7 Truths About the Church
Ephesians 5:25-32
Introduction: What is the church? Is it a building? Is it an event? Does church begin when the doors are unlocked on Sunday morning? Does it end when the last light is off and the doors are locked? Does church begin when the music director begins waving his arms and leading the music? Does it end when the last a-men is said? What is church?
I want to share with you 7 truths about the church. Most of you will say “I knew that” but my hope and prayer as God laid these 7 things on my heart and began to put this message into my head is that they’ll have an impact on the way you live your life and the way you look at church from now on.
Read: Ephesians 5:25-32
I. The First Truth is that Christ Loves the Church
A. The best thing a pastor could ever tell a young man who is considering marriage is to love his wife as Christ loves the church.
i. There are two types of love used in the Bible
1. Phileo – Phileo loves says I love you because
a. You’re so pretty
b. You do so much for me
c. You have a lot of money
d. You have something that I want
2. Agape – Agape love says I love you no matter what
a. For richer for poorer
b. In sickness and in health
c. Till death do us part
ii. When Paul instructs husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church the husband is to love his wife with an AGAPE love.
1. It is the same word used in 1 Corinthians 13 translated charity
B. A man leaves his parents, a woman leaves her parents and they become one flesh
i. The church is the bride of Christ
ii. The church becomes the body of Christ, one with Him
C. A man is to love his wife as he loves his own body
i. He would do anything for her that he would do for himself
ii. He’d lay down his life for hers
iii. Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.
1. Christ loves the church
2. He saw that the only way for it to have life was to give His own
D. I hope you understand tonight this first truth. Christ loves the church. It is very dear to Him.
II. The Second Truth is that the Church is Alive
A. The church is the bride of Christ, the body of Christ and it is alive
i. Church is not an event that happens
ii. Church does not begin and end with the flipping of a light switch
iii. It does not begin with the music director leading in song nor does it end with a prayer.
iv. There is not one living thing that can be turned on then off then on then off again
v. There is not one living thing that dies then lives then dies then lives again
1. Even a tree when it becomes dormant for the Winter is still alive
2. A sleeping bear in hibernation is still alive
vi. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year the church is alive
1. It never ceases to exist
2. It does not have doors that close and lock for the night
vii. There are some sayings that are very familiar to us
1. I can’t talk on the phone right now I’m getting ready for church
2. I can’t come over tonight to watch a movie, I’m going to church
3. Or as the cell phone rings in the middle of service and some will answer it and say I can’t talk to you right now I’m in church
4. These sayings suppose something of the church that is not true. The church is alive and it never ceases to exit
B. Paul uses the example of a marriage
i. I am always married to my wife
ii. I don’t cease to be married when I leave for work
iii. I don’t cease to be married when I am not around my wife
iv. There aren’t certain hours of the day or days of the week when I am married and others in which I am not.
C. So the second truth is that the church is alive
III. The Third Truth is that the Church has Form and Shape
A. Romans 12:4-5
i. This passage reminds us that in our own bodies we have many members
ii. It then tells us that the body of Christ takes the shape of you and me
B. 1 Corinthians 12:12 – 14
i. This passage reminds us again that we are the body of Christ
1. I may be a hand
2. You may be a foot
3. Someone else the mouth
4. Another the eyes or the ears
ii. We are all part of one body
IV. The Fourth Truth is that We Never Cease to be Members of the Church
A. Verses 15&16
i. The members of my body cannot do as they please
1. My hand cannot say that it is tired of being part of this body and then leave. If it did, I would be in trouble but it would be in even bigger trouble.
2. My foot cannot go off on vacation by itself. Sometimes my mind takes little trips like that but my foot cannot.
3. My hair…bad illustration!
ii. This has some far reaching implications for the church
1. Not only is the church alive 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year but you take the church with you wherever you may go.
a. If you go to a far away land such as Ohio, the church goes with you
b. If you go to a place where you should not be, the church still goes with you
c. If you do something that is dishonoring to God, the church is there with you
2. You represent the church in all that you do
a. Every ministry is an extension of the church
b. Specifically the local New Testament church which is the method and mode that God established in His Word
c. If you leave this church to sing at another, you are still an extension, an arm of this church
d. If you go to the rescue mission…
e. If you go to the nursing home…
3. By the way, sometimes you wonder why the preacher gets so nosy, why he wants to know where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing.
a. If in all we do we are still members of the church then that puts all we do under his authority as the one that God has put in charge over the local New Testament Church.
b. I will tell you that this is a submission issue and some of you may choose to tune me out from this point forward but I hope you won’t.
c. Submission is an area that encompasses everyone from the church staff and on across the board. We all struggle with it but it does not change the truth of the matter.
B. So the fourth truth is that we never cease to be members of the church.
V. #5, There’s No Room for Jealousy in the Church
A. Verses 17-25
i. Jealousy within the body
1. Imagine how silly it would be if my left hand became jealous of my right hand because that was the hand that I always use to hold my wife’s hand.
2. Imagine if my ears became jealous of my eyes because they could never see a beautiful sunset.
3. What if my toes became jealous of my nose because it never got to smell fresh baked bread?
ii. Jealousy within the church
1. It makes no more sense for there to be jealousy within the church
a. Jealousy over who gets picked to sing a song in the Christmas Cantata
b. Jealousy over who gets asked to teach Sunday school
c. Jealousy over who the pastor takes on visitation with him
2. We are all members of the body, pulling together to accomplish the same task
3. It makes no sense to be jealous. There is to be no schism. That means dissension or division amongst the members of the body.
B. The fifth truth is that there’s no room for jealousy in the body of Christ.
VI. #6, When One Part of the Body Hurts, it all Hurts
A. Verse 26
i. My body
1. If I mash my thumb with the hammer, my whole body knows about it.
2. If I need to have my appendix removed my whole body will know about it.
3. When I broke my arm and dislocated my shoulder my whole body knew about it.
a. I couldn’t stand up.
b. I was dizzy.
c. If I moved just a little bit my whole body told me to stop it.
4. When I get a headache my whole body knows about it.
a. My head hurts first
b. Then my neck
c. Then my stomach
d. Then I make my whole family sick, sick of me
ii. So it is with the body of Christ
1. When you hurt I hurt
2. What affects me affects you
3. Your heartbreak is my heartbreak
4. Your joy is my joy
5. We often have church weddings
a. We celebrate together as a couple starts their new life together
6. We often have church funerals
a. We mourn and grieve together over the loss that we as a body have experienced
b. We also rejoice together in knowing that the one who has died is a Christian and has left this life for a better one
B. We are the church, the body of Christ. We laugh together and we cry together. That is the sixth truth.
VII. The Church Serves Together – Verse 28
A. The members of the church are given various gifts
i. Here Paul lists off some of those gifts
1. apostles
2. prophets
3. teachers
4. miracles
5. gifts of healing
6. helps
7. governments (how about help for our government)
8. diversities of tongues
ii. Just as my tongue serves one purpose and my hand another, each member of the church has varying gifts for varying purposes.
B. Why do we have these varying gifts? Acts 2:46-47
i. The church met together
ii. They served together
iii. They each did what they were supposed to do
iv. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
1. This one preached
2. This one taught
3. This one sang
4. This one was a door greeter
5. This one helped decorate
6. This one made visits
7. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Conclusion: I realize that we live in a day and age where every one says “gimme”. What can the church do for me? You are the church. You are that bride which Christ has given His life for. Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it.
As we stand tonight for a time of invitation, I realize that tonight’s message has not been one that beats you up over this sin or that one. It has not been one to stir you to surrender your life to missions or other full time service. But I believe it is a very important one. The church is Christ’s body. It is His hands reaching out to those in need. It is His mouth sharing the Gospel. It is His eyes, giving sight to the spiritually blind. It is His shoulder for the one who needs a shoulder to cry on.
And yet so much hinders us from functioning as God has desired for us to function. I don’t have to preach on sin for us to realize and to know that it hinders the body of Christ. Gossip hinders our work as the church. Hard feelings limit what we will be able to do together. Distrust, rumors and jealousy. Paul uses the word schisms. Laziness, apathy and greed limit our effectiveness as well.
If God has spoken to your heart, won’t you respond now as we give this invitation?
