A Pure Church

Good morning

It is great to be with all of you

If we have not met my name is Stefan I am the pastor of preaching here at Harvest

And last week, Colin closed out our summer series in the Psalms

And I am grateful for his ministry of the word with us last week

And with the Psalms series concluded, we will be getting back into Matthew in September

But between now and then… for the next 6 weeks, we are going to do a short series about who we are as a church

Specifically, what it means to be a pure church

Now, when I say “pure” - I don’t mean perfect…

No, we are going to be using the term pure in the sense of something being the way it is supposed to be

You think about gold, pure gold is made up of just gold. It doesn’t have anything mixed in with it… there is no impurity in it

So for this sermon series, if purity means the way something is supposed to be, I think it is going to be helpful to think of purity like this [Definition on the screen]

Purity is our alignment with the word and will of God

A pure church is a church who seeks to align with what God says and what God wants in all that it does

And as a church, we need to be clear on what it looks like to be aligned with his word and his will.

So for this first sermon in this series, we need to get a vivid picture of the starting point of being a pure church

And the apostle Paul gives us that vivid picture in Ephesians chapter 5, so would you turn there in your Bibles

And as you turn there… I need to set the stage, Because at first glance this passage is not going to seem like it is actually about the church

Famously, Ephesians 5:22-33 addresses husbands and wives and how they are to interact with one another in a gospel marriage

But it is a statement that Paul makes in the passage that helps us to see that Paul is actually drawing on the truth of Christ and his church as the basis for why he is saying what he is saying to husbands and wives

So as much as the passage is directed at marriages, it is actually about the church and the truth about the church is then applied to marriages

So this passage contains truths about Christ and his church that will give us a clear vision of what it looks like to be a pure church

A church that is aligned with God’s word and his will

So let’s give these words our full attention

Ephesians 5:22–33 “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as 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. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

These are God’s words for us as his people

Big Idea: The purity of the church must be our priority [6:00]

We must prioritize aligning with the word and will of God in our church family

Because, as we will see, it is Christ’s priority for his church and so it must be the priority of his church as well.

I want to draw your attention to what Paul says toward the end of the passage

Ephesians 5:31–32 [Quote from Gen. 2] “‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”

In your Bible, the word "mystery" means "something once hidden but now revealed."

“Something that looked one way but now we understand what it really was about”

Paul always uses that word to say, "Something in the Old Testament had a deeper meaning that we now understand more fully because of Jesus."

The first marriage in the garden was real—real man, real woman, real union—but it had a deeper meaning beyond marriage

Paul is highlighting here that it was also helping us to understand the union of Christ and his church, which is called his bride.

In one of his other letters, Paul says the Old Testament was full of shadows, but the substance belongs to Christ. In other words, the Old Testament gave us pictures... Jesus is real version that it all pointed to.

And here he makes that point explicit: The union of Adam and Eve was not only about them; it was pointing to the greater union between Jesus and His people.

So for us this morning, we need to be clear that Paul’s instructions to husbands and wives flow out of what is true about Christ and the church, which means that this is just as much a passage about the church as it is about husbands and wives

[BRIDGE] So we must hear these words for what they teach us about the church, because they show us what a pure church looks like and why we must make purity our priority.

And our text this morning is going to show us three qualities of a pure church

Three qualities that will ensure that we are a church that is aligned with the will and word of God as we prioritize purity as a church

A pure church is:

Dependent on Christ (22-24) [9:00]

Look with me at v. 22-24

Ephesians 5:22–24 “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”

I want you to notice: He calls Christ the head of the church and calls the church the body of Christ

That is an image that Paul draws on in multiple letters and it is the relationship of the head to the body that helps us to understand why it is that Paul liked this image so much

You think about your head…

If it was detached from your body, you would no longer be alive.

So your body needs your head… That one’s easy enough for us to get

But your body also can’t do anything without your head directing it

So your body needs your head for life, but it also needs your head for direction.

The image of Christ as the head and the church as the body is communicating a message of our dependence on Christ

But notice it isn’t just blindly dependent - Look at what Paul says Jesus is to the church

“And is himself Its savior”

We are dependent on Jesus precisely because he is the one who saves and preserves and protects us

In fact, when we talk about placing our faith in Jesus, the greek word for faith is really a word that means, “To depend.”

We depend on Jesus for salvation

We depend on Jesus for our identity

We depend on Jesus for everything that we need for life and godliness

To follow Jesus by faith is to depend on Jesus.

One commentator describes it this way:

“The church’s submission to Christ means looking to its head for his beneficial rule, living by his norms, experiencing his presence and love, receiving from him gifts that will enable growth to maturity, and responding to him in gratitude and awe.” - Peter O’Brien

When Jesus is the head and we are his body, we will see in him everything that we need, we will depend on him for all of it, and we will respond to him with everything that we are.

But in our current culture, we value independence and we value self-sufficiency

We believe the message that you are enough and you don’t need to depend on anyone else for anything else…

And it is far too easy for a church to see itself as self-sufficient and to think that what we are as a church is based on what we do and what we’ve built and what we have

To think that a great church is one that has the biggest building, the biggest budget, the best programs, the most charismatic preachers, the best music…

But here is the problem - You can have all of those things without depending on Jesus for any of it.

I have a dear friend who has worked with churches all around the globe

He has traveled to over 120 countries with the Gospel and has helped to establish churches in many of them

And as he was addressing a room full of pastor, he said this:

“When you have enough money and you have enough knowledge, you can build things that look like God did it, all the while he had nothing to do with it.”

That is not a compliment… That is a warning…\

When you become too self-sufficient, you forget to involve God in your plans.

No, Jesus is the head, we are the body

And a pure church is one that depends on Jesus

… reading his words so that we can know what he says

… praying fervently, asking for him to lead us by his spirit wherever he would have us go.

… doing nothing that we aren’t absolutely sure he would have us do for the sake of his mission

And listen

if we are to be a church that depends on Jesus corporately, we must be a people who are depending on Jesus personally and individually.

The reality is that it is just as easy to become so self-sufficient in our personal lives that we no longer involve Jesus in them either

The litmus test for how dependent you are on Jesus is to simply look at your prayer life…

Prayer is the act of coming to God in humble dependence, recognizing that only he truly knows what we need and only he can provide it in the way that we need it

And when we lack prayer, it is not because we are too busy, but because we are too proud and we don’t think we actually need God’s help this time.

But when we grow in prayer it is because we are growing in our dependence on Christ, seeking to align with his word and his will

And listen: When we are depending on Christ, indivudally and corporately as a church, the result of this is confidence

When we are seeking to be fully dependent on Jesus personally and as a church, We never have to wonder if we are in his will for us or not

When I am seeking to apply his word to my life, seeking to honor him with my daily decisions and actions, and asking him to lead me wherever he would have me go, I can know that I am precisely where he wants me to be

So even when things all seem to be going wrong, I can have the confidence to know that I am where he wants me because I’ve been living dependently on his word and his will

And I can have the faith to keep depending on him as he leads me through it

We can always have confidence when we are dependent on Jesus because he will always lead us to wherever he wants us.

So that is the first point: A pure church is dependent on Christ…

Second, a pure church is…

Purified by Christ (25-27) [18:00]

A pure church doesn’t achieve its own purity

It is accomplished and applied by Christ

Now, I want you to notice that Paul uses a linear progression in how he talks about Jesus purifying his church:

He points back to the sacrifice of Jesus in the past, He looks at the present, ongoing process of sanctification, and he points ahead to the consummation of all things when the church will be in the presence of Jesus…

So let’s look at those one by one.

Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,”

Now I want you to notice that the giving up of himself for the church is subsequent to his love for her, he loved first and so he gave himself up for her.

Now there is so much that we could say about this single statement because in it is the entire gospel

But what I want to focus on is how it is the love of Christ that came first

It is not just that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, but that it is his love for the church that is the reason for everything Paul talks about versus 26 and 27 as well

I think it is all too common that we think about the death of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins as the end point of his love

As if he loved us enough to die for us and so we are forgiven and that’s where it ends

God loves you so he forgives you. End of story.

But that is not what Paul says

It is that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… v. 26

Ephesians 5:26 “So that he might sanctify her”

It is not that Christ loved you enough to die for your sins,

but that Christ loved the church so as to not only forgive her sins,

but also transform her into what she is supposed to be.

Church family, Jesus loves you enough to not just meet you where you are, but to pick you up and carry you to where you are supposed to be.

He isn’t just going to forgive your sins, he is going to transform your life

And Paul tells us exactly how he is going to do that

“having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,”

The primary way that God transforms our lives is through his word

And when we understand this, we will make his word central to our lives as his people

A church that neglects God’s word can never be a pure church because it will, by very definition, be out of alignment with God’s word and God’s will

Because Jesus loved his church, he gave himself up for her, but he also gave her his word so that she can be transformed into what he desires her to be

And he desires that his church be pure

Look at v. 27

Ephesians 5:27 “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.”

The church is called the bride of Christ and there is coming a day when those who Jesus has purchased with his sacrifice will be assembled in his presence as the church, presented to him as his bride who he bought with the price of his blood, because of the great love with which he loved her

And when that day comes that bride will be perfectly pure, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing

And this day is described in Revelation chapter 19

Revelation 19:6–9 “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; [LISTEN] it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”

When the church, the assembly of God’s people, is brought to Jesus, he will clothe her in pure garments

But I wonder if for some of us, those words sound too good to be true…

Because you know that there is great impurity in your life: In your past, in your present, and you fear that there will be more in your future

And if that is you, you very likely fear that God sees you that way as well.

You know the things that you’ve done and been a part of, and “pure” is the last word that you would use to describe any of it

And if that is you, look at these words in verses 25-27

While there may be plenty in your rearview mirror that seeks to condemn you as being impure, there is infinitely more in Christ that will purify you

He paid for all of it when he died on the cross and he proved that it was all forgiven when he rose from the grave

He took all of the impurity on himself and placed upon you the perfect righteousness he earned

While sin is still present in your life and you war against it, he is continuing to sanctify you through his word as your life looks more and more like who he’s called you to be

And he will complete the work he began in you

And on that day when the church is presented to him without spot or blemish, you will be counted among them because of your dependence on Jesus

And he will say “Pure and blameless”

So as a church family who follow Jesus by faith, we embrace the sacrifice, sanctification, and purification that comes from Christ alone

Since we know he will purify us, we let him

We don’t resist conviction as if we have no sin

We also don’t treat each other according to our past sins

We recognize that we are all in progress

We repent together, we pursue holiness together

We celebrate victory over sin and we help one another bear the burden of temptation

And we live in the hope of knowing that for all of us, he will finish the work he started.

Because a pure church knows how it is purified by Christ and it lives like it.

So those are the first 2 qualities…

Lastly, a pure church is…

One with Christ (28-32) [29:00]

Paul has been drawing this analogy between marriage and the relationship between Christ and the church.

And he doubles-down on it, taking it to its deepest level: oneness.

Ephesians 5:28–30 “In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.”

The church is not simply under Christ’s authority; she is united to Him, intimately.

Paul says we are “members of his body” - We are a part of him

He then goes on in versus 31 and 32 to quote that one-flesh union of the husband and wife and applies it to the church

This should be astounding to us.

When you follow Jesus by faith, you become a part of him

Not physically, but there is a significant spiritual uniting that takes place in which we are inseparable from him.

And this union is the basis of everything we are and everything we do as God’s people.

And while that might be difficult to understand, Jesus actually gives us a very helpful image of this very idea in John 15.

He tells his disciples “I am the vine and you are the branches” And tells them that because they are the branches and he is the vine, apart from him they can do nothing, just as a branch apart from the vine can do nothing.

Think about a vine and its branches, they make one plant - The branches aren’t a separate plant, they are one and the same with the vine

But the vine is the source of life for those branches

The branches depend on the vine, not the other way around

And because the branches depend on the vine for life…

The branch that disconnects from the vine, dies…

Jesus Christ is the source of life for us as his people. It is not programs and buildings that give us life, it is the union with Christ that gives life to our church body when we gather together as his church

And he provides this life to us intentionally…

Look at v. 29

Ephesians 5:29 “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,”

To nourish is to feed and to strengthen by providing what is needed for growth.

Church family, Jesus doesn’t just tolerate us and wish that we would get ourselves together.

He is united with us and cherishes us

He is one with us and so from his very being flows what we need most, and he gives freely because of his love for his people

His life becomes our life

His righteousness is our righteousness

His Spirit dwells in us

His grace empowers us

And listen: he has prescribed in his word specific ways that he continually works in our midst to give us what we need for growth

We don’t need to look for miracles and special signs!

No, there are actually things that are just the normal parts of church life together that the Spirit of God uses to grow us in godliness

When we assemble together as the body of Christ, we are nourish by these 5 things…

The word

Prayer

Baptism

Communion

Fellowship

Ordinary, normal parts of church life - But he uses them as the primary means by which to grow us

Because we are one with Christ, when we participate in those five aspects of church life, he participates in them with us, using them to nourish us and to grow us

When we hear the word proclaimed through preaching and speak the truth of God’s word to one another, we are being nourished by Christ

When we pray with and for one another, we are being nourished by Christ

When we watch people be baptized as a declaration of the life-transforming power of the gospel, we are being nourished by Christ

When we share the bread and the cup, and in so doing declare to one another of the finished work of Christ, we are being nourished by Christ

And when we fellowship with one another, doing life together as a Gospel community, we are being nourished by Christ

Because we are one with Christ, when we take seriously that oneness, we won’t disconnect from the body, because we understand that when we gather as his body, he will nourish us with his grace.

He will provide the life that we need as we are one with him

I have known so many people who thought that they could have a “personal relationship with Jesus” without being a part of a local church body

And then they wonder why it is that only a few months later their souls are shriveled and their spiritual life is nonexistent, and they are talking as if they were never believers…

Because you disconnected from the body and you were no longer receiving the nourishing grace of Christ through the word, prayer, baptism, communion, and fellowship

When we have the wrong idea about church, we think we can disconnect from it

But when we seek to align with God’s word and God’s will as a church,

we will realize that our oneness with Christ means that we must remain connected to the body

so that we can be nourished by Christ.

Conclusion - 38:00

A pure church is not a perfect church, it is a church who aligns with the word and will of God

Depending on Jesus for all that we need

Purified by Jesus through his sacrifice and by his word

One with Jesus as he nourishes us to grow

And as a people who belong to Christ as his bride, we must make purity our priority

Amen.

40:00

COMMUNION

It is fitting as we consider the purity of the church for us to remember the finished work of Jesus that purified us

And I just mentioned that communion is one of the ways that Christ nourishes us by his grace and so we can participate in this means of grace together

Ordinary bread and juice - Spirit’s presence in us makes this a means of grace for us

Open communion - Only believers

We don’t mock the cross

Be made right with God

Be made right with others

You’ll come as the team sings over us - (Directions)

2 elements - Gluten free on the sides