Friday, March 3, 2017

Jesus' Church


The following passage is used a lot in marriage counseling, but maybe we need to apply it more to our understanding of the church’s relationship to Jesus. 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 their own body, but they feed and care for their body, 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. - Ephesians 5:25-32 This teaching reveals a lot about what Jesus thinks of His church and how He chooses to love us. God created marriage to illustrate Christ’s love for the church.
Jesus views us as His own body. In our union with Him, His life extends to us. The strongest argument for you and I about why we should love the church is that Christ does. The reason we should be passionately committed to the church is that Jesus is passionately committed to the church.
Whose church do you belong? – One of your own design or Jesus’?