Ep11. The Loveliest Place: The Beauty and Glory of the Church by Dustin Benge
In this eleventh episode, we chat through Dustin Benge's book: The Loveliest Place. In this book, Dustin Benge encourages us to see the Church not through all its faults and failures but rather through the eyes of God. It is filled with an extended meditation on the church's place in God’s heart, primarily displayed in Christ's life-giving death for his bride. He goes on to encourage us to see the implications for how we talk and interact with the church both visible and invisible. This book is an encouragement to the soul for both those who are tired and disillusioned with the church and those who are actively involved in her work — a recommended book for all.
In this episode, we discuss the disillusionment we sometimes feel with the church, what it means to see the church through God's eyes, the Spirit as the one who beautifies the church and the roles of the bible, baptism and the Lord's Supper in making the church beautiful.
Quotes:
“It’s for all those who sometimes struggle to see those qualities in her. If you tirelessly serve within her ministries while dismayed by her apparent failures, or have rare, unsustainable glimpses of her beauty, this book is for you. The singular goal is to awaken your affections. Not affections for form, methodology, structure, organization, or programs, but affections for who she is and why she exists.”
"The church is beautiful because the lens through which Christ regards her is his cross—the focal point of blood, righteousness, forgiveness, union, justification, regeneration, and grace. His cross makes her beautiful. His perfection makes her beautiful. It is his sacrificial, substitutionary, sinless blood that washes her garments as white as snow. The cross of Christ makes her beautiful not only inwardly by justification but also outwardly through sanctification. From giving second birth to final glory, the righteousness of Christ creates a beautiful church."
"God doesn’t begrudgingly give himself to the church. He doesn’t bemoan the home he has made among us. He doesn’t regret pursuing us with his everlasting love. God delights to make the church his household and makes her beautiful by his presence among her. She can unwaveringly trust that the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away (Rev. 21:3–4)."
"In Paul’s meticulous description of Christ’s church, he is saying to Timothy that once God’s truth is removed from the church, her humanly devised structures, programs, and purpose for existing will collapse. The truth given to us through Scripture is the pillar and buttress of the church, having the same authority, relevance, and sufficiency as God himself, for the Bible is his divine breath."
"This book has essentially served as a visit to the sacred chambers where Christ dwells alone with his church. We have been led into the inner workings of the triune God as he rescues and sanctifies a people and makes them fit for his glory. Here, we are called his friends, his bride, his possession, his children, his house. Here, we can call him our Father, our Friend, our Savior, our Head, our Helper, and our Beautifier. Within these chambers, the church is robed in beauty, arrayed in loveliness, and set upon a path of lifelong adoration, intimate fellowship, selfless service, and gospel proclamation."