Today is our third Sunday looking at relationships.  This morning our focus is relating to the church.

A while back I read about a father who was in his study reading.  He heard a commotion outside the window.  It was his daughter who was playing with her friends.  Whatever they we’re playing got louder and louder and more heated and more argumentative until finally this father couldn’t stand it any longer.  So he pushed opened the window and said, “Hey.  That’s enough.  Honey, what’s wrong?”  The daughter replies, “Its okay Daddy, we’re just playing church.”  (1)

Within the last couple weeks I was talking with someone who shared about how he’d been mistreated by a church.  Have you heard one of those stories?  Maybe you’ve lived one of those.

Would you agree with this?  The Church - the body of Christ - is awesome to be a part of - when the Church lives as the body of Christ.  Can we agree on that?  There is no other group on the planet that has the potential to cross all lines of ethnicity - national identity - economic and social barriers - whatever - to provide the greatest good to every human.  And the greatest of all that the church is commissioned to do in this present age - the church alone is the proclaimer of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Its a privilege and a joy to be a part of Christ’s Body - to serve together as God’s instrument as He brings healing and life to those around us.

But there are times when God’s people treat God’s people in ungodly ways.  When we feel like that little cupid - face down dead - with an arrow in our back.  Way too many churches have started to move forward together in ministry and the wheels have fallen off the wagon.

What we want to look at this morning is a teaching that Paul shares with the church in Ephesus to help them avoid that arrow in the back reality.  How we - here at Creekside - don’t you like the sound of that?  How we here at Creekside EFC can move forward together - thriving together - growing together - deepening in Spirit led fellowship together - and as a congregation to be used together by God to blow the gates of hell open through victorious ministry.

Wouldn’t you love to see God continue to do that here?  Amen.

Please turn with me to Ephesians 5 - verse 32.  We’re going to read these out loud together to get them in rattling around in our minds.  You’ll find them on your Sermon Notes.  Then we’ll look at what Paul is teaching and think through some application together.

Ephesians 5 - starting at verse 32:  This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.  Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.

Paul begins with a great mystery.  That mystery is the relationship between Jesus and His Church.  Say this with me, the mystery is Christ and His Church.  “The mystery is Christ and His Church.”

The mystery begins in Genesis.  After the fall - when God pronounces His curse upon the earth - God speaks to the snake - to Satan - God says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman - Eve - and between your seed - your descendants - and her seed - her descendants; He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel.”  (Genesis 3:15)

There’s going to be warfare between Satan and His minions and God’s people.  But God’s people will be victorious.  (Romans 16:20)  How - we’re not told.  Its a mystery. 

God goes on through Scripture - with the Passover Lamb and the whole Old Covenant sacrificial system - clues to help us understand the mystery - glimpses of what He’s about doing.

Isaiah - inspired by God - Isaiah writes:  “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried...He was pierced through for our transgressions...By His scourging we are healed...the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”  (Isaiah 53:4-6)  Those are clues.

Ezekiel writes of God’s people (Israel)  “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them.  And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them.  Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.”  (Ezekiel 11:19,20)

Joel writing of the day when God delivers His people - Joel writes, “It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.  Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”  (Joel 2:28,29)

There’s a mystery that flows through Scripture - flows through history - God at work.  God works in mysterious what?  ways.  But when we see Jesus - God Himself dwelling with us - dying for us - the mystery is revealed.  When we trust Jesus as the Savior - when we experience Pentecost - the coming of the Spirit - that mystery is revealed to us - personally.

Jesus described that realization when He prayed to the Father - concerning the Church, “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us” (John 17:21)  God desires oneness with His people.

Paul writes that this mystery is great.  Its profound.  Its beyond the scope of what we can get minds around.  Each of us - the Church - our sins forgiven - restored to righteousness - each of us having an intimate relationship - oneness - with God through Jesus Christ.  Relating to each other as the Church.  That’s astounding.  Amen.

In verse 33 - Paul goes on to say, “Nevertheless”  Meaning - don’t forget what I wrote about husbands and wives.  Which is what we looked at last Sunday.

If you had to be away last Sunday let me encourage you to get a copy of last week’s sermon off the net or ask for it.  Because last Sunday we went into a whole lot more helpful detail than we have time for this morning.

But briefly what Paul wrote in verses 22 to 31 - what the “nevertheless” refers back to - is that there’s an exclusive intimacy - a oneness - on the deepest levels that should exist within the relationship of husbands and wives.

Now stay with me with this.  The reason verse 32 - the mystery of the church - the oneness of the church with Jesus - and verse 33 - the oneness of husband and wife - the reason that these two verses are here right next to each other - is because Paul is using marriage to illustrate our relationship together as the Church and our relationship together with God.  “I’m speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”  Are we together?

Oneness with the almighty holy God of creation and the reality of that relationship is a little hard to get our minds around.  But oneness in marriage is a little easier.  Its more visible - more a part of where we live our lives.  Marriage - done God’s way - allows us to experience a oneness that helps us to understand more of what God desires in our relationship with Him.  What life in the Church should be like.

Thinking this through - how what Paul teaches can be a part of our lives today - we need to go back up in chapter 5 to verse 21.  In verse 21 Paul is writing to the church - giving instructions on how to live and thrive together in the world - then he goes off on his illustration about marriage and the church and our relationship with God.  Verse 21 is really the key to understanding the illustration.  Get the point.  Got the illustration.  Get it? Got it?  Good.

You’ll find verse 21 on your sermon notes so we can read it out loud together.  Chapter 5:21:  “And be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.”

There are two parts to this verse that we need to get our minds around if we’re going to understand Paul’s teaching on oneness in the Church.  First, he writes “Be subject to one another.”  Say that with me, “Be subject to one another.”

Joseph De Veuster arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii on March 19, 1864.   On May 31st He was ordained in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu and became known as Father Damien.

In 1873 - at his request - at the age of 33 - Father Damien was sent to the leper colony on Molokai.  At the time there were 600 lepers in the colony.  Living without hope they were corrupt, debased, immoral and filthy.

For a long time Father Damien was the only one to help them.  He dressed their ulcers - cleaned and bandaged their rotting flesh - helped them build their homes - even dug their graves and made their coffins.  During this time he endured the persecution of his peers who couldn’t understand his selfless and devoted nature.

Father Damien built a church on Molokai and conducted services of hope for the residents.  He began each service with the words, “My fellow brethren.”

In 1885, he began his service with the words, “My fellow lepers.”  Father Damien died on April 15, 1889 of leprosy - after 15 years of service in the name of Jesus to the lepers on Molokai.

“Be subject” is the Greek verb “upotasso.”  By definition its a military term describing order of rank.  In other words, a private obediently subjects himself to the authority of a corporal who subjects himself to a sergeant and so on all the way up to the commander in chief.  The commander and chief of the Church is who?  Jesus Christ - the head of the Body - the Church.

“upotasso” is same word that Paul uses - in his illustration of marriage - to describe the wife’s response to her husband.  Verse 24:  “But as the church is subject - upotasso - to Christ, so also - in a similar way - the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.”

Before you send me an email about this please go back and look at last Sunday’s sermon.

Scripture describes wives and husbands as both being created in the image of God.  God gives the commands to multiply and to rule over the earth to both Eve and Adam - wife and husband.  God creates Eve to be a partner with Adam - partnership - wives and husbands.  And yet, there is an order of accountability before God.

The husband is given headship - leadership over the marriage.  So a wife is to voluntarily subject herself to her husband in this way - both as the image of God - both with mutual purpose and partnership - to subject herself to her husband in everything.

In the way that a wife - before God - is to subject herself to her husband - in a similar way the Church - we before Jesus - are to subject ourselves to one another.  As those who have been born again - who bear the image of Christ - who have the mutual purpose and calling to live and proclaim the Gospel - to accomplish what Jesus has commanded us to do - we must subject ourselves to each other.

Think about the practicality of that.  If each one of us is subjecting ourselves to the each other - who’s the highest in rank?  Only Jesus.  We become fellow lepers - willingly giving ourselves up for each other - even to die for each other.  There’s nothing left for all the little selfish things that tear churches apart.  What’s left is an incredible fellowship moving forward under Christ’s direction.

Which brings us to the second part of verse 21:  “The fear of Christ.”  Say that with me, “The fear of Christ.”

Fearing Jesus is having a healthy dose of understanding who He is - respect for Jesus - awe - bowing and giving ourselves - subjecting ourselves totally to the Head of the Church.

Do you remember Ruth?  The book of Ruth is about a family that started off in Judah.  There was a man by the name of Elimelech who was living in Bethlehem with his wife - Naomi - and his two sons - Mahlon and Chilion.  In those days there was a famine in Judah - so Elimelech moved his whole family to the land of Moab - east of the Dead Sea.

When they got to Moab - Elimelech died and Naomi was left alone with her two boys - Mahlon and Chilion.  In time the boys married women from Moab:  Orpah and Ruth.  10 years went by and then Mahlon and Chilion died.

So Naomi is left in Moab with Orpah and Ruth - alone in a foreign land - with strange customs and gods - without family except her two daughters-in-law.  Trying to decide what to do.

As the account goes - when the famine in Judah was over - Naomi decides to return home to Bethlehem and Ruth goes with her.  Hungry - homeless - unmarried women - in order to have food to eat Ruth began to glean in the field of a man named Boaz.  After the barley harvesters finished picking in the fields - Ruth would go out each day and collect the barley that had fallen on the ground.  From this left over barley she and Naomi would have enough to eat.  We’re together on this?

One day - while Ruth was gleaning - Boaz saw her - fell head over heals in love with her - and as the story goes, marries her.   But, before he can do that, she has to invite him to cover her with his cloak.

Ruth 3:9:  He - Boaz - said, “Who are you?”  And she answered, “I am Ruth your maid.  So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative.”

In the Hebrew culture - when a man married a girl, he took his garment, his outer garment, and put it over her.  That custom was a sign of Boaz’s desire - his commitment - to protect Ruth who would be his bride.

If you turn forward to Ezekiel 16:8, with the same custom in mind, God speaks to Israel as His bride, “Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love - marriageable - so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness.  I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine.”

Boaz is the illustration of what God does for us in Jesus Christ - redeems us - enters into a oneness with us - a relationship illustrated by marriage.  In Scripture the Church is called the Bride of Jesus Christ.  (Revelation 19:7ff; 21:9)

The prophet Hosea was living in one of the darkest times of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.  A time when God’s people openly rejected God in favor of other gods.  God speaks to Hosea and says, “Go marry a prostitute.” 

Can you imagine the layers of sin that God was trying to break through to get the attention of His people?

God says to Hosea:  “Go marry a prostitute so that some of her children will be born to you from other men.  This will illustrate the way My people have been untrue to Me, committing open adultery against Me by worshipping other gods.”  (Hosea 1:2)

Hosea - who represents God - and Gomer the prostitute - who represents God’s people - they have children together.  Each child is given a name that shows that the covenant - the marriage - between God and His people has been broken.

Names like Jezreel - meaning “God scatters” and Lo-ammi - meaning “not My people”

Then Hosea’s wife goes out again as a prostitute and Hosea ends up bidding on her in an auction - to buy back his wife from her slavery to sin - an amazing picture of God purchasing us in Jesus Christ. (Hosea 3:1) 

God loves us - intensely - deeply.  Desires to sacrificially pour out His love on us - even die for us.  To take the burdens off our shoulders.  To bring peace to our hearts.  To establish us and bless us and watch out for us and heal us and care for us and guide and lead us through life into eternity with Him.  To live in a deepening relationship with us - for each of us to live in oneness with Him and with each other.

And yet, there are rival gods out there - a tremendous number of voices and words coming into our minds all the time - repeatedly offerring us protection and security - other philosophies - points of view - offers being made to us from other sources - that we really can’t trust God fully with our lives.  Voices that tempt us to fornicate with our egos - our pride - our self will - the temptation to do church our way according to our wisdom and understanding.

Satan would love to use any or all of that to get our focus off of God.  To flirt with the sins of this world rather than maintaining our covenant with God.  To fornicate by placing ourselves higher in rank than others - even placing ourselves higher than God.  Satan would love to see the Church like that little cupid - face down dead - shot in the back.  Or us shooting at each other. 

Fearing Jesus is having a healthy dose of understanding who He is - respect for Jesus - awe - bowing and giving ourselves - subjecting ourselves totally to the Head of the Church - our redeeming Husband.  Fear Jesus and we will subject ourselves to Him - individually and mutually.

Hear this:  Oneness in the Church is directly proportional to our individual and mutual subjection to Jesus.  The Church is God’s mystery.  Not ours.  Its His plan.  His work in history.  Together we need to bow before Him.

A number of years ago I was on the Island of Kauai - laying out on the beach - enjoying just being away from everything.  When I noticed that there were hundreds of little sand crabs all over the beach.

When the water would go back out - they would pop out of their holes and go running around looking for food - each one doing its best to avoid making any contact with the other one.  Then when the next wave came back in they would rush back into their holes and wait for the water to go out again.

So often church is like that.  Individuals rushing around trying to get their needs met - avoiding unnecessary contact - trying to endure the circumstances of life - waves crashing over us.  Where the emphasis is on what serves me rather than individual and mutual subjection to Jesus.

Think with me.  If Christians are all rushing around trying to avoid any real contact with each other - if we move from church to church to church  when our comfort zone gets challenged - how is God ever suppose to use us to help each other to grow - to change - to be accountable to each other for the things He desires to produce in us and through us?

It ain’t gonna happen.  If we’re subjectable only to our selves - the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I, we’ll never be the church Jesus desires us to be.  How will we ever prevail against the gates of hell?  Let alone reach the greater Merced metroplex with the Gospel?

It is a joy to be a part of this congregation - to be with you all.  It is a privilege to serve God together with you.  God is laying foundations here and preparing us for tremendous opportunities ahead.  In the last few years - even in the last few months - He’s been teaching us so much about giving up ourselves - about subjection to each other and Him - stretching us - growing us - together.  Do you all feel that - about each other aand what Jesus is doing here?

None of us wants to see the wheels fall of the wagon.  What Paul writes here is a timely warning for us that we should not take lightly.

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1. Leslie Flynn, Great Church Fights