WHO CARES ABOUT THE CHURCH?

    "Who needs the Church?" That's what the majority of Americans think--the Church is a dinosaur, irrelevant, unimportant. Consider the Biblical view.

    As the Scriptural evidence from the first lesson in this series--The Misunderstood "Church"--shows, the Church is a group of people, believers in Jesus Christ. Whose idea was this assembly of people? "To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." {Ephesians 3:8-11}. Thus we see that the Church was God's idea. He planned it from the very beginning. He has chosen the Church as the vehicle through which to make known His Wisdom. That gives the Church some significance in God's eyes, don't you think? And if God views the Church as significant, an important part of His eternal plan, shouldn't we?

    There is more. Jesus told His disciples, "upon this rock I will build My Church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." {Matthew 16:18}. It is Jesus' Church. He built it. It is more powerful than Hades. If Jesus is it's owner, it's builder, that makes the Church rather significant. Wouldn't you say? Recently there was an auction of some of the personal effects and family possessions of the late president John F. Kennedy. People paid tens of thousands of dollars for toys, photographs, golf clubs. These items were not inherently worth that kind of money. It was the identity of their owner that gave them such value to people. Good guitars aren't necessarily cheap, but they're definitely not worth thousands of dollars. Unless said guitar just happened to belong to some famous performer. The identity of the owner gives added value to the object. Surely Jesus' status as owner and builder of the Church gives it at least as much value as John F. Kennedy gave to his golf clubs! (Understatement!!!)

    Jesus loved the Church so much, He was willing to die for it and did so. "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." {Ephesians 5:25-27}. God believed the Church was worth the highest price, the death of His one and only Son: "shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." {Acts 20:28}. For us to consider the Church as irrelevant, unimportant is a slam against God. We're telling Him He made a mistake by paying so high a price for so worthless an item. It is a slam against Jesus, mocking the love He has for His Church. Think about it. Is it cool to trash somebody's bride and treat their love as worthless? Then we shouldn't do it to Jesus and His Church either.

    Jesus is like the head, the Church is like His body {Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 5:23}. You can't separate the two without killing the whole. You can't have the Church without Jesus or Jesus without the Church. They go together, they're inseparable. Think about what the Bible says about the Church and its value. Consider viewing the Church as more important and significant than you might have realized.