Throughout church history there seems to have always been two churches. One of them is the main-line, established church - the “official” church. And then there’s been the persecuted church - made up of the people who have a sincere desire to know and follow Jesus, but they don’t do it the way that the “official” church says they should and they end up getting persecuted.
The main-line, official church is what I will call the Earth Church. It’s the church that does things the human way, and is built from human understanding and motivation. And the persecuted church is what I will call the Bride Church. They are the ones that, in their heart, are seeking a wholehearted relationship with Jesus.
An analogy I thought of is one of marriage.
The Earth Church acts like they’re married as long as they are in the house. They are faithful and play the expected role as long as they are in the house (typically on Sunday), but once they leave the building they quickly forget about their spouse. If they do give their spouse attention outside of the building then they might even think it should count as bonus points.
The Bride Church behaves like they’re married all the time, no matter where they are or what situation they are in. Once you say I do, that’s it, you’re married for the rest of your life. They do not need a building to remind them of their commitment because it is written in their heart. And they don’t need anyone else to tell them how to be married because they are already living out their love for their spouse in the best way they know how. Not to say that advice doesn’t help - but nobody is going to dictate how their relationship goes.
Think about being married. If you only behaved like you were married when you were home, but behaved without boundaries when you were not home, then your relationship would suffer and quickly fall apart. You would only be married in appearance and language, but not in your heart.
Instead, if you are faithful to your spouse, then from the moment you say “I do” until you take your last breath everything you do is influenced by, and effects, your relationship with your spouse. You might make mistakes and not always appear the right way or say the right thing, but in your heart there’s no one you love more than your spouse.
The Earth Church can be identified by its calculated love. There are conditions that must be met and standards that must be adhered to in order to gain its acceptance, and even more-so if you want its favor. But as long as you do the bare minimum, you’re “in.”
The Bride Church can be identified by its unconditional - even sacrificial - love. There are no conditions for being part of the Bride Church. You are identified by your fruit. If you truly love Jesus it will show and nobody needs to tell you if you are doing it right or not. There’s nothing you won’t do for Jesus - even to the point of giving your very life. For all those who oppose the Bride Church there are many more who will find it welcoming and much more satisfying to the desires of their soul.
The Earth Church cannot stand the concept of the Bride Church. To them the Bride Church lacks structure and control, and so it threatens their sense of self-worth and they see it as an enemy. They feel as though the fate of the world rests in their hands and that they must force “their way” on everyone else for the “good” of all.
The Bride Church is equally repulsed by the concept of the Earth Church. To them the Earth Church is a graveyard full of dry bones. They see the form and structure of the “official” church to be too constrained and artificial. They see the “criteria” and standards of the “official” church as false substitutes for true devotion to Jesus. They also see the faults that are exposed by the nature of the Earth Church as signs of the decline of faith, and often even as signs of the end-times - not realizing that these faults are as old as Adam and Eve, and that every generation since Jesus was born thought that they were the last.
The thing about the Earth Church and the Bride Church is that there seems to be a historical cycle of the persecuted Bride Church being persistent and tenacious and eventually becoming the “official” Earth Church and then, in turn, turning against and persecuting anyone that does not do things their way. So the Bride Church is born out of a true desire and love for Jesus, and that draws people in, but then people start organizing and standardizing things and once all those standards are generally accepted they start turning against anyone who does not follow them. And that naturally leads to people who don’t want to follow Jesus according to someone else’s rules, but want to follow Him from the desire of their heart, so they break away from the Earth Church and set out on the fresh path of the Bride Church.
This cycle has been playing out over and over again since the time of Peter and Paul. The Jews and the Romans persecuted the original followers of Jesus turning many of them into martyrs. But those believers persisted until Constantine finally made Christianity an official religion of the Roman Empire. As an official religion, though, he required it to have an official book and doctrine - which initially formed the Catholic Church. Then the Catholic Church persecuted anyone who did not adhere to the official book and doctrine. And that led, eventually, to people who broke away and created a new book and doctrine, two major examples are the Eastern Orthodox Church and then the Protestant churches, both of which were born out of a desire to more closely and truly follow Jesus.
And those new churches in turn had their own rounds of persecuting people who did not follow Jesus according to their accepted standards. And even today there is a shift taking place. The Pentecostal charismatic church was shunned and looked down on by the “official” church for the first hundred or so years of its existence, but it has now grown to make up half of the entire, world-wide Christian church. I do not wish it, but I am fairly certain that the day will come in the not too distant future where the Pentecostal charismatic church will become the new “official” church, and will have a negative view toward anyone who does not do things their way. In fact some parts of that church (in the west at least) already state that a person is not saved unless they speak in tongues. This seems to be the way…
And, finally, I want to make the point that there is no line that can be drawn between the Earth Church and the Bride Church. There are extremes that can easily be identified, for sure, but there is also a middle ground where they mix and the distinctions are not so clear. Just as Paul preached wherever he went, first in the synagogue and then in the street, there are those of the Bride Church who faithfully and devotedly follow Jesus in the temple of the Earth Church, and there are those of the Earth Church who pay respectful homage to the existence of the Bride Church.
One thing I am sure of is that there will never cease to be a remnant of people who are wholeheartedly devoted to following Jesus, and who will do it in the way that they feel led to in their heart - no matter what anyone else thinks, says, or does - whether it be in the temple of the Earth Church or the streets of the Bride Church.
May you always follow Jesus with a pure heart, a sound mind and a strong faith. May you always be a bride who loves the Groom.