" I LOVE MY CHURCH "

Look Up:     Matthew 16:13-18; Ephesians 5:25-27

Sermon preached by Dr. Wayne Poplin, Senior Pastor of
Carmel Baptist Church, Matthews, NC (Copyright 2008)   

INTRODUCTION:  “I love my church.”  Have you ever said that?  If so, why did you say it? 

            I love my church because it has several styles of worship.

         I love my church because it has good programs for my children.

            I love my church because I have such good friends there.

            I love my church, but there are a lot of things I don’t like about it.

            I loved my church when I knew everybody.

            I loved my church the way it used to be.

Wonder what God thinks of our statements?  Don’t these statements sound a little restricted and self-centered?  Most of the time when we are expressing our thoughts about the church [love or not love] we have ourselves in mind [our needs, wants, how affects us].  And I think it is also true that when we love our church [simply for what it does for me], it is easy to become possessive of it.  “What are they doing to my church?” “This is my church and….”  But possession of the church belongs to only One.   And it isn’t you and it isn’t me.  What difference would it make if I started saying, Lord, “I love Your church” and tell Him why?  If you say the above statements back to Him by beginning, “I love Your Church…”, the statements don’t fit.   When we acknowledge the rightful owner, it can change our perspective.   

Today, we begin a new series entitled, “I Love My Church.”  When we finish the series, I hope that you will be able to say “I love my church” but for the best reasons.  But as we begin this series, I want you first to see the statement--“I love my church”-- not as your statement but as God’s statement.  You see it is ultimately not our church, or my church, but His Church.  AND HE SAYS, “I LOVE MY CHURCH.” 

When God gathered Israel and told that group of called out people [congregation] about redemption through a lamb, I could hear Him say, “I love My Church.”  That scene was a foreshadowing of another called out people, who would be rescued by the blood of the Lamb and who would inherit the real land of promise.  When Christ was dying on the cross, I could hear Him say, “I love My Church.”  When He spiritually put me in His body, I could hear Him say, “”I love My Church.”  When two or three of His people are gathered together and He is in the midst, I hear Him say, “I love My Church.”  As He reigns from above and He sees His church use the keys of the Kingdom and sees His church persecuted and sees His church worship, I hear Him say, “I love My Church.”  One day when the trumpet sounds and He comes to gather His people from the four corners of the world, He will be saying, “I love My Church.” When I see all that He has put in place for us in the New Heavens and New Earth, I will hear Him say, “I told you that I love My Church.”   

            Why is it His church?  Because He said that it is.

            “But what about you?”  He asked  “Who do you say I am?”

            Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

            Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon on of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.  And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will  build My Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it [Matthew 16:15-18].

            How do I know that He loves the church?  Because He gave Himself for her.

He bought her with His blood.

            Be shepherds of the church of God , which He bought with His own blood [Acts 20:28 ].

            Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless [Eph. 5:25-27]

            Having loved her, Christ gave Himself up for the church.  He died on a cross---to cleanse her from sin and guilt so that He could make her holy [refers to the present process of making her holy in character and conduct by the Holy Spirit] so that He could present her [eschatological] without blemish and spotless.

            On earth the church can look tattered, she can be stained, she can be despised and persecuted.  But one day she will be seen for what she is, nothing less than the beautiful and glorious bride of Christ.

             The church is His.  It has always been His.  It will always be His.  It is not mine.  I didn’t die for it.  I never bought it with my blood.  It is His.  I don’t love it first and only because it meets my selfish needs, but because He loves it and it accomplishes His divine purposes. 

            The Church is the body of Christ,-- that group that has been cleansed, is being sanctified, and will be presented to Him in the future, that continues to do what Christ in His physical body did when He was on earth—continuing the apostolic ministry and priestly ministry of Christ.  It is a group of people who accepted His proclamation of the Kingdom of God and who formed the true people of God.   The church is the people of the Kingdom and the instruments of the Kingdom.  There is one church, because there is one body of our Lord.  The one church is both invisible and visible—that is, it is here on earth and in heaven.  It is one, but it is to be His church and continue His ministry in the multitude of local congregations.

            Now, with those congregational expressions, there is much to rejoice over and much to weep over.  There is a lot that is good and a lot that is bad.  Churches put down other churches, saying the way they do it is better.  Folks, I am the first to admit that a lot can be wrong in a local church.  In the scripture, we see that there were problems in the early churches.  The church at Rome had tensions between the weak and the strong.  In Corinth there were appalling sexual sins, jealousy over spiritual gifts and abuse of the Lord’s Supper.  In Galatia , the Judaizers added to the Gospel.  The church at Ephesus lost her first love.  The church in Pergamum had allowed false teaching, etc.  The church has faults—but no competitors.  You can look at local congregations and see the faults.  There are things wrong with the church.  She is a work in process.  But, let me tell you what is right about her.

1. Her Founder and Her foundation. 
2. Her cost.
3. Her security.  God will keep her.  There is assurance of victory now and later.  The gates of hell cannot prevail against the church.
4. Her message.  It is the only message that can result in supernatural change.  It is Good News.  The church is the only divinely appointed means for spreading the Gospel.  She is Christ’s body on earth.
5. Her Textbook.  None can claim its inspiration and none can claim its life-changing power.
6. Her ordinances.  One portraying the Gospel [death, burial and resurrection] and  the witness of those who have identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. 

The Lord’s Supper—the witness of those continuing in fellowship with the Lord , remembering His death until He comes.  It is the church where this witness is given.

7. Her purposes—worship, witness, edification, fellowship, etc.
8. Destiny—the Lord’s presence. 

The Lord says, “I love My Church.”  The rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms look at the church and see the manifold wisdom of God [the powerful effect of the Gospel on lives, being reconciled to Him and to others] and marvel.  The church

is His and He loves her.

            What difference would it make if I saw the church that way?  If you saw the church that way?  It would help lift me above my stuff to His stuff.  It would help me be more concerned about His purposes than mine, His will than my way.  It would help me see what part I have in this great body.  I would help me get “possession” right.

            A little girl asked her mother as she looked at a family picture, “Where am I?”  As she looked at the picture, she didn’t see herself.  Her mother answered, “You weren’t born yet!”  If you could look at a picture of the church, would you be in it?  Maybe you haven’t been born yet.  Maybe your hang-up is what is wrong with the church.  Why don’t you consider what is right about her?  If you see yourself in the picture, why don’t you consider how you got there?  It will help you say, “I love your church.”