Husbands
and wives
Ephesians
5:22-33
22 Wives,
submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the
husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body,
of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the
church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in
everything.
25 Husbands,
love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her
holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church,
without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives
as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they
feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and
mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about
Christ and the church. 33 However, each one
of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect
her husband.
In
verse 27 we are to present ourselves as a radiant church, holy and blameless.
This would hardly be possible if we were a building. Colossians 1:24 – Paul is now writing a letter to the people of
Colossi – Now I rejoice in what was
suffering for you and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to
Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body which is the church. For the
sake of who’s body? Christ! We are the body of Christ, we are his church as
seen in Ephesians 5:27 – we are to become as a radiant church.
Nature
of Church
What
do the scriptures thus tell us above the nature of church, before we discuss
this lets look up the definition of church and congregation.
Church – all
Christians regarded as a spiritual entity. A building for public especially
Christian worship. A congregation. A public religious service. A Christian
denomination.
Congregation – a group of
people gathered together for religious worship especially on a regular basis.
Key
verse – Matthew 24:24 – For the false Christ and the false
prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the
elect, if that were possible. See I have told you ahead of time. Jesus
tells us in Matthew 24:35 – Heaven and earth will pass away, but his
words will never pass away. (Remember Gods word has been manifest in Jesus,
Jesus is Gods words and Gods words are Jesus, and they are one and the same.)
God’s words were transformed into flesh, so that we would be able to see his
word in the flesh. Jesus came to this earth as a witness that God lives and
that his words are true.
In
Acts 11:26 – we find that those who taught about Jesus and who were his followers or
disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
Christian – a believer in
Christianity. Of, pertaining to, or professing belief in Christianity. Relating
to or received from Jesus and his teachings. Relating to Christianity and its
adherents.
The
Disciples (followers and teachers of Jesus message while he was here on this
earth) went teaching the message of Christ to the church. We are God’s church,
each and every one of his. We are his flock, he is the head of the church, the
body of Christ, he is the Good Shepherd, we hear him, he has called us and we
will follow and obey. A Good Shepherd leads his flock away from danger; he
takes care of them and makes sure they find their way home. There are careful
not to lose even a single sheep. We are his church, we the people, when we meet
together, two or three gathered in his name, there he will be, our shepherd,
there to lead us so that we do not go astray.
When
we meet together, whether it be in our home, a building or the countryside we
are to
1.
Come together,
2.
Sing hymns,
3.
Instruct, revelate or speak in tongue with interpretation.
It
says nothing about administering the sacrament or any other form of worship.
How
we worship them becomes a choice as long as there is 1, 2 or 3 and we come
together as believers (Christians) in the name of our shepherd, Jesus Christ.
When
we administer the sacrament, the blessing of the water and the bread we are
doing this in remembrance of our shepherd Jesus Christ, so as to witness to him
and our Heavenly Father that we believe in the name of Jesus and that we are
willing to take upon ourselves his spirit. He asks us to eat his body and drink
his blood as a remembrance of him.
We
the people are his church, how we choose to worship him is our choice, he
cautions us against false prophets, teachings and doctrines.
He
cautions us to not be led astray by the craftiness of the prince of darkness,
be always be on guard, because we don’t know when he will come again, but most
importantly we must.
1.
Believe in name of Jesus,
2.
Be baptized for the rebirth of our spirit,
3.
Obey and follow the commands of the Lord,
4.
Study and read his word, put his word into action,
5.
Pray continuously,
6.
Find joy in everything and when we do this we will have eternal life in heaven.
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