Ephesians 5:28-3

Ephesians 5:28-33 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church — for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

How many of you this morning KNOW that YOU are Christ's body? Have you heard the Spirit say to you today, "You are my body." Jesus Christ made us one with him at the cross: we died with him, we rose with him. This is a profound mystery. We are not just with Christ: we are IN CHRIST. The church is one with Christ in God as his much-loved bride. Therefore, we live under his authority, his banner of love, his guidance and protection. In his marriage metaphor, Paul says the wife must respect her husband. We who are IN CHRIST must respect his authority, realizing we are members of his body. Yes, we are free men and women, but we are bound by a higher power: God's love constrains us and makes us who we are. Just as Jesus was bound to God out of love, we are bound to him in the same way. Jesus did nothing outside of what God told him. His obedience brought light and life to a world of darkness and death. We are not birthed from corruptible but from incorruptible seed. Since we are one with him, we also should bring light and life to the world. People should know through our actions, words, and attitudes that we are born again, members of Christ's body.

WHAT A GREAT SALVATION! Who can conceive of such a plan: oneness with God generated from his heart of love? We are not only made in his image, we are his image. We who were lost and temporal and bound for death are made one with the everlasting God, the ETERNAL ONE. Free from death's contamination, we are now regenerated into life. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Corinthians 15:55 KJV) Christ won the victory. No longer bound to the Earth, for sin and death have no lasting place in us, we are FREE, FREE AT LAST. My friends, arise this morning, knowing you are part of the BODY OF CHRIST. Awake, rejoice, we are no longer bound by the flesh. Of course, our earthly bodies will perish and face corruption, but those who are born in Christ, seed of his seed, will live forever. God has made us complete in him, lacking nothing. It is finished, for IN CHRIST we are completely acceptable in the Beloved. WE ARE MEMBERS OF HIS BODY: we belong! We belong to eternity, we belong to Christ, we are like him because we are in HIM and know him whom to know is life everlasting.

Many of us envision our future abiding place as another Garden of Eden. For some heaven is somewhat like going to Disney: everything is scrubbed clean and happiness personified walks down the streets, but this is not heaven. Heaven is where God continuously abides. Heaven is the condition of being with him always with no interruptions in our interactions. The mystery of salvation is that we died with Jesus on the cross, and we were raised with him from the grave, making us ONE IN HIM FOREVER. God sent us the Holy Spirit, the earnest of our salvation, to reveal this truth to us. The Spirit woos us to the lover of our souls and dwells within us, showing us the mind of God. He reveals our holy union with CHRIST. Christ's love, his thoughts, his heart, his feelings become ours as the Spirit writes God's message on our hearts and puts his desires in our minds. Without the Spirit active in us, we are but men and women trying to please God, but with the Spirit operating within us, we become God's church, his hand extended. We are kind, gentle, patient, loving, joyful, peaceful, good, faithful, and self-controlled. We are compassionate to the less fortunate: the widows, the homeless, the sick, the broken-hearted. We should want others to experience the security and the blessings of the body of Christ. THIS MORNING HAVE YOU HEARD THE SPIRIT SAY, "You are my body, you belong to me, do my will?" Amen!