My Bride

I waited nervously but with such excitement I couldn't help but smile. I had a grin on my face that would not go away and I cherished every minute. When she arrived the smile (or stupid look) on my face only got bigger. My mind ran through the past 5 years: the good, the rough, the laughter, the prayers, everything that it took to get us to this point. Finally before friends, family and those closets to us, we stood before God and made vows and promises to look like Christ. This picture in my mind is of me waiting for my bride to come down the aisle at my wedding. It is probably one of the clearest and most amazing pictures I have of that day. I have read several books about Christ and his bride, I have heard many sermons on the bride of Christ, but it never really came full circle until I got married.

The wonderful thing about marriage is that it truly models our Lord ( or it should). It is the best picture to Christ that I have experienced to date.

Marriage and wedding were a vital picture in Scripture:

Matthew 25:1-10 Jesus uses a parable of 10 virgins waiting for the bridegroom to return.

Ephesians 5:22-31-Model of husband and wife with Jesus' love.

Revelation 19:7--Where the wedding of the lamb and his bride (the church) is beginning.

Revealation 21:2--Where the new city of Jerusalem is described as the bride.

I would like to focus my excitement described earlier through John 3:29:

"The bride belongs to the bridegroom...... He must become greater and I must become less."

Now (and this is important) contextually John is speaking about the role that he plays, as many thought that he was the coming Messiah. John refutes this claim by stating it clearly in 3:28, then using a picture of a wedding as his example. Here he wants to illustrate that he is not the Messiah (bridegroom) but rather the best man (or friend). He finishes this up by stating that "He (Jesus) must become greater and I must become less."

But I also love this verse in terms of my own wedding because of the picture it creates:

"The bride belongs to the bridegroom."

The bride (the church) belongs to Christ and to Him alone. No one else can claim the bride as she belongs to her groom. I couldn't imagine my bride belonging to someone else. It would seem absurd (and I would have to pull out the old guns from the gun show--guns being my arms--yes I know) and she would know it. The joy that my heart felt seeing my bride was not simply "oh she looks pretty"(though she did), but that soon she would be mine. I would belong to her and she would belong to me. We are united as one (Hebrew echad).

"He must become greater and I must become less." Now in no way is my wife greater than me (though she may think so) but I find the more I walk with Christ I also have noticed that being a good, godly husband requires a lot of death to self (Eph. 5:22-25). A continuous death to the selfishness that I naturally run to and to where I can no longer stand alone, nor be the center of attention. Marriage requires a lot of adjustments and sacrifices as you fully incorporate a person in to your life. The way you sleep, what you eat, sometimes how you eat it, when you go out, how your day looks, your thoughts about your future, where you will move and giving up who you are so that you may love that person better.

Our walk with Christ is no different: we give up our old self, which Christ crucified with his life, to live the new regenerated self. (Eph. 4:22-24; Gal. 5:24; 2 Cor. 5;17). Similar to John's statement about Jesus can be said of the marriage: I must become less....my thoughts, my wants, my desires, become less in terms of not being the center of everything (or atleast I ask my wife first) so that I can love her and lift her up to Christ and vice versa.

This is why the picture of marriage to me is so beautiful. It exudes the gospel, it overflows with the pictures of Christ being married to his bride, caring for her, loving her, and dying for her. My biggest prayer since being engaged is that my marriage will look like Christ, and be a sweet aroma and example to believers and non-believers. (2 Cor. 2:15)

Be Blessed

Common Phrases

It has been awhile since I have had the ability to write here. Many things have happened and naturally I have been trying to keep up with all the things that occur in life. I was married to my best friend about a month ago, had a wonderful honeymoon and currently learning a lot through married life. I will write something on this soon, but today I want to cover something I think that as a Christian I have come into contact more frequently than people who blatantly hate the church or Jesus. I am speaking about common phrases that we hear and I want to choose one of them today.
As a pastor I talk to many people, but sometimes I talk to people who tell me they believe in God or Jesus but they simply: "don't believe in organized religion." How many of you have heard this before? I hear this phrase more often then others. This phrase bewilders me because there usually is never an actual explanation as to what they mean by that statement.

Is it I don't like worship services?
Is it I don't like people who worship?
Is it I don't like organized bodies of people singing, hearing God's word, and fellowship?
Is it I don't like those hypocrites in the building singing and praising?

Whatever it is it has never been clearly defined and every person has their own take on what "organized religion" is. Either way they don't like it.

Here are some insights to consider:
1. Defining organized religion:
If by organized religion you mean church then you must understand that the church is one body. If you do not like worship services, which are designed to put our hearts and minds focused on Christ as a collective local body, then you do not have a problem with religion you have a problem with worship.

2. We are called to meet together corporately.
I wrote about this a while ago so for the sake of not repeating myself the author of Hebrews encourages the body of people to" not neglect meeting together as some people do..."(Hebrews 10:25). Here the author has laid out for the community to motivate one another to love, to good acts, to affirmation in Christ as the whole context of the passage is to persevere especially as the "day of his return draws near."(NLT) Some people had already abandoned the community and stopped meeting corporately. There is strength in numbers, and fellowship is vital for a community to grow. The early church set this standard--Read Acts 2:42-47, 5:32-36.

3. Finally this statement is a mask for idolatry:
If someone loves Christ, serves Christ, worships Christ, wants to see Christ exalted, wants to grow in Christ they will not make a statement like this. It doesn't say your church is perfect but that you want to worship corporately with believers, and work to bring people into the kingdom through coporate missions, tithing, discipleship, etc. It is a group effort through the power of One God: Jesus Christ. But this statement also reveals that the problem again isn't the church but something deeper: our idols.

The idol of experience: "Well I had a bad experience about 15 years ago and I haven't been back!"

The idol of mismanaged time: "We stayed up really late on Saturday hanging out with friends and so it just would have been too hard to get up."

The idol of sleep/laziness: "I just wanted to sleep in today. I stayed out late, or was up watching a movie or I just wanted to have a "me" day Ten in the morning is just too early."

The idol of work: "I decided to go into work today so I could get some overtime or time and a half or just to get extra hours."

The idol of sports: "I didn't want to miss the Redskins play today! Its football season!

The point is we make room for a lot of things that we know "moth and rust will destroy" (Matt. 6:19) yet we make excuses for worship, fellowship and growth.

4. A church must be organized:
Lastly, we are an organized church body because, "God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God’s holy people (1 Cor. 14:33---keep in mind this is used in context about the disorder and lack of organization of the church's use of tongues). Paul encourages organization by selecting leaders (elders, overseers--1 Tim. 2, 1 Peter. 5:1-3; Titus 1:1-5) to run things along with deacons to help get ministries and people cared for. So organization is a good thing for the church body. If they have a problem with simply religious stuff, well then so do we. Come join us for worship of our Creator, our Savior, Our Lord in whom we have a relationship beyond anything religion could ever give you. Folks someone who loves Jesus, serves Him and worships Him will want to be around people like Him, and in a place that worships Him.

Be Blessed.

Tempted and Tried

I read a lot of books. Sometimes I think I have too many--my wife would agree! But there are certain books you read that not only impact you from an intellectual level but from an emotional and spiritually one too. Professor and pastor Russell D. Moore's book Tempted and Tried is that kind of book. I recently finished this book and was convicted, encouraged and pointed toward the cross. Moore write about how temptation is a dangerous aspect of the Christian life that Satan loves to use as he used it against Christ. Moore uses the interaction of Jesus and Satan in Matthew 4:1-11, to illustrate how we have a Savior who knows what it is to be tempted and to triumph over them. (See Hebrews 4:15)

For example Moore says of the three temptations that Satan uses on Jesus:

"Satan in all three temptations is assuming the role of a father--first in provision, then in protection, and now in the granting of an inheritance. Satan didn't just want to be Jesus' lord; he wanted to be his father."

Moore uses great illustrations and funny stories (even at his own expense) to make his points and questions clear: Why does temptation matter? Why do we pursue sin rather than take joy in the comfort of our Father? Why we'd rather be right than rescued? (All chapter titles).

There is a ton of biblical passages used but the book doesn't have a theological or technical feel. It is very well written and anyone who reads this will benefit from it. This book is great for those who are struggling with sin, are in a spiritual drought, are feeling defeated, who need encouragement in regards to struggles or struggling, and for those who want to understand what exactly Christ experienced and how it relates to us as His children.

I strongly recommend this book. You can find it here at Amazon.

Be Blessed.