Before Building the Church You Have to Prepare the Materials
Christ says, “I will build My Church”. I cannot fathom the reason why, but His chosen material is you and me. Despite all our sinfulness and weakness, He chose to build His church using us, as the building blocks. You can be sure that He knows what He is doing. It doesn’t make much sense to us, but it makes perfect sense to Him who sees all, knows all, owns all, loves all, and directs all of history. If we don’t understand what He is doing, rest assured that we are the confused, not Him.
The New Testament describes you, the church, as a body, a building, a field, and a bride. Christ has all the right tools to prepare you, to change you, so that you will be perfectly suited for His building project. Ephesians 5:25-27 says, “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” (NASU)
Christ loved you, set you apart, cleansed you. His goal for you is that you be holy and blameless. Why? So that He could present you to Himself. He is going to give you as a present to Himself! He paid your sin debt. He breathed new life into you. He gave you the Holy Spirit to live in you, to guide you, to convict you, to empower you.
He started the process. There is, however, a part reserved for you. Revelation 19:7-8 says, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” (NASU) You are to make yourself suitable to be presented to Him by clothing yourself in righteous acts. Righteous thoughts and attitudes are wonderful, but what He asks for is “righteous acts”. Loving God, loving your neighbor, caring about the needy, remembering the prisoner, operating ethically in business, all require action, in other words, “righteous acts”. How is that coming for you? Are you ready? He is the Master Builder. He deserves and expects only the best. Will you be ready, a suitable present for a king; rather a suitable present for The King?
