God’s Love for the Church
Text: (Revelation 21:9–27)
Many Christians think membership in a local church is an optional extra to the Christian Life.
(Story of the Lady from the Logan Neighborhood).
Our fifth Core Value reads—
“We love the Local Church: The Christian life is more than me and my Bible. It is
corporate. It is a life shared with a body of people. That is because the local
church exists to display the life of the Trinity (God’s glory) in a fallen world. God
saves families and individuals to join them to a local church (1Cor 12:13). That is
because God accomplishes all of His purposes through the local church (Rev 2,
3). Therefore, Christians not committed to a local church are a contradiction in
terms. Because of these truths, we honor membership, practice church discipline,
and submit to biblical church government.”
Jesus purchased the church with his blood, for the display of his glory. That glory is for the
satisfaction and joy, first of God the Father, and second for all peoples. In other words, Jesus
died to do something more than save individuals. He died to create and establish local churches.
Context:
The first three chapters of Revelation present us with a vision of seven specific local churches in
Asia Minor—Ephesus, Laodicea, Sardis, Philadelphia, etc.. John sees a burning seven-flamed
lampstand. The lampstand represents these seven churches. They are the light of the world.
They radiate the glory of God. Christ stands in the midst of each lampstand. Each church is
engaged in active spiritual warfare. They struggle with apathy, double-mindedness, temptation
from Jezebel, compromise with the world, etc.
Skip forward to Revelation 21, and the church re-appears in the vision we just read. But now it is
the church in its future, idealized, perfected state. Chapter 21 describes the church in universal,
abstract, symbolic terms. This text is not literal, but it gives us a picture of God’s passion for his
people, the church he purchased with his blood.
Jesus loves his church. That is the point of this vision. Christ loves and cherishes the church. By
definition Christians love what Christ loves.
BILLBOARD
I. GOD INITIATES HIS CHURCH
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me
the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
The church is not a human creation. It is not the result of human wishes. The Holy City comes
down out of Heaven from God.
In other words, the Gospel creates the church.
Anecdote: Mark Dever’s conversation with the Catholic Theologian.
In other words, the revelation of Christ’s identity is the rock upon which the church is built.
“Who do men say that I am?”
They responded, “Some say John the Baptist, Elijah, or Jeremiah”
“But who do you say that I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Christ the Son of the Living God.
And Jesus answered him, blessed are you Simon, Son of Jonah, for flesh and
blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in Heaven.
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church” (Matt. 16:1618).
This means that God initiates the local church by unveiling himself as “the Christ, the Son of the
Living God.” This happens through the preaching of the gospel.
A leader or group of leaders proclaim the gospel, people are converted, Christians are attracted,
and a congregation has come down out of heaven from God.
Luther: “I simply taught, preached, wrote God’s Word: otherwise I did nothing. And
when, while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my Philip and Amsdorf, the
Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a Prince or Emperor inflicted
such damage upon it. I did nothing. The Word did it all.”1
Why does this matter? It means we, who do not deserve churches, have been given local
churches. The church is a great work of Grace.
We should be thankful.
The church “comes down out of heaven from God.”
II. GOD LOVES HIS CHURCH
The Church is Christ’s spouse. She is “one flesh” with him. She is his body.
1
Luther, Quoted by Stott, John, Between Two Worlds, pg 25, (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1982)
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9b “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
The church is a Bride. The word “bride” speaks of passion. When a man that has been married
30 years calls his wife his bride, what is he saying? He is saying “I feel the same passion for you
that I felt on our wedding day.” He’s is not her his “old lady.” He’s calling her his Bride. The
word connotes passion, love, freshness, and romance. (Judy’s father).
We see a picture of the nature of Christ’s passion for his church in the Song of Songs.
(Song of Solomon 8:6) "6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your
arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are
flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD."
But this text also describes the church as the “wife” of the Lamb. Whereas “bride” speaks of
passion. The word “wife” speaks of faithfulness, commitment, and covenant loyalty. Here the
emphasis is not on passion. It is on permanence. The word “wife” emphasizes the words of
Romans 8, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
What does all of this have to do with us today?
A husband recently told me that when someone insults his wife they insult him. “We are one
body,” he said. “When someone honors my wife they honor me. When someone dishonors my
wife they dishonor me. We are one body.”
In the same way, the church is the body of Christ. He who loves the church loves Christ. He who
honors the church honors Christ. He who needs the church needs Christ. But he who despises
the church despises Christ. He who persecutes the church persecutes Christ.
(Acts 9:4–5) "4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he
said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."
This means that the Believer who has no interest in the church really has no interest in Christ. It
is an oxymoron to say that you love Christ but want no part of his church.
There is a problem here. It is easy to say, “I love the church. It just the individual Christians that
trouble me.” Dostoyevsky had one of his characters speak to this.
Dostoyevsky: “I love mankind...but I marvel at myself: the more I love mankind in
general, the less I love human beings in particular, separately, as individual
persons. In my dreams...I would often arrive at fervent plans of devotion to
mankind and might very possibly have gone to the Cross for human beings, had
that been suddenly required of me, and yet I am unable to spend two days in the
same room with someone else...No sooner is that someone else close to me than
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his personality...hampers my freedom. In the space of a day and a night I am
capable of coming to hate even the best of human beings: one because he takes
too long over dinner, another because he has a cold and is perpetually blowing his
nose...To compensate for this, however, it has always happened that the more I
have hated human beings in particular, the more ardent has become my love for
mankind in general."2 (from bk 2, ch 4)
In other words, you can’t love Christ and refuse to love, serve, and commit to a local church,
made up of sinful human beings, at some specific place and some specific time.
III. GOD DEFINES HIS CHURCH
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me
the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
The first thing we note is that the church is a holy City. Throughout the OT Jerusalem was the
place where God’s presence dwelt. It then became a symbol for the presence of God dwelling in
the midst of God’s people.
(Psalm 48:1–3) "1 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our
God! His holy mountain, 2 beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount
Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King. 3 Within her citadels God has
made himself known as a fortress."
The word “City” is a corporate word. It is not an isolated individual. It isn’t a ranch spread out on
the plains of Montana. It isn’t a Village. It isn’t a group of Nomads living in tents and grazing
their sheep from place to place. God symbolizes the church as a “city.” A City is a vast throng of
people living in close proximity to each other, sharing the same leaders, and sharing the same
laws. In other words, “city” implies government, commitment, citizenship, and walls for
protection.
A. Walls
Cities have walls to separate citizens from non-citizens. Cities have gates through which one
enters and exits the city.
The walls are high. They cannot be scaled. They offer complete protection.
The walls are made of Jasper. They represent the glory of God’s holiness.
2
Dotoyevsky, Borthers Karamazov, Book 2, chapter 4, pg 64-65
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18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass.
In addition, Verses 14 and 19 describe the foundation of the walls.
14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve
names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb….
(Revelation 21:19–21) "19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned
with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper,
The wall has twelve foundations which are the twelve apostles, meaning they are the apostolic
teaching. Here is the teaching. Walls separate a city from the world. In the same way, the
apostolic teaching, (the gospel) separates the church from the world. In addition, the
foundations appear as precious jewels. Jewels speak of value. God loves the apostolic teaching.
B. Gates
12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and
on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed—
13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and
on the west three gates.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single
pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass."
The gates are multiple and face in all four directions. Everyone is invited.
Each gate is a pearl which reminds us of Matthew 13.
(Matthew 13:45–46) "45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in
search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold
all that he had and bought it."
All of this speaks one message. The ultimate City of God has membership. The Gates and Walls
point us to it. In the same way today’s imperfect churches still struggling in a fallen world
practice membership.
In summary, the city of God is corporates. Its walls defines who is a citizen and who is not.
Admittance to the city is only through its gates.
IV. GOD INDWELLS HIS CHURCH
The City of God is a temple. Christ’s presence permeates it.
16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the
city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. 17 He
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also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an
angel’s measurement.
The City is a cube. It comes down out of heaven. The only other cube in the Bible is the holy of
holies.
(Revelation 21:22) "22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord
God the Almighty and the Lamb."
This means that each gospel-preaching local church is a temple. The building is not the temple.
The church is the temple. Temples are places where one meets with God. The idea is that Christ
is the church’s temple. We meet with God whenever we meet with Christ.
In addition, God often turns up the intensity of his presence when we meet corporately. (Fire
Example).
V. GOD FINDS THE FULFILLMENT OF HIS ULTIMATE PURPOSE IN THE
CHURCH
11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear
as crystal."
The glory of Christ is God’s end in creation and redemption.
This city reflects the glory of Christ.
The divine glory completes and fulfills Genesis 1:26-28.
In other words, second to the cross the church is the most important tool that God has to
amplify his glory.
For this reason the city of God is as valuable to Christ. That is why the text describes the City as
“a most rare Jewel.”
More specifically, the City looks like Jasper. Jasper is how Rev 4 describes God the Father.
(Revelation 4:3) "3 And he who sat there [on the throne] had the appearance of
jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the
appearance of an emerald."
In other words, the City looks like Jasper because it bears the image of God which is his glory.
God’s mandate in Gen 1:28 has come full circle. It has come to fulfillment. The earth is filled with
the image of God which is his glory.
One further comment. This Jasper is “clear as crystal. It is see-through Jasper. (See Photo). You
can’t normally see through Jasper. It is a reddish colored stone. In other words, here is an
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oxymoron that is telling us something. The city is the glory of God, but it is also pure. It is holy.
The transparency of the Jasper speaks of this.
All of this is what Jesus had in mind when he told his disciples.
(Matthew 5:14–16) "14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be
hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand,
and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before
others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is
in heaven."
The church is uniquely equipped to glorify God because it is structured for discipleship. It has
elders. It practices the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. It teaches the Bible
faithfully. It practices church discipline, etc.
VI. APPLICATION
The church is already but not yet. We are always moving towards this vision, but this vision will
not be perfected until the New Creation. However, all though not perfected, healthy local
churches share all the features of this vision in seed form.
 They have been initiated by God. The Gospel creates each local church.
 They are loved by God. Like a rare Jewel, like see-through gold, we are precious to
Christ. He loves his wife/bride.
 They are defined by God. The city is corporate. It has gates and walls.
 God indwells the church.
 The church faithfully glorifies God.
None of this can happen until Christians make commitments to local churches. So, let’s pause to
examine some of the more common objections to commitment to a local church.
1. Selfish Individualism
One of the marks of contemporary culture is selfish individualism. Individualism is good. It
comes from the Bible. It is the recognition that every individual matters because we are
fashioned in God’s image and likeness.
But selfish Individualism is the enemy of the Local Church. It is not biblical. It motivates most
resistance to church membership.
“Nearly all churches in America are characterized by an unwillingness of
members to commit themselves deeply to their respective church…We are a
radically individualistic society, oriented toward personal fulfillment in ways
profoundly more ‘me-centered’ than any other culture or people-group in world
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history. It is our individualism—our insistence that the rights and satisfaction of the
individual must take priority over any group to which one belongs—that has
seriously compromised our ability to stay in relationship and grow with one
another as God intends.”––Joseph Hellerman, A Family Affair3
Healthy peoples, groups, or cultures emphasize responsibilities. Unhealthy groups or cultures
emphasize rights. Western Culture is obsessed with rights and pays little attention to
responsibilities. Love is all about responsibilities, not rights. This has profoundly affected the
ability of the church to glorify God.
2. Commitment-Phobia
Commitment-less Christianity has become the vogue. It is important to know that this is a recent
phenomenon in church history.
In his book God’s Forever Family, historian Larry Eskridge observed that, since the 1970s, several
organizations have set the tone for a new concept of church. It features contemporary music, a
relaxed atmosphere, no membership commitments, little or no church discipline, and often no
elders. The organizations are the Calvary Chapel, The Vineyard, Four Square, and Willow Creek
organization. They have had a huge impact on the concept of church in North America.
In a culture that prizes selfish individualism these churches have grown rapidly. They are the
perfect landing place for those who value cost-less Christianity.
Although we are thankful for the good that these organizations do, we are concerned about the
damage they have done to the concept of church.
3. The Church is Full of Hypocrites
That’s right. In fact, the church is a hospital for hypocrites. The problem is that you think you are
exempt from hypocrisy.
4. I Don’t need the Church
This is the John Wayne approach to the Christian Life. It means you neither understand yourself
or the Christian life. Besides, you may not feel that you need the church, but the church needs
you badly.
5. Previous Hurt and Wounding
I have a friend that went through three church failures.
I have felt your pain.
It is hard to trust when you feel betrayed.
3
Joseph H. Hellerman, “A Family Affair,” Christianity Today, May 2010, pg 43
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All I can say is that it is God’s will that you be joined to a local church.
We encourage you to join a church. If it isn’t this one, we encourage you to find another church
that is right for you and get involved. In fact, we will help find a church that is right for you.
If you think it might be GCF, sign up for our membership class. It takes place this Friday and
Saturday in our Fellowship Hall. Email Sue@gcfonline.org. There is no commitment or
requirement to join.
In conclusion, Love the Church because Christ loves the church. Love what Christ loves, warts
and all. He loves her because the local church is the chariot in which his glory rides.
Membership defines the church. A willingness to be a church member is a willingness to love.
There are no perfect churches. But, there are healthy churches, so find one and get involved.
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