How Christ Cherishes His Body
Ephesians 5:22-33
This sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the morning service on Sunday, February 28th, 2010
Today we come back to Ephesians 5:22-33. This will be our third time in this passage. It says something about the depth of Scripture that we could dig into a passage three times and still not quite draw out all that there is to see. We are too often tempted to move quickly through the Bible, speed reading the text without pausing to focus and learn from its teachings. But we need to treat the Bible like a dog treats a bone: chewing on it, savoring it, enjoying the juice and meat of the Word.
But we have seen in Ephesians 5 that Paul is teaching believers about submission within the body. To do this he starts with the most fundamental relationship in society: husband and wife. We saw last time that marriage serves as a divine drama, portraying before the world an image of the church’s relationship with Christ. Husbands are to lead their wives and families in a way that portrays Christ’s serving the church with sacrificial love while wives are to submit to their husbands as a demonstration of how the church submits to Christ.
In the midst of this depiction of marriage and the church, Paul reveals some things about Christ’s work to sanctify his people. In this Paul says something startling: that the church is the body of Christ and what Christ does for the church is Christ working to nourish and cherish his own body.
Ephesians 5:22-33
Before we see what Paul says about Christ and the church we will take a long road through Scripture to see why Christ had to do anything for us. In Ephesians Paul assumes that there is a problem with humanity. Christ does a cleansing, sanctifying work because something has happened to make us unclean. The uncleanness is unrighteousness. It is sin. It is wrongdoing, rebellion against God. And Christ came to take sinners and make them clean. Jesus has already shown us this. He tells us in Luke 5:31-32, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Thus only the unrighteous are found in Christ. And Paul tells us in Romans 3:10 that none is righteous, no, not one, so everyone is unrighteous. We are all fallen, stained by sin, in need of cleansing.
Our problem as humans is not something we can fix. We are sinners living in a sinful world. Like a man covered in mud and standing in the middle of a swamp, there is nothing we can do to cleanse ourselves of our own filth. Sanctification must come from outside.
At one point in the gospels Jesus’ disciples are astonished to learn that even the rich cannot make their own way to righteousness. In Matthew 19:16-30 we find the account of the rich man asking Jesus how to be saved. He claims to have obeyed all the commandments but still he falls short of righteousness. In verses 23-24 Jesus says of him, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. This prompts the disciples’ astonished response in verse 25, “Who then can be saved?” to which Jesus responds (in verse 26), “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” This verse has been quoted in many wrong contexts. When Jesus said it he had salvation in mind. It is impossible for man to save himself. If a rich man, who had all power in the ancient world, cannot be saved, then who on earth can? Only those made clean by God.
Every single human shares the problem of sin and we are powerless to rescue ourselves from our sin. But why is this a big deal? Why not just accept that we are flawed and just get on with our lives?
The problem for us is that God will not tolerate sin in his presence. He is holy and just and he will punish wrongdoing. There is judgment against sin. In Acts 17:29 Paul tells us that God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness. Regarding that day, listen to Peter’s description in 2 Peter 2:4-9: For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment… There will be judgment for sin. If you want to know what that judgment will be like look to Sodom and Gomorrah. The fires of judgment on those cities was a shadow of the eternal fires of judgment in Hell.
We have a problem. God has sent the solution. As Jesus said in Matthew, what is impossible with man is possible with God.
In Christ we find the solution to the problem. Focusing back on Ephesians, we saw in verse 23 that Jesus is savior of his body, the church. The impossible is accomplished by the God-man, Jesus Christ.
By his death Christ paid for our sins, bearing in his flesh the penalty for our rebellion as Hebrews 9:28 tells us that Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. By his life Jesus fulfilled all righteousness, completely obeying the commands of God. When we are joined to him by faith we are covered with his righteousness as if we lived his perfect life.
But though we are covered with Christ’s righteousness, our own lives remain sinful. We are not in bondage to sin, when we are saved we are born again, given new hearts that seek the way of God, but we continue to drag around the old flesh. So John tells us in 1 John 1:8, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. So even as those in Christ we continue to battle sin. Christ does not count his work with us complete once he brings us to himself. He not only brings us forgiveness and covers us with his righteousness, he goes on to sanctify us, to work righteousness into us so that we can live as he lived.
Paul’s description of Christ’s work in Ephesians 5:22-33 shows Christ sanctifying his church. All of Jesus’ work was aimed at our holiness. He did not save us just to bring us into Heaven still walking in sin. Sometimes we treat salvation as the way to escape Hell while continuing to live the way we want to live. This is not salvation, this is deception.
Christ gave himself for our holiness. Paul tells us in verses 25-26 that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her… He lived and died so that we might have his perfect righteousness. He died so that our sins might be forgiven. He continues to work in us so that we might experience growth and victory over sin and unrighteousness. Jesus is not a cosmic genie who exists to meet your needs, he is the sovereign Lord who will shape the children of God into a spotless bride.
What Jesus has done and continues to do for us is not detached from himself. In verse 30 Paul tells us that we are members of his body. To illustrate this, Paul in verse 31 points back to Genesis 2:23 where the husband and wife are said to be one flesh. The church is the bride of Christ so we are his body. Thus Paul says in verse 32 that this mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. The one-flesh union of husband and wife symbolizes the one-flesh union of Christ and his church. That which Christ does with and for his body, he is doing for himself. He has joined us with himself. We are now part of him. Nonetheless, he remains our head, he continues to be Lord over us.
The Bible gives us several images of God purifying his people. In 1 Corinthians 5 we have the image of removing leaven for unleavened bread; in John 15 Jesus is the vine pruned by his Father; in Matthew 25 Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. All these images tell the same thing: God is purifying his body, casting off any who claim Christ but do not know him. But the image in Ephesians 5 is the most personal. Here Jesus is not removing goats from sheep, he is taking sheep and making them better sheep. He is taking true, living branches and making them healthier, more fruitful. He is taking his own body and making it spotless.
Back in Ephesians 1:22-23 Paul makes his first reference to the church as the body of Christ and with Ephesians 2:7 we saw that through the church God is making the glory of his grace all the more radiant throughout Heaven and earth. What we are to be as the church is the very image of the glory of God. Colossians 1:15 says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Jesus has made us his body so through us as well as through himself Jesus is radiating the glory of God.
Christ has taken that which was filthy, stained, and fallen in sin and is making it into something lovely and glorious, the reflection of God’s glory. In order to do this he had to join us to himself, making us part of his body. As his body he cherishes us and nurtures us and sanctifies us. Often his sanctifying work is not pleasant. The flesh does not want to let go. Satan does not want to give us over to God. Thus James 1, and many other passages, speaks of trials being used to bring us growth. The author of Hebrews says as much in Hebrews 12:10: he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. Discipline here is not punishment, per se, but correction. When we discipline our children it is not to get back at them for doing wrong, it is to correct a wrong action.
When you have cancer you cut it out, though it be painful. When you have lesions on the skin you treat them to remove them. When the body of Christ has sin he cuts at it to make his body pure and spotless. We ought not think him hard for doing this. It is one of the most joyful things in the world to know that we belong to Christ, we are part of his body, and he is nurturing us toward holiness. Let him use his scalpel on your life, no one wields it better. The cutting may hurt but remember where you started: a sinful rebel. He has much work to do. No matter how long you have walked with him, he still has much to do to shape you into his image, the image of his Father. When he cuts you for discipline, for correction, for holiness, it is a kindness. It is Christ loving his own body.
1 Corinthians 2:16 says that as God’s people we have the mind of Christ. Having his mind, we ought to desire what he desires. He desires our holiness. Are you as passionate about living a holy life as Christ is to make you holy? The answer, of course, is no. None of us are. But to what degree are you satisfied or comfortable in your sin? Is holiness something you strive for? If you have the mind of Christ, you will passionately pursue holiness out of love for him who is your head. With your eyes fixed on him you will not worry so much about the things the world has to offer, your goal will be his will; and what is his will for you? Holiness and obedience.
We have already seen that none of us can save ourselves, that this is a work only God can do. In the same way, none of us can make ourselves holy. If we are to grow in purity we must follow the path set by God. In Ephesians 5:26 Paul says that Jesus sanctifies the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. In his Word he has given the agent of our washing. This Word is the light that shows us the path of Christ. This Word reveals the will of God, his commands for us. We cannot figure out on our own how we ought to live. God has given Scripture to guide us in holiness and he has given the Holy Spirit to lead us to understand his Word. If you would grow in the image of Christ, be filled with his Word, then do what the Word says. Follow the path of God as laid out in Scripture.
There is a promise in Ephesians 5. The promise is that Christ will complete his work. You may despair now that you do not see the holiness you desire. This is good! In this world we will never be holy as he is holy so if we ever start to think we have reached holiness we are in a dangerous, deceptive place. We are not holy, and we must recognize how much work God has left to do. This should cause us to have godly sorrow and godly repentance as we confess to our holy God that we have failed him once more. But in the midst of this we rejoice that one day he will finish his work. On the cross Jesus cried out with the words, it is finished. He had won the victory even if work still had to be done in our lives. Christ lived and died so that we might be made holy and by his grace we will be made holy. We remember the words of Philippians 1:6, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not die for you just to see you lost to him. He who began the work of salvation in your life will complete it. He who began your holiness will make you holy. Continue to cry out in grief over your sin but know that he will make his bride spotless so you, his arm, his toe, his fingernail, he will make you pure.
One day we will all be with Christ in glory and on that day he will assemble his body and will present us to himself, to his Father, to all the heavenly hosts, to all creation, and we will absolutely shine in the radiance of his glory. No more sin, no more rebellion, no more depravity, we will be pure. Rejoice, Christian, knowing that in his steadfast love God will never let you go. He will accomplish his work. Every day of your life, long for that day. Every day long for the day when you will be what Christ is growing you to be. Long for the day when you no longer displease him with your sin. Long for an eternal reality where we fully and perfectly reflect the glory of God. Until that day comes, struggle for holiness, yield to Christ, follow his Word.