Heart for the Church

 Loving the Bride of Christ: (Part I)

HEART FOR THE CHURCH

Ephesians 5:25-32 (NIV)
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church--
30 for we are members of his body.
31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."
32 This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church.

Today, it seems unfortunate that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ has been getting a bad rap. Many have developed some very negative opinions against her. They label the church as boring, irrelevant, and so out-of touch. Consequently, church attendance has been consistently declining.

For many years, statistics in America will always show that about 40 to 45 percent of people attend church. However, the most recent study done by an Episcopal Church researcher, Kirk Hadaway, and Penny Marler of Samford University based on actual head count concludes the number is only about 20 percent today. Apparently, many are staying homes on Sundays, instead of attending church.

What is your personal opinion about the church? I recognize that some negative experiences in the past can bring about negative perceptions about her. And perhaps because of this, you have not wholeheartedly plugged yourself in any church until now. I believe it would benefit all of us to understand that God has a very positive view of the church. The fact is: today when God looks at the church, He has a much glorious picture of it. Despite all her shortcomings and imperfections, she remains to be the apple of His eyes and the object of His everlasting love.

This morning, as we celebrate our 26th anniversary, I would like to begin this series – Loving the Bride of Christ. In the New Testament, God has given us several pictures for the church. Sometimes, it has been referred to as the body to show our work for Christ, or as a family to show our fellowship in Christ, or as a building to show our unity with Christ, then as a bride to show our relationship with Christ.  Personally, of all these pictures, being the bride of Christ stands out as the best. I believe Christ uses this imagery to describe how deeply He loves us, and how intimately He wants to relate to us. 

By the way, I want to make sure all of you understand that when I speak of the church, I don’t refer to the building. The church consists of all those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and walk in love and relationship with him.  The word church comes from the Greek “Ekklesia,” meaning called out ones. The apostle Peter declares:

1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV):
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  

5 "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied.

             The church matters to Christ, and so the church should matter to us. What are you doing to bond with Christ church? Satan will do his best to keep you away from the church because he wants you to be far from Christ. If Satan wins, he can keep you from enjoying the ministries of Christ to his church. This leads me to my next point:

II           CHOOSING TO BEAUTIFY: (vs.26-27)

             Because the church belongs to Jesus Christ, He is committed to make the church beautiful. When Christ looks at the church, he sees potential, he sees her glory. Paul said - “to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”  There are two major truths from these words:

A. It’s a Process:

Where ever you go, you won’t find a perfect church because the church is still in the process of being perfected. Without exemption, every individual who has joined the church is imperfect. I won’t hesitate to say that this is the very reason why we all need the church. All of us are broken and need to be fixed. In the church, God has made His power available to bring about the changed that we desperately need. Believe it or not, Christ’s greatest passion is our total transformation, but He expects your cooperation. Here’s what I mean?

B. It’s through Proclamation:

God has provided His Word as the tool for cleansing. Jesus Christ Himself told His prayed:

John 17:17 (NIV):
17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Therefore, the way we respond to the Word will determine how beautiful we will become. We have to understand the value of God’s Word. Every church of Christ must always put the Word of God front and center. We should never substitute the Word of God for humanistic philosophies, or simply humorous stories, or just plain pep talks. We need to crave for the milk and meat of the Word. King David has highly esteemed God’s Word. He said:

Psalms 19:7-11 (NIV):
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous.
10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
11 By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

The Bible is God’s gift to the church. If the church fails to extensively use it, the church will suffer from the hurtful complications of immaturity. This is a fact. You may know Christ already, but if you remain immature, your life will be filled with frustrations.  The only way our lives will be beautiful is we let Christ dwell in usthrough His Words.  Often, when we keep ourselves from the church, we also keep ourselves from the Word.  Be careful because the Word and the church are meant to go together.

III         CHOOSING TO BEAR: (vs.29-31)

             Lastly, Christ also had taken the responsibility of caring for the church. For the sake of alliteration, I am using the idea of bearing to speak about Christ providing support to the church.

             It has been said that the Golden Rule for marriage is: You shall love your wife as yourself. Since the two has become one, when the husband loves his bride, he loves himself too.  Now, can you see how dynamic this truth is? Our vital union with Christ implies that He will naturally provide and care for us as individual believers and as a whole church. In order to sufficiently care for His bride, He provided the following:

A. Provision of the Spirit (Acts 1:8; Acts 2) – God provided the Holy Spirit to empower the church in all her endeavors. Jesus commanded his disciples to wait for His coming before they do any ministry. Why? Their sufficiency and efficiency will come from Him.

B. Provision of Shepherds (Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 5:2) – God has gifted the church with shepherds or pastors who are tasked to care for His flock. Believe or not, a church without an adequate pastor or pastors will struggle to survive.

 C. Provision of Spiritual Leaders (Acts 6:3; Eph. 4:7-13) – God has also gifted the church with believers who have the desire to serve according to their spiritual gifts. Their active and faithful involvements can bring the church to a greater growth and health. Please note that maturity and spirituality among leaders must be demanded.

Beloved, Christ has a big heart for His church, and He demands that we develop the same. He understands perfectly that it is only through the church that people of the world will be drawn intimately to Him. Do you have a heart for Christ church? Here is a great concluding verse. Remember David who had a heart to build the temple. Consider him as a type of Christ who has a heart for the church and look at this verse:

1 Kings 9:3 (NIV):
3 The Lord said to him: "I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

In the same way, because Christ’s heart is in the church, God is saying the same words to the church. Don’t you want to put your heart where God’s heart is? Let’s all have a heart for the church. 

 

10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

             Indeed, believers are those who have been called out of darkness into His wonderful light. We are bride of Christ – the ones who have a loving relationship with Him. As we re-discover the meaning of this in our series, I would like to begin in talking about having a heart for the church. There were three important choices Christ had to make for the Bride:

I            CHOOSING TO BOND: (v.25)

When the apostle Paul wanted to teach the early Christians in Ephesus how husbands should relate to their wives, he presented the great love of Jesus Christ to His church as the ultimate example. Without deserving it, Christ has reserve a big place in his heart for the church. He chose to love and bond with her in two ways:

A. Unconditionally:

Someone has defined unconditional love as love that is the same no matter what. It never changes. It is not based on getting love in return. Paul declared this truth in saying:

Romans 5:8 (NIV):
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ did not wait till we got our acts together and did things that showed Him that we loved Him. If that was His plan, He would be waiting for all eternity! Then, even after he has gained us, there was no guarantee we would respond with the right kind of love.

In the book of Hosea, God used the prophet to symbolize the kind of love He has for His people by commanding him to marry Gomer, who was an adulterous wife. Despite all the love she has received from Hosea, she decided to leave him and prostitute herself to many men eventually ending in a slave market. To show great love, God commanded Hosea to purchase her and restore her back to him. With this, God made a great promise to love unconditionally:

Hosea 2:19-20 (NIV):
19 I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.

B. Sacrificially:

Our text states – “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” the fact is: Christ loved us so much that his own life was nothing compared to our souls. He set His personal happiness aside to seek our highest wellbeing. He proved his love to his church by giving himself to die for her. Even if this death would include humiliation, and suffering on the cross.

Indeed, His love is so amazing! This kind of love should compel us to return love to Him. It would also serve us well, if we love the church He loves. If we hurt the church, we are hurting Jesus Christ himself. The apostle Paul learned about this prior to his conversion. He was once committed to destroy the church. While he was on his way to Damascus, Jesus confronted him and said:

Acts 9:4-5 (NIV):
4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"