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SERMON:
As part of my Lenten devotions this
year I’m doing something different. Each day I’m trying to think of one thing
in my life that I appreciate, that Jesus gave up. I don’t plan to then give
these things up for Lent, that’s not the point. The point is to focus my
thoughts on what Jesus was willing give for me.
The first thing that came to mind
this week was a family. Jesus never had one of his own. He never met that one
special girl. He never courted her. Never proposed. Never married her. He never
went on vacations with her. Never had children. Never saw his grandchildren.
Never grew old together with the love of his life.
Thinking about this fact helped me
to appreciate how blessed I am to have my family. But as I pondered, I realized
that I was a wrong.
Sure, it’s true that Jesus didn’t
have a wife and children of his own. But he DID raise a family. The whole
reason the Son of God became human was to court a bride, to win her, and build
a family.
Jesus gave up a single, earthly
bride and a short lifetime with a few children to gain a huge family, and to be
able to spend eternity with that family in heaven.
▬
In Bible language, Jesus is called
the “Bridegroom”. We would just call him the “Groom”. His bride is the Church
of all believers. One time during Jesus’ ministry, the Pharisees complained
that Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast like other religious groups. Jesus replied to
them,
“Can the wedding guests mourn as
long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the
bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Matthew 9:15 ESV).
Another time, Jesus told a parable
about ten virgins waiting for a bridegroom to arrive and bring them to the
wedding feast. Some of these women were prepared for a wait, while others were
not. When the bridegroom finally arrived, the unprepared ones missed their chance
to enter the banquet hall.
To understand the whole “Bridegroom”
image, you have to understand marriage customs in Jesus’ day. The Jews did
things a little different than we do when it comes to marriage.
When a man and a woman were
betrothed in ancient Israel, they were legally married. But they didn’t live
together right away. The husband went off to prepare a new home for him and his
bride. The bride remained in her home, often the home of her parents. Then,
when all was ready, the bridegroom would come with his friends on a special
marriage walk. They’d knock on the bride’s door and bring her back to the new
home. Then they’d have a special wedding celebration that might last as long as
a week to celebrate the new family that had been made.
▬
The Son of God became human so that
he could be our Bridegroom. Through his suffering and death on the cross he
freed us from our sins, and by faith in him, believers are joined – married to
Jesus – as his bride.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection,
he ascended back to his heavenly Father’s house. And there he is preparing a place
where we can live with him forever. On the Last Day Jesus will return, not just
dressed in the fine clothes of a groom, but in the glory of the Father, and
surrounded by the angels of heaven. Then he will take his bride, the Church of
His believers, home to a great wedding feast. There a great celebration will
begin.
▬
While this metaphor looks forward to
the time when Jesus will return, the idea of Jesus’ followers being his family
also applies to life right now.
Once, when Jesus was teaching a
large crowd, his biological mother and brothers came to see him. When they
couldn’t get through the crowd of people to speak with Jesus, they sent someone
to get him. To this messenger Jesus replied,
“Who is my mother, and who are my
brothers?” 49 And
stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and
my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in
heaven is my brother and sister and mother”
(Matthew 12:48-50 ESV).
On another occasion, Jesus
elaborated on this idea of a larger family built around faith. He said,
“Truly, I say to you, there is no
one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children
or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who
will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and
sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age
to come eternal life”(Mark
10:29-30 ESV).
In the New Testament letters, Paul
and others are constantly calling their fellow Christians “brothers” or
“sisters”. And this isn’t just a cute way to refer to each other. When Jesus gives
people the gift of forgiveness through his cross, he calls them to a different
life. A life that doesn’t only revolve around marriage vows or biological ties.
Connected to Christ through faith, we are adopted into a new family. Instead of
sharing a genetic connection, we share a spiritual one.
On the night before his crucifixion,
Jesus had a very special talk with his closest followers. And in this talk he
spoke about this new family. He even called his disciples his “children”. He
said to them,
“33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You
will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where
I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A
new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved
you, you also are to love one another. 35 By
this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another” (John
13:33-35 ESV).
Just as love ties earthly families
together, Jesus’ love for his followers would tie them together. And he instructed
his disciples to imitate this love. To love each other as he loved them – not
merely in words, or because of emotional bonds, but through actions as well.
One of the disciples who was there
on that night later wrote about this love. The apostle John put these words to
paper,
“16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us,
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his
brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in
him? 18 Little
children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18 ESV).
A group of roommates who simply
share the same living arrangement isn’t a family. A family is a group of people
who come together in one home, but who also share concern for one another.
People who care for each other and take action to help one another. It is this
type of family that Jesus has called us to be part of through the Gospel of
forgiveness.
Much of the New Testament letters is
devoted to teaching new congregations how to live in this new family. How we
are to treat each other. Whether it’s how to honor our elders, how to admonish
our peers, or how to teach our children. When we were little kids we needed our
parents to teach us how to be part of a family. We didn’t automatically know.
In the same way God has to teach us how to live in His family, because we don’t
automatically know when we come to faith in Christ.
Through the Scriptures, God teaches
us how to forgive one another. Because through Christ we have been forgiven.
Through the Scriptures, God teaches us to look out for one another, not only
looking out for each other’s health, but watching out for bad habits that will
lure people away from being productive in God’s Kingdom. Watching out for
spiritual traps that will draw our brothers and sisters into unbelief. God
teaches us to actually speak up when we see these dangers. To do something
about it.
Some families have the bad habit of
only talking about things behind the scenes. Never stepping forward to address
issues directly. Through the Scriptures, God teaches us to be transparent instead.
To speak directly to the danger, and not just behind backs. To speak the truth,
but to speak it gently, and in love.
Some families have members who drift
away and lose connection to the core. Through the Scriptures, God teaches us to
be shepherds of the flock, going out to find the straying sheep and bringing
them back to the fold by using God’s law and gospel.
In a world that recommends easy
divorce, self-gratification and individualism, God calls us to live
differently. To live as the Bride of Christ. To take our lead from the Son of
God who gave everything for sinners who did not deserve it, and who did not love
him back. God teaches us to imitate Christ, who denied his own rights and laid
down his very life to win our eternal forgiveness.
▬
Part of Lent is thinking about our
own sins. The sins that made Christ’s sacrifice necessary. And when we think
about our roles in our own families, and in our church family, we certainly
have a lot of sins to meditate on. But here the idea of being part of God’s family
through faith in Christ is supremely comforting. God doesn’t disown us because
we’ve failed in our area of responsibility. We’re family. He forgives us
instead, because of Christ’s cross, and just goes on teaching us how to do
things the right way.
As we continue to travel through
Lent, think about yourself in this way, Christ has proposed to you through
Gospel and made you his own. You’re part of God’s family now through faith in
Jesus. Everything he gave up, he gave up because he loved you, and wanted you
to spend eternity with him.
Let’s pray.
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