How Jesus Sees The Church

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.160 Here is the word of the Lord, husband's Love Your wives, as Christ 2 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:09.550 loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, 3 00:00:10.470 --> 00:00:15.109 having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that 4 00:00:15.230 --> 00:00:21.070 he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or 5 00:00:21.109 --> 00:00:25.460 any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. And the 6 00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:29.500 same way, husband should love their wives as their own bodies. He who 7 00:00:29.579 --> 00:00:34.380 loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, 8 00:00:34.460 --> 00:00:40.969 but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we 9 00:00:41.049 --> 00:00:44.649 are members of his body. Joined me. As we pray, our father, 10 00:00:44.770 --> 00:00:49.649 we thank you that this is your very word to us. We pray 11 00:00:49.729 --> 00:00:52.479 that the Holy Spirit would do the work for which you have sent him, 12 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:57.520 to show US Christ, to open her eyes, to see his beauty and 13 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:00.280 his great mercy to us, and to grow in confidence because of who he 14 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:06.030 is and all that he has done for us. And we pray this in 15 00:01:06.069 --> 00:01:11.030 Jesus name. Amen. So, a couple of years ago I I had 16 00:01:11.109 --> 00:01:15.790 the opportunity to spend some time in Brazil, especially in the city of some 17 00:01:17.030 --> 00:01:25.060 Polo. I travel frequently to teach pastors in Brazil and in Serbia, mostly 18 00:01:25.140 --> 00:01:27.659 Serbian. No. But the was a fascinating two weeks because I got to 19 00:01:27.700 --> 00:01:34.650 visit a number of different churches. One of them met and an air conditioned 20 00:01:34.769 --> 00:01:42.849 hotel ballroom with sophisticated PA systems and slides on the screen and a full band. 21 00:01:45.049 --> 00:01:49.719 It was a wealthy church, well clothed, well appointed, well educated. 22 00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:57.920 Another church met in a cement floored, prefab building that look more like 23 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:02.549 a gymnasium that had open Air Cooling and heating. It was a middle class 24 00:02:02.590 --> 00:02:08.789 church and one of the subsidies of some Polo. One that in a church 25 00:02:08.990 --> 00:02:15.550 sanctuary, looking very much like an American church sanctuary, with peers and a 26 00:02:15.629 --> 00:02:21.939 pulpit and a choir. And the last one we drove into on dirt roads, 27 00:02:22.020 --> 00:02:25.180 into the midst of one of the slums, the favelas. It was 28 00:02:25.979 --> 00:02:30.530 in a building for which the drug lords had given permission to meet and to 29 00:02:30.610 --> 00:02:37.770 build. It was sandwich between plywood enclosures in which people live and raise their 30 00:02:37.810 --> 00:02:42.849 families in the middle of the slum and as we met in that narrow room 31 00:02:43.770 --> 00:02:49.000 there were armed drug lords marching through the street or walking the streets to patrol 32 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:53.400 things and keep things in order. And as we left we could see their 33 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:59.430 guns on their hips just to make sure we behaved, and everybody else who 34 00:02:59.509 --> 00:03:07.310 went and left behaved as well. Now they were all churches. Their circumstances 35 00:03:07.389 --> 00:03:14.780 were very different from each other, but they were all churches. And tonight 36 00:03:14.819 --> 00:03:17.060 I want to talk about not what we see when we look at the church, 37 00:03:17.180 --> 00:03:24.340 but what Christies when he sees the church. Guess he he sees our 38 00:03:24.580 --> 00:03:30.370 different locations, are different circumstances, but he sees in all four of these 39 00:03:30.530 --> 00:03:38.050 circumstances. And then this gathered congregation and at Rincon and in the church I 40 00:03:38.210 --> 00:03:43.919 visited in South Tucson today, he sees his people raised from death to life. 41 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:49.560 He sees his people in whom he has placed his spirit and made them 42 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:55.430 one in him. He sees his covenant family that he has known and loved 43 00:03:57.189 --> 00:04:04.110 and sent his son to die for. And those externals are not significant to 44 00:04:04.189 --> 00:04:10.740 him, though they tend to be with us. And tonight I just want 45 00:04:10.780 --> 00:04:15.500 to ask the question what does Jesus see when he sees the Church and the 46 00:04:15.579 --> 00:04:20.100 practical side? How does that affect what we see when we see the church? 47 00:04:20.300 --> 00:04:25.410 What? How does it affect our attitudes and our actions toward the church. 48 00:04:25.569 --> 00:04:29.329 Now, the passage I've read to you is most often read in the 49 00:04:29.370 --> 00:04:34.569 context of marriage, but really it's an extended discussion of Christ love for the 50 00:04:34.649 --> 00:04:40.279 Church. It's in the middle of his exhortation to husband's but it's really about 51 00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:43.519 the church and even says that at the end of the passage. I'm not 52 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:47.959 talking about marriage, I'm talking about the church. A couple of years ago, 53 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.519 and application this, I began to have couples who would come to me 54 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:56.149 and want me to do their wedding and I would began to say to them, 55 00:04:56.189 --> 00:04:58.149 you know, I'm glad to do that wedding, I just want you 56 00:04:58.189 --> 00:05:01.910 to know your wedding is not about you. It's about Christ and the church 57 00:05:01.949 --> 00:05:08.139 and you're just another case in point of the love of Jesus for his people. 58 00:05:10.300 --> 00:05:13.459 That's what Paul is saying here. It's about Christ and the Church and 59 00:05:13.660 --> 00:05:19.300 Paul Describes here how Christ he is the church and his love for the church, 60 00:05:20.569 --> 00:05:25.449 and I find it's we will move to the point of application. This 61 00:05:25.569 --> 00:05:30.769 is very challenging to me because it's easy to see the problems in the church. 62 00:05:33.329 --> 00:05:38.759 It's easy to see the faults and flaws of the Church and it's elders 63 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:44.759 and it's pastors. It's easy to see the divisions of the Church and the 64 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:48.600 foolish things the church has done. It's easy to see those. But I 65 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:55.790 think the way Jesus sees the church sets the pace for how we're to see 66 00:05:56.149 --> 00:05:59.149 the church. So we'll we won't spend a huge amount of time in the 67 00:05:59.189 --> 00:06:01.670 passage, but just enough to draw out a few things and then talk about 68 00:06:01.709 --> 00:06:05.540 how it applies to us. First thing we would see about the church as 69 00:06:05.779 --> 00:06:11.939 what Christ sees, is the people he owns. They're the bride that is 70 00:06:12.180 --> 00:06:15.980 his. He loved the Church and gave himself up for her that he might 71 00:06:16.540 --> 00:06:23.250 sanctify her. Now, couple things to note here. Is Christ loved his 72 00:06:23.329 --> 00:06:29.930 people before they were his people, which is really kind of remarkable, because 73 00:06:30.089 --> 00:06:32.600 because he is God the Sun, he chose her to be his own. 74 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:36.079 From Kevin he came and sought her to be his holy bride, and that 75 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:44.920 was when she was dirty and defile. Ezekiel tells a story of the God 76 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:47.430 of Israel going by and seeing a baby that was discarded on the side of 77 00:06:47.470 --> 00:06:54.589 the road dyeing, and Ezekiel Sixteen and defiled and takes the child and raises 78 00:06:54.670 --> 00:06:56.790 it. And that was what God has done with us. We were a 79 00:06:56.910 --> 00:07:01.420 dirty, defiled people and he said his love upon us in Christ when she 80 00:07:01.540 --> 00:07:06.579 didn't even know who he was. Secondly, he loved his church and showed 81 00:07:06.620 --> 00:07:12.500 that love by his self giving sacrifice, which we fully understand. And third 82 00:07:12.579 --> 00:07:15.050 he did so so he would and her sanctify her. That is that is 83 00:07:15.129 --> 00:07:20.170 both progressive and the idea of sanctification here set apart for him. He owns 84 00:07:20.209 --> 00:07:25.970 her, she is his. He owns her fully incompletely, which is why 85 00:07:26.089 --> 00:07:30.199 when we do wedding those we say, forsaking all others, I will keep 86 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:35.560 myself only for you as long as we both shall live. Jesus says that 87 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:40.920 to us. You are mine and only mine as long as I live. 88 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:47.949 So he owns the church completely, and not just us as individuals, but 89 00:07:48.149 --> 00:07:57.029 the congregation with all its faults and flaws. You you cannot be a Christian 90 00:07:57.189 --> 00:08:03.300 without being part of the congregation. I run into a lot of people these 91 00:08:03.339 --> 00:08:09.660 days who say things like I don't need the church, I don't need the 92 00:08:09.779 --> 00:08:13.290 institutional church. Is what they mean. I listen to sermons on the Internet, 93 00:08:16.129 --> 00:08:22.569 I play good music on my handheld device into my ear buds and I 94 00:08:22.730 --> 00:08:24.930 hang out with my friends at the coffee shop. Isn't that what church is 95 00:08:24.930 --> 00:08:31.360 all about? Well, no, it isn't. And most of all, 96 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:33.919 the church is not something I created my pleasure. It's something God creates by 97 00:08:33.960 --> 00:08:39.159 the Gospel. But when Jesus looks on the church, you see something that 98 00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:45.590 he owns, that is his, that he's purchased by his blood. And 99 00:08:45.710 --> 00:08:50.509 when he looks on Covenant Presbyterian, He sees a group of people and he 100 00:08:50.629 --> 00:08:58.779 says to them you are mine, I own you. He looks on us 101 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:03.299 and he says, I have purchased you, you belong to me. And, 102 00:09:03.659 --> 00:09:09.929 most amazingly, he is not ashamed to call us his people. So 103 00:09:11.090 --> 00:09:15.490 he owns US completely and and in owning us, he places his name on 104 00:09:15.570 --> 00:09:20.330 us. Secondly, he's purifying the church. Now she is clearly a blemished 105 00:09:20.409 --> 00:09:24.320 bride, that but she is becoming unblemished. Christ love the church, says 106 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:28.000 Paul, and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her, having 107 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.720 cleansed her by the washing of the word. And a little later, no 108 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:37.320 one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, just 109 00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:46.269 as Christ does the church. I love that phrase. Nourishes and cherishes it's 110 00:09:46.470 --> 00:09:52.710 it's this picture he has here's is a bit unusual. She is his fully 111 00:09:52.830 --> 00:09:56.980 cleansed. She he owns her fully, but she is not just clean, 112 00:09:56.100 --> 00:10:03.460 she is being cleansed. She is righteous and being purified. She is a 113 00:10:03.620 --> 00:10:09.850 finished product and in the midst of being finished as a product. Luther put 114 00:10:09.889 --> 00:10:13.769 it this way, she is both righteous and center at the same time, 115 00:10:13.970 --> 00:10:20.009 and that that kind of gets to the core of the tension that we feel 116 00:10:20.090 --> 00:10:24.240 sometimes with God. It's it's wonderful that God says you were fully accepted and 117 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:28.879 righteous in my eyes through my son, but something we don't feel so accepted 118 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:31.480 because we look at our lives and say so. God says I'm Righteous, 119 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:37.470 but this done looks all righteous. So the church is the same. She 120 00:10:37.590 --> 00:10:41.590 is fully righteous and yet God is sanctifying her, he is cleansing her because 121 00:10:41.789 --> 00:10:46.710 she is both righteous and sinner at the same time. She is holy in 122 00:10:46.830 --> 00:10:54.980 being made holy and he sees all her blemishes. I find that helpful. 123 00:10:54.259 --> 00:10:58.860 Will come more to that at the end, because I'm a proof reader. 124 00:10:58.179 --> 00:11:03.740 You know, proof readers are proof readers are somebody when the student hands the 125 00:11:03.779 --> 00:11:07.610 paper to them and it's still upside down to the proof reader's eyes, they 126 00:11:07.649 --> 00:11:11.610 look across the first page and say there's a Typo on that line. That's 127 00:11:11.649 --> 00:11:18.529 prefer they're looking for the TYPO, the bad grammar. They're not looking for 128 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:22.559 the fact that they're two hundred and forty nine correctly spell words on that page. 129 00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:28.240 Doesn't matter. There's one word that's wrong. That's that's how that's how 130 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:31.639 I tend to be. I look for the blemishes in the church. I'm 131 00:11:31.909 --> 00:11:35.710 I'm well aware the blemishes. I read blogs about the blemishes. Everybody's writing 132 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:39.669 about the blemishes of the Church. The Lord knows all about the blemishes and 133 00:11:39.750 --> 00:11:43.350 he gave himself for a blemish bride and he is in the midst of purifying 134 00:11:43.509 --> 00:11:50.059 her and he is nourishing and cherishing her. I that's that's it, beautiful 135 00:11:50.179 --> 00:12:03.169 language. Jesus is not a drill sergeant. Jesus is not the Master Sergeant 136 00:12:03.289 --> 00:12:09.850 you get in basic training whose primary goal is to break you. It's not 137 00:12:11.009 --> 00:12:20.679 barking orders demanding response. He is nourishing and cherishing. There is not in 138 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:26.759 Jesus an accusing tone. My Wife says there times when I have an accusing 139 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:35.429 tone, even when I say things nicely. There is no accusing tone in 140 00:12:35.470 --> 00:12:39.230 Jesus, there is no angry tone in Jesus. He has never exasperated, 141 00:12:39.269 --> 00:12:46.779 he's never trigger happy. He is loving and nourishing his bride to make her 142 00:12:46.860 --> 00:12:50.460 holy in the washing of water with the word and the and that word, 143 00:12:50.779 --> 00:12:54.220 which is cleansing her, is the word of the Gospel. Paul says, 144 00:12:54.259 --> 00:13:00.490 as you have received Christ the Lord, so walk in Him. What I 145 00:13:00.610 --> 00:13:03.889 need is more of Christ and who he is and what he's done, because 146 00:13:05.009 --> 00:13:09.049 that is what causes me to grow. I am rooted and grounded and established 147 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:13.039 in him. Now we need the law that it is not the law that 148 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:16.879 cleanses us. It is Christ, by the spirit, that cleanses his people. 149 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:22.679 And as we hear of Christ, he changes us, he transforms us. 150 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:28.149 So, yes, Jesus is fully aware of the blemishes the book of 151 00:13:28.230 --> 00:13:33.110 revelation. I hear all the things I commend you for each of the churches 152 00:13:33.149 --> 00:13:35.909 that I have this against you. He sees those, but he already knew 153 00:13:35.950 --> 00:13:41.620 them. They're already factored into his sacrifice on the cross. They're already factored 154 00:13:41.700 --> 00:13:48.740 into the fact that he is sanctifying and nourishing and cherishing his people. So 155 00:13:48.899 --> 00:13:52.299 we are a work in progress, a construction site, a place of purifying 156 00:13:54.059 --> 00:14:00.009 and mature he owns us, he is purifying us now, total makeover, 157 00:14:00.250 --> 00:14:05.889 and he will complete that work. We've just sung that there's a purpose in 158 00:14:07.009 --> 00:14:11.480 his work. He will present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot 159 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:15.840 or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 160 00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:22.000 He will do it someday, the last day. She will be in 161 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:30.750 splendor, that that's glorious, radiant, honored, not despised. There will 162 00:14:30.750 --> 00:14:37.309 be no spot or wrinkle, all imperfections removed. She will be wholly and 163 00:14:37.470 --> 00:14:41.539 without blemish. No flaws will be found in her, and that is not 164 00:14:41.740 --> 00:14:48.779 something that may happen. That is certain. His death and resurrection have shook 165 00:14:48.860 --> 00:14:54.809 secured that outcome for us, his people, and I just find that wonderfully 166 00:14:54.929 --> 00:15:03.529 hopeful. God, God begins with a congregation of people made up of individuals 167 00:15:03.570 --> 00:15:07.159 he has chosen before the foundation of the world, for whom he has given 168 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:11.000 his son, who, by his incarnation, bearing their sin upon the Cross, 169 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:16.919 resurrection and Exaltation, has purchased them and by the spirity calls and forms 170 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:22.149 them into his people, makes them righteous in his eyes, and now is 171 00:15:22.149 --> 00:15:28.750 in the midst of scrubbing her clean and ironing out all the wrinkles and removing 172 00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:35.539 all the blemishes. And his purpose is for our glory. Some day we 173 00:15:35.860 --> 00:15:43.019 will be presented with splendor. Jesus said, we will shine like the sun 174 00:15:45.299 --> 00:15:50.529 in the Kingdom of his father. I just stop think about that a second. 175 00:15:50.690 --> 00:15:56.809 We will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of his father. That 176 00:15:56.009 --> 00:16:03.330 that sounds pretty impressive. That is that is the glory that God intends to 177 00:16:03.370 --> 00:16:06.639 share with us. Jesus said, the glory you have given me, I 178 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:12.879 have given to them. We will be in union with the eternal son, 179 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:22.509 as adopted sons forever. That that is his purpose. We will be his 180 00:16:22.710 --> 00:16:27.950 everlasting bride. A couple of years ago I was I was thinking about this, 181 00:16:29.029 --> 00:16:33.539 this this great glory that awaits us, and I I thought of a 182 00:16:33.580 --> 00:16:37.139 wedding. I recently attended a wedding here in town, Friends of thirty some 183 00:16:37.299 --> 00:16:42.379 years who's youngest daughter God gave her a wonderful husband. She waited patiently for 184 00:16:42.500 --> 00:16:51.090 years and we were all at the the wedding reception afterwards, and you know, 185 00:16:51.169 --> 00:16:53.129 there's a there's a head table with the bride and the groom and the 186 00:16:53.169 --> 00:16:56.289 bride's parents and the groom's parents in some cases, and then they're all the 187 00:16:56.330 --> 00:17:00.720 guests. And Somehow in the back of my mind I always thought at the 188 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:04.680 wedding supper at the lamb we were the guests at the tables. No, 189 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:14.440 we're at the head table, there are no guests, we are the bride 190 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:18.710 at the head table. That that is the place he will give us some 191 00:17:18.829 --> 00:17:27.390 day. So revelation says. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, 192 00:17:27.470 --> 00:17:32.059 coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for 193 00:17:32.259 --> 00:17:38.140 her husband. That is the end we will have and it is certain which, 194 00:17:38.420 --> 00:17:42.700 as I as I look at my life, gives me great hope that 195 00:17:44.180 --> 00:17:47.450 God is not finished. He will complete the work he has done, and 196 00:17:47.609 --> 00:17:51.529 it means as I look at your lives, I can say someday I will 197 00:17:51.690 --> 00:17:56.089 see them and they will be more themselves in absolute purity and they have ever 198 00:17:56.210 --> 00:18:03.920 been. He sees that we, he owns us, he sees he is 199 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:07.279 purifying us and everything is going exactly as he has purposed, and he sees 200 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:12.630 the glory that will be ours. So that's how he sees us. How 201 00:18:12.670 --> 00:18:18.990 do we see the church? How do we see each other? Well, 202 00:18:19.069 --> 00:18:22.589 as soon as I ask that question people say, Oh, he's talking here 203 00:18:22.630 --> 00:18:26.619 about the invisible universal church, not local congregations. Well, that's a nice 204 00:18:26.740 --> 00:18:34.420 dodge, except that doesn't play out in the New Testament. If you follow 205 00:18:34.460 --> 00:18:38.660 the teaching of the New Testament, you find that every local congregation is the 206 00:18:38.779 --> 00:18:44.210 people of God. It is the body of Christ, the bride of Christ. 207 00:18:44.849 --> 00:18:48.170 You are, as a congregation, everything that the church is in its 208 00:18:48.210 --> 00:19:02.079 entirety. Here you are a full expression of the invisible church. Here in 209 00:19:02.119 --> 00:19:06.200 Arizona we have we have these places where rocks kind of erupt out of the 210 00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:08.319 ground, especially as you get up in the mountains. Well, all those 211 00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:14.029 rock formations that are below the ground are, like the church, invisible, 212 00:19:15.109 --> 00:19:19.349 spanning from eight age to age, and these little rocky eruptions are local congregations. 213 00:19:22.670 --> 00:19:30.180 That's you and me. We Are you are the church. Paul says 214 00:19:30.220 --> 00:19:36.779 that even to the Corinthians. So think Highli of how God sees you. 215 00:19:37.140 --> 00:19:41.930 We're just a small group of people. Know, you're the church. You 216 00:19:42.049 --> 00:19:48.210 are the body of Christ here. That's what Jesus sees. Well, how 217 00:19:48.250 --> 00:19:53.440 does that affect attitudes and actions? And this is where I find thinking these 218 00:19:53.799 --> 00:20:00.480 ways as helpful to me, because I tend to look at the church through 219 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:04.200 these eyes, not through the eyes of Christ. I walk by sight, 220 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:10.670 not by faith, and that's really the choice that when I look on the 221 00:20:10.710 --> 00:20:15.309 congregation, when I look on God's people, the Church of which I help 222 00:20:15.390 --> 00:20:18.549 pastor do I see those people as Christes them, or do I see them 223 00:20:18.589 --> 00:20:23.700 as I see them? And I tend to see them as very positive if 224 00:20:23.779 --> 00:20:30.980 they're growing and not causing too many problems, and I tend to see them 225 00:20:30.019 --> 00:20:36.690 as very negative if there are constant source of headaches. Well, that's very 226 00:20:36.849 --> 00:20:41.690 me oriented. You notice that that's not how Jesus sees them. I need 227 00:20:41.730 --> 00:20:47.809 to take my cue from Christ and how he sees the church. His love 228 00:20:47.890 --> 00:20:53.200 for the church shapes my attitudes and expectations. Now I don't know if it's 229 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:57.680 true here. I I doubt in this congregation that this would be initial bit. 230 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:06.950 You never know. Sometimes we become disillusioned with the church. Sometimes will 231 00:21:06.990 --> 00:21:14.069 become very disillusioned with the church, very disappointed with God's people. And here's 232 00:21:14.109 --> 00:21:17.869 how I picture it. When we're disillusioned, are critical of the Lord's bride. 233 00:21:18.069 --> 00:21:22.859 I pictured as a wedding ceremony and the groomsmen come with the groom and 234 00:21:22.940 --> 00:21:26.380 they stand in the fraud and the bride'smaids begin to come and the maid of 235 00:21:26.460 --> 00:21:30.900 honor comes and finally the bride appears and she walks down the island. She 236 00:21:32.059 --> 00:21:37.210 stands there next to the groom with her father on her father's arm. And 237 00:21:37.490 --> 00:21:40.890 and here's what I picture. The best man's watching this whole thing and and 238 00:21:41.009 --> 00:21:47.920 this would be he pictures the person who's critical of the Church and he watches 239 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:51.440 this whole thing and he turns to the groom and says, I don't know 240 00:21:51.480 --> 00:21:56.440 what you see in her. How do you think that groom would respond to 241 00:21:56.519 --> 00:22:03.190 that? And yet when we look on a local congregation or even the wider 242 00:22:03.230 --> 00:22:10.109 church and we say how ugly she is, how unattractive she is, how 243 00:22:10.230 --> 00:22:15.549 full of fault she is, we're insulting the groom and the groom is Jesus 244 00:22:15.859 --> 00:22:18.859 and it doesn't really matter what I think, it matters what he thinks. 245 00:22:25.019 --> 00:22:30.250 Christ sees the Church as he does and that's supposed to condition how I see 246 00:22:30.609 --> 00:22:37.450 a couple of years ago going through some very, very disillusioning experiences with a 247 00:22:37.490 --> 00:22:48.000 congregation wrestling with the question of when Randi and I just go sit in the 248 00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:55.319 back row of a mega church and disappears. Very appealing about this time and 249 00:22:55.440 --> 00:23:00.230 a friend of mine said, does Jesus still have his name on the Church? 250 00:23:02.589 --> 00:23:04.670 Well, yeah, well it is. He still own the churches as 251 00:23:04.750 --> 00:23:08.309 people? Yeah, is he still commit at it, to the Church and 252 00:23:08.470 --> 00:23:14.940 working in it with all their faults and flaws? Well, yeah, well 253 00:23:14.980 --> 00:23:19.940 then you can't abandon her because you take your cues from Jesus, not from 254 00:23:21.180 --> 00:23:26.809 how hurt you've been. So that's what I'm that's what I think the passage 255 00:23:26.809 --> 00:23:32.609 says. I need to see and love and cherish the church as Jesus sees 256 00:23:32.650 --> 00:23:41.009 and loves and cherishes the church. Alongside of this is realizing that when Jesus 257 00:23:41.089 --> 00:23:47.279 looks on the world, his eye is on his bride. So the church 258 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:51.119 is not something that gets the dregs of my energy in my heart and my 259 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:57.710 soul after I got done with all the important stuff. Eugene Peterson is paraphrase 260 00:23:57.789 --> 00:24:03.069 of Ephesians. The end of Ephesians one has as these wonderful words. After 261 00:24:03.069 --> 00:24:06.990 he talks about the exultation of Christ. Over all principalities and powers. He 262 00:24:07.390 --> 00:24:11.900 says at the center of all this Christ rules, the church, and then 263 00:24:11.980 --> 00:24:17.019 this wonderful phrase. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the 264 00:24:17.180 --> 00:24:26.210 world. The world is peripheral to the church, and that's stunning. So 265 00:24:26.849 --> 00:24:33.130 take all the stuff of Congress and three point five trillion dollar reconciliation bills and 266 00:24:33.690 --> 00:24:37.450 elections and COVID supply chain problems, global economy, civil rights, social justice, 267 00:24:37.490 --> 00:24:45.279 cancel culture and put them in the scales and they don't weigh anything next 268 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:52.990 to the church. Nothing. They're peripheral. That what God is doing in 269 00:24:52.069 --> 00:25:00.630 the world. So when God looks on the world, the headlines He writes 270 00:25:00.710 --> 00:25:03.589 are not what you'll find in any major news outlook, conservative or liberal. 271 00:25:06.630 --> 00:25:11.339 The illustration I gave a couple weeks ago for this was the headline in Luke 272 00:25:11.339 --> 00:25:15.180 Chapter Two, as Caesar Augustus gives a decree that everybody has to report to 273 00:25:15.259 --> 00:25:19.339 their hometowns to be taxed. That's the headline. That was big news. 274 00:25:21.730 --> 00:25:26.170 God's headline is Caesar Augustus gives a decree that sends Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem 275 00:25:26.329 --> 00:25:33.410 some Messiah can be born. That's God's headline, and I guarantee you nobody 276 00:25:33.450 --> 00:25:41.920 in Rome cared one whit about it. So Jesus que about how he sees 277 00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:44.799 the church shapes how I see the church. The importance he gives of the 278 00:25:44.839 --> 00:25:49.269 church shapes the importance I give to the church. Where is the church in 279 00:25:49.390 --> 00:25:55.910 my affections? Now? I'm not saying your daily callings are insignificant. In 280 00:25:56.029 --> 00:26:03.190 those callings you serve Christ, but those callings will some day go away. 281 00:26:03.230 --> 00:26:07.019 In the church will not. So what place does the Church have? Do 282 00:26:07.180 --> 00:26:11.180 you, it's one of my good friends used to say to you, build 283 00:26:11.180 --> 00:26:14.180 your life around the church, or do you have the church is one of 284 00:26:14.259 --> 00:26:25.450 the things around that orbits your life? It's good question. Christ loves the 285 00:26:25.490 --> 00:26:29.609 church with all its blemishes. So should we. Christ makes the is seize 286 00:26:29.690 --> 00:26:32.849 the church as the center of his work in the world and he wants us 287 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:36.519 to love the church and make priority of the Church and the work of the 288 00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:45.799 Church as he does. But the church will always be a mixed bag in 289 00:26:45.960 --> 00:26:52.309 this age while he is purifying it. Eugene Peterson put it this way many 290 00:26:52.349 --> 00:26:57.069 years ago. Ordinary congregations are God's choice for the form the church takes in 291 00:26:57.230 --> 00:27:03.420 locale and pastors of the persons assigned to them for ministry saying. Paul talked 292 00:27:03.460 --> 00:27:06.779 about the foolishness of preaching. I would like to carry on about the foolishness 293 00:27:06.819 --> 00:27:11.779 of congregations. Of all the ways in which to engage in the enterprise of 294 00:27:11.900 --> 00:27:15.009 church, this has to be the most absurd. This haphazard collection of people 295 00:27:15.049 --> 00:27:19.970 who somehow get assembled into pears on Sundays, halfheartedly saying a few songs. 296 00:27:21.009 --> 00:27:23.329 Most of them don't like tune in and out of a sermon according to the 297 00:27:23.369 --> 00:27:27.730 state of their digestion, and the preachers decibel's awkward in their commitments and Jurk 298 00:27:27.849 --> 00:27:33.599 he in their prayers. Sounds like every congregation I've been part of. But, 299 00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:37.400 says Peterson, the people and these peers are also people who suffer deeply 300 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:41.599 and fine God and their suffering. These are men and women who make love 301 00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:45.029 commitments and are faithful to them through trial and temptation, and bear fruits of 302 00:27:45.109 --> 00:27:52.589 righteousness, Spirit fruit the blesses the people around them. That's what Jesus sees. 303 00:27:52.789 --> 00:27:56.309 He knows the blemishes, but he is at work in the midst of 304 00:27:56.349 --> 00:28:03.099 it. The churches at construction project that helps me get my expectations right. 305 00:28:03.180 --> 00:28:11.740 I've been on construction projects are messy. There you need a hard hat because 306 00:28:11.779 --> 00:28:15.730 they're shouting and noises and power tools and dirt and scraps of wood and bumps 307 00:28:15.769 --> 00:28:25.170 and scrapes. That's the nature of a Church and Christ is nourishing his church 308 00:28:25.329 --> 00:28:33.599 and cherishing his church. So behind this gathering, behind whatever community life you 309 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:38.440 share, behind common meals, behind session and pastoral care of this church, 310 00:28:38.599 --> 00:28:47.630 is Christ who is using all that to nourish and cherish his people. So 311 00:28:47.789 --> 00:28:52.549 what the Lord is getting in your regular gatherings, as Christopher preaches as a 312 00:28:52.750 --> 00:28:57.140 nert, is nourishing and cherishing you as his people. Christopher is an instrument, 313 00:28:59.339 --> 00:29:03.140 but behind it all is the Lord of Glory who loves and cares for 314 00:29:03.339 --> 00:29:12.089 and nourishes and cherishes you. He is intent on bringing you to the fullest 315 00:29:12.170 --> 00:29:18.769 maturity and perfection. Someday, and finally, someday the church will be finished 316 00:29:18.769 --> 00:29:25.720 in pure and that gives me reason to endure. One day the church will 317 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:29.440 be complete, which is why why Paul and First Corinthians writing too, the 318 00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:33.200 most troubled church in the New Testament, look forward to the day when God 319 00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:38.029 would be faithful and she would be perfected and that informed his present perspective on 320 00:29:38.190 --> 00:29:44.150 that Church. He had not lost hope, even though there was lots of 321 00:29:44.430 --> 00:29:48.789 dirt and grime and grittain shouting going on in the church at that time. 322 00:29:48.869 --> 00:29:55.180 There's a messy construction site. But Paul saw God at work and so he 323 00:29:55.339 --> 00:30:03.660 endured, he persisted to love and serve and care and forgive all of God's 324 00:30:03.660 --> 00:30:11.170 people in the local congregation because Christ was at work there. So you and 325 00:30:11.250 --> 00:30:19.250 I have this incredible honor of being objects of God's saving, electing grace in 326 00:30:19.410 --> 00:30:23.519 which everything about us is fully known and already factored into the equation. I 327 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:27.240 never look up at the Lord and say, did you know I was going 328 00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:32.319 to do that? Did you know those people in the church we're going to 329 00:30:32.359 --> 00:30:37.990 do? That already factored in. He has loved, he has given his 330 00:30:37.150 --> 00:30:41.069 son for he has fully accepted her as righteous. He is at work to 331 00:30:41.190 --> 00:30:45.869 perfect her and someday she will stand as the bride of his son forever and 332 00:30:45.950 --> 00:30:49.900 glory. And everything about how I see and respond to other believers in the 333 00:30:51.019 --> 00:30:55.980 context of the congregation is shaped by that and not by what my I see, 334 00:30:56.539 --> 00:31:03.490 by what he sees. We are the beloved of God. That the 335 00:31:04.089 --> 00:31:10.970 person in this congregation that you may find difficult to get along with. I'm 336 00:31:11.329 --> 00:31:14.730 I don't know if you have that problem here, like every other believer in 337 00:31:14.809 --> 00:31:17.769 every church I've been part of, but that person is beloved of God. 338 00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:25.440 God is at work in them as part of this congregation, and someday they 339 00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:33.269 will be presented as part of his bride in perfected glory. So give thanks 340 00:31:33.349 --> 00:31:37.829 to God and think often of his great love for you is his people, 341 00:31:38.269 --> 00:31:42.630 and then turn and reflect that great love to each other, with all your 342 00:31:42.670 --> 00:31:47.779 faults and flaws. Join me as we pray