The love of Christ: His Church
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5:25).
What a different world we would live in if husbands loved their wives, as Christ loved the Church. Such love is demonstrated through willing and costly sacrifice. It is not the sacrifice of things but of self. In the same chapter, Paul reminds us it is not normal to hate our bodies but to take care of them (v. 29), and it is the responsibility of husbands to love their own wives as themselves; to love them as Christ loved His Church. There has never been a time when marriage has been more attacked and rejected. The behaviour of the world should never surprise us. Rebellion against God opens us up to all kinds of dangers from which God sought to protect us. Despite the liberties of words and actions, we live in a world tortured by selfishness and abuse. In such a world, the Saviour asks us to express His love and express it first in the intimacy of our relationships. Joseph is the outstanding example of a man who unconditionally loved his wife Mary, and devoted himself to supporting and protecting his family. We have much to learn from his life. But the greatest example is the Saviour, who gave Himself for the Church He loved.
When we remember the Lord, we do so in the wonderful knowledge that we are loved personally, and we are loved as the one Flock of God. Paul speaks to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28 about ensuring they first took care of their own spiritual welfare, so that they could care for the Flock of God, the Church, which cost the blood of Christ. The one Flock of God reminds us of the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep to form His Church (John 10:11, 16). Over the past week we have thought of Paul’s words, “The Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). We have seen the truth of these words in the lives of the repentant dying thief, Thomas, Peter and Paul. We have seen that Christ’s love is the basis of our peace, our worship, our discipleship and our service. When we remember the Lord together, we know that we have been personally embraced by that love and we also know we are part of His body, His Church, His flock. Each of us is equally loved and made living stones in a spiritual house (Ephesians 2:19-22, 1 Peter 2). We come together to join our hearts and voices as one, and through the power and liberty of the Holy Spirit, we worship the Saviour that gave Himself for the Church He loved.
In one of the simplest and shortest parables the Lord told, He represents Himself as a merchant seeking goodly pearls who, when he found one pearl of great price, went and sold all he had and bought it (Matthew 13:45-46, 2 Corinthians 8:9). Pearls are formed essentially as a response to suffering. In the Old Testament, the tribes of Israel were represented on the High Priest’s breastplate by twelve different jewels. We are not divided into tribes: we are one in Christ Jesus. The pearl of great price is a beautiful reminder of the one Church, one flock and the one body which cost the suffering love and the sacrificial death of Christ. This morning we respond in worship to the Saviour who loved the Church and gave Himself for her. And when we come out of the place of worship there should be a further response in the lives and actions of husbands to demonstrate Christ’s love for the Church through the way we love our wives. Worship is valued by God when it springs from obedience.
