THE BIBLE SPEAKS DAILY (OCTOBER 29th, 2024)

TODAY'S TOPIC: 

The Glorious Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

TODAY'S VERSE: EPHESIANS 5:23-32.

"...The husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, being himself the savior of the body . . . Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish . . . For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall be one flesh. This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and the church..." 

In this age, the Church is often considered as outdated and unnecessary. 

Therefore, it is good to go back to the language of the inspired Scriptures, to find the value of the Church, the actual value which Jesus Himself placed on it. 

Many people with the denominational mindset may be unable to recognize the Church as it is depicted in the Bible, the God’s Word. 

When you think about Church, think about People.

This may be an over simplification but it does describes the Church, Christ’s kingdom, pretty well. It is the rule of Christ in the hearts of his PEOPLE whom he has saved by the power of his gospel (Rom. 1:16-17; Acts 2:22-38, 40-41, 47).

The word “Church” is from the Greek word ekklesia which literally means “called out.” 

Those who are “called out” of sin are in the Church which Jesus built: “The Lord added to the Church daily such as were being saved” (Acts 2:47). Paul the Apostle shows that Christ is “head of the body, the church” which he previously had defined as those who have been “delivered out of the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom” (Col. 1:13, 18). Those who are “sanctified in the truth” (John 17:17) are thus “set apart” for the service of God. That, by definition, is the Church. The Church isn’t something one “gets into to be saved,” it is that body of people who have been purchased by Christ’s blood when they obeyed from the heart a form of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ 1Cor. 15:1-4, when, as penitent believers, they died to sin, were buried in water baptism, and were raised to walk in newness of life. This is when Paul by inspiration said that they “became servants of righteousness” (Rom. 6:3-6, 16-18).

The inspired apostle Paul, in our text above, refers to the church as “a glorious church.” The word “glorious” is defined as: “Exhibiting attributes, qualities or acts that deserve or receive glory; praiseworthy; splendid” (Webster). 

What makes the Church a “glorious Church”? 

a. It Is Glorious Because of the Price Paid For It.

As the apostle Paul exhorted the Elders of the Church in Ephesus, he said, “Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the Church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).

Notice again, Jesus Christ “gave himself up for it” (Eph. 5:25). 

The church was purchased with the blood of Jesus, the blood of God’s “only begotten Son” (John 3:16; Heb. 2:9). 

What did the church cost? It cost the life and blood of Jesus.

The value of something is determined by the price someone is willing to pay. 

Jesus defines what salvation worth also: 

"For what doth it profit a man, to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? For what should a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37). 

 Paul declares that you are “bought with the price” (1 Cor. 6:20). 

Peter shows what that price is: “Knowing that ye were redeemed . . . with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18-19). 

We are “justified by his blood” (Rom. 5:9). 

In him we have “redemption through his blood, forgiveness of our trespasses” (Eph. 1:7).

b. It Is Glorious Because of Its Builder.

The prophets of old foretold, “It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isa. 2:2-3). 

That “house of God” is later identified as, “The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). 

The psalmist laid down the principle, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it” (Ps. 127:1).

Whose responsibility it was to build that Church, the House of God? 

Many seem to think that it makes no difference, but Jesus said: “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). 

Only the Lord Jesus has the right to build it, and he did. No one has the right to “alter the blueprint” for it (Gal. 1:8-9), even as Moses was charged: “See that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the mount” (Heb. 8:5). 

No one has the right to build the Church, except Jesus. 1Corinthians 3:9-11; Ephesians 2:22.

He stated forcefully, “All authority hath been given unto me, both in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18).

c. It Is Glorious Because of Its Head.

Often a nation is considered great because of the head of its government. A business is sometimes great because of the one who heads it. 

Who is the head of the Church? Paul wrote of Jesus Christ, that God “hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23).

No human has the authority to Head the Church! Paul declares, “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20), that is where the “Head” must be. To try to give headship to someone else, to have an earthly head, or to have an earthly Headquarter is to take away the pre-eminence from Christ. 

Notice the declaration: “He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence” (Col. 1:18). 

Please notice: the Church is called “His body.” Those in his Church are “Members of his Body” (Rom. 12:4-5). 

Many seem to think it makes no difference, but there are “many members, but one body” (1 Cor. 12:20). 

 “There is one body” (Eph. 4:4) and declares that Christ is “Head of the body, the church” (Col. 1:18). 

A body with more than one head would be a monstrosity. But a body, designed and built by God’s own Son, and with the perfect Head, makes for a glorious church.

d. It Is Glorious Because of Its Members.

The composition of the “glorious Church” is set forth clearly in Acts 2. The Apostles, directed by the Holy Spirit, preached Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God (vv. 21-36). 

When people were convinced, and asked, “What shall we do?” the Lord answered by the mouth of Peter, “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins” (v. 38). 

The result? “They then that received his word were baptized: and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls . . . And the Lord added to the church daily such as were being saved” (vv. 41, 47). 

Who were those in the Church, and on what terms? It is clear, isn’t it? Those people who believed the gospel, repented and were baptized; when they did that, the Lord saved them and added them to his church. 

e. The Church of the Lord is a glorious Church because it is composed of saved people. 

To the Church at Rome, the Bible says: “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are Sons of God” (Rom 8:14). 

To this same Church, the Bible wrote, “We were reconciled to God through the death of his Son . . . Are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 5:10; 6:3). 

To the Churches of Galatia, the inspired Bible wrote, “Ye are all Sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ” (Gal. 3:26-27). 

The “glorious Church” is composed of Children of God, people who have been cleansed by the blood of Christ when they were “Baptized into his Death.”

Some will object that Members of the Church of Christ still commit Sin. 

This is true. The Church is not made up of perfect people who never commit sin, for all of us sin: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . . . If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (Rom. 3:23; 1 John 1:8). The Church of the Lord is made up by those who recognize their sinfulness and turn to Christ for forgiveness and guidance. 

While they still make mistakes, they constantly strive to live for God: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). 

f. It Is Glorious Because of Its Destiny.

Glory is often determined by the purpose, reward, durability or the destiny — Jesus promised by Hope, the destiny of the glorious Church: “That he might present the Church to himself a glorious Church” (Eph. 5:27). This has reference to a bride’s presentation to her husband (see also Rev. 21:2). 

The Bible says that we have been “espoused to one husband . . . to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2). 

To be married to Christ, to live with Christ, forever, in Heaven, in God’s Eternal presence: This is the destiny of the “glorious church.” When Paul speaks of the Church as the Kingdom, he says when the end comes that Christ “shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be abolished is death” (1 Cor. 15:2-26). 

When death is no more, and the graves are opened at the Lord’s return, the Church will be delivered up to be forever with God. The “glorious church” has a glorious destiny!

Jesus said, “Every plant which my heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up” (Matt. 15:13). That church which is bought only with man’s tears and sweat, that which has a Human Head and is built by Man, that whose membership is determined by Man shall be “rooted up.” But that church which Jesus built, which he purchased with his own Blood, of which he is the Head and the Savior that is “a glorious church.” 

My plea to you is this, will you study carefully the above Scriptures, and then decide to become a part of that “Glorious Church” which Jesus will save?

Take notice: you are not a member of the Church that Jesus’ blood purchased if you haven’t obeyed the Gospel (Acts 2:38; 1 Pet. 1:22-25; Rom. 6:3-6; Gal. 3:26-29; Eph. 2:13-17). 

The Bible wrote that those who “obey not the Gospel shall be punished with everlasting destruction” at the return of Christ (2 Thess. 1:6-10). 

“Obeying the gospel” is language rarely heard and more rarely understood in our present generation (especially among Protestantism), but it is the language of the New Testament. 

Rather than being told to “kneel and pray a Sinner's Prayer” as we hear today, in many Churches. Saul of Tarsus who had prayed and fasted for three days as he awaited an answer as to “what he must do” to be saved, was told, “why are you waiting? Arise and be immersed and wash away your sins, calling (or having called, ket) on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Same words are spoken to you today!!!!

Credits:

Kenneth E. Thomas,

Benson O. Omole.

TODAY'S PRAYER:

My Heavenly Father, make me a branch of your glorious Church. Save me from my errors of unbelief and false hope. Human faith has failed me!

Make me see the glorious end of your glorious Church. Let me not know you in vain. Make me a useful vessel in your House, and settle me in your Kingdom.

Please Father, heal those who are are sick, and provide for those in need, around us,

Amen!!!

Read, Study, Meditate and Do the Will of God, in Christ Jesus!

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This work is under the oversight of The Church of Christ Ekute Quarters Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State Nigeria.

Thanks.