A Bride Prepared
Be So Doing
What must the Bride be “so
doing” in order to make herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb?
Please do not assume that, overall, the
Church is on track. Christ’s instruction to the end-time Church
obviously indicates that the brethren are not ready to be presented in
marriage to Christ – just the opposite. The Church is not living up to
Christ’s high calling, and they are blind to that fact – why else would
He have such harsh criticism of our spiritual condition? “You do
not even know that you are wretched, and miserable, poor, blind, and
naked,” – and that is God’s appraisal of our spiritual condition
(Revelation 3:17).
Church people are becoming
less and less like Jesus Christ in their actions and thoughts – and
because they are blind, most are not even aware of it. If the
people of God were to be brought up before Christ today, many would be
at risk of hearing the dreaded words, “I never knew you.”
(Matthew 7:23) The sad fact is that the spiritual condition of God’s
Church is deteriorating rapidly.
God the Father and Jesus
Christ are working together to bring us to salvation, but we have to
respond to their overtures, and be fashioned in their image. “We are
His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has
ordained beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians
2:10) How do we do that?
What does
Christ mean by those words – be found so doing? Doing what?
What did He really have in mind for us to be “doing?” Aren’t
Church brethren doing things? Some are making tapes and DVD’s for
distribution; others are investigating issues such as the calendar, new
moons, or prophecy; a number are reproducing Herbert W. Armstrong’s
materials; some brethren are busy publishing materials, or doing website
maintenance; we find brethren involved in choir, hall setup or serving
at potlucks. But these are not the actions that Christ meant
when He said to be “so doing.” Yes, those things are important –
but much more is required of the Bride.
Seek the Spiritual
The spiritual is
more important than the physical. Jesus taught Martha the
difference in Luke 10 – and we are privy to His vital lesson. “Jesus
entered a village: and Martha welcomed Him into her home.” Martha
was a lot like those brethren who are very involved in all kinds of very
necessary physical projects. “Martha had a sister, Mary, who
sat at Jesus' feet, and listened to His teachings.”
“But Martha was
inundated by her projects, and said to Jesus, “Lord, don’t you even care
that my sister has left me to do all the serving – alone? Tell her to
come and help me.” And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha,
Martha, you are anxious and upset about too many things. But one
thing is more important than anything else: and Mary has chosen that
good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Jesus made it clear that
spiritual endeavors superseded the physical ones. It’s not that
the serving and setting up are unimportant; it is that the spiritual
things of God are most important.
When we apply Christ’s
lesson that the spiritual nature of God, to which we must attain,
surpasses the physical aspects of our lives, we begin to realize that a
disproportionate emphasis on the physical comes short of Christ’s
expectation for us. The exceedingly more important development of our
relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ, and our love and
harmony with our brothers and sisters in Christ is what must come
first. Our Spirit-motivated relationship with God is the basis for
being like-minded with the brethren. That is what we must be so
doing.
Why is the development of
our spiritual lives of paramount importance? It is because Jesus Christ
is going to take to Himself a spiritual Bride – not a physical
organization. None of us is yet spiritual. We are still a very carnal
people in that we refuse to be at peace with one another (1 Corinthians
3:4). We have been given the obligation of reconciliation with
all brethren – and that we must be so doing (2 Corinthians
5:18-19).
The Bride of Christ in
Revelation 19:7 will not be a loose federation of divided brethren. The
Spirit that is held in common by those comprising the "Wife of
Christ" is the strongest bond that exists. Jesus is not going to
return to an estranged people who will not have anything to do with each
other. Our salvation depends on our love for God’s entire spiritual
community. “We know that we have passed from death unto life,
because we love the brethren.” (1 John 3:14)
Let us not miss the
importance of Jesus’ lesson for us at this time.
Some might wonder, “What more can I do – I
have only so much strength, time and resources?” Precisely! But Jesus
is not speaking of physical activities. He expects us to be
doing the spiritual! It is high time we give priority to
the spiritual aspects of our faith. Yes, church activities and projects
are necessary, but they do not rise to the level of the spiritual
relationship with God and brethren that Jesus was speaking about when He
said, “be found so doing?”
Who do You Love?
Are we living up to our
spiritual responsibility? Another way to ask that same question is
this: What must the future wife of Christ be doing to make herself
ready for the marriage of the Lamb? When Jesus returns: First, the
Bride will have made herself ready to meet the Bridegroom, and secondly,
the foolish virgins will not be prepared (Matthew 25:12). Let us be
honest with ourselves – looking at the disheveled, disunified state of
the Church today, we are certainly not ready. We must each personally
be healing the breach that exists – the responsibility is ours.
Just before He died, Jesus
Christ told the apostles to love one another. Most people would
say that they love those in their group, and thus have fulfilled that
Scripture. But can we agree that all those who have God's Holy Spirit
are elect children of God, and that there are individuals in various
groups who have God's Spirit? All the corporate groups would say that
they uphold that principle. But they do not – not with a Godly love!
Various Church leaders
have chosen a mistakenly narrow viewpoint when determining who to
include in the “love one another” category. Those leaders subtly
imply to the members of their congregations that they are better than
other fellowships. As a result, some brethren tend to shun and look
down on those brethren not in their organization. That is an arrogant
attitude of self-exaltation that Jesus Christ condemns (James 2:1).
Everyone with the proper
reverence for God's love and way of life will be discerning which
brethren to include in their personal fellowship. It does not matter
whether or not they are in a particular church organization. "They
that feared the Lord spoke often one to another: and the Lord
hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before
Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name."
(Malachi 3:16)
How much time do we have
left to get our act together? Jesus Christ is going to look each of us
in the eye and ask, "When did you – not your hierarchy – reach out to
your brother and sister in love and reconciliation?” (2 Corinthians
5:18) "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in
lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves."
(Philippians 2:3)
Chapter 3: Are You Not Yet Carnal? |