Jesus Christ is passionate about His Church and He demonstrates that through loving the church, giving Himself for the church, sanctifying the church, glorifying the church, nourishing the church, cherishing the church, and uniting Himself forever with the church. Because He is passionate about the church, so should every follower of Jesus!
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The Passion Of Christ For The Church
Ephesians 5:25-32
Today we begin a new sermon series entitled, “A Passion For The Church.” We are going to break with our series in Luke for several weeks, and pursue what God has to say about His Church. You are probably thinking, “Brian, why in the world would you want to spend several weeks talking about a passion for the Church?” I have two simple reasons: 1) I believe it is God’s will that every Christian display a passionate committed love for the church; and 2) I believe there is a real lack of passion for the church at The Bridge.
Why would I say I believe there is a lack of passion for the Church here at The Bridge? There are a whole host of reasons:
- Attendance on Sunday morning. Some of you are very faithful about your attendance at and involvement here on Sunday morning, but truthfully, many of you are not. It’s kind of “hit or miss” whether you will show up or not. And when you do come, many of you will habitually come late. That tells me there is a definite lack of passion for the church.
- Involvement in a Missional Community. Currently, there are very few people who are involved in a Missional Community. We look at involvement in a Missional Community here at The Bridge to be crucial, not only for every member of this church to live out genuine New Testament Christianity in community, but also to fulfill our mission to make disciples. Our web site says this about Missional Communities, “Missional Communities are the life and soul of our church. They are not meely an arm of the church; they are the church. To be a member of The Bridge means that you will be a committed member of a Missional Community. We want every person at The Bridge to be involved in a Missional Community.” So, when there are only 7 adults at this church currently involved in a Missional Community, that tells me there is a definite lack of passion for the church.
- Involvement in Monthly Prayer and Outreaches. Once a month The Bridge meets to fast, pray, and reach out to our community with the gospel. However, usually less than half of those who attend on Sundays come out to pray and serve our community.
- Giving shows a definite lack of passion and commitment to the church. Since Judy was unable to get the annual giving letters for tax purposes prepared because she was so ill, I volunteered to help her out. What I discovered shocked and grieved me. Apart from our family, there was no one who gave by check, that regularly and consistently gave to the church. Further, there were many who never give anything! I feel awkward and uncomfortable about what I’m about to tell you, but I really feel it needs to be said, so here goes. My own family contributed 75% of the overall giving for the entire year. That told me something is terribly wrong. Instead of linking arms, and sharing the responsibility and burden of financing the work of the Lord together, one family alone was shouldering the great majority of that burden.
I hope you can see why from all of these reasons I would be concerned about the vitality and health of our church. Friends, I don’t share these things because I’m interested in scolding you. Not at all! I share them, because I want to, by the grace of God, bring health, vitality, and healing to a weak and sickly church. I share them to inspire and motivate you to live out your Biblical responsibilities to Christ’s church. Friends, I love you! I’m glad you are a part of The Bridge! However, that doesn’t mean we should be content with the way things are. Every once in a while, we need to take a good, hard look at ourselves, and see whether we are living out what God’s Word tells us about our relationship to the local church. So, that’s where we will be going for about the next eight weeks.
This morning I want to begin this series by simply looking at Christ’s passion for His church. And to do that, let’s meditate on Ephesians 5:25-32 together. In this passage we see seven different ways Christ demonstrates His passion for the church.
1. He Loved The Church: 5:25
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church.” Here Paul is instructing the husbands in the church at Ephesus on how they are to treat their wives. What is interesting to me, is that He draws His exhortations to them from How Christ treats His church. The church is the bride of Christ. Paul writes in 2 Cor. 11:2, “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.” The church has been betrothed to Christ. When a man and woman were betrothed to one another in ancient Israel, they were legally married, even though the wedding had not taken place and the couple had not consummated their relationship sexually. If either one was unfaithful to one another before the wedding took place, they would have to get a legal divorce. The church has been betrothed to Christ. The wedding and the consummation has not happened yet. That will take place when Christ returns. But even now, we are legally married to Jesus Christ.
Because of Christ’s passion for the church, He loved her. Notice, that “loved” is in the past tense. When did Jesus first love His church? Jeremiah 31:3 says, “The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.” Although this was originally written of the remnant of Israel, it applies to the church today, because, as we shall see later, the church is the New Israel. When did Christ first begin to love His church? This text tells us it was from everlasting. And His love was the reason that He drew us with lovingkindness. The Greek word for church is ekklesia, which literally means “the called out ones.” The church is comprised of all those that God has sovereignly called out of a state of sin and death to Himself. Those whom Christ loved from everlasting, He drew to Himself at the perfect time.
When did Jesus first love us? Well, according to Romans 9, God loved Jacob, but hated Esau. But when did He love them? According to the text it was before either one was born. God loved one and not the other according to Romans 9:11, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand. You see, when we talk about Christ’s love for the church, we are talking about His everlasting love, and His sovereign love. 2 Thess. 2:13 says, “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.” Did you see how we know God has loved us? Brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you for salvation. God’s sovereign love causes Him to set His love upon us in order to save us. His everlasting love causes Him to choose us for salvation. After all, that is really the meaning of “to foreknow.” The word “know” is synonymous with “love.” To foreknow is to forelove. God’s foreknowledge is Him deciding to set His saving love upon a particular person.
So, when we read “Christ loved the church” we need to understand this as an expression of His passion for the church. Christ loved the church in a different and greater way than He loved the rest of the world. To be sure, Christ loved the world by dying for sin so that a sincere offer of mercy could be extended to it. But Christ loved the church by singling the church out as the supreme object of His everlasting, sovereign, and distinguishing affection and blessing. Brothers, you are under obligation to love every woman in the world as well as every man. However, you know as well as I do, that your love for your wife is completely different and far greater than your love for any other woman in this world. So too, though Christ loves this world, His love for His church is completely different and far greater. The church is His passion, just as a bride is the passion of her bridegroom. There is nothing else in this world that Jesus loves that even comes close to His love for His church!
2. He Gave Himself Up For The Church: 5:25
And what did Christ’s love for the church cause Him to do? According to our text, it caused Him to give Himself up for her. The phrase “gave Himself up” refers to His self-sacrificial offering of Himself on the cross. You see, Christ’s bride was sinful, and therefore under the wrath and judgment of Almighty God. She was in danger of eternal punishment. She was like a woman who is captured in war, and carried off a slave to be raped and used as a slave or an animal. That was the pitiful condition of the church. But Christ loved her, and in order to save her, gave Himself up for her on the cross. You see, either the church must be given up to eternal judgment, or Christ must give Himself up to suffering and death. Perhaps it would be helpful to read other New Testament texts which speak of Christ giving Himself up.
Gal. 1:4 “Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age”
Eph. 5:2 “just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
Titus 2:14 “Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
How did Jesus Christ demonstrate His passion for the church? He loved her from everlasting, and at the right time He came into the world and gave Himself up on the cross to rescue her from her sin and damnation.
Our text tells us that Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her. The emphasis here is that Christ went to the cross to get His church. His eye was on the church. Jesus in His death died in a special sense for the church. Yes, there is an aspect of the cross in which Christ died for the world. 1 Tim. 2:6 says “He gave Himself as a ransom for all.” 1 Tim. 4:10 says that God is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. 2 Pet. 2:1 tells us that false prophets who bring swift destruction upon themselves deny the Master who bought them. In all these texts the death of Christ seems to be universal and unlimited. However, there are a whole group of other texts that show that there is an aspect of the cross that is particular and limited to a select group of people. Christ laid down His life for the sheep. Jesus gave His life a ransom for many. God purchased the church with His own blood.
Let’s imagine that a man’s family is being held captive in prison. In order to save them, He blows a hole through the prison cell, rushes in, and grabs them, and runs out through the wall to safety. The very same hole that brought His family to safety, could allow all the other prisoners to safety, if they availed themselves of it. Even though it was the intention of the man to save His family alone, in saving his family, he made it possible for all the other prisoners to escape as well. Likewise, Christ in His death could do no less to save any, but He need do no more to save all. Jesus in His death, did some things for all men, but He did all things for some men. Jesus made salvation possible for all men, but He made salvation certain for His church. Jesus not only provided the possibility of forgiveness for all men. He secured the reception of this forgiveness for His church. Even though forgiveness has been provided for all, no one wants it. In order to make sure that the church would be saved, Christ not only purchased the provision of salvation for all, but the reception of salvation for His church.
So, how did Jesus express His passion for the church? He loved the church from everlasting with a sovereign distinguishing love. Then He demonstrated this love by dying for the church in order to secure their salvation. What I want you to see from our text is that Jesus’ response to His church is completely different from His response to the world. The church is His love, His bride, His passion!
3. He Sanctifies The Church: 5:26
Not only did Christ give Himself up to save the church from the penalty of her sins. He also works within His church to save her from the power of her sins! That’s what verse 26 is saying: “so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.” Christ not only saves His church; He sanctifies her. He not only provides a perfect righteousness to cover her. He also works in her to make her actually righteous. At the moment of saving faith, a man is justified. But the instant we are justified, He begins to sanctify us. Although justification and sanctification are two different things, they can never be separated. You never find a justified person who does not go on to be sanctified. And you never find a person who is being sanctified who has not already been justified.
So, how does Jesus sanctify His church? Our text says that He cleanses her by the washing of water with the word. Jesus removes the dirt, and filth, and pollution of sin by the washing of water with the word. In this text the word is likened to water that washes dirt away. Even after we are saved, there is plenty of remaining dirty in our lives, isn’t there? Even though we have been forgiven, we still need Christ to purify us of the remaining sin in our lives.
In John 13, Jesus dons a towel fills a basin with water, and goes about washing His disciples feet. When Jesus comes to wash Peter’s feet, he objects – “Lord, do you wash my feet? Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus responds, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Peter then says, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus responds, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean.” What is going on here. Jesus is illustrating spiritual truth to His disciples. He is telling them that unless He washes them from their sin by the work of the cross, they can have no saving relationship to Him. But when Peter says that he wants Jesus to wash his hands and head also, Jesus tells him, that once a person has bathed, they only need to wash their feet. You see, when we were converted, Christ washed us from head to toe in His blood. We were completely clean. However, after a first century Jew would walk around in His sandals after his bath, his feet would get dirty, and so at the end of the day, he would wash his feet and then be completely clean. The same is true of us. Although we have been washed from our sin at conversion, we still get defiled with sin by walking in this sinful world. We need the Lord to wash our feet. That is sanctification.
Now, how does the Lord wash our feet? He does it with His word. In John 15:3 Jesus says, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” God’s word has a sanctifying effect in the life of the church. In John 17:17 Jesus said to His Father, “sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” What is He saying? He is saying that the Christian is sanctified as He washes himself in the truth of God’s Word. That’s why daily Bible reading and meditation is so very important. God’s Word exposes sin in our lives, and brings us to confess it and repent of it, so that our dusty feet are washed clean day by day. Just as the Israelites needed the manna God provided in the wilderness every day to give them strength for their journey, so we need God’s Word every day to strengthen us to fight our sin.
4. He Will Glorify the Church: 5:27.
Christ’s passion for the church is not only that He loved her, gave Himself up for her, and sanctifies her. His passion for the church is seen in the fact that He will glorify her! “that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory” – there is glorification. Christ loved the church – there is Election. Christ gave Himself up for her – there is Justification. Christ cleanses the church – there is Sanctification. Christ presents the church to Himself – there is Glorification.
Notice what Jesus is doing in the church right now. He is getting her ready to be presented to Himself. He is beautifying her! He is removing all the spots and wrinkles from her gorgeous wedding dress. He is making her holy and blameless. In other words, Christ did not find some gorgeous babe, and so decide to marry her. Christ found an ugly duckling, but loved her any way. And because of the time and care and expense He took for her, He is making her absolutely beautiful! John Stott has written, “On earth she is often in rags and tatters, stained and ugly, despised and persecuted. But one day she will be seen for what she is, nothing less than the bride of Christ, “free from spots, wrinkles, or any other disfigurement,” holy and without blemish, beautiful and glorious. It is to this constructive end that Christ has been working and is continuing to work. The bride does not make herself presentable; it is the bridegroom who labors to beautify her in order to present her to Himself.”
Now, why is Jesus going to such great pains and expense to beautify this bride? Our text tells us it is “that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory.” In order for her to be presented in all her glory, she must be holy and blameless. This is the culmination of what Christ has been doing from all eternity. This is the ultimate end for which God chose the church. Eph. 1:4 says “just as He chose us in Him from before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” The end of election was that we would be holy and blameless. But that’s also why Christ gave Himself up for us. Col.1:22 says, “yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” The end of the cross was that we would be holy and blameless. That is also the end of our sanctification. The Spirit of God is working within us to make us holy and blameless. And this is also the end of our glorification. When our life on earth is finally over, we will be glorified. Our body will be transformed to be like Christ’s. We will be confirmed in a state of holiness for all eternity. This is what God has working towards in Christ from eternity past – the marriage of a beautiful, holy, spotless bride to His holy, spotless Son!
Now friends, this is not something that Christ is going to do for everyone. This blessing is reserved for His church alone. The rest of the world will not be glorified. Christ loved the church in a way He did not love the rest of the world. Christ gave Himself up for the church in a way He did not give Himself up for the rest of the world. Christ sanctifies the church in a way He doesn’t sanctify the world. And Christ will glorify the church. He will not glorify the world. Do you see Christ’s passion for His church?
5. Christ Nourishes The Church: 5:28-29
What does it mean that Christ nourishes the church? Well, when we nourish a plant, we provide what it needs for life and growth. We make sure the plant has sunshine and water and good rich soil. When we nourish a child we give it what it needs to thrive. We make sure a baby has its mother’s milk, and love and affection. As the baby grows into a child we make sure it gets plenty of fresh air and exercise. Jesus Christ does whatever is necessary to make sure His church has what it needs to thrive.
He has given the church every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Those blessings include election, predestination, redemption, and sealing. 2 Peter 1:3 says that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. He has given us abundant life. No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Christ nourishes His church. He has given us everything we need to thrive in this world!
6. Christ Cherishes The Church: 5:29
To cherish something means that you treat it as valuable or precious. If you have a Stradivarius violin, or a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, you will cherish it. Why? Because of its great preciousness and value. You will keep that violin locked in a hardshell case, and maybe keep the case in a fireproof safe. You will keep the painting behind behind a glass case. Likewise, Christ cherishes His church! This is mind blowing to me, because in ourselves we are not valuable or precious. We are rebellious, ugly, and sinful in His sight. Yes, we were created in God’s image, but through sin we have marred and defaced that image. Our value is derived by virtue of the fact that He loved us, He died for us, He is sanctifying us, and He will glorify us! Yet, having said all of that, it is absolutely true that Christ cherishes His church! Meditate on that. Let that fill you with unspeakable joy! He finds us precious in His sight! And because of that, He will do whatever is necessary to protect us. He won’t allow anyone or anything to snatch us out of His hand. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus!
7. Christ Unites Himself Forever To The Church: 5:30-32
Notice what our text says – “we are members of His body”; “the two shall become flesh”. Lest we make the mistake that these expressions only speak of the union between a man and a woman in marriage, verse 32 says, “This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” From this text we learn that God wasn’t looking around for an illustration of the union of Christ and His church. Rather, God created marriage in order to illustrate the union between Christ and the church! We as the church are members of His body. Just as physical union results in the two becoming one flesh, so our spiritual union results in us becoming one spirit with the Lord. Over and over in Scripture we are told that Christ is the Head, and His church is the body. We are joined vitally and forever to Jesus Christ.
He is the Vine and we are the branches. He is the corner stone, and we are the living stones built on Him. He has joined Himself to us just as surely as the head of a body has been joined to the rest of the body.
In order for Christ to become one with us, He had to become one of us. God had to become man, in order to be joined forever to man. Did you know that Christ will exist forever in heaven as the God-Man? What condescension! God came down from heaven and became man in order to unite Himself with us, so that we might ascend to heaven to God.
Jesus did not unite Himself to every person in this world. He united Himself only to His Church.
Conclusion
Do you see Jesus’ passion for His church? He loved her, gave Himself up for her, sanctifies her, will glorify her, nourishes her, cherishes her, and has united Himself to her forever! What love, what passion! Christ has loved His church from all eternity. He even created marriage in order that we would be able to understand it better. As Josh Harris has written in Why Church Matters, “Even if you’ve never studied the Bible, you’ve heard the echoes of this amazing love throughout your life. Every true love story has hinted at it. Every love song has pointed to it. Every groom weakened at the sight of his radiant bride has whispered of it. Every faithful, committed, and loving marriage has pointed to it. Each is an imperfect echo of the perfect love song of heaven.”
Now, let me ask you, are you passionate about what Christ is passionate about? Are you committed to what Jesus is committed to? Do you love what He loves? Scripture tells us that we are to be imitators of God, and we are to be conformed to His likeness. I submit to you then, that we will never be pleasing to God in the area of our relationship to the local church until we love the church, are passionate about the church, and are committed to the local church. We hear Christians from time to time talking about how they want God’s heart for the lost, the poor. Well, brothers and sisters, do you want God’s heart for the church?!
It is my firm conviction that every Christian must be passionately committed to a local church, because that is how he reflects the heart and character of his Lord. My friends, are you passionately committed to a local church? If you identify The Bridge as your church, are you passionately committed to it? In the weeks to come, we will discover much more what that looks like in our day to day living. But for this morning, I just want you to begin to long to love Christ’s church because He does. Let’s pray.
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