“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.” Revelation 19:6-8 (ESV)
As true disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, he is our greatest reward and treasure, but Christ’s great reward and treasure is the church itself. In the Scripture the church is referred to as the bride of Christ and he is referred to as the bridegroom. This analogy makes clear the intimate nature of our relationship with the savior.
Christ loves his church and was willing to lay down his life for her sake. Christ is jealous for his bride and will deal harshly with those who mistreat her. This is also why we are warned against false teachers so much. Jesus loves his church and will build his church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it.
May God have mercy on a man who mistreats another man's bride. We know that the love of Jesus is passionate and powerful, but we also know that he is a jealous God, so how will he treat those who swindle, mistreat, cause to stumble, draw into adultery the bride whom he loves?
The church is the reward of Christ’s sufferings and we must reverence the bride as such. As part of that bride we must live holy, pure and undefiled lives as we await the bridegroom’s arrival. Also, as those entrusted with caring for the bride as brothers and sisters in the same body, we must take care of each other as well.
Don’t confuse the visible church with the true church. There are many false prophets and false teachers and false converts who claim Christ but do not really belong to him and often these wolves in sheep’s clothing will use terminology about keeping unity in the body of Christ to keep you from warning others about them.
They will say things like “don’t bring discord” or “you are causing division in the body” but this is taking the Scripture out of context just like the devil did in his temptation of Christ. We must be divisive when people preach a different gospel or twist the Scriptures. When preachers claim Christ, but preach a different gospel or twist the Scriptures, out of love and care for the bride we must cry out, wolf! Jesus tells us to watch out for them and also lets us know that we will know them by their fruit.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” Matthew 7:15-20 (ESV)
Not only are there false teachers and false prophets who want to ravage the bride but equally as bad are those who defend them. There are many things we can disagree about and still be brothers and sisters in Christ, but the gospel isn’t one of them and neither is the inerrancy of God’s Word.
A person who doesn’t think anyone should ever be called out for being a false teacher is not someone you should trust, because the Bible tells us the exact opposite. We must be sober in our judgements and make them according to Scripture and prayer, with godly counsel, and the gospel in mind, but nonetheless we must warn the sheep when we think we see a wolf among them.
The purpose of the Christian life is to worship the Lord in a biblically prescribed manner that is pleasing to God, and the purpose of the church is to do this corporately. We were built to live in communion with God and community with each other. As believers we must be unified under the truth and under Christ who is truth. Unity among true believers is powerful and beautiful, not because there is power in our numbers as much as that there is power in the common cord to which we cling, who is Christ.
This unity is something that transcends the loyalty that we have to even our own natural family, because we are now part of a new family that is eternal to whom we are connected through the saving grace of our Lord Jesus. Jesus himself models this concept when dealing with his own earthly family.
“While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’” Matthew 12:46-50 (ESV)
This is great evidence that you truly belong to God, that you identify with his elect more than you do with your earthly family. The love of God will be apparent in the love you have for God’s people. Let me be clear, I am speaking about true Christians, not all people in the world. We do show God’s love for those outside the church, but we show it in an evangelistic way. Our loyalty as Christ’s church is firstly to God and then secondly to each other.
The apostle John talks about this in his first epistle. He makes it clear that if you don’t love your brother or sister in Christ it is because you are not in Christ. Love is the first evidence or fruit of the Spirit verifying that the Spirit of God lives inside of you. This love we have for the church and for each other is a gift given to us in regeneration, this is a gift given from God himself when he gives us a new nature.
“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” 1 John 2:9-11 (ESV)
Through John’s Gospel and his epistles, he uses the imagery of darkness and light to make a clear distinction between those who are truly part of the family of God and those who are not. There is no greater juxtaposition than that of darkness and light. There is no clearer way of saying either you are in Christ or you are not.
Love for the church and fellow believers is obviously something that is nonnegotiable, but it is really deeper than that. John is essentially describing two opposite natures, one that loves God and the desires to please him and one that loves sin and lives to please themself.
If you claim to be in the light but hate a brother or a sister you are still in darkness, meaning you are not truly saved and you do not really belong to Christ. Hatred for your fellow believer is evidence to that. That doesn’t mean that you won’t ever have disagreements with fellow believers or that you will never get upset with fellow believers, it means that although these things will happen, because of your common faith in Christ, your love for God and for each other should transcend your disagreement.
John says, “Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing to make them stumble.” So, if you have been raised to life in Christ and your eyes have been opened and you have died to the treasures of this world and died to yourself then what is left to stumble over? Nothing!
The love of God transforms us, it gives us a supernatural love for the church and our fellow believer, it makes us mourn for the lost who are perishing even when they marginalize us and even when they mock and persecute us, because our eyes are opened to a reality we know theirs are not.
We see all things in life in light of the grace we have received from God in the gospel. The true church of Christ is unified by our deep love and commitment to our Savior and the gospel by which he saved us. The gospel is the unbreakable bond of the church. We are united with Christ in his sufferings and in his death so that we may also be united with him in his resurrection.
“… that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:10-11 (ESV)
In Christ,
Pastor Joshua
Joshua West is a pastor, evangelist, and author. He is also director of the World Challenge Pastors Network.
