#Bible Lesson Timeless Truths: A Look into the Christian Church - Part 1
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I hope this three-week series gives you something to think about. Remember what "Covid Church" was like and how it changed as churches reopened their physical facilities.
What is your church doing differently?
Why?
How?
For how long?
What is your church doing differently?
Why?
How?
For how long?
Following the series are two looks at Pentecost.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
Ephesians 5:26-31
Love and Holiness in the Christian Church
God’s love for His church is
Sacrificial. He gave Himself for it (v25)
Unconditional. He loved it before it was holy.
God seeks to make His church Holy
A rhetorical question
How many “holy people” does it take in a church before it is holy?
OR
How many carnal believers does it take to make the church unholy?
In the answer to either of the above questions, the church can have no more impact than we can as individuals.
A holy church
- is made up of people committed to God and each other for the long term.
- loves God and each other. We must worship God in love.
It is hard to balance between holy commitment and love. In fact, it’s impossible to balance without God’s presence.
- Holiness without love is legalism.
- Love without holiness is emotionalism.
Another question
How can we be a holy church if we invite “sinners” into it?
Answer
Holiness and love come together in the Christian church.
A holy church is an attractive church.
We are to live God’s kind of love
sacrificial and unconditional
Our experience in the church should be similar to what we will experience in heaven.
Living out holy love requires a personal commitment.
The key to loving people is to continue to see the people as people without focusing so greatly on people’s flaws.
Thanks to Pastor John Denny for the primary teaching in this Timeless Truth.
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