Love, Honor, and Fight for the Church

Don't attend church. Love her. That's how you would describe Paul's feelings towards the church and what the words that he uses here. It's gotta be the word love. You wouldn't send a note to your barber saying you hate to be torn away from them and can bear it no longer. That's the kind of thing that you say to some of you deeply love. I mean, maybe you do love your barber, but if you send him a text like that, he's gonna tell you to cut it out and shave it for somebody that, you know, some somebody else. Right? It's not him. [00:33:55] (34 seconds)  #LoveTheChurch

You know, one day every church building and every platform and every program and every preference and carpet color and all of that's gonna fade away. But the people of God will stand together before Christ forever. It's not a place nor is any Christ centered church that's just a place to attend, but as a bride to love, to honor, and to fight for. [00:52:13] (28 seconds)  #ChurchIsBride

It is too easy to minimize the importance of the one eternal organization that we are part of and dilute it into our lives as just one more membership or one more subscription or obligation or place to attend. Paul recognized that anything that was trying to keep him from being with the people of God, the church, was a work of the enemy of his soul. In short, when you come to church, you're not just attending. You're participating in a spiritual warfare fight for the church and the people in it. [00:46:27] (39 seconds)  #FightForTheChurch

But Paul does something else. He honors her. I want you to take a look back at our main passage for today, and here's what he says about the church. He says, for what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus that is coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy. What is Paul saying? He's saying, literally, that when Jesus comes back or when he stands in front of Jesus one day that the things he will be most proud of are his brothers and sisters in Christ standing shoulder to shoulder with him. [00:40:42] (39 seconds)  #PeopleAreOurCrown

The new testament knows nothing of detached Christianity. It knows nothing of a, of Christianity as an addendum to life. Because the church is not an event on your calendar. She is the bride that Jesus paid for and died for. In Ephesians, in a a section that we typically look at for marriage, we see this in Ephesians five, That Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. [00:50:59] (33 seconds)  #ChurchNotEvent

You know, somewhere along the way, many Christians have subtly adopted the idea that they will only love what they always agree with. Let me know how that works in your marriage or with your kids or in your job or literally anywhere in life. Suddenly you're gonna find yourself isolated and alone and disagreeing with yourself. The church isn't perfect. It is full of imperfect people of which I am chief among them, but we are still called the lover because we are united by a perfect savior. [00:39:14] (37 seconds)  #LoveDespiteDisagreement

And honestly, one of the clearest signs that the gospel has truly changed us is that we start loving people that outside of the gospel and its work in our lives, we would have never connected with otherwise or built our lives around. Hard application, do you love the Lord's church? Not just PBC. I'm not even talking about PBC, mostly. But do you love the church you went to before PBC? There may be legitimate reasons to leave there, but you also might need to go back and love them. [00:40:00] (35 seconds)  #LoveBeyondPreference

Reconcile. Don't gloss over or just move on. We are going to spend eternity together. Don't get shoulder to shoulder with someone in heaven you couldn't stand around on earth. Make it right as far as it depends on you. Encourage people. People show up here every week with burdens that are unspoken and needs that are unmentioned. And just being seen and encouraged might get them through whatever they're going through. Belong. Don't just attend. Belong. [00:48:41] (39 seconds)  #BelongDontJustAttend