Dear friend, welcome back to the course. In this lesson, we want to see the incredible intimacy Christ desires to have with His bride, the Church, and how this intimacy with Christ should affect our interactions with each other.
Jesus nourishes and cherishes the Church, desiring intimacy with her as a husband wants intimacy with his wife, in preparation for the day when Jesus will present the Church as His radiant and spotless Bride. To discover how Jesus does this, we look to His cross and “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18).
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:25-32
Typically, pastors and teachers use this text to talk about the relationship and intimacy husbands and wives have in their marital union. But our goal today is to focus on the intimacy between Christ and the church - our eternal relationship rather than the temporary one between husband and wife. So, this is a message for all believers, whether you are single or married. We who are in Christ share this primary need for intimacy with Jesus. The more we see of this intimacy Christ has given to the church, the more we can love others. Since God is love (1 John 4:8), then He must pour into us before we can pour out to and love others (Romans 5:5).
“Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Here we are called to look to Jesus to understand true love. No one, in history, the heavens, or all the earth, but Jesus could have demonstrated such flawless and immense passion.
The first thing we see is that Jesus “gave” Himself. Jesus Christ is a giver; He gave His life for you and me. Jesus “loved” us so much that He left His perfect and glorious home in heaven and stepped down into time and space, both of which He created and controls. But He submitted to the plan made in eternity past, humbled, limited, and diminished Himself because of His great love for us. Isn’t this astonishing? Have you accepted and meditated on this truth? Have you thanked the Lord for His incredible love for you?
Question 1. What does it mean to you that Jesus “gave Himself up,” that He laid down His life on the cross out of love for the Church? Please share your thoughts.
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