5/30/13- The Significance of the Church

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. (Ephesians 5:25-30)

Thoughts: Two common images of the church are given here: the bride of Christ and the body of Christ.  Christ does not hate his body, and Christ does not hate his bride- but cares for both.  He does not neglect either one.  The image of the bride is one taken from the Old Testament (Isaiah 62:5; Jeremiah 2:2).  We are called to love God and know that He loves us.  We are called to not let our love grow cold but fan it into flames.
    The idea of the body of Christ is a more New Testament idea.  Christ's physical body is gone- but we are His hands and feet- we do His work.  More than that, we are all different parts/members of one body unit.
    For those who think the church is unimportant or only a very small part of being a Christian- we need to remember that Christ sees purpose in being together- as a united body- moving as one to perform His work.  We are called to be together and not be severed from each other- or neglect the love of each other.  Furthermore- we are His bride- loved by Him as a whole.  We are similarly called to take care of ourselves corporately as a church that we might present ourselves as a pure and radiant bride without fault. A bride is called to pull herself together for her groom- to get it altogether.  So we are called to pull ourselves together to be One before Him.  Just as siblings stop quarreling out of respect for their father- so we should stop quarreling but work together for the family name of Christ.  Christ dearly loves and cares for the Church.  To think that Christ only cares for us as individuals or simply as a bunch of separated individuals misses the strength of the love of God that pulls us together. 

Prayer: Lord, May I love your Church- your bride- your body. 

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