We are all saddened to learn this week of the death of one of our church’s most valuable members, Someone Else. Someone’s passing created a vacancy that will be difficult to fill. Else has been with us for many years, and for every one of those years, Someone did far more than a normal person’s share of the work. Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results: "Someone Else can work with that group." Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, or a meeting to attend, one name was on everyone’s lists- Someone Else! "Let Someone Else do it" was a common refrain heard throughout the church. It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the largest givers in the church. Whenever there was a financial need, everyone just assumed Someone Else would make up the difference. Someone Else was a wonderful person, sometimes appearing superhuman. Now Someone Else is gone! We wonder what we are going to do. Someone Else left a wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow it? Who is going to do the things Someone Else always did?
Someone Else is survived by Everyone Else, Anyone Else, and No One Else. It has been reported that Anyone Else is capable of doing all that Someone Else did throughout their long lifetime of service to the church. No One Else is willing to help, however the pastor is hoping that Everyone Else will also put their gifts and talents to work within the church (after all everyone knows that if No One comes to do the ministries at the church the job just won’t get done.)
Turn with me one last time to Ephesians 5:21-32 as we again look at the mysterious relationship of Christ and His Church as seen within the husband wife relationship. Fortunately, it is not Someone Else that Jesus is in love with today; He loves you and me. May the Holy Spirit help us again today to understand how God’s love is at work within and through us to make us into the Church He has designed.
✞ Eph. 5:21-31 21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church--30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." 32This is a profound mystery–but I am talking about Christ and the church (NIV)
Over the last several weeks we have been looking at what the Church should look like that has a passionate relationship with Jesus Christ. We have been looking at the profound mystery Paul describes in Ephesians 5. It is indeed a mystery that God can take two and make them one flesh, and yet that is what happens within the marriage relationship. The greater mystery is that God can take the multitudes that are members of His Church and make them one. We today are members of one body; we are united together by the Holy Spirit as the Church. Remember the church is not made up of bricks and mortar, but of individual believers joined together by the Holy Spirit. God makes us one; that’s amazing.
Through the husband and wife relationship which Paul describes here in Ephesians 5 we have discovered what it the Church should look like that has a love affair with Jesus. We saw first that the Church should be a submissive church; second the church a loving church, and third it will be a radiant and glorious church. (Now remember we can’t depend upon someone else to make the church a submissive, loving or radiant church. Someone Else isn’t with us anymore; it’s up to you and me to be the Church Jesus wants us to be!)
As we fall more and more in love with Jesus, He also wants to make us into a
4. A Nurturing Church.
Look again at the mysterious relationship Paul describes in verse 29.
✞ Ephesians 5:29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church. (NIV)
None of us are in this thing alone! God has knit us together as His body the church that we might encourage one another in Christ. A nurturing church is in the disciple making business; it is a church that brings believers up to maturity in Christ. As we nurture one another we grow up to be all that we can be through the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through our lives.
What does nurture mean? It is to promote and sustain development or growth; to nurture is to nurse, foster, cultivate or nourish.
✎ Who do you know that has a green thumb–they are so good with plants that they can even make artificial plants grow? You won’t have to study Susie’s or my thumbs to see that they are not green. We do our best to help our house plants survive, but thus far its only a matter of time until what was once beautiful and full of life is found brown and dead. I don’t understand it–the plants get plenty of light; we do our best to keep them watered. It seems they have the perfect environment and yet sooner or later, they die. I’ve been told that what actually may be happening is that our plants out grow their pots; they need transplanted so that their roots can continue to develop and receive the nourishment they need. It seems to complicated to me; if I feed it give it water and plenty of sunlight shouldn’t the plant be happy?
Similarly, some churches don’t have green thumbs either. The body fails to nurture one another. The church experiences little or no growth and at times individuals are a part of the church for a time, but then seem to die on the vine. The church may have the “perfect environment” (Sunday School classes, Bible Study and prayer groups, dynamic worship, engaging fellowship), the church can offer something for everyone, and yet people are not nurtured. No one pays any attention to their roots and so for some unknown reason folks don’t grow in their relationship with Christ, they leave the church–they die.
Is Praise A/G a nurturing church? It should be. But guess what, we won’t be a nurturing church unless as individuals we nurture one another–if we think “Someone Else” is going to do it, then it won’t get done (S.E. died remember).
The church that is passionate in its relationship with Christ will be a nurturing church, but there is a prerequisite to being this kind of church. If we are going to be a nurturing church, we have to be a loving church first! Notice what Paul says in verse 29, “no one ever hated his own body, but feeds and cares for it.” If the church doesn’t really love one another, then it won’t nurture and care for each other either.
Now if you’re thinking you have already figured this out. Remember we said previously that when the believer is passionately in love with Jesus, He will make them into a loving church. So if we aren’t a nurturing church, then we also aren’t a loving church (no matter how much we may want to convince ourselves otherwise), and if we aren’t a loving church, then our real problem is that we aren’t really in love with Jesus!
✞ Revelation 2:1-4 1"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. (NIV)
Put simply it’s possible to do all the right things, for all the wrong reasons! Jesus told the church in Ephesus, you’re a great church; your doctrine is sound; you’ve made it through hard times, but it is empty without your love for me.
Loving Jesus–having a passionate desire to know Christ is the key. Only as we put Christ first will He make us a loving church–a submissive church–a radiant and glorious church–and a nurturing church. Without an intimate love relationship with Jesus, the church is nothing.
Our desire for Christ can wax and wane like the phases of the moon. If we aren’t careful we can be both hot and cold becoming the lukewarm Laodicean church. We must daily depend upon the Holy Spirit to stir up the coals of our love for Jesus. Look what Paul writes in Romans 5.
✞ Romans 5:1-5 1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us. (NIV)
When we go through the very difficulties that the enemy would use to cause us to give up hope–to cause our love for Christ to wane diminishing in it’s intensity, the Holy Spirit will pour God’s love into our hearts enabling us to love Him more. That is if we let Him; if we make Jesus our desire. The Holy Spirit keeps us close to Jesus and in turn makes us into the Church that honors Christ–submissive, loving, radiant and nurturing.
So you see as we conclude today looking at the Church that has a passionate love relationship with Jesus we have come full circle. We can only be the church that Jesus desires us to be if we love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. Is that your desire? Do you want to have a love affair with Jesus and be passionately sold out to Christ?
If that’s your desire, then He will make you a nurturing Church. The Holy Spirit will make you a care-giver, an encourager. You will share the life of Christ with those around you.
But before we begin looking at how we are to nurture one another we need to first look back at last week. Remember we said that a radiant and glorious church would be known through righteous living and good works. Some believers however are not very radiant or glorious.
Now this brings me back to CARNAL CHRISTIANS. (Some of you may be thinking, “Pastor its about time; I’ve been waiting all week to find out why I’m responsible for how the carnal Christian lives their life. You set me up last week and I’m here to find out what this is all about!”)
What is a carnal Christians? Last week I described them as someone living their lives with the dimmer switch down. Jesus may have placed His light within their life, but no one can see the light because it’s under a bucket or hidden away in a closet. It is the responsibility of other believers to help nurture the carnal Christian to let their lights shine.
What does it mean to be carnal? It is to be fleshly or sensual, so the carnal Christian lives more to please self and not the Spirit of God living within them. But we are all to live our lives in tune with God’s Spirit; the Holy Spirit should direct how we live our lives and not our five senses.
Why is it that some believers live their lives so much like the world; why are their dimmers down? It’s because the brighter the light the more sin that will be exposed in your life. If you live your life with your dimmer down, then you can be comfortable with sin.
✎ Let me show you like this. Have you ever cleaned your living room and thought that it was clean only to have the sun shine in through the window and reveal all the dust that was left behind? Ruth Graham tells of the time that the TV news wanted to interview she and her husband Billy at their home. They got the house all spic and span clean. That is until the TV lights were turned on in their living room. All that Ruth could see was the dust and cobwebs that had been missed.
Light will always expose the dirt. The closer we get to Jesus the more we will have to deal with “hidden sin” in our lives. Little things that we had never noticed before will become a big deal when exposed by the light.
I also said last week that often times the carnal Christian is unaware of their problem; they sincerely believe they are saved. They even believe that there is nothing really wrong with how they are living, and they may not know any better. The problem is more often with the Pharisaical Christian who sits in judgement over them rather than nurturing them to maturity.
Remember a carnal Christian lives their life by their senses.
✎ Infants live by their five senses; they are carnal to the max! When a baby is hungry they cry. If a baby is restless and tired it can be the gentle touch of the mother’s hand that calms them down and puts them to sleep. As the baby grows and begins to explore their world everything they grab goes into their mouths; “Hmm, I wonder what this is”–chomp! And once the baby has something in their mouth, mom comes along and takes it from them and then the crying starts. The baby doesn’t understand that there are right ways and wrong ways of exploring their world; it’s the parents’ job to nurture their children so that they grow up and don’t keep putting things in their mouths or crying when they don’t get their way. Carnal Christians are babies who have never grown up, and it is the responsibility of the mature believer to nurture them so they grow up.
Growth occurs quickest during childhood. A baby will double its birth weight in from two to six months, and then will double it’s weight again by the time it’s 3. It’s growing rapidly! Likewise, the greatest potential for growth as new believers is when they are babies.
✞ 1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. (NIV)
We all know you can’t just throw a baby a bottle and expect it to grow; the nurturing of a baby requires hands on work–not only do you have to feed them, but you have to change the diapers too. Yet far too often all we do for a new believer is throw them a Bible and say read this. We need to take the responsibility to nurture the new believer to spiritual maturity. A church that is passionate in it’s relationship with Jesus will be a nurturing church.
Alright then what does a nurturing church look like? I believe Paul shows us three ways the church nurtures one another through the husband, wife relationship and the mysterious way it pictures Christ and the Church.
✞ Ephesians 5:29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church. (NIV)
The church should NURTURE UNITY, GOOD WORKS, and HOLINESS.
1. The church should NURTURE UNITY; “no one ever hated his own body.”
Jesus’ prayer in John 17 was for the Church to be united in order that the world might know that the Father had sent Him. Paul’s prayer in Romans 15:5 was that God would give the church a spirit of unity as we follow Christ.
Unity does not happen by accident; it must be nurtured and maintained. Unity is only possible as the Holy Spirit enables us to lovingly submit one to another. We have seen previously that the church that is passionately in love with Jesus will be a loving and submissive church. If you want to know how to nurture unity within the church go back and revisit those messages on the church that is submissive and loving. Are you beginning to see how these characteristics of the church all work together? God’s plan for the church is for each of us to do our part in order that we might be build up in unity.
✞ Ephesians 4:11-13 11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13UNTIL WE ALL REACH UNITY in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (NIV)
2. The church should NURTURE GOOD WORKS; “[he] cares for [the body].”
We saw last week that Christ wants to make us into a radiant and glorious church. One of the way He does that is through good works. We need to nurture one another to do good works.
✞ Hebrews 10:24-25 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (NIV)
One of the simplest ways to nurture good works is by just encouraging other believers to worship together! According to George Barna thirty or so years ago the average church goer would miss only 1 Sunday per year (and then when they would come back to church the next week, they would bring a note from the pastor of the church they visited!) Today each of you here today are likely to miss 11 Sundays a year. Don’t you wish all those people who aren’t here today were here to hear this message? We need to encourage one another to do the basics! Don’t miss the weekly opportunity to worship together as the Church!
3. The church should NURTURE HOLINESS, “[he] feeds [the body].”
✞ Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. (NIV)
✞ (The Message)–Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. YOU might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out.
We are not to live our lives just for ourselves and then sit in judgement over others. We are to nurture and encourage others to live a Christlike life in the same way others are to encourage us.
As Paul said, those of us who think we can stand need to be careful that we don’t fall into the mud of sin. We are all tempted to sin; it’s a part of living the human life. But God has placed us in relationship with each other within the church in order that we might nurture holiness. Let’s help one another to life the life that Jesus has called us to.
The church is to be a nurturing church; we are to help one another grow in UNITY, grow in GOOD WORKS, and grow in HOLINESS. Let’s be the church as God designed it to be.
