“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Matthew 18:20
I want to celebrate something with you. Let’s celebrate something that deserves to be celebrated but rarely is. Let’s celebrate the Church. Celebrate the Church?
It might seem like bragging about a car that looked great in design, on paper, but it turned out to be a lemon. But let’s remember this: The Church is more than the voice of the gospel; the Church is a part of the gospel. The Bible says, “Christ loved the church, and gave Himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).
The gospel is not about Jesus only; the gospel is about Jesus and his Bride. Every romance includes the girl. What happens in the gospel romance? The holy Son of God comes across the tracks, he comes to the wrong side of town, he comes to the red light district, and that’s where he finds his Bride. So if she misbehaves, it isn’t surprising. The surprising thing is the love of the Groom.
Martin Luther put the gospel in this very biblical way:
Faith . . . unites the soul with Christ, as a bride is united with her bridegroom. From such a marriage, it follows that Christ and the soul become one, so that they hold all things in common, whether for better or worse. This means that what Christ possesses belongs to the believing soul, and what the soul possesses belongs to Christ. Thus Christ possesses all good things and holiness; these now belong to the soul. The soul possesses lots of vices and sin; these now belong to Christ. . . . Now is not this a happy business? Christ, the rich, noble and holy bridegroom, takes in marriage this poor, contemptible and sinful little prostitute, takes away all her evil and bestows all His goodness upon her! It is no longer possible for sin to overwhelm her, for she is now found in Christ.
The Church is a mess. But Jesus has said to us, ‘You’re the mess I will love into beauty.’ He is with us right here, right now, with all his loving heart.
– Ray Ortlund.