Do You Really Love the Church?
You must first truly love Jesus.
There was an old preacher whose love for Jesus and His church still amazes me to this day.
This older Christian had faced many difficulties because he taught the truth. He wasn’t well-liked by the religious crowd of the day. Even some Christians didn’t like him - they accused him of all sorts of terrible things.
Over time even some of his closest friends abandoned him.
He was intimately aware of the problems in some congregations of the Lord’s church. Some of their problems were significant. Some had even left behind the true gospel of Christ and started following a different gospel.
Had this old preacher lived today, many “sound” brethren may have written him off for referring to these “erring” brethren as “saints" (1 Corinthians 1:2). He didn’t ignore the problems in these congregations or forget they even existed. Instead, he poured every ounce of energy he had into encouraging them to repent of sin and fix their problems.
The apostle Paul loved Jesus and His church with all his heart.
He faced many hardships and difficulties, but his “deep concern for all the churches” was what was on his mind every day (2 Corinthians 11:28).
The man who had once descended into the depths of sin loved the Savior who showed mercy to him - the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:12-17). He loved Christ, and he loved His bride - His church (Ephesians 5:22-33).
Today we look for Christians who will go to great lengths for Christ, just as Paul did. But what we sometimes overlook is Paul’s love for Christ and His church. Paul served through pain, accusations, and adversity because Christ was his life (Philippians 1:21).
No one goes to the lengths Paul did unless they love the Savior as Paul did. And no one will make the kinds of sacrifices for the church of Christ without first loving the Savior who died for the church and bought it (Acts 20:28).
Do you really love the church?
Paul was accused of being a fake. He was accused of being a false teacher. Sometimes it was Christians who were accusing him.
How could he still love the church after being so mistreated at times?
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
Do we really love the church?
Do we really love the Savior who died for us?