Ephesians presents to us portraits of the church as the body and bride of Christ as perhaps no other book in the New Testament does. The church is also referred to as the family of believers, and pictured as the army of God fully protected in armor and wielding the mighty sword of the Spirit.
Ephesians is a great handbook on the church. The church is empowered with the love of Jesus, a love whose height, depth, breadth and width surpasses understanding. The church is organized with the offices of leadership put in place by Jesus for the equipping of every member to service. As the church we glorify God and show his wisdom to all of heaven’s hosts.
The mighty Church of Jesus!
What is the church worth to Jesus? The church is his bride. What is a bride worth to a bridegroom?
I remember my wedding day. Jenny was such a beautiful bride. We stood there before the Lord and our parents and friends. We said our vows as we exchanged our rings. There is no one on this earth that I love as much as I do Jenny. She is my bride. I would gladly give my life for her. I will honor her and do my best to provide for her and protect her as long as I live. And I’m just a sinful man. Imagine how much more our holy Lord loves and cares for his bride, the church.
The church is his body. What is your body worth to you?
Her senior year Jen had her knee injury during a basket ball game; we learned it would probably cost about $10,000 for the surgery and therapy. Thank the Lord we bought an insurance policy from the school, which covered most of the expense. But how much is a knee worth? How about a kidney? To illustrate how much body parts are worth, I heard a story about this Irish Catholic priest who found a bottle and rubbed it only to awaken a Jeanie. The Jeanie tells him that he can have three wishes, but that every protestant preacher in Ireland will get twice whatever he wishes for, too. The priest thinks for a while and wishes for a new house. Zapp! He gets a new house! And every protestant preacher in Ireland gets two new houses. Next, he wishes for a new car. Zapp! He gets his new car and the Jeanie says, “Now every protestant preacher also has two new cars. What is your final wish?” The priest thinks and ponders and finally says, “I always wanted to donate a kidney.”
How much do you think having a healthy body is worth? How much would you sell your eyesight for today? Would anyone like to sell their eyes for a billion dollars? How much more do you think the Lord values his body the Church?
The church is Christ’s family. What is your family worth to you? I saw a sign in a yard once that said: for sale a wife and 2 kids. The only reason it was funny is because it was not serious. I am impressed that though most people would never actually sell their spouse and children some barely show that they care. You would think by the way some families talk and act around each other that they were enemies instead of family. Those same people though who show so little care for their family on a day to day basis would rise up and fight to the death to defend each other. Selfishness and pride may make many families hurt each other, but woe to the outsider who picks on one of them. All the rest will stand by their blood kin. How much more will God defend his own children? How much more will Jesus stand by those bought with his blood and filled with his Spirit.
Words that describe the church of Jesus Christ tell us how valuable we are to our Lord. They describe our relationship to him: our groom, our head, and our elder brother.
If these words don’t say God loves you plainly enough, then perhaps the cross will convince you. God demonstrates how valuable the church is to him with an event that causes us to fail for words to tell it. How much is the church worth to God? For God so loved... I remember making this cross. It was a pine tree that grew under the powerlines in the back yard. I remember shaving the bark and cutting it into beams. I couldn’t help but feel the emotion. I got to thinking... years ago some men cut down another tree and hued beams from it. They probably worked up a good sweat cutting that tree down and hauling it to where ever it was cut into beams. I’m sure that they didn’t think much about what they were doing or where the wood from that tree would end up... they were just doing their job. The hands that cut the logs from that tree into beams worked hard to saw or chop it as they fashioned the beams. They didn’t know that the work of their hands would be used as an instrument to crucify the one that made them. They were just doing their job. Those that sold the beams to the Romans were seeking the best price for the wood. They were interested in the money it would bring. They didn’t think that they were providing the tool of death for the Son of God. They were just doing their job. Those who took the wood and brought it to Jerusalem where it was at last made into a cross had no idea that they were bringing the death instrument for God’s son there. They were just doing their job.
Look at your hands. What things have your hands done that contributed to the death of Jesus? I doubt you were thinking that you were participating in murdering the Son of God. Think about Jesus hands… the ones that touched the leper… the hands that blessed the children, and healed the sick, and broke the bread. Jesus hands were nailed to the cross to take the punishment for what our hands have done. Jesus hands, the ones torn by the nails are the same hands that built the church and that bless and purifies us today.
How does one measure the love that God has for the church? In order to fully tell us, the very word of God had to become flesh. The message became a man. He fully and completely identified with us in this human form. Those who walked in darkness have seen a great light. The psalmist wrote, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
John’s gospel says of Jesus, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”
This light of God entered the darkness of our sinful world and is continuing to build a body, a family, and is preparing a bride for himself. Perhaps it is appropriate that when God made woman he wounded the side of Adam and took a rib to fashion a bride. In the same way Jesus was wounded with a spear in his side and from the blood and wounds of Jesus, God has made a bride. The Church.
