Becoming the Bride of Christ

Well, thank you, Mr. Storrs. Once again, good afternoon, everyone. This is a tough time of year with the sun out like this. I feel like the Wizard of Oz, who'd pay no attention to the people behind the curtains. Everybody's out there enjoying the sun and out playing in the school playground behind us. You know, when I taught school, most of my windows were all on the, you think now, this side, right side of my classroom. And it was easy enough when there was significant events going on outside like snow to just pull the curtains and close them. You know, terrible teacher in that sense. Mr. Lein, it's snowing! No, it's not.

Close the windows. But we never see snow! Yeah, well, you don't study science either, so let's work on that instead. So this is easier, though. All the distractions are behind me, so that works out pretty good, you know, on the other sides of our curtains. So that works out well. Well, Shannon and I became parents in 2007. My oldest son, Aidan, is turning 17 this year. It's hard to believe. It's hard to believe. But here we are. Here we are! As a parent, you know, when they're young, your focus remains on the things that are relevant, you know, kind of age-relevant by and large. There's certainly some forward thinking. There's future planning that takes place. But, you know, when your child's only a year or so old, you're not too concerned about what college they're going to attend, what career they're going to choose. You're not really considering those things necessarily at that point in time. When they're first born, your only real focus is what's immediately in front of you, which is sleep. No, I'm kidding. You know you're not sleeping. But your focus is so much more on the immediate. Your focus is so much more on what is right there right now. You're thinking about parenting styles. You're thinking about feeding schedules. You're thinking about trying to ensure that you interact with them enough, that you read to them, that you make sure they spend enough time on their stomach so their head doesn't get shaped weird. You know, there's lots of things you have to think about in that moment, right? There's lots of things that you have to consider. But as they get older, the focus changes a little bit.

Focus changes to driving instruction. Aidan drove us down to services today. Driving instruction, grades, college options. Start thinking about where you're going to go to school and career options. And ultimately, the focus shifts as your priorities shift. And over the past few years, our focus as parents has shifted significantly. And for those of you that have adult children, you understand this all too well. As youth move into adulthood, as they begin to build families, as they begin to have children of their own, as they have careers, and all the things that we've provided to them as parents begin to come to fruition as they apply those principles that they've been taught in their lives going forward. I've not gone through the process of a child selecting a spouse, but for those of you that are older parents, you remember that stage of life all too well. All too well. There may have been some sleepless nights. There may have been some concerns as you realize that at some point in time, someone else is going to hold their precious little heart in their hands. And that person is not you. That person's not you. As a parent, you start to think about maybe what those characteristics of that individual should be, the desired characteristics that you might seek, or someone who might be a good match for your own little baby. Even for those who are not parents, you've likely considered this from a standpoint of characteristics and traits of an ideal spouse, somebody who is specifically sought after, someone whom you've specifically sought after, and hopefully have obtained that person in your own life. What are those characteristics? What are those characteristics that you would seek for someone who would pair with your own children? Or what would be the characteristics of someone that you might seek in an ideal spouse for yourself?

I'd actually like to start this message today with a quick exercise. I'm going to have you take about 30 seconds, about 30 seconds to a minute, and what I want you to do is I want you to jot those characteristics down. I want you to write those characteristics down. First things that come to mind with regards to the ideal characteristics of someone that you would desire to give the hand of your child to, or if you don't have children, the characteristics of a person whom you would desire to give your hand to. What would that person look like? What would that person act like? What would be those characteristics? I'm going to give you some time. I'll stop talking. I'll give you a second to write and think. Okay? 30 seconds to a minute.

If you're thinking about those characteristics, what would be the ideal? What would be the goal? What would that look like in their life, in your life?

I'll give you about another 15 seconds.

I'm going to go ahead and get moving through this. You don't have to stop writing characteristics. If you've still got some on your brain, keep jotting them down. That's fine. But I'm going to move us forward just a little bit. I would venture a guess if I pulled the room that the vast majority of individuals in this room would have a lot of the same characteristics.

I would guess that, by and large, you would have a lot of the same characteristics. Whether it's an ideal husband, whether it's an ideal spouse, whether it's an ideal person as a son-in-law or a daughter-in-law, that would be my guess. That you all would be coming up with very similar lists.

I'm going to guess, and this is... tell me if I got them. These are the ones that I can think of, at least off the top of my head. Someone who has and is continuing to build a solid relationship with God. Probably had a relationship with God on your list. Someone who's loving. Someone who's faithful. Someone who's trustworthy. Someone who's self-controlled. Someone who's a good communicator. Right? That's probably important. Someone who's faithful. Slow to anger. Someone who's willing to lead. Or, depending, willing to step back and let someone else lead. Someone who's affectionate.

A person who's wise in a variety of aspects of life. Someone who's temperate. The list goes on. Now, I'm sure there's some you came up with that I didn't come up with, and I'm sure that there's some that I could come up with that you didn't come up with. But, at the end of the day, when you consider these characteristics, what do they look like in the life of a person that you would be willing to give the hand of your child to? You know, all of us are in the midst of an examination period, leading into this year's Passover season, and each and every one of us who are part of the ecclesia of God, those whom God has called out, are in a betrothed covenantal relationship to his son. We have been betrothed to Jesus Christ as members of the ecclesia. And so, this exercise that we've just undertaken, we want to kind of shift this spiritually and start asking ourselves the question, what are the characteristics that the Father seeks in individuals who would be married to his son? What are the characteristics of the bride that he would be willing to unite his son with? What are you looking for in the characteristics of a spouse for your own children or for yourself? You know, sometimes we look today in society, we consider kind of where we are in society today, the roles of marriage and the expectations within marriage have become blurred in a lot of ways. There's pressures placed upon that union by society, they're based on our own limitations as humans, and as a result, it can sometimes be very difficult for us to see past our own circumstances, to be able to get past the circumstances we're experiencing in our own relationships in order to truly understand the purpose for the existence of the institution. Why it is that God has given us this incredible gift that is marriage. The title of the message today is Becoming the Bride of Christ. Becoming the Bride of Christ. And during this message, what I'd like to do is explore three characteristics that we are expected as a part of that bride of Christ to exhibit. I'd like to start today, as you might expect, by going over to the Book of Ephesians. No surprise there. Over to the Book of Ephesians. And in the Book of Ephesians, what we see the Apostle Paul addressing, we'll be going to Ephesians 5 to begin here today. But in the Book of Ephesians, what we see Paul addressing is a number of things to the brethren that are located in Ephesus. You know, much of the Book of Ephesians deals with the concept and the theme of unity, of getting along appropriately within the relationships that we have, whether as a part of the body, you know, brethren to brethren, whether it's within our marriages, whether it's the relationship of parents to children, of children to parents, or in some cases, even in this particular book, those dealing with the challenges of being a bond servant in a Roman system of slavery. Paul addresses that in the Book of Ephesians as well, that relationship between master and slave. Throughout the book, Paul keeps coming back to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

That's the the root that he keeps coming back to as he goes off into these different branches. He keeps coming back to that as the trunk, so to speak. He comes back to this idea of the sacrifice of Christ, of the grace that we received as a result of that sacrifice. And ultimately, what he begins to look at is the application of that grace, the example, so to speak, as we consider the relationship that we have with our brother or with our sister or with our spouse or with our child. Ephesians 5, we'll go ahead and break into the context, we'll look at his words to husbands and to wives and his admonition and his encouragement for each. Ephesians 5, and we'll begin in verse 22, Paul writes, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the head, verse 23, is, or for the husband, is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their husbands in everything.

Now, this passage over the years has caused a great deal of rankling.

It has put some hairs on end at times, I think, when we read it. I've told this story before, I'm pretty sure, but I recall sitting in a wedding more than about a decade ago now. It's probably been almost 20 years, come to think of it. And it was a wedding of a couple of youth who had grown up in the church, and as often happens in those weddings, they've got friends that are outside the church that attend, and we happen to be sitting the row behind some of those friends who are not in the church. I don't go to a lot of weddings outside of our church's weddings. I don't have too many people outside that I know well enough that I go to weddings that are not performed by our church. And so, I don't know if this is a passage that doesn't get read in other churches or what, but in this case, Mr. Sephoric at the time read the words in verses 23 and 24 regarding submission, and the young lady in the row right in front of us turns to her friend, and I probably a lot louder than she expected to do it, goes, Pshhh, yeah, right! And I laughed, Shannon laughed. We thought that was pretty funny, but she sort of scoffed at this idea of submission and what submission looks like, the whole concept in and of itself. But this concept, this whole concept of submission, wow, that's hard. Wow, that's tough. Willingly placing yourself under the authority of someone else. Willingly doing so is one that is an extreme challenge in society around us today. In fact, when you even bring up the word submission, instantly people have negative connotation. There are negative implications that go along with that word. And our natural proclivity for us as humans, especially here in the United States, we have a very strong emphasis on individual freedoms. We hear the word submission. No, sir, we grab our tricorner hat, we grab our musket, we start throwing tea in the harbor. Forget that, I'm not submitting. No way. But what we see here in the book of Ephesians is that wives are instructed to willingly place themselves under the authority of their husbands, just as we willingly place ourselves under the authority of Jesus Christ. And why do we do that? Why do we do that? Because it's an analogous relationship here. It's illustrating something spiritually with a physical institution.

So Paul begins now moving from what we would consider the physical realm here into more of a blended view. And he fulfills and kind of fleshes out that analogy a little bit more between kind of physical aspects of a covenant, so to speak, and spiritual implications. Verse 25. Verse 25 of Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5 verse 25 says, husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. It goes on in verse 28. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. Verse 29. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.

For we, verse 30, are members of his body, of the flesh and of his bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ in the church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. And so we see a set of principles being put into place here that illustrate that this entire institution of marriage is designed to teach us something far greater. It's designed to teach us something much bigger than just this physical institution here on this earth today. Paul instructs the husbands, husbands love your wives. Well, how? How are we supposed to love our wives? We are supposed to love our wives, Paul goes on to say, as Christ loved the church and sacrificed himself for her. That is the love that we're instructed to provide. Jesus Christ willingly gave his life for his bride. He took her sins. He took her shortcomings upon his shoulders. He did not seek his own will. He gave up his own desires, his own will, submitted himself to the will of the Father, and Jesus Christ gave his all. He gave his life.

And why did he do that? So that he could present her, that church, holy, set apart and different, cleansed by the washing of water, by the Word. That's why we see this institution of marriage here on earth exist. And suddenly what we see is that with this passage, this isn't about our physical relationships anymore. It is! I mean, to a degree it is. But it is so much more than that.

What Paul does is Paul connects the dots. He helps us to see that this is about something much bigger than this institution that we've been provided. Why does a man leave his father and his mother and is joined to his wife and become one flesh? Because that is the model that God put into place for us as humans, to be able to understand the unity and the level of connectedness that we, as members of the church, are to have with our betrothed Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

That's the example that we are provided. And we can get close in this life, in that sense. I mean, the physical analogies break down at some point in time, right? But the physical side of things, we do what we can to be able to truly understand that. In ancient Judea, at the time that these words were written, marriages were largely arranged. That's kind of a foreign concept to us today. There are cultures today who still arrange marriages. India, the Middle East, there are individuals who are parts of arranged marriages. But in ancient Judea, what would take place is the father of the bridegroom would approach the father of a potential bride. And this whole process is so foreign to us today because it's incredibly transactional. I mean, it just feels like a business transaction in many ways when you take a look at it. But what ultimately would take place is they would discuss the father of the groom would come and explain to the father of the bride that he is interested in purchasing the bride for his son. They would negotiate a bride price. In Hebrew, that's known as a mokar. It's a bride price. The bride price would be agreed upon by both fathers for the marriage to be able to take place. That transaction would occur. The bride price would be paid. Then there was something called the matan, which was given by the groom to his bride. So the father actually keeps the bride price, but the bride gets the matan, the gifts that come from the groom itself. Once that negotiation takes place in ancient Judea, the bride and groom had entered into a marriage contract known as a katuba. It's known as a katuba. From that point forward, those two individuals were betrothed. They were engaged to be married, so to speak, but even a little bit more than that. For that engagement or that betrothal to be broken, it required a writ of divorce. It actually required a contractual severing of that contract, so to speak. Now, these two were not yet married. They were not yet married. That would actually not happen until the bride groom had returned to his family's home of inheritance. He'd added on to their home, and he'd returned in this joyous ceremony to collect his bride and to take her to the area where they would be married and have a wedding ceremony or a wedding supper in that scenario. If that sounds familiar, it's because God designed it that way. It's exactly what Jesus Christ is doing right now with us. God the Father is preparing a bride for his son. A bride that has been selected. It's a bride that has been called. It's a bride for whom a great price has been paid. And ultimately, that bride is now awaiting the return of her bridegroom. That bride is us, you and me. So again, we think about the characteristics that God the Father is looking for in a bride for his son. That bride is made up of individuals that have been purposefully selected and provided the opportunity to understand. They've responded to that calling. They've entered into the covenant of baptism. They've received God's Holy Spirit. And they've accepted the blood of Jesus Christ on their behalf. What was our bride price?

It was Christ's blood. That is what bought us. It was the blood of Jesus Christ. That was what was negotiated as a part of that contract, as a part of that covenant that we've entered into. And so for all intents and purposes, once we've accepted that price, once we've undergone the process that formalizes that contract—baptism, so to speak—ultimately, for all intents and purposes, only a writ of divorce could separate us at this point in time from the betrothal that we're experiencing. Jesus Christ has gone to his Father's house to prepare a place for us, as he told his disciples. And at some point in time, he will return and collect his bride. In which then we'll see the wedding supper. We'll see all the other aspects of this process. That's a promise that we have from God. But in the meantime, while we wait, we'll have an active role to play. We'll have things that we need to be doing right now, at this time, in which we're allowing God to shape and mold us into the desired characteristics of a bride for his son. Consider again the characteristics that you wrote down.

Consider again—take a look at your list if they're close. Take a look at that list again.

The characteristics that you wrote down for your own children. How much more the characteristics of the bride that God has selected for his son?

How much more the expectation? How much more of those characteristics?

Let's begin today by turning over to 2 Corinthians 11. We'll take a look at the first characteristic that we're going to explore. We're going to take a look at three. Three specific characteristics there is a laundry list more than this, but we are going to look at three specific characteristics today that we're going to explore as we consider this idea of becoming the bride of Christ. 2 Corinthians 11. We're going to go ahead and pick it up in verse 2 of 2 Corinthians 11.

2 Corinthians 11 in verse 2 says, For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, Paul writing here, for I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow is the servant deceived to Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we've not preached, or if he received a different spirit with which you have not received, or a different gospel with which you have not accepted, he said you may well put up with it.

One of the characteristics of a bride of Christ is that bride of Christ is chaste. She is chaste, not like pursued, but chaste. C-A-J-S-T-E. So Paul is referencing the betrothal of the brethren in Corinth to God. He wants to present them as a chaste virgin to him. He wants to ensure that they are pure, that they are innocent. That is what that word means, ultimately, in Scripture. The Greek word that's used for chaste is the word aginim. It's kind of the root word of the root word agios, which means holy. It means set apart. It means different. And depending on the context, as you take a look at the way this word is translated throughout, you can see it at times translated as chaste.

You can see it sometimes translated as pure or as innocent, blameless. Sometimes it's translated as modest. So you can see it in a lot of different capacities. But in the context here in 2 Corinthians, what Paul is referencing is a purity of mind. It's a purity of mind. It's a chastity of mind, so to speak, which is uncorrupted. It's uncorrupted by a different Christ which has not been preached to them, or which has, sorry, been preached to them. Certainly referencing the challenges of that point in time, the heresies, the divisions among the early church.

What Paul is desiring them to exhibit is an innocence and a purity of mind in the simplicity of the gospel message. They might not fall for the falsehoods, or they might not fall for different teachings or doctrinal issues that may come up, different teachings from what the apostles taught, but that they might be able to be presented to their husband, pure and innocent, uncorrupted.

That's the word means, chased, uncorrupted. And while referencing this particular concept as he does this, this idea of chased behavior or purity, what we can see is it pops up in a number of other places in Scripture in the New Testament. In fact, go to the book of James, over to the book of James.

We just went through this in our midweek epistle study this week in James 3. James 3 contrasts earthly wisdom and the wisdom which is from above. It takes these two concepts, earthly wisdom and the wisdom which is from above, and it ultimately contrasts them. James 3, in verse 13, says, Who is wise and understanding among you, let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. Verse 14, but if you have bitter envy, self-seeking in your hearts, says, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but it is earthly, it is sensual, it is demonic.

Says, for where envy and self-seeking exist, where jealousy, bitter jealousy, actually, that word envy, bitter jealousy, selfishness exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. Verse 17 is where we see the word used, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, it is first chaste, it is this word agnon, it is first pure, then is peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

So James contrasts these two different varieties of wisdom. That which is done through envy, jealousy, bitter jealousy, that which is done through self-seeking, through selfishness, that which is done through boasting and lying against the truth. What James says is that that wisdom, the things which come from that wisdom, are earthly, they're sensual, they are demonic in origin. They have their origin in Satan the devil and his demons. He says envy and self-seeking lead to confusion and they lead to evil.

Instead what we see Paul say is that the wisdom, I'm sorry James here, that the wisdom from above is first agnon, it's first agnon, it's first chaste, it's first pure, it's first innocent, that the foundation of godly wisdom is not corrupted. That it's incorruptible. It is of God and it comes from God. This wisdom is peaceable, it's gentle, it's willing to yield, it's full of mercy, it's full of good fruits, it doesn't show partiality, it doesn't show hypocrisy, and it's sown by peace by those who make peace.

That wisdom, which comes from above, that godly wisdom that James is describing, is a result of God's Spirit dwelling in us and our willingness to yield ourselves to it.

Through us collectively as a body, through us collectively as a bride, submitting ourselves to that pure wisdom from above, collectively as a body, there are going to be fruits that are expressed.

And James lists those fruits. He says the fruits that will be expressed are peace, gentleness, submission to one another, mercy. And you can make a whole laundry list of things that would come specifically from that. But that characteristic of the bride is going to cause a great number of other important characteristics to be expressed. 1 Timothy 5, verses 21-22, I won't turn over there, you can pop it on the screen if you'd like, those of you in the back, the sound guys, you can put it up there if you'd like. That's 1 Timothy 5, 21-22. Paul references this concept again. He tells Timothy that as a Christian, as part of the Bride of Christ, he says Timothy should be pure. He should be separated from, he should not be involved in the sin of others. He says he should not lay hands upon someone too hastily. He says ultimately, Timothy should be impartial and should be without prejudice.

And in doing so, what Paul does is he indicates that this particular purity, if we want to use that word, chastity, I guess we could, could ultimately be something that's affected by rash judgments, something that might be affected by knee-jerk reactions, might be something that could be affected by becoming implicit in the sins of others, for maybe not standing up for what's right. And therefore, what we see is that purity implicates a distinction of separation from that which corrupts. Purity by definition indicates a separation from that which corrupts. Let's go over to 1 Peter 1. In 1 Peter 1, what we see is a description of the inheritance that God has provided for those who believe, ultimately an inheritance for those who are of the household of faith and are of the bride of Christ. 1 Peter 1, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 3. 1 Peter 1 and verse 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, which is reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Yet Peter describes how we are begotten to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that ultimately we are begotten to the hope of an inheritance that is incorruptible, an inheritance that is unable to be tarnished, an inheritance that can't rust, it can't be stained, it can't be destroyed.

It's an inheritance that remains pure and undefiled and has been reserved for us.

What is that inheritance? That inheritance is eternal life in the kingdom of God. It is the marriage supper to Jesus Christ. That is part of that inheritance. It's the inheritance that we've been provided. It's the living hope that we have in the resurrection of Christ, that our husband was made alive and will return to us. And through a number of places in Scripture, as we kind of take a look at various locations in the New Testament, this concept of being undefiled or untarnished or pure is conveyed in a visual metaphor throughout the New Testament. It is conveyed in this concept of white garments. So we kind of see this concept of being pure and being undefiled, untarnished, described as. One of those places is Revelation 3 and verse 4, in the words of the church to Sardis, or in the words to the church of Sardis. That's what I'm trying to say. Christ tells them specifically, there are few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, who have not gotten those garments stained, not put blemishes on those garments. And because they are worthy, he says, they will walk with me in white. And then he explains that those who overcome will be dressed in white. This is what we see in Scripture used to describe this concept. Pure, clean, white, all ways of describing someone who has not been compromised. Who's not corrupted. Who is pure, who is innocent, who is chased. Which, in this case, is a desired characteristic in the Bride of Christ. In fact, our custom today of white wedding dresses comes from this concept. That is why a bride wears white in western weddings. It's from this concept. Let's go over to Revelation 19. Revelation 19, we'll see a reference here, picking up the account in verse 6. Revelation 19 and verse 6, looking forward to this event that we are preparing for as a bride, this inheritance which has been reserved for us. Revelation 19, we'll pick it up in verse 6. Revelation 19 and verse 6 says, And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, as the sound of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. To her it was granted to be a raid in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Verse 9, he said to me, Right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. You know, we see here in this description in Revelation 19 that the bride has made herself ready. The bride of Christ has made herself ready. She's in linen, white and clean, representative of, it says here, the righteous acts of the saints, the collective righteousness of the body, not through our own righteousness, as though somehow we could justify ourselves, or through the grace and the mercy of Christ, as it stated earlier in Ephesians, that he might sanctify, that he might cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, presenting her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy. And without blemish. That comes as a result of a deepened relationship with Jesus Christ. But what we see is that the individual described here in Revelation 19, her wedding garment isn't wrinkled. It doesn't have a big mustard stain down the front of the dress. It's not have spot or blemish. It says she's dressed in linen, white and clean, without spot, without blemish, through the grace and the mercy of Christ, as we yield ourselves to him.

Which brings us to the second characteristic of a bride-to-be for Christ. And that is, that the bride of Christ is submissive to her husband. The bride of Christ is submissive to her husband. You know, it can be very tempting at times to think that these righteous acts of the saints, these white garments that are referenced and presented, are acts that we've done in and of ourselves. You know, sometimes I think it can be really easy to look at it in that sense, that if only we could live a little more circumspectlier, if we could work that much harder to do righteously, that we could somehow pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, so to speak, and earn those white robes. We have a role to play, I want to be very clear, but it's a challenging distinction. It is a challenging distinction. Let's go to Romans 5. Let's go to Romans 5.

Romans 5 is we consider what it is exactly that we are being called to. Romans 5 and verse 18. Romans 5 and verse 18.

Romans 5 verse 18 says, Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, will many be made righteous. Through one man's obedience, will many be made righteous. The righteous acts of the saints, the righteous acts of the body of believers, come about as the result of one man's righteous act, one man's submission and obedience. Now Paul speaks to the actions of Adam and how through one man's sin and judgment ultimately came upon all men, ultimately resulting in the condemnation to death for transgression of God's law, but also, similarly to that, through the righteous act of Christ, through his obedience to the point of death, the saints are made righteous. So is it a result of our hard work? No, and yes. It's ultimately a result of our submission. It is ultimately a result of our submission by submitting ourselves to the mind of Christ that is dwelling in us. God's Spirit working in our lives, yielding our spirit, our own self-will, our own selfish desires, our own humanity, yielding that to the spirit that is dwelling in us, and obeying God is how we maintain that righteousness that is imputed to us by Christ's sacrifice. It is through that process that we maintain the righteousness that is imputed through Christ's sacrifice. Turn over to Colossians 3. Colossians 3. Take a look at Colossians 3 here real quick. We're going to begin in verse 12.

Colossians 3 and verse 12.

Colossians 3 and verse 12.

Apostle Paul writes to those, says, Therefore, as the elective God, holy and beloved, so those whom God has selected, who he set apart and who are deeply loved, says, Put on tender mercies, put on kindness, put on humility, put on meekness, long suffering. Verse 13. Bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Colossians 3 and verse 14. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body as a bride. It doesn't say that, I'm adding that. But as that bride and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Verse 17. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

You know, Paul instructs the church in Colossae how they are to dress.

That the new man is to wear something different than the old man.

There's supposed to be things that are being put on and clothing that new man differently than the new man. Where do these things come from? Do they come from us?

Come from our closet, so to speak? Are these descriptions of the fruit of the spirit of man? When you go back and you look at the description here of tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, is that in our human closet? It's not. It's not. They come from God.

These are things which come from yielding our spirit to God's spirit. They come from us willingly placing our own rebellious human spirit under the authority of our husband. That we place ourselves under the authority of our betrothed and we yield ourselves to him as he has yielded himself to God.

To his wishes.

When we do this, righteous actions will follow in our lives. Does it come from our own power? No. No. Do we play a critical part in the process? Absolutely. Yeah, we do. Yes, we do. It's a challenging distinction, but ultimately our obedience and submission to the spirit of God and to his word is a choice that we all make. In every circumstance, we have a choice. Are we going to yield to our own carnal human spirit? Are we going to yield to the spirit of God in this circumstance? Every one of those choices is one that requires our constant submission to our husband or to our future husband or bridegroom. It also requires a significant recognition of the price that was paid for us. Leave a bookmark here in Colossians. We're going to come back to it here in a little bit. Leave a bookmark here. We're going to go to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 18. Paul builds this argument throughout the book of 1 Corinthians, you know, kind of setting this up so that the concept was clear. And frequently we read this section and we don't continue to read beyond it because it doesn't always seem to make our point, but the two ideas are not mutually exclusive. They are not something that are so distinct that they're separate. They're very much connected in the way that Paul builds this argument. 1 Corinthians 6. We're going to pick it up in verse 18 with Paul telling those in Corinth to flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Verse 19. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? Notice what he says, and you are not your own. You're not your own. For you were bought at a price. We talked about that price earlier. We were bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. We don't belong to ourselves anymore.

Once we've entered into that baptismal covenant, we have agreed to a contractual obligation. We've agreed to be betrothed to a husband. We must submit to that husband. Verse 20. For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods. Which are gods. Now, we tend to stop there. We tend to generally stop there, but if we keep going, Paul actually builds this idea even a little bit further. Why are we not our own? Why are we not our own? 1 Corinthians 7. Now, concerning the things of which you wrote to me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife. Let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to his wife the affection do her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. Verse 4. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and to prayer and to come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But I say this as a concession, Paul says, not as a commandment. Paul continues from the point of us not being our own into a discussion about marriage, submission, and authority. Why are we not our own? Because the wife doesn't have authority over her own body, the husband does. That's what Paul wrote, and vice versa. And I think sometimes we've looked at this and we've kind of said, well, that's kind of purely in a physical sense. This is the I have a headache clause of marriage. But is that solely what he is getting at in this description?

Is that solely what he's getting at? Paul is making a spiritual connection to a physical covenant.

We are not our own. We belong to our husband. The price was paid for us. We were betrothed. We agreed. We said we would be betrothed, soon to be married. And as such, we are not our own.

We must submit ourselves to him because he is the one who has authority over us.

Thankfully, oh, thankfully our bridegroom is perfect. Thankfully, our bridegroom is perfect. He is loving. He is not abusive. He cares for us implicitly. He gave his life for us.

He has done nothing but good for us. We have no reason to rebel. We have no reason to push back. We have no reason not to submit outside of our own human frailties and our own human weakness or our own desire for control, which sometimes does happen. But his will is only for our ultimate good, despite the challenges that we might face in the fulfillment of that will.

And what that brings us to is the final characteristic today of the Bride of Christ.

That is, the Bride of Christ is faithful. Let's go to Malachi 2 and verse 10.

Tucked in there between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New, the book of Malachi contains God's prophecy against Judah's idolatry, against Judah's sin. In some way, it actually gives us a lot of information because it's the last book of the inter-testamental period. It kind of shows us what the mindset of Israel and Judah were as they came out of the Old Testament and then before the New Testament. The book was likely written around 538 to 333 BC. This is kind of a wide range of timeline there. But about 300 years before we see the events, ultimately, of the New Testament pick up, it was written during the reign of the Persian Empire. And in it, God is holding the people of Judah accountable for their actions. God is holding the people of Judah accountable for their lack of faithfulness in him. Malachi 2 and verse 10 says, Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another by profaning the covenant of the fathers? Judah, verse 11, is dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the Lord's holy institution, which he loves.

How did he do so? It states that next. He has married the daughter of a foreign God.

May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, being awake and aware, yet who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts. Verse 13, this is the second thing you do. You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying, so that he does not regard the offering anymore. Nor receive it with good will from your hands, yet you say for what reason, verse 14, because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously. Yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did he not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit, and why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore, take heed to your Spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. The word that is used here in Hebrew for treacherously is bakad, and it translates as treacherously or against the standard.

A number of places in the Old Testament use that word to bring in the concept of unfaithfulness, the words used in the book of Jeremiah to describe unfaithfulness to God, and the implication in its usage there is that it was Judah's harlotry that caused them to be unfaithful to God, her treacherous dealings, the breaking of that marriage covenant in that sense. What we see from history as we go back and we look, Israel and Judah both profane the covenant of their God, the holy institution which he loves, which is a direct reference to marriage.

Judah dealt treacherously with God, breaking that covenant and marrying the daughter of a foreign God, committing adultery such that we see that God actually put her away in Jeremiah. We see that concept being outlined. But what we see is they weren't faithful to their God. They weren't faithful. They were betrothed or married to God, and they decided, I'd rather see other people.

I'd rather see other people. Despite all the good that God had done, despite all the blessings, despite all the things he had poured out, the miracles that he had wrought, it was never enough.

He always wanted more. Something new, something different. You know, his efforts on their behalf didn't really matter. Their desires, their wants, were more important.

Faithfulness to God requires us to put to death these things in our life, these things which are idolatrous in nature. Now, we read the latter part of the passage earlier, but the peace-building up towards the characteristics of the new man in Colossians 3. I'd like to go back there now. So where do you put a bookmark? Colossians 3. We're going to pick it up in the earlier portion of the passage now as he builds the argument toward what that new man should look like. Colossians 3 and verse 1. And I'm going to emphasis here is mine as we go through this. I'm going to emphasize a few things, but emphasis here is mine. Colossians 3 and verse 1 says, If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Verse 2, Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore, put to death your members, which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which Paul says is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. So notice Paul's making a distinction, saying that these individuals in Colossae, they once walked in these things, but that they are now walking in a different way. And that's the idea, again, that he's building towards as he comes into this concept of the new man. But now, verse 8, you yourselves are to put off all of these. Notice this list. And then take a look at the characteristics that you wrote at the beginning.

Anger. Wrath. Malice. Blasphemy. Filthy language out of your mouth.

Do not lie to one another, since you put off the old man with his deeds. I want to stop there for a second. If you knew that the person who was interested in marrying your son or marrying your daughter had a horrendous anger problem, are you going to bless that union? Are you going to willingly hand that person over to somebody who might turn around and pop them in the mouth when they have the first opportunity? Or about somebody who lies to their teeth, never tells the truth. Ever tells the truth. Pathological liar. You going to warn them? You going to tell them to be careful? You going to tell them to run? This is about the characteristics that God is seeking in the bride for His son and what we need to be putting off. Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language.

Probably going to have a warning as a parent, most likely.

Verse 9, it says, Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him.

The new man looks like God. The new man acts like God. Verse 11, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, nor free, but Christ is all and in all, is what we see here, concluding Colossians 3 and verse 11. Faithfulness, as a concept, is both trust and submission. Faithfulness is trust and submission. We're trusting in the goodness of our husband. We're trusting that he has a purpose and he has a plan for our life, even when it gets tough, even when it gets challenging. And we're submitting ourselves to that, despite the challenges. And what we're doing in that submission process is we are yielding our deepest and the most intimate parts of ourselves to him. The deepest and most intimate parts of ourselves to him. And faithfulness to our husband includes a fulfillment of our promise, a fulfillment of that covenant that we've entered into.

Not lying to him or lying to others, that we've put off the old man if we really haven't. That old man's still grasping for those things that we're commanded to leave behind.

An aspect of that transformation is that we will become something new. That we will be yielding ourselves to his spirit within us, willingly, under his authority, not willingly placing ourselves under a sway of a host of other things. Whether that is the authority of ourselves that we're placing ourselves under, whether it's our own desires or the various gods, small g, that our world has created. You look around today, oh, this world is full of gods. Full of things that people spend all their time on, all their focus on. They distract them and remove them from that which is truly important. Things that this world has created that they regularly bow down before. Faithfulness means that we are saving the deepest and the most intimate parts of ourselves for him and for him alone. We may, at times, as we are weak, we may cheat on him. We may have times in which we make a mistake. You know what's incredible is that God will never cheat on us. 2 Timothy 2 and verse 13 states that even if we are faithless, that he is faithful. Even if we are faithless, he is faithful.

We began today by making a list of the characteristics that as parents or as prospective spouses, we would desire to see in the ideal spouse, the ideal daughter-in-law, the ideal son-in-law, the characteristics that make a good partner and lead to an intimate and a loving relationship. How much more important are the characteristics that God is looking for in a bride for his son? The character of his called-out people.

Chastity, submission, forgiveness—these are just three of the characteristics. A long laundry list of characteristics that are expected to be developed in the collective body by the bridegroom, ultimately, and the expectation from our bridegroom and our father as well. In reality, this is just one of a few sample characteristics necessary to become the bride of Christ. There are a whole lot more. Honestly, there's a lot more. In fact, I would kind of challenge you this week as you're kind of going through and doing your study. Look for more of these characteristics. Look for these things that God is looking for. Once your eyes are open to it, you're going to see them everywhere. You're going to see them all over the place. These three, why I chose them, is because they encompass so many others. They encompass so many others. They can almost be—all three of those could almost honestly be summed up in a single concept, and that is submission. A single concept of submission. You know, each of us in marriage relationships that are here on this earth, we're being governed by two distinct but related covenants. Okay, we are being governed by the marriage covenant that we entered into with our spouse before God, right? As we both entered into that marriage covenant. But secondly, we are being governed also by a baptismal covenant that we entered into also individually before God. And the reality is that we cannot fully submit ourselves to the first if we are not fully submitting ourselves to the second. We just can't.

We can't. If we are not yielding ourselves to God in baptism, if we're not yielding ourselves to His Spirit, which has been provided, if we're not fulfilling that promise that we made to God to follow Him, to yield to Him, and to allow His Spirit to change us, we won't be able to fulfill the first in the manner in which God expects us to. In our earthly relationships, if as husbands and wives, we would be able to both fully submit ourselves to God and to one another, and we exhibited the fruit of God's Spirit in every single interaction that we had, a hundred percent of our marital challenges would disappear overnight.

The fact is, we're human and we're imperfect, and we struggle. If our relationships, think about this, if our relationships were governed by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control at all times, never failing, never faltering, instead of self-seeking or selfishness, envy, bitterness, wrath, marital difficulties would disappear overnight. You can't fulfill the first without fully submitting to the second.

What causes the development of that fruit comes from our submission to God's Spirit in our lives. It's that simple and it's that challenging at the same time. It's that simple and that challenging all at the same time. We have to submit ourselves to the Spirit of God that's dwelling in us. We have to rely on that spiritual wisdom that is first pure, remaining unspotted, remaining undefiled, we need to be continually yielding ourselves to the authority of our husband, willingly transforming ourselves as a result of his Spirit dwelling in us, remaining faithful, remaining true to him and to him alone. And brethren, if these three things are in place, if we can do these three things, the rest will follow. If we can do these three things and we can do them well, the rest will follow. And this ecclesia, this bride that we are all collectively a part of, will become a radiant and a glorious bride. And there will be joy indescribable at the union, at the marriage of the Lamb.