“Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health,” Donald S. Whitney. 2001. NavPress
Question 6: Do You Delight in the
Bride of Christ? (notes, excerpts and highlights from Chapter 6) “For God is
not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward
His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” (Hebrews
6:10)
So, who is the “Bride of Christ?” The Bible doesn’t say anything about Jesus being married when He was on the earth! So, what / who is this “Bride?”
Scripture tells us about this Bride in a couple of places directly, and in other places alludes to the Bride and Her Bridegroom in parable or figurative speech. Look, for example, at Revelation 19, verses 5-9 (NASB); those who sang in or attended the Messiah concerts that St. Christopher’s used to hold will recognize in the verses words from Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus”. In verses 7 and 8, the Bride promised to the Lamb, who is the Bridegroom - one of the names for Christ - is identified as the collective body of saints, whose way is righteous and holy before the Bridegroom.
So, who, then, are the saints? Canonized individuals who have died and have subsequently been elected as saints by church councils? No – the Bible is very clear that the saints are those persons born again by Spirit, and thus are those within whom the Spirit of Christ indwells, and who have been set apart by God from the world to be transformed into the image of Christ. The saints have been chosen by God from before time. The saints are each of us in whom the Spirit of Christ lives! We have been in God’s plan for all of eternity! That is why the epistle writers could address the members of the churches to whom they wrote as “saints”. The Bride, then, is the Church – the collective Body of Christ – the saints, that has been in existence for millennia. The author, Dr. Whitney, refers to saints as “authentic Christians”. One of the first instances of this designation of “saint” is used by King David in Psalm 16:3. The Hebrew word translated “saints” is qadas, which corresponds to the Greek word hagios, are both words meaning “something set apart, holy, made sacred, consecrated – chosen ones of God.” Other passages include Romans 8:9, Daniel 7:18, Roman 1:7, Romans 12:13, 1 Corinthians 1:2, Ephesians 1:1,3-4,15, 1 Thessalonians 3:13 (look up the word “saints” or “holy ones” in your personal Bible). It is by the Holy Spirit within us, and the blood of Christ that purifies us, that we are made saints by God, and through the Spirit-written Word of God that continuously cleanses us when we apply it to our lives. We cannot become saints through any human means. Being a “saint” does not make us perfect persons in Christ during our earthly journey – not hardly. Rather, being a saint is a position God places us in – through God we become something sacred, a people called by God and set apart by God for His purposes.
Jesus loves the Church[i], His Bride. In Ephesians 5:25-30, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to compare Jesus’ relationship with the Church to that of a husband who loves his wife and is willing to give his life for her. The Spirit also gave to Paul the content of what we call Ephesians chapter 4, which iterates how we are to be the Church; verse 32 ends the chapter stating that we are to have compassion for one another and forgive just as Christ forgave us. In Ephesians 5:1-2, Paul finishes that thought with an imperative for the Church to walk in love as Christ loves, to imitate His love for His Church. The author reminds us that if we are one with Christ, then we will love the things He loves.(see John 14:11-12; John 15:9-17) That means we must love, have compassion for His Church. Do we delight in the Church? Do we find joy in the presence and the ministry of Christ’s people, both in their congregational form and as individuals?
About the saints: as we have been studying the Bible letters or epistles, we have as yet to come upon a perfect church to whom the apostles and disciples wrote. Nary a one. That has remained the same for millennia; a local church filled with saints does not make it perfect. Recall the letters to the churches at Corinth, Galatia, and Ephesus (not to mention the several churches in Revelation). With that reality in mind, to delight in the Church of Christ and all of its members is not always going to be a pleasant or easy venture. Within the Church, each individual who has been made a saint by God is still undergoing a lengthy transition through sanctification in the journey to completion of God’s purpose in each of us. We are apt to be rubbed, or to rub, others in the Body Christ the wrong way. Does this surprise God? No, which is why the training, transformation -- the sanctification, can be a little painful at times because the Spirit is ‘scrubbing out’ those aspects of our character that do not resemble Christ. We are to strive to work in harmony with the Spirit’s work in us, praying unceasingly, doing our daily “oblation” or cleansing through intentional meditation on God’s Word, particularly on how to live and interact in love with the Church – which standard Jesus sets as how the rest of the world will identify “authentic Christians.” When we begin to see the Church as Christ knows it and realize what a privilege salvation through Christ is, that we have God living inside us in the Spirit of Christ – who touches everything in and about us, we will begin to look for the Christ in others.
Which leads to the question by the author: “Do you delight in Her company?...For the Christian, the presence of the ‘saints who are in the earth,’ just by virtue of their being saints, evokes delight. When authentic Christians assemble in a local church, the omnipresent God dwells in their midst in a special way.” (Ephesians 2:21-22; 2 Corinthians 6:16) Do we delight in worshiping corporately as a gathered assembly? Is it a priority for us to be present on a Sunday for worship with the saints or to engage in Bible study with the saints? Do we have conflicting priorities? As noted above, “growing Christians will readily delight in being with the saints of God because the delight involves the very presence of God Himself living within ordinary people” who belong to God. Do we view each other that way?
The author further asks us, “Do we delight in the Bride, the Church willingly?” That is, do we look forward to fellowshipping with the members of the Body and Bride of Christ, or must we be coerced to do so? Quoting the author: “Something is amiss when a person participates in the life of a church only because of the forces of ‘ought’ (i.e., doing what one ought to do or is expected to do)…the child of God does not have to be persuaded (emph. added) to delight in the supernatural spiritual sweetness found only in God’s Church. Delight in the Church is inborn in those who are born again.”
“Do you delight in Her activity?”, the author asks, citing Paul’s example at 2 Corinthians 11:2,23-28 and 2 Timothy 2:10. He further notes that the “work of Christ’s Church is the greatest, most soul-satisfying enterprise in the universe. Nothing compares – career, family, conquest, success, wealth, politics, retirement – nothing! … it is the only eternally enduring work we can do. Those who are not committed to the work of the Church are not just extremely short-sighted and self-defeating, they also forfeit an incredible privilege.” If there is any hesitancy on the part of believers to serve the Church in a ministry – not just showing up for meetings with limited interest, but to rather roll up your sleeves and get ready to do some real labor, picture Jesus in a flipped script at John 13 handing the towel to one of His disciples and commanding him to wash His feet! Jesus was definitely thinking of each of us who have been born again at that moment recorded in John 13, verses 12-17.
The
author offers a few suggestions on how to delight in Christ’s Bride:
· Grow
to see the Bride of Christ and Her work more as Jesus sees Her.
Jesus loves the increasing clarity of His own reflection in the Church and
her ministry. He gives His Bride the beauty of His holiness. What are
three examples of the beauty of Christ’s holiness that we can each identify in
our local church? Are our spiritual eyes seeing through a maturing faith that
causes our visual acuity to become sharper and more penetrating? (2
Corinthians 4:16) The more our eyes perceive Jesus’ Bride
and Her work in the way He does, the more you will love Her and it as He does.
· Demonstrate delight in the Bride of Christ in ways that will make a real difference. The work of the local church is the work of Jesus in the world. Where does the church of Christ we attend need help? Undoubtedly, it makes its needs known regularly. Are we listening? Can’t find your niche? Then take the initiative and create a ministry that will serve God’s people and glorify His Name. Give heart and time and money and zeal to the Bride for whom Christ gave His life. How long should one do this? For as long as you can say of those who have the Spirit of God, “They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight” – i.e., for as long as Christ loves His Bride.
Consider
this, suggests the author: In God’s Book of Life (Philippians
4:3;
Revelation
3:5),
how much space will be devoted to how the stock market fared daily, which NFL
team, soccer team, or college team consistently held team records for
achievements in their relative sport; on how the presidential elections shaped
the political environment; on who won Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, Tonys? On
who won the Olympics? Or about what products Apple will develop in the next 100
years? Won’t God’s Book of Life instead “be dominated by actions in and through
local churches, deeds that passed unnoticed at the time by people the world
overlooked? By the names of those who suffered for the Name of the Lord? By the
names of those who loved the Lord and ministered to His saints – won’t these
fill the pages? Written in gold letters on the flyleaf may be this inscription,
“For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have
shown toward His Name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do
minister.” (Hebrews 6:10) Psalm 149:4 tells us that “the LORD takes pleasure in
His people.” Do we? (compare
1 John 3:11-17)
I truly got to see the author's heart in this moving work, and am grateful for that privilege.
*The foregoing represents my
personal reflections on a study by Dr. Donald S. Whitney, Ten Questions
to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health. (2001. By Donald S. Whitney.
NAVPRESS. ISBN 978-1-61747-187-2) Quotations and excerpts are from that
source, unless otherwise identified. For the 2023 Lenten season I provided
these thoughts to my local congregation's Bible study group. The questions are not,
however, constrained by a particular liturgical season, holiday, or age group:
these are questions every Christian may find useful in
fulfilling God's command at 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves to see
whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that
Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test!" The
church at Corinth looked a lot like many of our churches today.
[i]
The “Church”, with a capital “C”, is the universal body of Christ that has
existed for millennia and is chosen by God for His Son. (see John
6:35,37,44)
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