Christ Loves The Church

Introduction

Good morning. Like to wish a happy Mother’s Day to all to whom that applies this morning. I’d like to say a special happy Mother’s Day to my mom. I haven’t seen her this morning to say so. I did, however, send a text message. So think before you judge. I’d ask that you open your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. That will be our text for this morning. I would like to say for a moment or two, a little bit of a reflection upon the week I just had.

That’s where I was Sunday through Friday night. I was doing a holding a gospel meeting there. Did various things from going and inviting people during the day, including even a study on Thursday morning, early afternoon. And the meeting concluded Friday night, and Kashka and I drove back on Saturday. I do have good news to report and to share, and we can all glorify God that on Thursday, as part of that study with two boys, one about 19 and one about 28, there were three baptisms. Their mom decided to listen in about halfway through the study, perhaps a little earlier, and she decided to be baptized as well. We went right over a few steps to their pool and baptized them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of their sins.

So certainly it was a wonderful week beyond even just that wonderful day, although I will say that must be the highlight, if not one of them. Now, I will say regarding that meeting, I of six of the seven lessons that I preached, I had already preached here. And for those of you who are members here, you owe my mom a debt of gratitude. Not only because she kept me from being a terror to you, perhaps in the past, but because that extra lesson was on withdrawal. And for some reason, my mom thought that Mother’s Day wouldn’t be the right time for a sermon on withdrawal. So I will skip that for the time being, and we will study our text in Ephesians chapter 5. For those of you who are familiar with the text, you may realize the words of verse 22 set the stage for who is involved.

Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. And we see three bodies. Here we see wives, we see husbands, and we see the Lord. And this is a wonderful text that focuses on marriage. It continues into verse 23, even. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. And the text continues, and we’ll read that momentarily. But Paul has done a truly amazing thing here. You know it’s in Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 3 that Paul revealed how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.

When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. And we know that Paul was inspired in this letter. We know that Paul was certainly an educated man, certainly in the ways of the Jewish law, but also even a very fervent teacher for the body of Christ. In fact, he suffered many things to teach Christ to the world. Now, in this text, he did a wonderful job teaching us and giving us many principles on marriage. And we often use this text appropriately so. But can continue the reading with me where we left off in verse twenty-five.

Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her, 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 thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their 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 Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. But note verse thirty-two. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. And so in the due process of teaching these marital lessons, Paul was teaching a more important lesson, or perhaps a different lesson of importance, and that’s the relationship between Christ and his church. If you’ll turn in your Bibles with me to Acts chapter twenty, I want to underline a point here, and I’ll reference it in a few moments, Lord willing. But in Acts chapter twenty and verse twenty-eight, Luke writes, Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God. Note this last part of the verse, which he obtained with his own blood.

What was it that was obtained with whose blood? The Church of God was established and purchased by the blood of Christ. Now, that is a very expensive purchase. There are a lot of things that frankly, Tekoshka and I are of too much value for us to buy. Even if we took uh even if we took advantage of all those credit cards that actually pre-approve us, aren’t we pretty special? Even if we match those out, there are things in this life that we could not purchase. But nothing, no amount of zeros or commas or decimal points will ever amount to the purchase price that Jesus paid for the church. Now I do I would like to make an apology this morning.

1. Christ Loves His Bride

But when I brought it up to the computer this morning, the font didn’t take. So it’s going to be plain, and I ask that you just give me a pass on that. But consider in Ephesians chapter 5 what Paul’s message was. It was about the relationship between Christ and the church. And he paralleled that with what? The relationship of a husband and his wife. And so you see that the church of Christ is in many ways the bride of Christ. And I’d like to consider a few things this morning about Christ and his church. First of all, I’d like to establish that Christ loves his bride. Go back with me to Ephesians chapter 5. And note in verse 25, what was the exhortation there? Husbands are to love your wives.

And you say, well, that should be pretty common sense, although that can be difficult sometimes. But how are they supposed to love? With what fervor? With what intensity? With what longevity should a husband love their wives? Well, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Now you see, that’s a bit of a challenge, isn’t it? Turn your New Testament with me to Romans chapter 5. I want to distinguish types of love this morning. There’s something about mothers that they have a special unique sense of love. It’s almost as if God set up man and woman to have unique attributes to give to not only each other, but to their families. Perhaps might we give God his due for creating things in good working order and strive to abide by that.

In Romans chapter 5, we read of a love that is even surpassing that of a mother. In verse 6 of Romans chapter 5, for while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. I want to stop right there and consider for a moment.

There is love that would even die for someone. But if you notice, what runs kind of common sense to man, at least for some of us, is what verse 7 tells us. That if someone is righteous, if someone maybe is special to me, I would die for them. Because they mean so much, because my love is so strong for that individual that I would die. But note what the claim is for a righteous man. It’s almost as if they deserve it. Maybe it might be as simply as deserving as being blood. Maybe I would die for my sister because after all she is my sister, or I would die for a parent. Or maybe I would die for my wife because of my love for her, or certainly a child, because of how much I care for that child.

But what about the undesirables? What about the unrighteous? What would I do for them? What is common sense, certainly, for man to do, and that is to let them be. But Christ’s love is so much stronger than that. In verse 8, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You see, we don’t reach the qualification given in verse 7 that to man’s logic says this is someone worth dying for. Now we may consider ourselves good people, but what were we truly at the time of Jesus’ death? Who did Jesus die for? A bunch of good people who had good morals and by and large did good things. No. Jesus not only purchased the church with his blood, he gave sinful people like myself the opportunity to have my sins forgiven.

And you see, it is this great, unmatchable love that Jesus had for the church that he was willing to die for her. In verse 9, since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. And you see, that is the love that Christ had for us. And you see, the challenge then for a husband to love your wife is pretty daunting. I have to look, and I have a beautiful Brian, it’s her 21st birthday this morning, and I have a challenge to love her.

Now, if you’ve met her, you know that challenge isn’t as steep as it could otherwise be. But to love her in the way that Christ loved the church, to love her no matter what. No matter what she’s done to me, no matter what barrier of separation has been created between us, because we know the wages of sin is death, and Isaiah chapter 59 reveals that when we sin, we are separated from God. That’s a powerful love. And that’s not just for husbands and wives. That sets the bar for how we should love others. That sets the bar of John chapter 13, perhaps for even how we should love our neighbor. And you see that Christ has a powerful love for the church. But consider with me other passages like 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 10.

Look with me over there in 1 Peter chapter 2. And verse 10, we see throughout the scriptures, including the New Testament, time and time again, how the body of Christ is something special. We’re set apart in verse 9. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Look at that first part of verse 10 again. Once you were not a people.

2. Christ Gave Himself Up for Her

That is not something we should read over lightly, brothers and sisters. We should hang our hats and give thanks to God down on our knees, that we can be God’s people. What does it mean to be God’s people? Well, verse 10 gives us at least some indication of it. Once when we weren’t God’s people, we had not received mercy, but now that we are, we have received mercy. Christ loved us enough to purchase the church and to forgive us our sins with his blood. But consider some ways peculiar to the text in Ephesians chapter 5, in which Christ loved the church. At the end of verse 25, as we had already read, husbands are supposed to love their wives, as Christ even loved the church and gave himself up for her.

Literally, it’s to pay the price for. It’s this idea that we could not pay this debt. And Jesus was there to pay it for us. Now, that has some strong implications to it. Consider what it means about the church. It means the church is important. And so all these thoughts that say, well, go wherever you feel like worshiping. How does that make sense if Jesus shed his blood for the church? Which this very same letter in Ephesians chapter 1 defines as his body in verses 22 and 23 of that first chapter. But consider in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 18, what is it that Jesus tells Peter? Upon this rock I will build my church. There is one bride of Christ. There is one church. Ephesians chapter 4 makes it pretty plain for us, doesn’t it?

There is one body, just the same as there is one Lord, one Spirit, one God, and Father of all.

3. That He Might Sanctify Her

It is a life to live. It is a dedication that says, Christ has lived, he has purchased the church. I must love him. I must glorify God and strive to be with him for all of eternity. And that’s not a simple proposition as we’re going to see as we move forward. Consider in verse 26, moving on in Ephesians chapter 5, that Paul writes 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 thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. I hope you see where that’s going on the idea of being holy and without blemish. I’m very thankful to Kashka. One of the things that she does most for me, most helpful to me, is on the list of things that I don’t do well, she often does them.

But one thing she does for me, that’s very kind is she often irons my clothes. So if it looks nice and ironed, she did it. If not, she might not have been home. That just means I came to church wearing the best I could. But when you see someone ironing, what are they doing? They’re pressing the clothes. Would it do to have a bunch of wrinkles if you’re trying to iron it and have it straight? No. Would it do to wash clothes and then see a large spot in the middle of your shirt? Absolutely not. What did Jesus make the church? He wants to present us as holy and without blemish. But how did he do that? Back in verse 25, he sanctified us. That is, he set apart his people.

Just as a man anticipating marriage would set apart one woman, whom he will commit to for the rest of his life, Jesus has set apart his bride, his church as special. And what we need to see in this day when we’re thinking about mothers and all the love that they have, consider the great love of Jesus. You can see it building. Can’t you Christ love the church? How much that he loved the church, even so much that he gave himself up for her. And that Christ even sanctified us. But how does he do that? Well, let’s look at verse 26 and the end of it. Having cleansed her by what? The washing of water with the word. Look with me in Acts chapter 22. When you consider Paul’s conversion story, when he’s retelling of it, on his way to Damascus, he runs in, of course, to Ananias, as verse 12 of chapter 22, designates a devout man according to the law.

But note verse 26. After he’s been teaching him, he comes to this great conclusion. And in verse 16, the question is posed to Saul, who we know as Paul, and now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins. Calling on his name. Well, whose name do we call on? The name of Jesus. The name of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Savior who gave his blood up on the cross for our sins, that we might be sanctified, that we might be made holy. After all, where were we stuck? Colossians chapter 1 and verses 13 and 14. Where were we? God has delivered us from where? The domain of darkness. We were in the domain of darkness, not because Adam acted a certain way or because my parents acted a certain way.

I was in the domain of darkness because I sinned. Even though Jesus had died for the sins of the world, I had rejected him. I have sinned, and I was stuck in my sins. And yet God has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And you say, that is love. That not only does he love me, not only did he love me at a time when I was unlovable, when I was an anathema to him, but God had a plan that delivered me from that awful state where I was lost. Hopelessly, eternally lost. But God provided the way. And Jesus paid the price. And he sanctified us. And if we just obey him, if we call on his name, if we just emulate what Paul did, what Saul did, call on his name and be baptized, we can have our sins washed away.

We can be made new. And that’s the beauty of baptism, isn’t it, in Romans chapter 6? We’re putting to death who? The old man. We’re coming into contact with Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. We’re coming up the new man. And we hear about that so much. I fear sometimes it kind of loses its majesty. It loses its glory, its beauty, doesn’t it? We need to understand these are sins that are being washed away. It’s not just a conversion to the church. It’s not just something that sounds good and that we know we should raise the flags of hoorah for.

4. Christ Nourishes and Cherishes the Church

Well, how is that going to happen? Well, verse 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church. How does Christ nourish and cherish it? Well, first of all, let’s consider why. Why might the church need to be nourished and cherished? How many of us had everything figured out the day we heard about Jesus? You think about the faith of the Philippian jailer in Acts chapter 16, and you consider what was his background going into that evening. And yet that same hour of the night when he asked, What must I do to be saved? And he was given an answer, he was baptized, he and his household. How much do you think he knew then?

Paul and Silas may be far better teachers than I will ever be. But even then, the Philippian jailer did not walk out of Paul and Silas’s teachings, I would imagine, with a PhD in theology. He did not have everything figured out. But you know what he did? He decided that Jesus had died for him. He would take advantage of that love and sacrifice, and he would give it all, including his very wife, to obey God and to learn what he was supposed to do. If you go back to 1 Peter, and again in 1 Peter chapter 2, actually, note with me in verse 1, the exhortation that Peter gives. So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

What is it that we are supposed to be weaned on? Well, like newborn infants, we’re to long for the pure spiritual milk. It is that which we have provided. The very words of God are the words of life. That is what we should be feasting upon. And we know from other passages, including Hebrews chapter 5, that we’re supposed to press on. We’re supposed to even be teachers at a time. We’re not supposed to just stay in the simple elementary doctrines, as Hebrews chapter 6 gets into. But what does that say about me if I don’t take advantage of Jesus’ nourishment? Have you ever considered that if the word is the springs of life, if it is the words of life that we have on our coffee tables, perhaps certainly on our phones and in our cars even?

What does it say about me if I am not reading the word? Well, imagine with me if you were to be given a great meal, and I was just given many great meals this past week. You might be able to see that on me. But what would it be like if I was dying of thirst? And I found this home and there was a great feast prepared for me. And they came out with water because I was absolutely dehydrated. I had to drink. And what would you think about me when I came out and I was given this nice tall glass of water? All kinds of ice in it, the water’s dripping from the sides. I haven’t had water in two and a half days. And when it was going to be put up to my lips because I couldn’t reach it for it myself, I said, no thanks.

No thanks. We should be praising God that we have nourishment and the words of life available in so many different formats to us this very morning and every day that the Lord wills that we live. We should take advantage of each and every day to get closer to God, to learn more about what his will is for my life, and just say, you know what, Lord? I see what your will is, and I will do it. How do we grow strengthened as a body? We know what Jesus has had to do it, and we start practicing those things that we ought to be doing. We realize that Christ loved me so much that he gave himself up for me. My life is to be spent repaying him and seeking to glorify God and to be in his glorious presence for all of eternity.

5. Christ Will Present Her

And consider one final point this morning. That Christ will present her. If you go back to verse 27 again, we kind of read over that, but so that he might present the church to himself in splendor. You see, the church is going to be presented, and we don’t have to say a whole lot this morning about what it means to be outside the body of Christ, to not be found ready. But notice how we are to be presented without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Why? Because we are to be holy and without blemish. What is our target as Christians? I want you to consider with me for just a moment. Do we set goals for our lives? We set goals for a whole host of things.

If you work a job, there’s probably goals for you, there’s probably tasks that you are to finish. But how much do we consider our spiritual condition and that Christ is going to present his bride? And how is his bride supposed to be found? Without wrinkle, without spot, holy and without blemish. Are we striving for holiness or good enough? Are we striving for mostly clean, but just a couple spots because after all I am just human? No, no. If Jesus loved us enough to give himself up for her. If Jesus’ life was paid for his bride to make us special, to make us his people, to cleanse us, to sanctify us. If we have what we need to be nourished and cherished, we owe him to keep up that standard of sanctification.

We have been set apart not to go back into the filth, but to be set apart to be clean, to be holy, even as our Heavenly Father is holy. Consider that the striving goal of a Christian is not to be good, but to be perfect. Because Jesus made us that way. That is the goal. We will give an account of how we act. But Jesus cleansed us. Jesus has made us pure and holy. And that should change us. Because Christ did die for me. Not because I knew things about the church, not because I grew up in it even. But that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. I was transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of Jesus. Jesus loved the church and purchased it with his blood.

Conclusion

He gave himself up for her. His love was so strong. He has set us apart. He has nourished and cherished us and allowed that to be before us. And we will be presented. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Christ loves the church. And while Ephesians chapter 5 has many wonderful lessons for marriage, we need to consider that not only as a husband does that set a high bar, not only as a wife, does Paul’s words set a high bar? But that Jesus is the ultimate example, not only of love, but how we ought to be found in his sight. Will you pray with me? Our dear God and most gracious Heavenly Father, we come to you now, humbled, that you would care for us, moved by your great power and might, that you spoke this world into existence, and in so doing you created us in your very image.

O Lord, thank you tremendously for your grace and mercy. We pray that each and every day you envelop us in your love, and that we will remember the cost of our sanctification, that we will remember the cost of having our sins forgiven, and that we will seek to submit to you, and that in all things and all ways we will be found pleasing in your sight. Forgive us, O Lord, of when we stray, when we do wrong, when we commit sin, for which the wages is death. We thank you for Christ and His blood that was shed, which allows us to have life. Help us to worship you this very morning in spirit and in truth. Help us to learn more from your word. Help us to be nourished and cherished by the appropriate source, the words of life.

Again, dear Lord, forgive us of our sins and keep us safe through this day.

Amen. We’re now dismissed to our Bible classes.