Easter and Jesus Loving the Church

Yesterday during our worship at Arabi Baptist Church—where I have served as pastor since October 2006—we enjoyed our adult choir singing songs from a musical entitled “Come to the Cross.” An incredible part of their presentation was several of our members sharing their testimonies of how they came to the cross. Instead of having some type of canned or pre-written narration, our church was greatly blessed to hear people from different seasons of life share how they became Jesus followers.

As a dad, it was with great gratefulness that I heard my oldest daughter Emma share of how she recognized her need for a Savior in light of the fact that she “just could not stop sinning.” One gentleman shared of his long path through a life running in the opposite direction of God only to find that “the hound of heaven” would not stop pursuing him. One lady told of the overwhelming burden of trying to keep “all the regulations and rules” she believed entailed making one a Christian and finding the freedom that comes from Christ’s atoning work on the cross. We were particularly touched to hear an eighty-three year old saint of God tell us that even though she had attended church often, it was only by the witness of a pastor’s wife that she discovered, by God's grace, that she needed a Savior herself. This came after being married and with two children already in the house. Her testimony was particularly powerful in light of the fact that she stood humbly and strongly before our congregation after losing her husband of sixty-two years just three weeks ago. He himself had become a Christian at the age of forty and their godly influence is felt in their eight children who all follow Christ and serve his church.

“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.” Ephesians 5:25-27

As I heard those precious stories of faith yesterday, I was reminded of the great sacrifice that was paid by our Savior to sanctify his bride. How overwhelming it was to worship him in light of his great love (Romans 5:8) for the church he loves dearly.

As the different participants shared their stories, I could not help but be struck by one other powerful thought. The men and women that shared love the church as well. Not the physical building (as many church-going people are prone to do), but the people that make up the church. The testimony-sharers love the people that make up our local congregation by fellowshipping with them and serving them in various capacities. The testimony-sharers have served the church and given witness for Jesus in various places from South America to Africa to Southeast Asia to Mississippi to next door and at family reunions.

The fruit of their relationship to Christ is displayed in their own love for the church. They love the church because Jesus does. As I sat yesterday, it struck me that we need a great revival of more people like the testimony-sharers in our church who live counter-culturally to the individualism that is so pervasive in both our nation and in our churches.

Recommended resource:

There is No “I” in Church: Moving Beyond Individual Spirituality to Experience God’s Power in the Church
by Keith Drury
(Indianapolis: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2006)

“The religion of the Bible is not individualistic but communal. Those who insist on being individualistic may fare well in some religions, but not the religion of Jesus Christ.” (28)