he loves us. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:54.480 God is faithful to us even when we aren't, and God lavishes his love on us abundantly. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:08.560 And the and the commitment of marriage, human, Christian marriage, is designed to say that regardless of your performance or my preference, I'm going to continue to lavish my love on you. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:15.199 That's why the intimate expression of sex is best reserved for marriage. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:21.199 Because when you get to that moment of intimacy, there is no other physical intimacy more intimate than that. 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:30.000 Without those boundaries of covenant and disinterested love, that sexual intimacy becomes something that can be used against each other and all that kind of stuff. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:32.960 And God says this is what sex should be. 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:39.039 Apart from marriage, sex is often based on performance, preference, and lustful pleasure. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:47.120 And I know, as I mentioned earlier, that for some, even describing what marriage should be stirs pain in our lives. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:55.440 Your spouse has failed to live up to this, you have failed up to live up to this, you have not found the person that you want to live up to this with. 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:57.840 It's just full of landmines. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:08:58.960 I get that. 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:09.120 And even in marriages that are still intact and working towards this goal of disinterested, committed, lavish love, have their good days and their bad days. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:11.840 There I say they're good weeks and their bad weeks. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:15.120 There I say they're good months and they're bad months. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:17.840 Marriage is hard. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:22.240 And this is not a sermon about how to make your marriage better. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:29.919 This is a sermon about what God intended marriage to be, more so theologically, but also in our own individual lives. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.039 This is about covenant loyalty of God. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:45.840 And our failure to live up to the covenantal obligations in our own marriages has been mirrored in Israel's failure to live up to God's covenantal intent in his relationship with them. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:53.360 So, as God intended, this idea of choosing them in Deuteronomy, it's a beginning of the, it's a giving of the law, it's a beginning of this journey as a nation. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:56.879 He says, I choose you because I choose you, I'm faithful to you when you're not. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:00.799 I'm going to lavish my gifts upon you, and as you walk with me, you'll learn to understand that more. 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:05.279 But as they go along, they fail, and they fail, and they fail, and they fell again. 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:08.240 And there's a description of this in Ezekiel 16. 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:08.879 It's pretty long. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:13.840 Just let these words get a sense of what the prophet is saying to Israel. 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:19.039 And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love, so I wrapped my cloak around you. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:20.399 This is God speaking to Israel. 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:26.399 So I roped my I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declare my marriage vows. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:35.039 I made a covenant with you, says the sovereign Lord, and you became mine, and I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:43.120 I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of f of goat skin, leather. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:51.279 I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklace, a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head. 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:59.200 And so you were adorned with gold and silver, your clothes were made of fine linen and costly fabric, and were beautifully embroidered. 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:05.600 You ate the finest foods, choice flour, honey, and olive oil, and became more beautiful than ever. 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:10.240 You looked like a queen, and so you were, God speaking to Israel. 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:13.360 Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:18.159 I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your beauty, says the sovereign Lord. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:20.720 See, God was preparing his bride. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:29.440 But you thought your fame and beauty were your own, so you gave yourself to a prostitute, to every man who came along. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:32.320 Your beauty was theirs for the asking. 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:37.840 You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for your idols, where you played the prostitute. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:39.200 Unbelievable. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:41.200 How could such a thing happen? 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:47.440 You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:49.840 This is adultery against me. 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:54.799 You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you to dress your idols. 00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:58.159 Then you used my special oil and my incense to worship them. 00:11:58.320 --> 00:11:59.360 Imagine it. 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:07.039 You set before them as a sacrifice the choice flower, olive oil, and honey I had given you, says the sovereign Lord. 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:21.200 See, God bathed, he prepared, and he lavished gifts on the bride with the intent of union and intimacy, but instead Israel squandered those gifts on the idols that they created. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:24.240 Israel committed adultery. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:28.399 This is a common metaphor in the Old Testament. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:42.559 In fact, there are sections of scripture in the Old Testament that are all rated around this topic where God describes what Israel did in prostituting themselves to other gods and other nations' gods. 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:44.799 They broke the covenant. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:48.799 But remember, God's love is disinterested. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:52.960 It's faithful and it's lavish. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:13:14.480 And I can't think of a more disinterested, faithful, lavish thing to do than send his only son to die, to cleanse, to forgive, to heal, to restore, to redeem those who would surrender to that idea. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:29.840 As we come to the New Testament, the beautiful story of God sending Jesus in Bethlehem, Calvary, the resurrection, the whole gospel story, which is unbelievable. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:34.320 There is no greater gift than to give your only sin. 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:41.200 What again? 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:44.960 What a love. 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:47.360 What a faithful guy. 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:51.440 But he didn't come just for you. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:58.960 Jesus loves you. 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:00.000 He does. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:04.480 You know, second service bonus here. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:12.240 One of the phrases that really bothers me theologically, and I understand what is meant by it. 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:19.840 But when people say if you had been the only person that Jesus would have died for you, that's true, of course. 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:23.759 But that so undersells what the gospel is all about. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:30.559 The gospel is not about you getting to heaven and being fulfilled. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:33.840 Does that happen when you embrace the gospel? 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:36.240 Let's just yes. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:40.799 But is that what the gospel is all about? 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:41.759 No. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:48.960 The gospel is about God preparing his bride, the church, the called-out ones, us. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:51.679 All of y'all. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:55.759 And all the all y'all throughout all of all history. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:07.519 Every tribe and every nation, all the people that we agree with, all the people that we don't who claim Jesus, who say, I was the one who walked away, I was the one who prostituted myself, as it were, to idols. 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:15.519 And I am my only hope is this disinterested, faithful, lavishly loving God who sent his son Jesus. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:22.399 And I trust that not so that I could be happy, but so that I could be a part of this beautiful thing called the church. 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:25.919 Ephesians 5 picks this up. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:37.679 It picks up this theme of God being a bride, but in this case it's not God being the bride of Israel, but Christ being the it's not God, uh the people of God being a bride. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:42.559 It's not Israel being a bride, but it's the church being the bride of Christ. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:53.600 Ephesians 5 is a beautiful passage, and I'll make a comment on it in a second, but I'm just gonna pull out a couple verses where God is speaking, Paul is speaking to husbands. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:57.279 He says, For husbands, this means love your wives just as Christ loved the church. 00:15:57.440 --> 00:16:02.320 He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word. 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:09.039 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:11.679 Instead, she will be holy and without faults. 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:16.720 You see, our tendency is to go to Ephesians 5 and say, what does this say about human marriage? 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:20.240 And what do I need to learn about human marriage from Ephesians chapter 5? 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:24.240 We've turned it into a practical tool to how to have a good marriage. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:32.960 When really this Ephesians 5 is a deep theological statement that serves as a wonderful example to us. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:39.600 Ephesians 5 is about Paul helping us understand how God views the church. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:50.240 Jesus is the husband who loves his bride, who washes his bride, who prepares his bride. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:55.120 And he says, husbands, you ought to do this too because it's really good. 00:16:55.360 --> 00:17:00.799 But Paul is, Paul even says later in that passage, he says, but I'm talking about the church. 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:05.519 These verses amplify the preparation that the bride goes through. 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:07.839 But I want you to notice something about these verses. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:12.160 The Bible, the verses don't say, church, clean yourself up. 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:14.319 Make yourself ready. 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:18.720 The work done to prepare the bride is done by Jesus. 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:21.279 He prepares, he cleanses. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:22.000 It's his word. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:23.920 Our confession of his word, yes. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:25.680 Our receiving of his word, yes. 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:29.119 But it is his work that prepares the bride. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:31.039 It's all on the side of Jesus. 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:36.240 Christ loved the church with a disinterested love, like God loved Israel with a disinterested love. 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:46.000 Christ remains faithful to the church by washing and cleansing by God's word and by the blood of Jesus, just like God remained faithful to Israel. 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:52.559 And God lavishes his gift on the church so that we will be holy and without fault. 00:17:53.519 --> 00:18:00.400 He lavishes his gift on the church so it will be holy and without fault, just like God lavishes his gifts on Israel. 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:10.880 And the difference is, God also gave us the Holy Spirit who empowers us to live in this newness of life as we walk, at this gift of the Holy Spirit being lavished on us. 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:13.359 And it tells us about walking in obedience with him. 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:15.519 And that's not to, if you don't obey, I don't love you. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:35.599 It's to say, as we walk with him, as the bride, as my bride church, if you'll do these things, if you'll walk this way, if we'll walk together, as these gifts I give you, if you'll not squander them, but if you'll receive them and let them cleanse and purify you collectively and individually, you will receive more and more of those gifts. 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:37.359 It will make more sense to you. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:43.279 My love will begin to transform you until we get the revelation at the end of time. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:54.000 Where John writes, then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd on the or the roar of a mighty ocean waves or the crash of a loud thunder. 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:57.279 Praise the Lord, for the Lord our God, the Almighty rains. 00:18:57.440 --> 00:18:58.960 Let us be glad and rejoice. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:03.680 Let us give honor to him, for the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb. 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:06.079 And his bride has prepared herself. 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:10.000 She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear. 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:14.880 For the white, for the fine linen represents the good deeds of God's holy people. 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:24.880 In the book of Revelation, praise and worship is almost always reserved for God to display the attributes of God, to talk about the attributes of God. 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:31.440 But in this passage, it seems like John is saying the praise is for what God has prepared. 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:39.200 The praise is for the work of the church, the work of God, the preparation of this body, this bride that He has created. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:45.359 Note again the preparation of the bride was accomplished by the work of the groom. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:48.400 It says the bride was prepared. 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:53.039 The bride put on the linen cloths, the wedding gown. 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:56.319 That wedding gown was provided by Jesus. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:02.960 The bride did not clean themselves up and sew something together. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:08.079 The bride put on that which was provided by Jesus, the white linens. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:14.960 He again, Jesus, did the work to purify his bride. 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:19.519 And then in Revelation 21, pretty long passage. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:23.599 But we're coming to that moment of this great wedding feast. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:31.519 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for a husband. 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:36.000 I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, Look, God's home is now among his people. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:38.480 He will live with them, and they will be his people. 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:45.680 God himself will be with them, he will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, or sorrow, or crying, or pain. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:47.440 All these things are gone forever. 00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:51.759 And the one sitting on the throne said, Look, I'm making everything new. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:56.880 And then he said to me, Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true. 00:20:57.119 --> 00:20:58.720 And he also said, It is finished. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:01.359 I'm the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:02.640 The preparation is over. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:06.880 To all who are thirsty, I will give you freely from the what springs of the water of life. 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:11.359 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:20.400 But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt murderers, immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshippers, and all the liars, their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:21.759 This is a second death. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:30.400 Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, Come with me. 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:35.440 I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:38.160 You know what I think happened in that moment? 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:54.160 I think in this culmination of the marriage covenant between God and his people, Jesus is standing there, as it were, gazing across the echoes of eternity, the sanctuary for this beautiful wedding. 00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:59.759 Knowing all the preparations that had gone on before, God in the Old Testament with Israel. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:05.440 Jesus dying so that he could create the called out ones. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:15.200 I think Jesus stands there that day, like I did on my wedding day, and said, Would you look at her? 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:17.519 Would you look at her? 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:19.119 My bride. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:23.279 Washed, purified, cleansed. 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:26.559 Certainly they didn't accomplish that. 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:28.640 But they responded. 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:30.319 They participated. 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:32.160 They trusted. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:38.880 They allowed me to work in their lives to make something beautiful. 00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:42.000 You see, God loves us simply because he does. 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:50.880 He faithfully prepares us for the final wedding feast and he lavishes us with grace so that we can walk with him until that day. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:52.640 So what is our job now? 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:54.720 To just sit around and wait for that day? 00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:55.279 No. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:57.279 To live into it. 00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:00.319 To believe that he's working. 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:17.039 To trust that he's working in ways we cannot see, to respond in obedience, to show our response to his faithfulness by trusting his word, by allowing his cleansing, to deal with the stuff in our lives, to draw us together, to teach us to forgive. 00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:17.920 So why? 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:32.319 So we can be fulfilled, you will be, yes, no, so that we can be a witness to the world, so that we can be the bride that is changed and transformed by the God who has a covenantal, disinterested love in us. 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:56.000 So, church, loved by Christ, cleansed by this word, and lovingly being lavished on by Christ, let's embrace our role as the bride of Christ by growing together, displaying his glory, grace, and transformative power to a world that only knows of love based on performance, preference, and response. 00:23:56.880 --> 00:23:59.839 I'm not asking the church to do better. 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:04.960 I'm asking the church to remember who we are and to trust more. 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:14.960 So I have a little devotional pattern in my life. 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:17.359 It's just sort of separate from the other things that I do. 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:19.039 And well, I read God's Word. 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:20.880 Is that that's what I do, right? 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:23.200 Not for sermon illustrations or anything else. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:32.160 But every once in a while I'm reading in God's Word just for my own personal edification, and God shows me something that I just want to share. 00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:34.319 And so that happened to me. 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:42.799 And uh I really have been wanting to share this for a while, and I didn't know where to put it, so I just thought I'd try to paste it into this sermon from the book of Jude. 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:49.519 I have to admit to you that I often get to the book of Jude, it's only one chapter, and say, I can get through this and move on, because it's kind of a weird book. 00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:50.960 Have you ever read it? 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:53.599 And it's got a lot of stuff in it. 00:24:53.759 --> 00:24:56.799 It doesn't quite make sense with some of other Paul's letters. 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:00.880 But I read this and it just struck me at such a deep level. 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:05.359 It's God's word, it always speaks, even when we don't always understand it. 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:07.279 Jude chapter 3. 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:08.240 Excuse me. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:10.240 Jude verse 3. 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:15.839 Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:26.079 But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once and all, once for all, time to his people. 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:29.200 If you read the book of Jude, the tone of it is like that. 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:32.480 He speaks harshly to heretics. 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:36.079 It's a defend the faith kind of book. 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:45.359 It reminds us that there's truth, that is unwavering, that you can't get around, and there's consequences when the truth isn't followed. 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:52.960 It sounds like a book someone would love to beat the head over the head of somebody who's struggling with their faith. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:54.880 Just believe, man. 00:25:56.079 --> 00:25:58.799 But then there's this gem in verse 22. 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:03.359 And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:04.960 Isn't that fun? 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:10.480 Another version says, be patient with those who doubt. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:19.200 In the same letter, Jude reminds us that there's a balance between truth and compassion. 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:30.880 I just wonder if one of the clarion calls of the church is in this simple dichotomy in the book of Jude. 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:39.039 There's an undeniable truth that you though that will either break you or shape your life. 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:44.640 But more than that, there is a God who is love and deeply loves us. 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:57.279 And I just wonder if those who are doubting about all this Christianity thing, whether they've never experienced it, where they grew up in the church, and they're reconstructing, deconstructing whatever they're going through. 00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:07.200 I just wonder if instead of just reminding them of Jude 3, we also acted like Jude 22. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:13.359 And I think the way we do that, friends, is to remember who we are. 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:16.240 We're the church. 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:29.519 We're loved by a God who's disinterested in our response, but so deeply interested in us that he gave us the ultimate gift of Jesus to show his covenant loyalty to us. 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:35.119 And so today, I can't think of a better way to wrap up this whole series than to take communion. 00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:38.960 You have the elements there with you if you will find those. 00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:47.519 And as we take communion today, I just want to remind you, church, that we are loved by Christ. 00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:58.720 And when we wonder about that or doubt that, we just need to remember what this act of taking the bread and eating it and the juice and drinking it reminds us of. 00:27:58.960 --> 00:28:12.640 It reminds us that Christ loved us, that God knew that there's no way for us to move away from the idols in our lives on our own strength, that given our own proclivities, we would always return to the idols. 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:17.279 We would prostitute ourselves in the altars of the world. 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:20.960 And so he sent Jesus because he loves us. 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:27.279 And he wants that love to transform us and to purify us. 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:32.559 He wants that love to be worked out in our relationships with one another. 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:42.319 And he wants that love, friends, to proclaim to the world that God is faithful in his marriage vows. 00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:50.160 And he wants us to take that love that he lavishes on us in this context of covenant. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:29:00.160 And he wants us to share it with the world that only knows about performance-based, preference-based, lust-driven love. 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:06.480 So as we take the body, we're reminded of his incredible, deep love for us. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:07.839 You may take the breath. 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:23.839 And as we take the juice this morning, it's a symbol. 00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:25.359 More than just a symbol. 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:38.799 It's a participation in this beautiful understanding of the blood that was poured out for us to cleanse us individually and collectively, to prepare us for that great wedding day that awaits all of us. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:40.880 We may partake. 00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:44.160 So thank you, Lord. 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:49.279 For your disinterested, faithful, lavish love. 00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:52.960 May it draw us together as your body. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:58.000 It may be a proclamation to the world of your goodness. 00:29:58.640 --> 00:29:59.519 In Jesus' name. 00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:00.160 Amen. 00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:02.160 Why don't you stand with the worship team?