“Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy….” Ephesians 5:25
Wow what a challenge. To love the church like Jesus loves his church. He died for the church. He died for us as individuals but here its in the context of the whole church. There are no lone rangers in the church. We forget most of the New Testament is written to the collective church. I tell people who have issues with the church and say I can stay home and worship Its just me and Jesus. Well, you had better throw out most of the New Testament then because it’s not written to individuals. A commitment to Christ is a commitment to a local church. Jesus is the head of the church and is his body, so being committed to Christ is coming under His headship and Lordship. Jesus loves the church warts and all and all its flaws and weaknesses. The question becomes is if you say you love Jesus do you love what He loves. The reality is most people who have a problem with the church are often those who are carrying an offence or have been offended in some way with someone in the church, and never want to deal with it and so disconnect from His body and from under his headship and Lordship. A dangerous place to be. Let’s guard our hearts from such deception because that’s what its ultimately.