NOTE: I preached a sermon by this same title at my home church on May 15, 2005. I then attempted to deliver the same thoughts spread over five five-minute thoughts on a local Christian radio station. The quick devotional thougths could not fully capture the thrust of the message, but they do, I hope, give the essence of the thoughts. Here is the transcript of the radio broadcasts (given in two parts). But first the outline.
Why I Love the Church - Eph 5.25-33
Christ’s love for the Church was sacrificial (v25)Christ’s love for the Church was intentional (v26-27)
Christ’s love for the Church was nurturing (v28-30)
Christ’s love for the Church was unconditional (Rom 5.6,8,10)
Monday
In my house we have a … well, it’s an ugly flower pot. It is a little boy holding a fishing pole and there is this… what is supposed to look like a large weaved basket behind him. That is where the flowers go. It really is pretty ugly; certainly nothing I would ever buy. However, it is also not something that I would ever want to get rid of. You see… my father gave that flower pot to my mother the day I was born, almost 31 years ago. I remember that flower pot being all over the many houses I lived in growing up. Then almost 24 years to the day after my father gave it to my mother, my mother gave it to my wife, the day my first daughter was born. What makes that pot special is the giver. Surely you have items around your house that have been handed down through generations and are very precious to you.
This week, we are going to think a little bit about similarly, a very special gift. Let me read a few verses from the Bible. Ephesians 5. 25”Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,
Obviously, the primary application of this text is how a husband’s love for his wife should resemble the love that Christ has for his church. There is much to be said about that, however, this week, I want us to look at a secondary application. If a husband’s love for his wife should be based on Christ’s love for the church, it is necessary that we understand just how Christ did in fact love the church. The question of application I want us to consider then, this week, is simply this… “Do I love the church like Christ loves the Church?”
Remember our illustration of the ugly flower pot that is so special because of the giver? In a small way, that illustrates one of the primary reasons the church is so special and why Christ has such overwhelming love for the church. The church, that is, all born again believers who have trusted Christ alone for their salvation, that church, is a special love gift from God the Father to Christ His Son. Let me read a few verses to you from The Gospel of John 6.
37“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39“This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” 44“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
You see what is going on there? Here is the picture I want to put into your mind this morning… God calls a people to give to Christ. Christ redeems this precious love-gift and nourishes it. The church is the precious love-gift that is passed from God the Father to Christ the Son as an expression of deep love. You see now why THE CHURCH IS OF GREAT SIGNIFICANCE TO CHRIST?
Christ loves the church and we should love the church likewise. In the next four mornings we are going to look at the verse we read from Eph 5 and discover four ways that Christ loves the church and ask ourselves: “Do we love the church like Christ loves the church?”
Remember today that your church is precious to Christ and it should be precious to you also. Do you love the Church like Christ loves the church?
TUESDAY
Yesterday morning we made an effort to express the fact that Christ loves the Church and we emphasized the reason He loves the Church. According to John 6, God calls a people to give to Christ. Christ redeems this precious love-gift and nourishes it. The church is the precious love-gift that is passed from God the Father to Christ the Son as an expression of deep love. You see now why THE CHURCH IS OF GREAT SIGNIFICANCE TO CHRIST?
In a wonderful little book entitled Stop Dating the Church Joshua Harris, Pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD states, “As Christians we are called to be imitators of God (Eph 5.1). We are to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8.29). Can there be any question that part of being like Christ is to love what He loves? Christians often speak of wanting God’s heart for the poor or the lost. These are good desires. But shouldn’t we also want God’s heart for the Church! If Jesus loves the Church, you and I should too. It’s that simple.”
So we must ask ourselves, “Do we love the Church like Christ loves the Church?” To answer that, of course we need to understand just how Christ loves his Church. Let’s look again at Eph 5.25 and following where will find at least four ways in which Christ loves the Church.
First we find in verse 25 that Christ loves the Church SACRIFICIALLY. Listen “25”Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” The word gave means to surrender or yield up. Christ surrendered His very life out of love for his Church. 1 Timothy 1.15 reminds us that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That is the point of His coming. God put skin on in the person of Christ expressly to die. To Die and raise again victoriously over the power of sin and death to offer salvation to sinners like you and I. That is why he came.
It is worth noting also, in John 10.17-18 Jesus declares “I lay down my life … no one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” Jesus was not a martyr. His life was not snuffed out too early. It was the perfect timing of His own choosing. No one had the power to take His life, He chose to lay it down to redeem the Church, the precious gift given to Him by his Father.
Clearly, Christs love for the Church was SACRIFICIAL. Now, do you and I love the Church like Christ loves the Church? Do we love the Church sacrificially? Some of us may be called to lay down our life for the furtherance of the Church, but most will not. We called to sacrifice in much smaller ways. We call it a sacrifice when we give a small percentage of our hard earned money to the church. We call it sacrifice when we get up early to go to a Saturday morning outreach event. We call it a sacrifice when we have to stand up to our friends who mock and scorn godliness and laugh at sin. These things we call sacrifices pale in comparison to what Christ sacrificed for the church – His very life.
Do you love the Church sacrificially? How is that demonstrated in your commitment to your church? Are you present to encourage and build up the flock when they gather for corporate worship? Are you there when a need arises in a ministry? Does your Pastors and ministry leaders have to stand in the pulpit and beg for people to help in various ministries while you sit in the pew and decide if you can give up an hour of your precious time to serve the Church?
These are tough questions I know. But friends, Christ loves the Church sacrificially and so should you and I. Maybe you should call you church today and see haw you can love that ministry today! Let’s Pray
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