To Love Jesus Is To Also Love The Church

You probably have heard the saying from someone who does not attend a church service, "I love Jesus, but I hate the church." There are people in our world that would give you a hundred reasons why they do not want to be with a church. Some of those reasons include, "The church is full of hypocrites," "The preaching does not apply to my life," or "The music is boring." My dad told me why he did not attend church as a young man was the old ladies of the church scared him. I asked why and he said the old ladies have so much make-up on that if they smiled, their make-up starts to crack. I know, weird.

I recently watched "The Nines" conference and saw Perry Noble wearing a t-shirt that says, " I love my church" (the word "love" had a image of a heart). Its good to wear a t-shirt like that especially if you are a leader in the church, but I think there is a more appropriate t-shirt that needs to be made and given to every Christian, "I love the church because Jesus loves the church."

Husbands, how would you like it if someone came to you and said, "I love you, brother, but I hate your wife." I know for me that would not be a good thing because I might come swinging. The Bible refers to the church as the Bride of Christ, so does it sound moralistically and, most importantly, theologically correct to hate the church if you love Jesus. Ephesians tells us that "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body" (Ephesians 5:25-30, ESV).

Christ gave himself up for the church, so we have no right to not love it if Jesus loved it that much. I know the church is imperfect and many people within it can seem unloving and even ignorant and arrogant, but we are to love it because Jesus loved it.