Weekly Devotional 6-11-18 How Can the Church Be Considered Pure?
The following is a question posted by a follower of Jack Kelly of Grace Thru Truth, and his answer.
Question
“I have been following where you are saying that the ‘Church’ is the ‘bride’ of Yeshua (Christ). But isn’t the church supposed to be pure, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish as Ephesians, 5:25-27 says? In my experience the Church is anything but pure, and many don’t even seem to care. Are we not supposed to be working on ourselves? I am in a Messianic bible study where they teach us that the Lord could not bring a Church like this to himself. What do you think?”
Answer
“If you read Ephesians 5:25-27 carefully, you’ll see that Jesus gave His life to make the Church holy. It’s something He did, not something we do. If you are in Christ you already are a new creation. As far as God is concerned, the old you has gone and the new you has come (2 Cor. 5:17). At the cross Jesus took upon Himself all your sins and in return gave you all of His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). Therefore all the sins of your life are forgiven (Colossians 2:13-14). Many Messianic believers confuse the old and new covenants. In the old covenant people had to work to achieve and maintain their righteousness. In the new covenant righteousness is imputed to us by faith (Romans 3:21-22). The Church was made free of stain, wrinkle or any other blemish at the cross. Not because of what we do, but because of
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our faith in what the Lord did. Teaching us to live holy lives is commendable but making our inclusion in the rapture dependent upon meeting an impossible standard is inconsistent with New Covenant theology. For by His one sacrifice the Lord has made us perfect forever. (Hebrews. 10:12-14) Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condoning sin. But over and over again, the New Testament tells us our salvation is not about how we behave, it’s about what we believe (John 3:16, John 6:28-29, Romans 10:9, Titus 3:4-7).” [End of Kelly’s thoughts].
Positionally, the church is pure because it is seen by God as being in Jesus Christ, but certainly, it is not pure in practice. What a wonder it would be if its practice matched its position. But wait a minute. If the practice of the church did match its position that means that I would have been removed from it because I am not and cannot be pure in practice, no matter how I might strive. This is also true of you. Remember we still have our old corrupt fallen natures. We Christians, however, should continuously strive for the goal that is set before us, that of being pure.
Even though we are justified, made pure in the eyes of God positionally, we must not think that we have a license to sin. Sin interferes with our fellowship with God, is not a good representation of who we are, is a poor testimony to others of the church, and is certainly a poor testimony to the unredeemed.
Lord, help us in our walk. Help us to be pure in thought and deed.
stevelampman@comcast.net stevelampman.com Transforming Power; The Work of God on Behalf of Man