Jesus Builds His Church

1. Jesus Loves His Church

This morning, let us consider this question, “Do I love the church like Jesus does?” I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the statement, “I love Jesus, but I dislike the church.” These days, many young people are leaving the church while they still claim to follow and love Jesus. Many people turn their backs on the church because of failures they have seen or experienced within the church. And the world and society? They reject the church as irrelevant, out of touch, too political, or a cool old building. It’s a place for the simpleminded, the naive, or the ignorant.

The church is not perfect. There are good and healthy churches, churches with cultures of love and grace, churches that fulfill obediently and faithfully their missional calling in this world. Then there are churches with toxic cultures where all kinds of abuse happen. There are churches that have lost their way and follow the ways and practices of this world. But, we must still love the church, imperfections and all. Why? Because Jesus loves His church. The church is his body and his bride. He called her into existence. He died for her. He rose again for her. He sent his Holy Spirit to empower her.

2. Jesus Builds His Church

And because He loves His church, Jesus builds His church. He is working passionately and persistently to make her holy and present her to Himself as His bride. “… 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). Jesus as Lord of His church still walks among the lampstands of Revelation 1:12-20: “… I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,  dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest … In his right hand he held seven stars … The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” Even now, Jesus cares for his church, challenging, admonishing, and protecting her. He still brings the fires of repentance and revival to grow and build her. He holds her in His hands.

Jesus builds His church by equipping her with different kinds of gifts. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work” (1 Cor 12:4-6). He gives gifts to every member of His church and through these gifts He builds up His body, the church. “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ … From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph 4:11-13). Jesus builds His church and He holds it together.

And this is one of the greatest miracles and displays of God’s supernatural power — the church endures. She always has and she always will until our Lord returns. Throughout the centuries, the church has taken many forms. Each church is different because each church is a unique, local expression of the body of Christ. Sometimes she lost her way, but there was always a remnant that remained faithful to their Lord, and so the church remained resilient, was renewed, and found her way back to her foundations and her Lord. At her best, she is suited to her culture without succumbing to the culture. She is nimble and adaptable to cultures and changing times. Yet, she remains principled and purposeful without compromising the gospel and the core essentials of the Christian faith.

Any single local church may disappear from our pages, memories, or streets. Not every local church will survive the upheavals of history. Yet, the church, His bride, will endure because we are His. The church is His. “Christ-honoring expressions of the church will continue to be planted and thrive—and embattled—until Jesus returns.” (Stumbo, 272)

This gives us confidence. We, the church, will outlast any nation, any government, business, economy, institution, or entity. But this should also make us humble. We dare not step away from or outside of His plan, purpose, and provision for His church. We do not dare to make the church into something she is not called or meant to be. We do not dare as a church to do something our Lord has not called and instructed us to do. The church is the epicenter of God’s activity in the world. And we are called to participate in the work God is doing in and through his church. We are called to participate with Jesus in building his church, using the gifts He has given to each one of us. He commissioned us to extend the church to every segment of society, and there through the church by being His kingdom people living the kingdom life we proclaim God’s kingdom in word and in deed.

Telling His Story in the Bible, God does not hide the failures and imperfections. The heroes in God’s Story are flawed human beings. And so are we. If God used them, and He did, He can and will also use us. The church is of vital importance to our Lord and His kingdom mission, and so she must also be of vital importance to us. Because the church is ours. The church is His. We are His.

3. A Stained Beauty

Ultimately, the church is His, but she is also ours. We are the church. The church is not a building. She is not an organization, not a denomination, not a social club, and not a political party. The church is a community of people who have committed our lives and ways to Jesus Christ our Lord. God gathers His kingdom people in the Name of His Son and empowers them by His Holy Spirit. We assemble together, pray and worship together, learn and grow together, and do life and death together. We are a beautiful mess, a stained beauty as John Stumbo explains: “It is a complex mixture of human and divine, fragile and unstoppable … a stained beauty. She’s endured the strongest persecutions and attacks known to humanity. She’s made countless mistakes and committed unthinkable atrocities, yet the church has also shown the world its most grace-filled, life-giving, love-splattered moments. She’s a mix. A muddle. A montage. A mosaic. No one story can describe her. No one photo can capture her. She’s complex and always has been.” (Stumbo, 4)

No single church has ever perfectly followed the Lord in this broken world. But at the same time, as she is planted across the globe, she accomplishes powerful and beautiful work. The loving message of salvation brings the light of Christ into lost, unbelieving, and materialistic communities. Lives are being transformed.

A beautiful mess. A stained beauty. The church is stained but sustained by Christ who gave His life so that she might exist. He gave His Spirit so that she might flourish. We should see the church through the Groom’s eyes. Let’s read again: “… 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). Christ sees us as His beautiful, beloved, unstained bride. The church is beautiful.

4. The Church Is Beautiful

The stains of “our sin are transformed into the ‘stained glass beauty’ of His perfection because of the blood-stained atonement He provided for us” (Stumbo, 265). Yes, He fully sees our weaknesses and failures, but His view of us is not limited to our failures. At the same time, He is able to see us as saints, holy, the redeemed bride. Look at how Paul greets the Corinthian church, perhaps the church that gave him the most problems and the biggest headaches: “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people (saints), together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ … He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:2,8).

Sanctified. Saints. Holy people. Blameless. Corinth? South Umpqua Community Church? No church is blameless and perfect. But, as His bride, we are being perfected and made blameless. “We are being prepared for His return; and on that day all our blots and blemishes, spots and stains will be forever gone as we fully enter into His perfection” (Stumbo, 266).

Perhaps our “greatest failures result from when we forget whose we are: His. The church is Jesus’ idea, Jesus’ mission, Jesus’ people, Jesus’ strategy, Jesus’ precious community, Jesus’ extension of his life and ministry on earth. We are witnesses of His death and resurrection, carriers of His word and temples of His Spirit.” (Stumbo, 264)

The church, the bride is beautiful. Jesus makes the church holy, passionate, loving, and beautiful. That beauty and loveliness are demonstrated when she gets it right. When the church gets it right — Love—pure and selfless, giving and forgiving—enters and changes people’s lives and stories. Hope—with its head-lifting, heart-warming power—overcomes despair. When the church gets it right — Racism is revealed for all its ugliness and replaced with genuine respect and community. Materialism is revealed for all its shallowness and replaced with joyful stewardship and generosity. When the church gets it right — Relationships are healthier. Children are safer. People are kinder. The planet is cleaner. When the church gets it right — Singleness is sanctified. Marriages are consecrated. Life is valued and protected. The elderly are cared for and respected. When the church gets it right, Peacemakers and Reconcilers, Grace-givers and Mercy-Grantors, Justice-Defenders, and Way-Makers all leave their world-bettering impact. When the church gets it right, the Imprisoned and the Impoverished, the Marginalized and the Misunderstood, the Unfriended and Unnoticed find acceptance, opportunity, and the pathway to a new life trajectory. When the church gets it right, those living with loneliness and loss discover that this is not the last chapter of their story. Community is available. Acceptance and healing are real. (Stumbo, 267-68)

And the church did get it right through the ages, over and over, from community to community. And she is still getting it right. Across the globe, the church lives out her calling to be the church and to make God’s kingdom visible through countless tangible expressions of love and compassion — orphanages, women’s and children’s shelters, schools, rehab centers, hospitals, clinics, dispensaries, refugee centers, rescue missions, and homeless shelters. When disaster strikes, the church mobilizes and funds disaster response and cleanup. She provides crisis counseling and home rebuilding and assists in clean water and food security. And above all, when the church gets it right and we are at our best, the life-changing message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed through these acts of kindness and justice, through these examples of Christlike living and self-giving love.

Jesus loves the church and so should we. We love Christ by loving his church. Investing in his church is one of the best investments we could make. This is an investment in God’s kingdom. This is storing up treasures in heaven. What on earth is more lasting than Christ’s church? Christ-honoring expressions of the church will continue to proclaim God’s kingdom until Jesus returns. What life-mission can compare with that?

So, let us be the church, the beautiful bride of Christ. Let us fight the good fight. Let us run this race with perseverance to the finish line. Let us keep our faith and stand firm with God’s armor on. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and walk in step with the Holy Spirit. And we will receive our reward in heaven.

Until that day — “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58). We are confident that — “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” (Heb 6:10). And let us in everything honor the Lord Jesus Christ because “God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.” (Eph 1:22-23)