Husbands, Love Your Wives. Single Men, Love Your Church.
Our church has been going through the book of Ephesians. We finally arrived in chapter 5 where Paul exhorts husbands to love their wives (v.25). And he does not leave us guessing as to what love means. He tells us exactly how a husband is to love his wife—as Christ loves the church. Taking our cues from Jesus, how does Jesus love his bride?
The Call to Married Men
1. Jesus’ love is covenantal in commitment
Covenant is the spine of the Bible. You can think of a covenant as an agreement and a promise. Covenant holds the entire story of the Bible together. God pledges himself to the nation of Israel. And every promise he ever made to Israel finds its fulfillment in Jesus. Then Jesus, at the Last Supper, established the New Covenant. It would be sealed by his blood and broken body. In this covenant, he has promised to his bride that despite all of her shortcomings and failings that he would never leave her. He is totally and absolutely committed to her. That’s stunning!
2. Jesus’ love is initiating in nature.
The church did not plan her own salvation. The church actually did nothing to merit salvation. Jesus took the decisive action to bring it about by his servant leadership. He took the initiative. He did the pursuing. Out of his great love for his bride, the Word took on flesh to suffer and die.
3. Jesus’ love is sacrificially protective.
In verse 25 Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the churh and gave himself up for her…” When you read “gave himself up for her” you hear Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Jesus stands in the gap for sinners. He has absorbed God’s wrath. He prevailed against all temptation. Through his crucifixion on the cross, he defeated sin, Satan, and death. He went to great costs to make sure his bride would be protected.
4. Jesus’ love is provisional.
Check out verses 28-30, “In the same ways husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.”
Linger over the words nourish and cherish. These words are used to highlight Christ as a caring provider. Whatever the church needs, Jesus provides. We ask for our “daily bread” that feeds our stomachs and we ask for “the spiritual bread” - the living word, that feeds our souls. God provides both for us.
What Does This Mean for Single Men?
If you’re a single man, your attitude towards the church now demonstrates how well you will love your future bride. Have you covenantally committed to its people, to its leaders, to its mission? What labors are you taking now to see the people in your local church flourish in their faith? How are you pointing the people in your church to Jesus? Are you taking initiatives now to protect and serve and provide for people around you?
The local church is a training ground for marriage. No, I’m not saying that marriage is somehow a graduation from the single life. Marriage does not equal “having arrived.” Marriage is not the goal in our lives—making much of Jesus sis. But what I am saying is this: single men who aspire to be married, you do not have to wait for a spouse to display Christ’s love. God has given you his church. With these people, you can pour out your energies a mile wide with several people so that you will know how to pour out your energies a mile deep with one, if God gives you a spouse. This passage is not only a command to husbands, “Love your wives” but it’s also an exhortation to all men, “Love the church (who is Christ’s bride)!”
If you’re looking for a Boston church to call him, we’d love for you to visit King’s Hill.