…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…(Ephesians 5:26 – ESV)
Jesus loves, nourishes and cherishes all those who are a part of His Body, His Bride, the Church (Ephesians 5:29). He has no doubts about who is a part of the worldwide Body, what we would call the “invisible church”, because the Lord knows those who are his (2 Timothy 2:19 – ESV).
Now you might say, “I love the church, too” but can you see the invisible church? How can you possibly know all of the Christians on planet earth? It is true, you cannot love missionaries or those out of town close up but with your giving and prayers you can love them. However, you can also show your love for the whole Church by loving those nearby in a local church. “Oh I love them all in prayer”, you say. Prayer of that sort isn’t enough when you can do more by being there. You are required to be there in a local church. There is no way around it, unless you are physically unable to. That isn’t legalism; that is what the Bible teaches.
If you are physically unable to attend, I understand, and so does God. Even so, you should be plugged in to a local church somehow, and have some come to you to minister and be involved in that way. If you are in a nursing home, I feel for you. We have service every Sunday at a local home, and I pray that all who read this and are in that situation would be able to have the same blessing to be able to attend a service. It isn’t you I am talking to, except to tell you that I hope these messages bring you hope and encouragement. If you have a desire for fellowship, that is good, it is those that don’t that I am speaking about.
How can you say you love His Bride when you will not even love a local expression of it? Are there no Christians in the town you live in? If there are then you owe it to Jesus and to them to meet with them in worship, fellowship and discipleship. Imagine a man, moments after putting a ring on his new bride, then turning to her and saying, “well, honey I love you, but I’m going to go sleep at my girlfriend’s house tonight”. Ridiculous, isn’t it? That’s beyond cheating, that is just plain old hatred and disrespect.
Friends, Jesus doesn’t cheat. He loves the Church. He died for the Church. He’s coming again for His Bride, His Body, the Church. Stop cheating on your brothers and sisters in Christ; you are cheating on Jesus.
9 comments:
Good word, JD.
Amen!
There is a family at our church who is having major trouble with their teenaged son. They have also been very absent from church, won't let him come to the youth group, and I know are not spending any time with family devotion.
I think part of the problem is that they are lacking in fellowship. It's hard to see.
Thanks for remembering the shut-ins at nursing homes. For a time, I thought my family would be used to minister to older folks, but we were redirected to another ministry that hogs up a lot of time.
It blesses my heart to hear that there is a God-honoring service at that nursing home.
I have much to say about that, Craver, but it will have to wait till later today...God bless, and we WILL have a "Saturday Sermon" installment for tomorrow, so see you soon...
What a powerful message! It is one thing to say, (oh the church people are fine and don't need my imput). But to concider that some are cheating, and on Christ?! That should invoke some emotion.
J.D.
This is a great series. God bless your ministry.
Returning to Craver's (and my) comments on nursing homes, etc....
They minister to us as much as we minister to them...when the world says they are left behind, that they have no real dignity left, that they are simply at the end of the road...when it says "down down down, no no no, dark dark dark" and God's light shines out of that darkness, what a powerful light that is!
When the rest of the world is dismissing them, we come in there, sing the old songs, preach the old redemption story, and that all too quiet place and its multitudes with their sunk, sullen, and sad faces rejoice as this discouraging place of inevitable death comes to life...
There are some who are seemingly always "on" with a smile and are ready to go, and still others who may have downturned faces light up, perk up, and sing along or smile along with us...
When someone finally receives Jesus after 80+ years on earth, when one says how glad they are that we are there, when we hear "praise the Lord!" boom from a 95 year old man, when someone who hasn't said a word in two years starts to sing, and even when they go home to be with the Lord, and new faces come in, this minsters to me...it may be ME in that home someday, and some of those people ARE my brothers and sisters in Christ, and God is HONORED by all this, and again, wehn the world seess everyhting as bad, as hopeless, as dark, and God's light comes shining through from them and to them, how great is that light!
This ministers to me, to see a faith lived out for 90 years, even in the most dire conditions of pain, and to see a faith born in the waning moments, an eternal life granted just as mortal life is fading, these things are powerful confimations that indeed, Jesus is real, and He is most certainly Lord...
AMEN! I know what you see in those older faces JD, I have seen those that have found reason to smile when their day brings nothing to smile about. This ministry, (I believe) is one of the most important for several reasons, first (not to be selfish) but for personal growth in Christ. Not only is a COMMAND from God, but it is a command because God knew what it would do for those doing the ministering as well as those being ministered.
Second, I think that this type shows us that direction from God is not anyways an easy direction or the one you thought you might be directed to. None-the-less, understand that God's directing is for our best and His Glory.
Nursing homes are not very glamorous or even at times the best smelling but those in those homes are charished by God. And as JD stated, we end up receiving from then far more than I would have thought.
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