Alba 6-11-2023
CHRIST AND THE CHURCH
Ephesians 5:22-33
A 97-pound Labrador retriever named Marley is said to have been the world’s worst dog. His story is told in a book for children, "Marley: A Dog Like No Other", by John Grogan. It was also made into a movie called “Marley and Me”.
Marley was adopted as a puppy by a couple looking for another addition to their family. Marley routinely failed to "get the idea" of what humans expected of him; at one point, mental illness was suggested as a plausible explanation for his behavior.
He crashed through screen doors with alarming regularity. He went berserk during thunderstorms, destroying everything in his path.
He stole food off the dinner table, slobbered incessantly, drank from the toilet bowl, and ate bath towels, sponges, socks, used tissues, plastic toys, furniture, speaker covers, paychecks, even an expensive gold necklace.
He was incorrigible. How could a master love a dog that had so many bad qualities! But they kept him. Why, because to them... he was utterly lovable.
Even though the dog had many bad qualities, it was still loved. Is that unusual?
Have you ever seen a couple and said, “I wonder what he sees in her” or, “I don't understand what she sees in him”? So we can also ask, what does Jesus see in the church?
When one looks at the way many churches conduct themselves, or for that matter the way we as church members sometimes have acted, we have to wonder, how could Jesus love us? We are sinners. Jesus did not sin. Why would He have any concern for us?
One can point out the faults and problems within any church. One might not agree to certain decisions that are made. There can be people who are frustrating. Something else happens that causes a problem. But despite all of it’s warts and faults, Jesus loves the church.
We know that because the Bible says so! We sing “Jesus loves ME, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.” But we could also sing, “Jesus loves the CHURCH, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.”
Jesus loved us even while we were not only sinners, but His enemy. Jesus gave His very life. He gave Himself up for the church.
It is important to grasp this truth because otherwise we may allow some difficulty or trouble to cause us to turn our back on the church. To do so is like turning our back on Jesus Himself.
So where in the Bible does it say that Jesus loves the church? Turn to Ephesians 5:22-33. “Oh”, you say. “That's the section of scripture that preachers use when they have a wedding. It tells how husbands and wives should behave toward each other.”
Well yes it does, but it says more than that. It teaches that the relationship between the husband and wife is modeled after the relationship between Christ and His church. Let's read: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
“Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
“So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”
Actually this is a good section of scripture for ministers to use when performing a wedding. It is here that we learn God's intended way for a husband and wife to interact with each other. If these principles for marriage are put into practice, it will bless those who follow them.
If a wife shows respect for her husband, and if a husband demonstrates his love for his wife, both will be blessed and be able to enjoy a long life together. But if there is no respect and no love, it is no wonder why so many marriages fail.
When verse 22 says, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord,” that submission is not an admission of inferiority, but a willing display of respect for the husband's place in her life. When a person learns to give oneself wholly for the benefit of the other, then it is not a matter of superiority or inferiority, but of support and respect.
And when verse 25 says, “Husbands, love your wives”, it gives the example to follow. “Just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.”
Biblical submission is built upon a foundation of love. We submit to God because we know that He loves us. And when a person is willing to love completely and unselfishly, it earns respect. We can submit to one another because of love. So both husband and wife are to love and respect each other. This is the foundation of a lasting and good marriage.
But did you notice the basis for this positive instruction on marriage? Verse 32 says, “but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” A main point of this passage is the Lord's relationship with those of us who are the church.
It important to understand that when speaking of the church it is not speaking of a physical building with a sign that says “Church” on it. It is a reference to Christians, the people who are saved. Jesus loves His people.
And the Bible does not say, “Christ loves the church just like a husband loves a wife”. It’s the other way around. Husbands and wives are to look to the relationship Jesus has with His church to learn what it means to love and cherish one another.
Jesus is the ultimate example of the kind of love that should be in a marriage, because Jesus is the ultimate example of how a husband ought to love his wife.
Jesus is the perfect husband. He’s the husband of a wondrous bride… a bride called the church. And Jesus loves His church with a perfect love.
To what extent does Jesus love the church? He gave Himself completely, without reservation for the church. He loves us so much that He gave Himself up for us. He laid down His very life to redeem us. He did more than lay down his coat like Sir Walter Raleigh so we didn't have to walk in muddy puddles.
He carried a heavy cross up to Calvary's hill and experienced a horrible, painful death on that cross so that we would not have to suffer the consequences of our sins in hell. Greater love has no man than this! How could He love us so?
Yes, the Lord loves us, but His love is not blind. He sees all of our sin, and yet He does not just overlook it. He doesn’t pretend that our sin is not there. Jesus loves us enough that He did something about our sin.
We are powerless to clean ourselves up for God; we can’t make ourselves look presentable. We aren’t perfect. No church is perfect. But that doesn’t change His love for us. And He is continually at work to cleanse us and prepare us for eternity.
Verse 26 says that He is working in our lives to make us holy, cleansing us “with the washing with water by the Word", so that one day, verse 27 says, He can present us "a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle... holy and without blemish.”
Jesus gave His life to sanctify us. Sanctification means to set aside as special for a special purpose, to make pure and holy.
When we confess that we are sinners, and come to Jesus in faith, repenting of our sins and being immersed into Him, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
Then when God looks at us, He no longer sees our sin. It has been forgiven. All that God can see is His glory at work in us. The radiance and purity of Jesus shines from our lives.
A radiant and glorious church reflects the glory of God. The glory of God within His Church is not just for Him to behold; a watching world can see His glory within us also.
It is His goal to bring the church (which includes each of us) to its fullest potential. Jesus does it so that He might embrace (present to Himself) a pure, blameless and glorious bride.
Someone said the church is like God’s greenhouse (where plants are nurtured and grown) where we are cultivated and nurtured into our fullest potential.
Jesus is committed to the purity of the church. Jesus is committed to see His bride rise to her fullest glory. His love for His church is not fickle. It is committed. It is unchanging. He intercedes on our behalf constantly before the Father.
His love for His church is so deep, that the verse 30 says He views us as “members of His body”. And Ephesians 4:12-15 says the church is the body of Christ and He is the head.
And in Ephesians 5:29 it says “no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.” In the same way we take care of our own bodies, the Lord out of His love for us does the same for His body, the church.
When the church is hurt or sick, the Lord nourishes and cherishes it. Jesus hurts when His people hurt. The Lord has always taken it personally when His people are mistreated or when they are hurt.
Do you remember what happened to Saul before he was the Apostle Paul when he encountered Jesus? He had been persecuting the church, and one day he was stopped dead in his tracks and heard the voice of Jesus saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
Why did Jesus say “me”? The reason is because as His people were being hurt, He hurt as well. So when you are heart broken, stressed, struggling in life, offended, or mistreated, the Lord Jesus hurts with you.
When we go through the difficulties that the enemy would use to cause us to give up hope, to cause our love for Jesus to diminish in it’s intensity, the Lord pours out His love into our hearts enabling us to love Him more. That is if we let Him; if we make Jesus our desire.
Some people may say, “I love Jesus, but I do not love the church.” This is not possible, and is like severing the head from the body, because the church is the body of Christ and He is the head.
While the head is perfect, we are a body that does have flaws and faults. But Jesus loves us anyway. Even when we were dead in our sins, Christ proved His love for us by taking our punishment. He died in our place. Jesus put our need ahead of His comfort.
In Acts 20:28 the apostle Paul is speaking to the church elders and reminding them of their responsibility. He said to them, "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
Jesus shed His blood to bring us out of our sins to Himself.
His love is so great! Jesus loves the church so much that He gave Himself up for her, and we too should love the church because of His obvious love for the church. Because if Jesus loves the church, we all should too.
Last week in our Sunday School class, Charlie told how some people say they can worship the Lord at the lake just as well as at church. Charlie's answer to that is, “Jesus didn't die for the lake, He died for the church!”
That's why Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
We need each other. By coming together we are encouraged by each other to remain faithful to our Lord. And the special bond we have in Jesus is enhanced the more we are together.
In the same way that God takes a husband and wife and the two become one within the bond of marriage, so too the countless multitude of believers making up the church of Jesus Christ are united by the Holy Spirit as one. We are the body of Christ united to Him and one another.
We can learn a lot about the marriage relationship in this section of scripture. If one wants a successful marriage, this will be the way to achieve it.
As verse 33 says, each husband should “love his own wife”.
That's why the marriage vow says, “and keep yourself only to her so long as you both shall live.”
And the same verse says that the wife needs to “see that she respects her husband.” That's why the vows used to include “love, honor and obey.”
Sadly many repeat their vows with no intention of keeping them. But Jesus made a vow of His love to us that will not change. How can we do any less for Him?
Christ's love for the church should turn His church into one that honors Him. We should become a submissive, loving, radiant and nurturing church, following Him in the way that He loves us.
CLOSE:
A man had been married for over 25 years. One day, as he was sharing with his friend about his family, he reached for his wallet, "Let me show you a picture of my bride," he said excitedly.
The friend thought he was going to show him an old wedding picture. Instead he handed him a recent picture of his wife - now in her 50s. "She is my lovely bride!"
This man’s obvious love for his wife was inspiring. She was not "the old lady" to him. Even the word ’wife’ did not express all that was in his heart. After more than 25 years of life together, she was still his bride. She still had his heart, his passion and affection.
The Bible tells us that Jesus has a similar and even greater love for us, His Church. Despite all of our mistakes and imperfections, Jesus' love for His church has not changed over time.
Jesus is at work every day, to make us beautiful. One day Christ will receive this beautiful and glorious bride. He had us in mind as He hung dying on the cross.
Since that day – nearly 2000 years ago - His love for us has not changed. Jesus still calls His church His bride.
