Run away Bride vs. Runway Bride
November 12th, 2008 eric
Author Max Lucado tells a story from ages past about a stately prince and a peasant girl who fall in love. This really is a difficult one to understand.
On the one hand is a prince who literally had the world at His disposal. There has never been a more perfect specimen of a man that ever lived. Nothing about Him was common. You wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that He is a perfect catch.
On the other hand there is a peasant girl. She is nothing more than average. At her best she is plain, but at her worst she can be just plain ugly. There are times when she is cranky and moody, and she rarely if ever achieves all she could. To look at her from anyone else’s eyes you would never believe she was worth much. But if you could see her through the eyes of the prince, you would believe that she is litteraly “to die for.”
Because the prince determined that He couldn’t bear to live without her, he asked her to be His bride. The angels in heaven listened expectantly as she accepted his proposal. The prince promised his bride that He would come back for her soon, and the peasant turned princess pledged to faithfully await his return.
To this point the story could be any of a number of fairy tales, but now the plot takes a bizarre twist. You would expect the bride to be always thinking about the coming wedding, but she rarely ever mentions it. You would think that her every waking moment would be lived out in anticipation and preparation for the coming of her prince. However, by the way she lives you wouldn’t even know she’s the bride of a perfect prince. More frequently than not, you can’t even tell the difference between the bride and any of the other peasant girls in the village. There are even times when she can be seen flirting with the other men of the village in broad daylight, and who knows what she is doing when nobody is around to see!
Can you imagine a peasant girl fortunate enough to be the object of a perfect prince’s eternal love? You would expect her to be captivated by His love and filled with a sense of wonder that she was fortunate enough to be loved by Him. You would think that she would be careful to remain pure in anticipation of the return of her royal groom. Instead, to look at her you might wonder if she even remembers she is engaged at all. How could a peasant forget about her prince? Is it possible for a bride to forget her groom? ( Max Lucado, When Christ Comes)
This story kicked off our teaching time this Sunday as we dug in and discovered the imagry throughout the Bible that is used to describe the Church as the BRIDE. I know…. for guy’s this takes a little getting used to but the imagry is just to good to go unexplored. The idea is from Ephesians 5:25-31
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his… This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.
The idea is Christ and His church should be the example that is followed in the relationship between a husband and a wife. As Christ gave himself to the church Husbands and wives should give themselves to one another. Paul began by speaking to husbands about their relationship to their wives. He said your relationship must be one of Love, Devotion and Care,
All very sound, practical advise that we need today.
Yet…
This is not the full meaning of the passage because Paul goes on to say that the Husband wife relationship should be patteren after or following the more perfect example of the RELATIONSHIP of Christ and his church.
The question then that we are tabeling for followers of Christ are we the RUNWAY BRIDE or a RUN AWAY BRIDE?
Are we carefully preparing for the celebration or are we tempted to jet and leave the Groom standing at the Alter?
This is a hugh question because we see in Genesis 2 Human History began with a Marriage Celebration between Adam and Eve and One day according to Rev. 21 This phase of life will conclude with a Marriage Celebration of Christ and His Church. In Addition Rev 19:6-8 tells us that the way we should be living now is to prepare ourself with our righteous act’s.
In the Bible you will discover 2 Greek words for righteousness.
Dikaiosune= this is Righetousness in the abstract.
Dikaioma= is righteousness in action.
It’s interesting to know the word used here in Rev 19 is DaKayOma… the fine linen is the righteous act’s of the saint’s… So essentially we are reading His bride has made herself ready. How by her (the Church) righteous act’s!
Back to symbolism… Think for a moment with me… In every culture that I have ever known there is always’s one rule about marriage…
“The bridegroom never prepares the bride; the Bride always prepares herself!
The responsibility is placed on herself!
Scripture here is telling us that His Bride has made herself ready by her outworked, righteous act’s.
Another words His Dikaiosune produces my lifestyle of Dikaioma.
Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Here’s the Balance… God work’s in you first! To “will” and then to “do” GOD’s PLEASURE!
The Christian life is not about struggling to do something against our will’s that we do not want to do…
Rather God works in us FIRST the WILL to DO what he want’s. THEN he work’s in us the ability to DO IT!
God work’s in us only so far as we work Out what he has worked IN
The measure of what God can work in is determined by the measure of what we work out…
So there is a 2 –way process…
God is working into us… but by the way we live (our righteous act’s) we are living out what God has worked in.
This is important because this is the preparation of the Bride… The fine linen is the righteous act’s of the saint’s.
Next week were going to talk about how the desire of God is to put you on display so everyone can see your good works and Glorify the Father in Heaven. Don’t jet on the groom.
If you allow him He will show you how see the peasant girl. He sees her on the runway of display. Many studies that have been done on run away brides reveal that the root cause of the one who jet’s has to do with expectations. We don’t need to fear that we will not be able to live up to the expectations of the groom. Trust in what He sees in you.
You know your flaws, failures, charter bumps and habits but in spite of it all He is still humming… Here Comes the Bride, Here Comes the Bride…
Be encouraged your about to be put on the runway of God’s display.
Questions:
Does my Marriage reflect the relationship between Christ and the Church? Where do I need to display a spirit of giving myself for the other one? Where am I tempted the most to bolt for the door away from God? What is something I know about myself that the enemy uses from time to time to make me feel as if God has lost his affection for me? How is God working to heal me of this self inflicted wound? How does the reality that I’m the Bride of Christ and I am Loved by God affect my every day life? Am I living a lifestyle that reflects that I am the Bride of Christ? Do I realize the runway is not about me but it’s so that others would see God working in me and He would get the credit?
Next week we look at part 2 See you there and leave your running shoes at home!