So, You Say Jesus Died For You?

So, You Say Jesus Died For You?

This question is obviously addressed to professing Christians. If the
answer to this question is "yes", then the other obvious question is,
why do we not live like it?

In our "Americanizing" or "Westernizing" of Christianity, something of
the utmost, prime importance has been gotten away from to the extent
that, for the most part, it is pretty much altogether left out of what
it means to be a Christian.

If we really believe what the Apostle Paul says in Ephes. 5:25,
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and
gave himself for it;" then, why are we not living like we believe it?
I am not being mean, ugly or judgmental, although the Word does tell
us in 1 Peter 4:17, "For the time is come that judgment must begin at
the house of God:" I am certainly not being legalistic, for I myself
detest legalism that holds God's people in bondage. However, there are
some things that God demands, indeed commands us to do, that are
simply for our own benefit, protection and blessing!

When I refer to Ephes. 5:25, I am not referring to the first part of
the verse concerning husbands.  It is an important subject, of course,
and all of us husbands do need to learn the principle Paul is
conveying. But, so many times we overlook the second part of the verse
and the undeniable, overwhelming truth it speaks in volumes to us, and
that truth is: "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;"

Pause for a moment and let that sink in. Christ loved the Church, the
Body, the assembly of believers, so much so that he shed His blood,
died and arose from the dead, all for her, the Church!
We can make any excuses we want about how "church attendance is
optional", or "I just don't have the time", or "I have to have time
with my family" or we have this meeting or this get together, or
whatever, but the fact is that none of our excuses hold water in light
of Scripture.

While many of the organizations and activities are not sin, in fact,
many are very positive and even Christian based and are good things
for us to involve ourselves in, to a degree, however, the plain fact
is that Christ did not give Himself and die for the Country Club, the
P.T.O., ballgames or sports, beach houses, AA, AARP, NAACP, politics,
the Republican or Democratic parties, birthday parties, new homes, new
cars, Sunday drives, family visits and a host of other things we give
ourselves to. CHRIST DIED FOR THE CHURCH!

Not enough time for the Church? With all due respect and the love of
Christ, I tell you, we have really bought into some false teaching if
we are a professing Christian and are swallowing that.

Years ago, "family time" WAS time spent in church. Our kids today are
doing some crazy stuff and we sit back, scratch our heads and say,
"Oh, this generation of kids has just gone mad". However, since I
started with a question, I'll close with one: Could it be that what
the kids have been taught, and the examples shown by us to them of
what Christianity is supposed to be, just may be the bulk of, if not
the problem? We have made the church out to be some social club,
however, Christ did not die for social clubs, and with the many other
Scriptures that speak in volumes concerning this, the bottom line is
that "
Christ... gave himself for it ( the Church);"

You may be saying, "Well, Pastor Mike, I thought Jesus died for
sinners." He certainly did and sinners, once they are saved and born
again they become saints and that's what the Church is made up of -
saints that were once sinners, but have been transformed by His blood
washing their sins away and the Spirit of Adoption taking us into the
Family of God. We become His family, His bride, His body, - His Church!

Someone is saying, "but, what about people who are not physically able
to get to a church building to meet with God's people?" God is a
common sense God and knows if it is a genuine reason or just an excuse
and He will deal accordingly. In fact, those are some of the people
that we need to be taking the Church to.

His Word makes provision for every facet of our lives.
Again, the bottom line is that Christ gave Himself for the Church.
Since that's the case, then church attendance must be, not just
important, but imperative. I know we are to BE the Church, but part of
that being is assembling with the Body. -

Pastor Michael Parnell, B.Th.