Church Matters Because Church Matters- Part 2

On Sundays, we've been looking at the importance of the church. It's clear in Scripture that the church is important to God. And church matters (or matters of the church) are important to God because the church matters.

In Ephesians chapter 5, Paul compares the love Christ has for the church with the love a groom has for his bride. At every wedding there is joy. You can see it on the faces of the brides and grooms. To emphasize this point, recently we've requested wedding photos from the couples in our Bible Fellowship class which is comprised of young married couples (we also have some engaged couples as well). We shared those photos in a slide show on Sunday. Not surprisingly, there was a beautiful bride in each photo. Because there are no ugly brides.

And neither is the bride of Christ. Even with its flaws, the bride of Christ is beautiful. Because Christ "gave Himself for her" (Ephesians 5:25). But unfortunately, many people, many of those who are a part of the church, the body of Christ, don't feel beautiful. Maybe it's because of a choice they made 5 years ago. A decision they made 2 years ago. Something they did 2 months ago. Or maybe, it's because of something that happened to them in the past. And they can't get past it.

But they must. Because Christ sees them as beautiful. Because they've been forgiven. And because the message of the Gospel is too important to live in the long-since forgiven past. Because the church matters.