Church = Jesus Christ

As I wrote previously, Eph.5:22-33 is a section of scripture whose primary intent is to describe how Christ and the Church become one flesh. We’ve already visited the concept of being in subjection to Christ and living sin free lives so that we can be a pure bride to him. The second thing that helps us be “one with Christ” is accomplishing the mission of the church, i.e. the church must become Jesus Christ. Eph. 4:15 states that the church must grow into him… Jesus Christ the head of the body (Church). In fact, this same section of scripture states that God gave gifts to the church to help accomplish this process; apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. So how do we become Jesus Christ? It is a growth process. We must all come to a complete knowledge Of Jesus Christ, learn true humility (bury our pride and self- will) by living lives of service to each other and create a unified body of believers. Which by the way is God’s primary evidence today for Jesus having come from God (John 17:21-23). Christ’s true bride must be pure and cleansed from sin and work to become him so that when others view the Church they see Jesus Christ. The two are one flesh.

One Flesh with Christ

Eph. 5:22-33, is a passage of scripture that compares the husband/wife relationship with the relationship between Christ and the Church. Usually these passages are used to learn about the husband wife relationship, but clearly the import of these verses is to teach about Christ and the Church.

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak in regard of Christ and the Church.”

So how does Christ and the Church become one flesh?

J

ust as a man desires a wife that is pure and has not been in a physical relationship with another man, Christ desires that his “wife” be pure. Certainly we are not pure when we come to Christ. We are soiled by our relationship with Satan who we follow when we sin. Christ, however, has made provision so that we can be pure and virginal, in regards to sin, when we enter into a relationship with him. His self- sacrifice, the giving of his blood, cleanses us of our sinful relationship with Satan and makes us pure… totally pure.

We enter our marital relationship with Christ when we arise out of the waters of baptism having our sins washed away. Then we are cleansed and truly a bride worthy of a relationship with Christ because he has made us pure and worthy.

A condition of our marital relationship with Christ is subjection. Christ requires that his bride live by his standards. If she does the reward is great… becoming “one flesh” with Christ. Experience the mystery. There is only one path.

Paul and Rome

The Apostle Paul, according to the book of Acts, made three missionary tours. On his third tour while staying in the city of Corinth he wrote the letter to the Romans stating that he desired to come to them to help establish them in the faith. Two to three years later he would do just that. He first, however, wanted to complete his last missionary tour and go to Jerusalem. Part of that desire was so that he could deliver the collection that had been made among the Greeks for the poor Christians who lived in Jerusalem. As he traveled to Jerusalem he was warned by his fellow Christians that when he got to Jerusalem he would be imprisoned… Paul didn’t care about that… he was not even afraid if they killed him. When Paul reached Jerusalem he ended up being imprisoned by the Romans for about two years. During that time he was able to testify about Jesus to Ananias (High Priest) and the whole Jewish council, to Felix and Porcius Festus (Roman Governors) and to King Herod Agrippa (King of the Jews). After testifying to these high officials Paul exercised his right as a Roman citizen and appealed his case to the Roman Caesar (Nero) himself. In Acts 23:11, Jesus confirms for Paul that he will go to Rome and “testify” about him. I wish we had a record of what Paul told Nero. So Paul gets to go to Rome at the expense of the Roman government. In addition, he is under Roman protection. When Paul was conducting his three missionary tours he frequently was physically abused to the point of death by the Jews who rejected Jesus. While Paul was imprisoned in Rome he stayed in a house he rented and had a Roman soldier as a guard who also protected him from the wrath of the Jews who visited him and listened to his testimony. So God manipulated the Roman government to provide for and protect Paul while he testified about Jesus. What irony. Paul got to testify about Jesus to the most important and imposing men in the world. Imagine if a Christian today were to go into the Muslim world and testify to the King of Saudi Arabia and to their religious authorities. What an incredible impact Paul had for the cause of Christ generally and for the Christians in Rome specifically.

Note from Cindy Graf

Cindy wrote this after her mom's passing.

Thank-you from Merle Mayfield

Merle was back at services today after successful Aortic Aneurysm surgery. Prayers are pretty good medicine... keep praying for her.

HMHY

I was going into the ATT office this morning and a young man stopped me and asked me for money. He had a story that sounded pretty good and was clean-cut and respectful (but of course the Devil can wear those attributes as well). I told him that I didn’t routinely give out money but if he wanted to I would pay him to work. Of course I couldn’t think of what work that might be at the time but I told him to wait around and after I concluded my business at ATT I would talk to him some more.

When I finished at ATT, I hoped he would be gone but nope there he was waiting on me. In the meantime I had thought of two jobs he could do… a hard one and an easy one. So I sprung the hard one on him and told him I had some brush that needed to be cleared and I would pay him $10/hour and could give him 3-4 hours work (Actually it was on the neighbors vacant land). I asked him why he didn’t have a job and if he had a drug or alcohol problem. He thought about the job and said he really needed $60-70 and could I give him a ride to Violet and Hwy 37 and he offered to ride in the back of my truck. I let him ride in the front and along the way he asked why I questioned him about a drug/alcohol problem. I told him because the reason most people aren’t working is because of some underlying problem and usually that is drug/alcohol related (laziness is a factor as well but I didn’t offer that). I then told him that I can usually find someone a job if I see something in them… like trying to work on sin in their lives. I told him that I teach a Bible class every Sunday morning at 9:30 am and gave him a church business card. He took it and thanked me.

I share this because when we choose to help someone we can offer a much greater gift than simply forking over some money. Believe me that would be easy for me to do and I wouldn’t miss the $20 or so that it would cost me to get rid of him. Instead, I offered to pay him for work. I gave him a ride up front (I wasn’t afraid of him). I expressed a level of concern for him and offered to help him with his physical needs if he would first address his spiritual needs, i.e. making peace with God though living righteously. That is a gift worth a lot more than $20. We’ll see what happens.

Building Us

Jesus, in John 17 while he was deep in prayer to his Father, prayed that his followers (you and I) would all be “one”. That we would bury pride and ego and live lives of service to each other… true humility. 1 Corinthians 12:26 adds further instruction to that concept. When one of the members is sad… all are sad. When one is happy… all are happy. We all understand these concepts but how should they be applied? In 1998, when my father died, fourteen from Parkway made the three hour drive to attend his funeral. I was impressed with that then and I’m still impressed. I understand the sacrifice that is made for such an effort and I’ll never forget it. I also understand that I’m a pretty high profile member at Parkway. Let me urge this… when one of our members, perhaps of a lesser profile, loses a loved one… attend that funeral. If there is a sacrifice in time that needs to be made then to the best of your ability make that sacrifice. At funerals, all the façade of self- control is stripped away and you see people in their purest form with all their raw emotions exposed. It is an experience that is huge in developing compassion and love for each other. Through those and other experiences we become a congregation that is a true family not just an assembly of casual acquaintances. Sometimes people will say, “Well I didn’t know the deceased”. No, but you do know your fellow Christian. Parkway is a great congregation but we can make it better. It becomes better when every member decides to live a life of service, expressed in deeds, to every other member in the congregation.