Ephesians
5:25-27
Let me share a story from Joshua Harris’ book Stop Dating the Church (11-12).
Jack and Grace met through a mutual friend. From
day one, they seemed to be the perfect match. Grace was everything Jack had
always wanted. She was beautiful, outgoing, and caring- always there when Jack
needed her.
For the first five months they were inseparable.
Jack could hardly think of anything but Grace. He didn’t need to look further,
he told friends that “She’s the one.”
Now almost three years have passed. Jack still
enjoys the comfort and familiarity of being with Grace, but the spark is gone.
Grace’s flaws seem more obvious. He’s not sure he finds her as attractive as he
once did. And he’s beginning to resent all the time she wants to spend with
him.
One night when she asks if they can define the
nature of their relationship, Jack blows up. “We’re together, aren’t we?” he
asks angrily. “Why isn’t that enough for you?” Obviously Jack isn’t ready for
commitment. And it’s unclear if he ever will be.
Have you ever been in a relationship like this?
God has something better for you. He wants you in a relationship defined by
both passion and commitment. But before you can take hold of this wonderful
plan, you need to know something about this couple. There are millions of Jacks
walking around today. And Grace isn’t a girl. Grace is a church.
·
As
we dive into this message this morning I want to ask you “Are you married to
the church or are you just merely dating?
o
Dating
= just with someone
o
Married
= committed to someone
·
God
has created an institution that is the most precious place on earth and His
people should be committed to it and be doing what God has intended for us to
do.
·
The
Scripture this morning gives us an intensity and depth of the love that Jesus
Christ has for the most precious thing on Earth, His church or otherwise known
as His bride.
o
Read
Ephesians 5:25-33
o
It’s
important to understand that God did not derive His inspiration for loving the
church from marriage, but God created marriage to illustrate the love He has
for the church.
1.
How
much does Christ love His church? Verse 25 “Husbands, love your wives, just as
Christ love the church and gave Himself up for her. “
a.
He
laid down his life so that we might be justified, so that we might be made
right and now He is at work making us the men and women of God we are called to
be.
b.
The
Bridegroom’s love for His bride is not flighty or changing, but rather it’s so
deep that He gave His life up for the church, He is committed to His Church.
i. Ex: The Bride & Groom at a Wedding.
ii. God created this marriage institution to
show and display His love for the church.
iii. And
yet, so many of us treat church like a dating relationship, we like it when we
first start, the music sounds “good”, the CAC is wonderful, but when we start
talking about true commitment and giving yourself up for the church then we’re
like “What one minute, haven’t you seen the problems with this one.”
Maybe it’s a conversation like (monologue):
Hey are you seeing anybody?
Yeah I met this really nice church on Greenwood Ave?
Is that right?
Yeah she’s a really great church. Yeah I really like her, we’ve had
some good times
So how long have you all been
together?
6 Months or so
Really, are you getting into
membership classes?
Yeah, yeah … I’ve gone to about 5 membership classes, she’s really
into that. It made her happy, so I went.
Is she attractive?
Oh yeah, she has a new welcome desk, a nice CAC, and about to possibly
get a new roof, she’s fine….
So I mean are you, are we
talking marriage?
Ah, marriage? Ah, no. I mean, no, I’m still young you know? And there
are still a lot of churches out there I have met, you just don’t want to marry
the first church you come across. And to be honest there are some things about
her that are kind of, I don’t know, she’s kind of clingy. When we get together
on Sunday, she wants to us to be there 2 hours. And she wants me to get there
on time and turn off my cell phone. But then that’s not enough, she’ll call
wanting me to be in a small group or help out with this meal. I mean we have a
beautiful thing here, don’t mess with it. I’ve never said this to her, but I
want to say “back off.” I’m not saying this to be proud but there are plenty of
churches that would want me, but they wouldn’t want me for 2 hours each week,
so I need to keep my options open.
Many people date the church!
1.
Ed
Stetzer from Lifeway Research says the average church attender stays at a
church 18-24 months, are you an average church attender?
2.
Or
maybe you’re someone who just like your routine, don’t mess with my routine,
because I need my “church fix” for the week.
a.
We
long to see everyone love the church as Christ loves the church, we long to see
everyone committed to the church as Christ is committed to the church because
this is the dearest place on earth. Think about how Christ cherishes His bride.
iv. “For one will scarcely die for a
righteous person- though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-
but God shows his love for us (the church) in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.” Romans 5:7-8
1.
Jesus
loves the church sacrificially and His sacrifice was not for the lovely or the
worthy, but the unlovely and unworthy, also known as the church.
2.
God
can expect and command this kind of love from us, who belong to Him, because He
has given us the capacity to love as He loves.
a.
1
Thess 4:9 “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write
to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.”
i. Hearing how Christ loves His church
should affect the way we love God, one another, and the world.
3.
Just
like the husband is not commanded to love His wife and be committed to her
because of what she has done or not done, He is commanded to lover her because
it is God’s will for him to love her.
4.
Colossians
1:3-4 “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray
for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you
have for all the saints!”
c.
Transition:
His commitment and protection for the church helps cleanse us, purify us, and
helps His bride look beautiful.
2. Christ
love and commitment to the dearest place on earth cleanses us so that one-day
we might be presented glorious (26-27).
a.
“That
he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the
word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot
or wrinkle or any such blemish (26-27)”.
i. His love runs so deed that He would make
us free from spot, wrinkle, and without blemish so that ONE-DAY, on that final
day we would look like Christ.
ii. Friends, if this does not get you
excited, if this does not stir you up inside, if something does not resonate
then you should be troubled.
1.
I
want you to be troubled as you recognize that your heart and love for the
church might not be like what Christ intends for it to be.
iii. Christ cleanses all spots and wrinkles,
because His love churches the church is more than we can imagine.
1.
This
paints a picture of a Groom who takes a not-so-pretty orphan who hates Him and He
pays for her with His blood to make her a glorious, desirable wife (Romans 8).
2.
How
do you see and think about each other, like that?
3.
Ephesians
5 calls us to “Imitators of God.”
4.
Romans
8:29 tells us to “conformed to the image of His Son.”
5.
There
is no question that part of being like Jesus is to love what Jesus loves: His
Church.
a.
If
you love Christ, you should love and be committed to His church, not just put
up with the church but have a passion for it.
b.
There
is not much thinking at all anymore about the local church, but I want us to
have a deep rooted conviction about the importance of the local church and love
it as Christ does.
i. Ex: College Student
ii. Ex: Situation with George Dooms.
b.
Christ
is married to the church, but people want to date the church because it’s the
easy way out.
i. Are you just living with the church?
(You have certain activities you do, but you’re not committed to the body).
1.
Ex:
Marty
ii. Jesus’ love for us was not a habit, a
habit is not the same as love and commitment and God’s heart is not moved by a
large group of people who out of habit attend church.
1.
Been
married for 25 years …
2.
Colossians
1:9-13
3.
To
love correctly is to want only the best for the one you love, is that the type
of love you have for the church?
4.
Are
you less concerned about what’s there for you and more concerned about how you
can be there for the church?
5.
The
great news is that Christ seeks to protect us from the world so that we might
be holy, have virtue, be pure in every way.
6.
What
were things that Christ got upset about in the church?
a.
Division
b.
Abuse
of Sacraments
c.
Idol
Worship
d.
Religiosity
e.
Everything
we see Christ condemning is something that is making the church look ugly,
disgusting, and impure.
f.
Church,
remember that we are cleansed by the washing of water “by the Word.”
g.
The
Word shows us how to be the church, love the church, serve the church, be
committed to the church, and we cannot detract from that.
c.
This
is not easy for us to take in, because it gets at the heart of a major issue that
our Christian American Cult is facing, because commitment is rarely found.
i. The question we need to be confronted
with this morning is, Is God’s design for me to be completely committed to the Church
God has placed me in?
ii. Is there a primary place for me to use
and express my gifts in the local church?
iii. Does Christ love for the Church seem
central throughout the Bible?
iv. Is the local church the primary vehicle that
God wants to use in proclaiming his gospel and making disciples of all nations?
v. With love to the universal church, “am I
called to be committed to a specific local body? “
1.
And
to all those questions, I shout “Yes”
2.
These
standards and truths are not something we have created, but these are from
God’s Word.
d.
So
what does it mean to love like Christ?
i. Biblical conviction for God’s Word (Eph
3:7-13; Col 1:15).
1.
The
church is the dearest place on earth and the gospel is the most sacred thing in
our lives.
ii. Nothing competes with Christ & His
Church (Heb 11)
1.
Making
the local church the dearest place on earth makes other places like the football
field, softball diamond, or race park not the dearest place. Nothing competes.
iii. Demonstrated with action, not religion.
(Eph 4:16)
1.
Finding
your place as a member here, find your place through service by meeting,
knowing, and loving people.
iv. Some of us today have possibly never
loved the church, cause we’ve never been taught it’s importance.
v. Others, might have never begun to love
Christ Jesus and allowed Him to rule over your live, because you can’t love the
Church til you love Christ and give your life over to Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment