#404 The Jesus Trip, The Bride of Christ

#404 The Jesus Trip, The Bride of Christ
By: Zach Sloane
May 11, 2019

(See download links at the bottom of the page for the Sermon Notes, PowerPoint Slides & Group Discussion Questions)

Recap:
There is a continual now moment, an invitation to transition from a life of struggle, sweat, blood and effort to see the purposes of God and the dreams of our hearts realized, to a life of peace and wisdom. We saw this in the transition from David’s reign to Solomon’s reign.

Intro and Context:
This week: carrying on with the theme of wisdom, jumping ahead to July 3rd in the Jesus Trip, a look at Proverbs 31…things that the King’s mom had taught him. (Prov. 31:1)

This Sunday is Mother’s Day. Shout out to moms.

Theme of the Jesus Trip has been that we are looking for Jesus in the Scriptures.

John 5:39
“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!

We are looking to find Jesus, but when you find Him and see him in the scriptures, you also find yourself.

1 Corinthians 6:17 (NLT)
“But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.”

That kind of language is used to describe the relationship between two people who are married…

Eph. 5:31
“As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.”

Proverbs 31 happens to be a beautiful example of how Jesus sees the church.

It’s a pretty tough list, but not a list to use to judge our wives by, a list for women to struggle to measure up to, or for Christians that comprise the body of Christ to attain to. It’s a depiction of how Jesus actually sees us right now, what he sees when he looks at the church.

The list is prefaced by this warning from the King’s mother…

Proverbs 31: 2-3
O my son, O son of my womb, O son of my vows, do not waste your strength on women, on those who ruin kings.

“Your bride,” in other words, “is going to be your match, not your ruin.”

Genesis 24:2-4
“…Swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women. Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac.”

A picture of God the Father saying to the Holy Spirit, get a bride for my son that is suitable… that is a worthy companion.

Objections?“nope, that’s not how God see us now, what he is describing is how we will be one day when we are sanctified.”

If you are in Christ, you are one spirit with him. You are one with him and your new found perfection and glorious appearance is because you are wrapped up so tightly with him that there is no distance between you. To see you is to see Jesus… there is no daylight.

1 Corinthians 1:30(NKJV)
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—

Revelation 21:9-11
“…Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.”

John, when he brought a prophetic message to the church, the revelation of Jesus Christ, it was bound up in intricately and intimately with a picture of the lamb’s wife, the one the Lamb is one with… A bride “having the glory of God.”

Revelation 21:10
“The spirt carried him away to the mountain top.”

To see the bride of Christ you have to come up to the great and high mountain, you have to see from your lofty viewpoint in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, and when you do, you can see the bride of Christ as she is… “having the glory of God.”

How he sees you:

Virtuous
Prov. 31:10-11
“Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth isfar above rubies.”

chayil: strength, efficiency, wealth, army

She is full of ability and strength.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

You see yourself as weak but God says:

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)
“ And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

That’s why:

He Trusts you:

Proverbs 31:11
“The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good and not evil, All the days of her life.”

Trust (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/trust).
“reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.”

Philippians 1:6 (NKJV)
“…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

2 Corinthians 5:18-120
“Now all things areof God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,…”

He so confident in us that he has entrusted us with the message of reconciliation.

Mothers: God trusts you with his kids.

He sees your “yes” to Him:

Proverbs 31:13
“She seeks wool and flax, and willingly works with her hands.”

God sees the yes in your hearts to him.

Philippians 2:13 (NKJV)
“for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for Hisgood pleasure.”

Ezekiel 11:19 Amplified Bible (AMP)
“And I will give them one heart [a new heart] and put a new spirit within them. I will take from them the heart of stone, and will give them a heart of flesh [that is responsive to My touch]…”

He sees you as fruitful:

Proverbs 31:14-16
“She considers a field and buys it; From her profits she plants a vineyard.”

“She provides food for her household…” verse 15… often times the work you do that goes unnoticed at home, with your own families is the kind of fruitful labour you have engaged in the most, yet you may not see the fruit.

Whenever everyone else seems to neglect and not see the labour you have done, God does.

Hebrews 6:10 Amplified Bible (AMP)
For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown for His name in ministering to [the needs of] the saints (God’s people), as you do.

John 15:16 (NKJV)
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”

He sees you as fruitful on the basis and strength of his having chosen you and called you and appointed you to that end.

John 15:2
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

If you’re not right now, don’t worry, you will… he is not going to cast you away like this brutal translation suggests.He will life you up, lift you out of the mud and make sure you’re facing the sun again… you will bear fruit… you are a fruit bearing branch because you are one with the fruitful vine.

He sees you as generous and loving:

Proverbs 31:17-20
“…She extends her hand to the poor, Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.”

Jesus sees you as generous. You may not feel like it, but you have a heart that loves and cares for others and their welfare.

Romans 5:5 (NKJV)
“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Jesus likes your clothes:

Proverbs 31:21-22
“…For all her household is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself; Her clothingis fine linen and purple.”

We’re not naked like sin and the devil would like us to believe we are… like Adam and Eve. We are clothed!

Revelation 7:14
“…they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

He thinks your awesome and wants you to know it:

Proverbs 31:23-28
“…Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also,and he praises her:”

God calls you praiseworthy… not like hey you deserve praise and glory like Jesus does, but God wants to say nice things to you.

He also wants you to know you have done well… you are doing well, you are doing great and you will finish well too.

Proverbs 31:29-31
“Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.”
Charm isdeceitful and beauty ispassing, but a woman whofears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.”

Jesus is nuts about you! About us the church! We need to hear him say these things to us regularly and often.

So as we continue the Jesus Trip, let’s keep listening and looking for Jesus, and in that be open to seeing ourselves in Him and what he sees in us. Let’s be open to hearing him talk to us about us… that’s when real impact happens. The Jesus Trip is a dialogue!

The Jesus Trip, The Bride of Christ, Sermon notes to print, PDF

The Jesus Trip, The Bride of Christ, PowerPoint Slides, PDF

The Jesus Trip, The Bride of Christ, Group Discussion Questions – Week #6, to print, PDF