Sanctifying Love
Being the Bride of Christ • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewWhat Jesus has done for His bride: Sanctifying Love
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we began a series titled Being the Bride of Christ.
In this series we are going to answer three questions:
What Jesus has done for His bride, which initiates the relationship between Christ and His bride.
What Jesus does for His bride, focusing on what He is constantly doing for His bride.
What His bride does because of His love, which is the reasonable response of His bride because of what He has done and what He continually does.
Unlike my typical sermons, each week we will start in Ephesians 5:22-32, but then we will look at another text that illustrates the truth we find in Ephesians.
Last week we saw the first thing this passage in Ephesians tells us about what Jesus has done for His bride: He sacrificed Himself for His bride.
“…as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...”
This morning we are going to see that Jesus not only sacrificed Himself for His bride, but He also sanctifies His bride.
Body: Ephesians 5:25-27 & John 20:19-21
Body: Ephesians 5:25-27 & John 20:19-21
Verses 25-27
By way of reminder, the focus of this passage is the marriage relationship.
However, look at verses 31-32:
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
Paul states here that within the marriage relationship there is a beautiful illustration of Christ and His church, as well as the other way around.
Thus, we are focusing on the relationship between Christ and the church in this passage, not necessarily the husband and wife…though the church is seen throughout as Christ’s bride.
…that he might sanctify her...
To sanctify means to make someone or something dedicated to God.
Specifically, when it comes to people it’s to make one morally pure so that person can be dedicated to God.
Jesus completed the work on the cross, bringing us into an exclusive relationship with God as His New Covenant people.
And this is not without a purpose, as we shall see.
But sanctified is fascinating because there is an already/not yet component to it:
We are sanctified in Christ because of His completed work on the cross, but we are also being sanctified as He grows and develops us more into His likeness through the work of the Holy Spirit.
…having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word...
This part can cause a little trouble because we might say, “Wait, He cleansed us through His blood, not through water!”
You are correct. But what Paul is doing here is he’s continuing the theme of Christ’s love for the church as an illustration for the marriage covenant. Thus, he’s likely pointing back to the bridal bath, common before Jewish and Greek weddings.
Basically, like a bride being prepared for her husband, the church is washed clean by the Gospel, which as we saw last week, was fulfilled at the cross.
Cannot be a reference to baptism, because no where in Scripture does baptism cleanse a person of his or her sins. It is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that a person receives forgiveness of his or her sins.
…so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish...”
The purpose of that cleansing was to present His bride as pure and blameless to Himself.
As we talked about last week, it’s not possible for us to be blameless through our own efforts.
Remember our last series from Galatians: we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone.
We see the culmination of this in Revelation:
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
I love how John Stott put it:
“‘Glory’ (doxa) is the radiance of God, the shining forth and manifestation of his otherwise hidden being. So too the church’s true nature will become apparent. On earth she is often in rags and tatters, stained and ugly, despised and persecuted. But one day she will be seen for what she is, nothing less than the bride of Christ, ‘free from spots, wrinkles or any other disfigurement’ (JBP), holy and without blemish, beautiful and glorious. It is to this constructive end that Christ has been working and is continuing to work. The bride does not make herself presentable; it is the bridegroom who labours to beautify her in order to present her to himself.”
That is what the sanctifying work is building towards.
And yet, there is more. Because He has sanctified and is continuing to sanctify us for the wedding feast to come, but also to fulfill His purposes today.
For that, let’s look at John 20...
John 20:19-21
Let’s attempt to understand this scene for a minute. The disciples are hiding out in Jerusalem. Why?
Because they were illogically afraid that they might get arrested too. There is no indication anyone was looking for them…and the first chapter of Acts suggests to me that no one was looking for them at all…but isn’t that the way we can be sometimes…
So the disciples are bravely hiding out, when Jesus shows up in spite of the locked door.
Don’t try to read something that isn’t there. It doesn’t say he materialized through the door…we don’t know. Don’t answer questions that the text doesn’t answer…
Plus, you miss the point when you do that. The point being:
Jesus greets them with vitally important words for them to hear: Peace be with you.
While it is true that his greeting is typical of the culture, there is more to it than a simple, “Hi, how’s it going?”
Shalom…Which means God’s peace…it’s peace with the absence of sin...
It’s much more like greeting someone with a saying like “God’s blessings upon you.”
This was important for a number of reasons:
First, remember, the disciples had abandoned Jesus. They probably expected a rebuke, or worse, a curse! Instead, Jesus extends them peace.
Second, all of them needed the peace of God. Imagine the fear they lived in…suddenly Jesus appears to extend God’s peace to them.
Third, this is the first time in history that someone was extended true and lasting peace…that is peace with God. Jesus is the only one who can really give true shalom! This is peace with God.
If ever a group of guys earned losing their standing with God, it was them. If anyone earned not having peace with God, it was them.
But Jesus extends forgiveness to the unworthy.
Bringing us back to our points that Jesus sacrificed Himself for His bride and sanctifies His bride!
In verse 20 Jesus confirms that he isn’t a ghost or a mass hallucination, then in verse 21 he commissions them to the Gospel ministry.
This is that second part of His bride being sanctified.
As the Father sent Jesus with a purpose, so Jesus is sending his disciples with a purpose.
Christians are a sent people. Jesus has sent us with a similar mission that he had: to seek and save the lost.
Of course, we don’t “save the lost” as Jesus did, but we most certainly must tirelessly point sinners to the only one who can save them.
What does this require?
We have to go…
Nothing in Scripture suggests that Christianity is a wait here and hope they come to faith…Field of Dreams mentality...
The early church could have waited in Jerusalem, hoping God would send people their way. They did not, because they we commissioned to go.
I heard a great message years ago that put this in perspective. It’s about the difference between being committed and surrendered…(most in church are committed to seeing the lost come to Christ, but only a few are really surrendered…)
We have to go to sinners…
Friends, this is messy and difficult…(Lost people act lost!)
But we must be mindful that Jesus himself set the standard: I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners!
We have to go to sinners with the purpose of them being saved…
Not to have peace within themselves or to join our organizations, but to be saved!
We talk a lot in our church about infiltrating into the community for the sake of the Gospel...
We are sanctified and are being sanctified for a purpose. Not simply to be nice people; not simply to have hope about the afterlife. It’s not so we can create organizations to wipe out hunger, to save people out of soul crushing lifestyles, or to make society a better place. All those things are amazing and highly encouraged. But, we have been sanctified and are being sanctified so that we can impact others with the Gospel. “…even so I am sending you.” Do something great as a person sent with the life-changing message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and you truly will make an impact for Him in this world!
So What?
So What?
To be a sanctified person who is being sanctified, you must first receive forgiveness of your sins in Christ Jesus...
Next, a sanctified person is a sent person...
Finally, a sanctified person needs a community of other sanctified people...
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