My brother is getting married next weekend to his high school sweetheart. For the past several months, my family has journeyed along with Matt and Carrie as they prepare for their wedding day and this new stage of their lives.
I’ve gotten to watch Matt and Carries’ relationship grow over the last five years. I knew Matt before he met Carrie, and I watched how they were both tested and transformed as they hit bumps in their relationship, uncertainties in their future, and attacks from the outside world. They received support and counsel from loving friends and family — which is something they had to fight for, since it’s often tempting to try to go it alone.
Matt and Carrie during their freshman year of college.
All of this has got me thinking about the gospel, the love story between Christ and his church. Before Matt even met Carrie, he had talked to me about how didn’t want to settle for a mediocre relationship with a girl. He wanted to devote his life to being with her so she could experience the full extent of his love for her. Similarly, before Christ even walked on this earth, He loved the people on the earth and hoped to someday be able to bring them to Himself so they could receive his love and blessings for the rest of their lives.
In the time in history when the Old Testament of the Bible was written, the Israelites were not quite acquainted with Christ yet, but they knew He was coming. They were told of a Messiah (one a person who saves) who would come and rescue them from evil. As God’s chosen people, they were told to await him, not letting their hearts fall for other gods, and not settling less for their (literally) perfect match. It was like the adolescent church, knowing that there was a wonderful plan for the future of humanity, but having to trust in the unseen by staying pure in the meantime.
When Jesus, who is God, became flesh and lived on the earth, He and His people got to know each other. It was becoming more and more real as the plan began to unfold. I like to think of this as the dating or courtship stage. This was when the so-called people of God really found out whether their hearts belonged to God Himself, or whether they just liked the perks of being in a relationship —that is, having religious, spiritual, and social standing. Even after Christ left, the church stayed devoted to him and had to go through many trials while he was away. They were challenged to confess their love for Christ even when nobody approved, even when it wasn’t popular, even when people didn’t believe that Jesus was good for them. But He promised to come back. And so they endured hardship and stayed faithful to Him.
Now as individuals, if we have the Holy Spirit living within us, we are already with God, and God with us, even in the present. But in terms of the history of the church, I see our current stage in history as this same dating stage. As a church, we are awaiting Christ’s return to earth. As the bride, we are preparing for the wedding. We’re awaiting the day when Christ will return, and we will get to be with Him the rest of our lives.
In the world we live in, it’s easy to lose sight of this sacred love story. When the modern Christian church gets brought up in conversation, more often than not, you hear negative things. The church has a very bad reputation. Some churches are all about rules. Some churches compromise on their doctrinal beliefs. Some churches are all about programs and lose sight of people. Some churches are so much about growth that they forget the gospel. Some churches are so focused on the basics that they forget about growth.
Now, some organizations and sets of beliefs are not really the “bride” that Christ is talking about. What I am talking about is those groups that really concede to what God has revealed to us in the Bible.
The church obviously has a lot of problems. There are a lot of ways it can improve and where it’s wrong and where it doesn’t measure up to expectations.
When we see the church from the standpoint of this planet, it’s easy to see these shortcomings and to get discouraged, and either be frustrated and try to force faith on people (and judging them when they don’t “change”), or else to just giving up on the church in general.
It is great that many of us have a fervor to see the church grow and to be like Christ intended. But we can’t forget our place in the church. We are not God. And we are not the only ones who God is working in. We are members of Christ’s body. We are members of Christ’s family. And we are still the bride that He is coming back for.
Matt and Carrie at her sister’s wedding in 2009.
As we prepare for the wedding, we are told to stay pure. Pure in what? Well, believing what God says about Himself and about us. He knows who we are. He makes us amazing people even now, and He knows the absolute miracles He is capable of doing in and around His beautiful beloved.
Satan, who is called “the prince of this world,” is going to do everything in his power to taint the bride of Christ and to lure her away from her commitment to her true love. But if we give up on the church, we will simply be giving Satan another victory.
When you are born into a family, you must endure victories and hardships within that family, day in and day out. If you don’t like the family, you can’t just switch to a different one. When your family has a problem, you have a responsibility to uphold. Now, you can’t solve every problem in your family (a son can’t solve his parents’ marital problems, for instance), but you are called to continue your role in that family.
When the church is in trouble, when the people God died for are suffering, we can’t just run away. There is hope.
My God believes in the church. There have always been politics. They really aren’t much ickier now than they were back in the monarchy days. There have always been doctrinal disputes and ways God’s people stray from Him. He had to send them reminders all the time from the mouths of prophets. There have always been problems in the church. But my God believes in his church.
Here’s some logic for ya:
Premise A: God is always correct.
Premise B: I am not always correct.
Premise C: God believes in the Church.
Conclusion: It is correct to believe in God’s power through the Church.
I don’t have a birds-eye perspective on things. There is a lot of truth I can know, but there is a lot I can’t know or even begin to understand. But God has a birds-eye view on everything in the world. And yet He has hope for His people.
It would be a shame for us to give up now, and to get cold feet right before the wedding. Let’s press on to that day with excitement, carrying with us the promise that He is committed to us, fixing our eyes on His perfection, rather than on the imperfect state of the church. God is confident that He will make us faithful, that He will keep us until that day.
With that kind of assurance from the one who has considered us ragamuffins faithful, what do we have left to fear? Let’s thank God that He is waiting excitedly for us at the end of this long aisle.
Bible references:
Hebrews 10:23 – “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 11:6 – “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Ephesians 5:31-33 – “’For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”
James 1:2-4 – “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
1 Timothy 1:15-17 – “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
