Sermon on the Church as the Bride of Christ, from Latimer Church
A sermon by James de Costobadie, Senior Pastor at Latimer Church, exploring the biblical image of the Church as the Bride of Christ across past, present, and future.
Summary
James de Costobadie preaches on the image of the Church as the Bride of Christ, drawing on Ezekiel 16, Ephesians 5, and Revelation 19. He traces a narrative arc from humanity's creation and fall through to God's redemptive love, arguing that the entire biblical story is one of a groom — God himself — pursuing and transforming a people to be his bride. He presents this not as abstract theology but as a personal question directed at every listener: will you entrust yourself to Jesus? The sermon also addresses the practical implications of being the bride of Christ for how church members treat one another, including how they speak about fellow Christians and how they navigate difficult conversations within the church community.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
The Bible as a Story We Are Living In
We all love a good story, don't we? Tell us a story. I wonder what your favourite was when you were a kid — Three Little Pigs, Dumbo the Elephant, Hairy Maclary. Then you grew up and moved on to other things: The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, on to Harry Potter. Then you became an adult — Shawshank Redemption, or for someone of my personality type, A Christmas Carol. And then back to Hairy Maclary again, and the cycle begins.
We love a story — a story that has great characters in it, a story that leads somewhere like Lord of the Rings, a story that has a villain and a hero like Shawshank or most of the other great stories. But it's one thing to read a story; it's another thing to be in a story. And the amazing thing when we come to the Bible is that we're not just reading another story — we are actually in this story, even if it's not primarily about us. It's not just a story in a book. It's real life. For the Bible is a commentary on this world and the lives that you and I are living in this world. It helps us to see that this world and our lives is an unfolding story.
Chapter one: God, who existed before all things, speaks out of darkness and brings this amazing world into being — sun, moon, stars, earth, animals, vegetation, and humans as the pinnacle of all creation, created for a relationship with God himself. That's why we find our best moments in relationships, and why we find our rest supremely in God himself — made by God and for God.
Chapter two: turn the page — how he placed us in a beautiful place and gave us each other. Wonderful.
Then the tragedy of chapter three — the story of how the first man and woman walked away from what they'd been given. Although God had placed them in his generosity in a millionaire's playground, they showed this monstrous ingratitude towards him, wanting not just to receive but to be in charge. Discontent was their thing. Pride was their thing. They wanted to be God, which leads to these dreadful consequences. Death comes to humanity — and you know how death feels unnatural? That's because it is unnatural. It stalks this world looking for its next victim. It's an intruder. It shouldn't be there. It wasn't there at the beginning, and only comes through the judgment of God on us. So here is the part of the story that we really don't want to be in, but which we can't get out of. Death will come to those we love, and one day will come to us as well, whether we want it or not.
And chapter three could have been the end of the story — justice served. But in God's kindness it turns out to be just the beginning. And the rest of the Bible shows how this almighty creator God, powerful and perfect in his judgments, is also the loving God who in mercy takes action to bring people back to himself, so that we would live. We were created to live. We were not created to die, but to live and to have eternal life through Jesus Christ.
The picture we're given of this relationship between God and his people is one of marriage — that God comes into this world, we're told, to claim his people as his bride.
And so as we look at this this morning, it asks two questions of us. First of all, do you want to be one of his people? And secondly, what would it mean for us to be his people? What would it mean for us at Latimer to be like the bride of Christ?
So three simple tenses as we look at this this morning: what God has done for his bride, what he is doing for his bride, and what he will do for his bride.
What God Has Done: Undeserved Love
First of all, what he has done. Answer: God has showered his bride with undeserved love.
I'm picking up here on that first reading we had from the book of Ezekiel. I wonder if you could turn back to Ezekiel chapter 16 on your device, or if you've got a Bible in front of you. It's a story that tells us of the amazing love of God and how our fortunes have been transformed by the kindness of God.
The picture here — it's an image, it's a metaphor, it's an allegory — is the sad story of a baby completely uncared for. Its umbilical cord has not been cut. The baby is covered in blood. No protective salt rubbed into its skin. The baby is abandoned, bloodied, unwashed, and tossed into a field to die. It's despised by all who pass by. It's a picture of utter destitution, of complete helplessness.
And back at the time, it was a picture given to the Old Testament people of God so that they could see that in and of themselves, they didn't deserve anything from God. And in a wider sense, that's true of us as well as the New Testament people of God. In fact, for all people, spiritually, we can't do anything to help ourselves. No good works to offer, nothing in our hands to bring. We're helpless.
And there's a question there — do we see that we're helpless? If we've been a Christian for a long time, do we still see that we're helpless but for the grace of God? That we're deeply dependent upon him? By ourselves, you and I are as much use to God as that baby in a field. We can't do anything of use. It's a picture of how unattractive we are naturally to God — filthy in sin, covered in sin. And as Christians we should never forget our humble origins, the origins from which we come. We should never get past that — where God took us from. That was the situation we were in. And maybe if we're here this morning and we're not yet a follower of Jesus, well, that's the situation we're still in before God.
But look how God has taken action to change that situation. The picture here changes within chapter 16 of Ezekiel, where the baby changes and grows up into a young adult, and God now pictures this young adult as a young woman and cares for her. He washes her, he gives her fine clothes — that's really emphasised here. Verse 10: "I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put leather sandals on you" — not just your average Birkenstocks, this is really above and beyond. And then he dresses this young woman in jewellery and bracelets, a necklace. In other words, God goes the full nine yards. Earrings, we're even told. A beautiful crown.
"I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. So you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was fine flour, honey, and olive oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen, and your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because of the splendour I had given you — I made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord."
This baby has now risen to be a queen — and a queen who is a wife at the same time, of God, her groom, her husband.
We're going to think a bit this morning about what it means to be in this marriage, but as we do so, maybe we need to recalibrate our ideas of what a wedding actually looks like, what a bride actually looks like on a wedding day. Fellas here, you may never have dreamed of being a bride yourself. We tend to have a view of a bride, but a lot of our view of a bride is a Western social construct. Brides wearing a white dress — invented in the 1840s. Wedding rings came in in the 14th century. Bouquets of flowers — who knows when. Bridesmaids, bridegrooms — there are modern aspects here.
The key part of a marriage in the Bible is that of covenant faithfulness — that a man would be betrothed to a woman, which is a stronger form of engagement, and then they would get married, and the husband would not let his wife go. He adores her, protects her, and provides for her. And in Ezekiel 16, that language begins to come in. For example, verse 8: "I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine."
It's a picture of how he took the Old Testament people of God to be his — God would be their husband, they would be his bride. And as the New Testament people of God, that's exactly what we see fleshed out, where all those who put their faith in Jesus become the bride of Christ. Our fortunes are transformed from sinners who are helpless and apart from God, to being the most privileged of all people. In this language: abandoned baby to most privileged queen.
Here is a picture of the love that God has showered on his people, both in the old covenant and in the new covenant. Once upon a time we were lost in our filth and sin, and then God in love took action. The New Testament tells us how it was love that propelled God out of heaven — out of compassion for his people, he came down into this world on a rescue mission. The New Testament speaks of how God shrank himself down to be a baby, a perfect baby, who would grow up to live a perfect life, and that on the cross he would swap places with us — that he would take our filth and our sin and would give to us his perfect life, so that God would see us as perfect in his eyes. It totally changes our status. We went from being on our own, having to grind out our own identity in this life — as so many people are doing, that's how it is for many people — to being his. As it says here: "You became mine."
When a person puts their faith in Jesus, they become one of the people of God, joined to God in marriage.
So let me ask: to every woman here, would you like to know a groom like this, who has loved you and will love you like no other man ever can? Maybe you've not been married so far in this life, or maybe you have been and you know some of the hurts of marriage. Jesus Christ shows us what a perfect husband he would be, and God would be. He can do what no other man can do. He can love like no other man is capable of loving.
And for every man here — acknowledging the fact that you may never have up to this point wanted to be a bride in life — rejoice, it's not all bad. Because here we see, as we see the marriage relationship develop between God and his people, how it's Jesus who does the heavy lifting. It doesn't all depend on you. It's God who puts us right with him. It's God who provides for us. It's God who will get us through death.
I think a lot of husbands, by and large, like to try and do their best, put their best foot forward, that sort of thing. But when serious illness comes, or worse, a lot of husbands feel helpless — I can't help in this situation when I want to be able to. And here is the person who can, who one day will take us through death so that we are always with him. "You became mine" — now, forever, and evermore. He has showered us with love. We are the most privileged of all people. I wonder if you know that. I wonder if you feel that this morning.
What God Is Doing Now: Transforming His Bride
Then secondly, the present. What God is doing for his bride now. Answer: God is transforming his bride into radiant beauty.
Being a bride in the run-up to a wedding, I've been told, is a busy job. There's a lot to do on the morning of a wedding — there's hair, there's skin, there's eyes, there's make-up. I'm going to stop right there before I get myself in trouble. There's lots to do. But for the bride of Christ, there is even more to be done. This is not just a few cosmetics — this is a full renovation.
And the Bible shows us how there is a clear order here. This is the doctrine of regeneration: God renews our hearts by his Spirit so that we want to put our faith in Jesus. Then, having put our faith in Jesus, he comes to live within us by his Holy Spirit to change us. His Spirit comes into us — that's a bit like a house renovation. His Spirit comes into each room of our house and he sees what needs to be done: the peeling paint and the broken floorboards and the cracks through the ceiling, whatever. And the Spirit gets to work to change us from the inside out.
Now that really comes out in the next passage we're going to look at. We didn't have it as a reading, but up here on the screen, this passage from Ephesians chapter 5:
"Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" — there's the doctrine of salvation — "to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."
In other words, God takes his people and then not only saves us but changes us — talking about a process here — so that one day Jesus might present her, his bride, to himself as a radiant church. Not bedraggled and half-cooked like our lives feel at the moment, but radiant, without stain — no stain of sin — or wrinkle, or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. So this is the process in which he is engaged at the moment: the transformation of his people by his Spirit.
God gets to work in us, begins by changing our minds, changing how we see things. So for example, we begin to see the rest of the bride of Christ in a different way. Up until the point someone becomes a Christian, they may never have thought of Christians at all — never really occurred to them to think differently about Christians. But when someone becomes a Christian, they begin to notice: hang on a second, there are other people here, and those other people are the bride of Christ. And those other people should matter to us. We matter to one another, just as we matter to God himself. And that affects the way that we live. We begin to develop a concern for others.
You know when someone's growing in maturity — not so much when they grow in knowledge of the Bible, you don't have to be a Christian to grow in knowledge of the Bible, but you do have to be a Christian to grow in love for Jesus's people.
Speaking About and To One Another in the Church
And I want to pick up on this because it affects our church life. It affects the way we speak to each other, and it also affects the way we speak about each other. In normal life, I would say you'd be ill-advised to speak to a groom negatively about the woman he's about to marry — if you know what I mean. "John, what have you done? What are you thinking? I don't know what you see in her." That tends not to go down well. It's called insulting.
Well, we ought to remember that when we speak ill of other Christians, we're speaking about the bride of Christ. I wonder how Jesus feels about that as he hears us speak. That might give us pause for thought about how we speak about other Christians.
And really, we shouldn't speak about people so much as speak to people. And one of the ways I would love for us to grow and develop as a church — and I think it's so different to the world around us, this is a distinctive in our culture — is for us to grow in our ability to have conversations with one another that are a little bit more difficult, rather than perhaps ignoring those or sweeping them under the carpet. It's a good thing to be able to express, in a right way, a gentle way, a kind way, sometimes what we find difficult about someone else, so that we can have a better relationship.
I notice from time to time that people are kind enough to fill out the feedback forms on a Sunday, but I also notice that when people say things that perhaps they're less happy with, almost invariably — with one or two noble exceptions — they don't put a name to it. Now, I understand that, I get that, and I don't know what I would do in that situation. But I think it's a better thing to put a name to it, because it speaks of being able to have a conversation. I'd love to be able to follow up on some of those things. Or if not a feedback form, just to be able to say things in church life — as in, "I really don't understand why we're doing this, can we have a chat about it?" or "I'm not sure I'm happy with this, can we have a chat about it?" That is a more mature response. That's a sign of a church coming into maturity. And the same on an individual level with other Christians.
Patience With One Another: The Wedding Day Has Not Yet Come
Now in this there needs to be a patience, because we're not at the wedding day yet. We're not there yet. One day Jesus will return to present his bride to himself, but that's on the marriage day when he returns, and we're not at that marriage day yet.
At which point, perhaps I can invite you to have a mental break just for a second as I paint a scenario for you. Imagine a couple engaged to be married — in fact, about to be married — and they turn up to their rehearsal, the day beforehand. And the minister greets them there, and good fellow that he is, he says to them, "I'm sorry to say this, but I'm actually quite busy tomorrow. I've been invited out for a round of golf, and I thought we'd do the wedding now if that's all right. No problem — I've got a photographer arranged, so he'll be here in a moment. I'll just give you a couple of minutes to scrub up if that's all right, and then we'll get underway and take the wedding and get some photos at the same time."
Now, general consensus would be that the minister probably needs to find another job. But also, it's not right, it's not fair — "I have 24 hours to get ready." Now it's the same with Jesus. Jesus has a time for his wedding to his people, and on that day his people will be just as he wishes them to be. But that will be the day of presentation, not today. And that helps us develop a patience towards one another. We're not the finished product. We're not there at the moment.
Many years ago — and this was many years ago, so I don't think I'm talking about you — I led a Bible study group in a church, and I sort of felt that we really weren't making much progress through the year. I didn't feel like we were making any progress. And then I went to a conference and I asked someone there, "Look, I lead a Bible study group, I don't really feel we're making much progress in the group." And the speaker very wisely said, "James, how long has it taken you in the Christian life to learn some things that God's been teaching you?" Okay, I take the point — only about 20 years. So I piped down, because it does take a patience, doesn't it, one with another. And meanwhile God keeps working away at us.
The famous preacher Billy Graham's wife, Ruth Graham, has on her gravestone the words: "End of construction — thank you for your patience." She saw it once on a road sign and thought it was so good she'd have it on her own tombstone. End of construction, thank you for your patience. And we need to be the same.
So the Christian life is a great privilege, because he changes us from the inside out. There are a lot of people around who — what's the phrase? — they want to be the best version of themselves. And I actually think there's something noble about that, wanting to be a better person than the one I am. The trouble is, we're not able to do that by ourselves. Those who are betrothed to Jesus will be changed into the person not just that we want to be, but that Jesus wants us to be. The Christian life is a great privilege in that he transforms us into that perfect bride.
What God Will Do: The Wedding of the Lamb
Which leads thirdly to what God will do — the future. God will marry the bride with everlasting joy and gladness.
The betrothal is heading in one direction, to one occasion. And that occasion has been building since the start of the Bible, when God made humanity to live with himself — that's what we were set up to be. And through this great salvation plan, there is this long arc in the Bible that finally lands in Revelation chapter 19. Have a look — we had it read for us just before. These amazing words:
"Then a voice came from the throne, saying, 'Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great.'"
And then: "I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: 'Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.'"
You cannot be part of the bride of Christ without acknowledging and rejoicing in the fact that the Lord our groom reigns. Government's not in control. AI is not in control. We're not in control. But there is someone who is in control.
So verse 7: "Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready."
Here is the day that we have been looking forward to. If you're a Christian here today, here is the day that is awaiting you. Here is the day of the fulfilment of all of our desires.
And in chapter 21 it's fleshed out more for us, where we read: "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them." Those beautiful words that have not been possible since the Garden of Eden — for God to walk with his people — that will be what happens on that day when we are married to him forever. This will be when we find our rest, when all of our deepest desires are felt and are met.
I don't know if you ever have those occasions when you're so happy — you're with other people, perhaps meeting up with old friends or people you've not seen for a while, and you have an evening with them, and then suddenly you look at your watch and think, "Gosh, is that the time?" And the hours have just flown by because you've enjoyed their company so much. Well, on this day, that's what it will be like — for eternity. That's what it will be like, to the power of ten million. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them. Faith giving way to living by sight.
We read that he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Not just that every tear will disappear, but that he will personally wipe every tear from their eyes — with this personal care and attention. For he understands his people in a way that no one else can. He understands the loneliness in this life and the heartache in this life and the disappointment in this life. He understands, too, the good times in this life, even if we're not able to share them with anyone else. He understands everything about us in this life. But he doesn't just show sympathy or empathy or compassion — he changes the situation by coming down to claim us as his own.
And so the marriage ceremony takes place. Chapter 19, verse 7: "For the wedding of the Lamb has come." And we can imagine us standing there with him — Jesus with his people. And the question comes, first of all, to the groom: "Will you take this sinner to be your bride?" And every time, Jesus looks at us, pauses, and then says, "Yes, I will." And then the question comes to us: "Will you take this man to be your Saviour?"
The Question for Today
And so this morning I ask you — what's your answer to that question? What about you on that day?
In truth, it's actually not a question for the future. By then it will be too late. The bride will be standing there with his people. This is not the time for decision-making. The question is for today. Will you entrust yourself to be his?
It's an interesting thing, isn't it — what makes someone a Christian? You don't have to know everything to be a Christian, in the same way you don't have to know everything about the person you're about to marry. In fact, you can't know everything. And mostly people become Christians because they've decided they know enough about Jesus to know that they can trust him — because of what he's done, because of what he's said, because of how he's lived, because of who he is.
So let me ask you: why would you not trust Jesus? Why would you not trust him? Why would you not entrust yourself to him, when you look at his life and when you look at his death and when you look at his mighty resurrection?
Those who do are the bride of Christ. And as a church, that's the offer that we are holding out to other people as we move to this new building — the offer of eternal life, that people might find their deepest desires met in the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the most privileged life of all, as the bride of Almighty God.
Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, you have been so gracious to us. We thank you for your love, shown most evidently by the gift of your Son. We thank you for the work of your Spirit, changing us to be like Jesus now. And we thank you for the great day ahead of us. Help us, we pray, to endure patiently with each other and in the Christian life, following Jesus until that day. We ask and do pray for anyone here this morning who has not yet come to put their faith in you, and ask that you would help them to do so — that you would fan the flame of faith into a living flame, that they would entrust themselves to you. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.