The Church

"Scripture calls us to things that are utterly conterintuitive, utterly countercultural, and demanding the extreme, but Scripture shows us the Savior and his bride. This glorious sight motivates us to live under God's authority and to serve Him through the local church, for His glory and our good. Falling in love with Christ means falling in love with his church.

"If we're not captivated by the beauty and significance of the church, we will lack the motive-force to serve her because when we begin to serve God's people we quickly discover that they hurt and dissapoint us. A biblical ecclesiology reminds us that we have the priviledge of following in our Savior's footsteps and loving those who are not in and of themselves lovely. Scripture reminds us that it is God's design to make them altogether lovely, and He invites us to serve Him by contributing to the preparation of His bride to meet Him and the marriage supper of the Lamb. There she will be perfect, without spot and blameless, with great beauty and glory.

Covenantal community and compassion cannot exist in a vacuum of autonomy. It is within the authroity structure ordained by God that we can experience the blessed oneness that our Savior prayed for us. "

-J. Ligon Duncan & Susan Hunt, Women's Ministry in the Local Church

If we love Christ, we must also love his church as He does. We must follow in His footsteps of laying down our lives for her. If we are committed to Christ, then we will be committed to His church. She is "his body, "the fullness of Him who fills all in all."

-ephesians 1:23

How does Christ view His church?

"You are altogether beautiful, my darling, And there is no blemish in you. "
"You have made my heart beat faster,my sister, my bride; You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes, With a single strand of your necklace.
- SOS 4:7,9