"BEING MARRIED TO YOUR LOCAL CHURCH"

by Apostle Randy Muse | randallmuse@hotmail.com

Eph 5:1

1 Follow God's example in everything you do, because you are his dear

children.

(NLT)

Eph 5:31-32

31 As the Scriptures say, "A man leaves his father and mother and is joined

to his wife, and the two are united into one."

32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and

the church are one.

(NLT)

In the above passages of Scripture, the Apostle Paul instructs us to follow

God's example in everything we do. In Ephesians 5:31-32 we see that Christ

is married to His Church, and we ought to follow His example in His attitude

toward the Body of Christ, considering ourselves equally in covenant

relationship as if we were married to the Body ourselves. We should love

each other as one body, not hating our own flesh by committing acts of

hatred toward other members or parts of the Body.

The Bride is His, but we should treat other members of the Body of Christ

with the same respect He has for His own Bride. While we are not to consider

ourselves the Head or the Spiritual Covering of the Church in absolute

governmental terms, we should imitate the commitment of marriage or covenant

relationship with one another that He has toward His Church as its Groom.

We are all called to live together ETERNALLY. Divorce toward one another

should not be considered an option, except in cases of repeated sins or a

reoccurring serious offense. Divorcing your local church that God has called

you to be in covenant relationship with should not even be considered as an

option. Our attitude should always be toward preserving our relationship

with our Pastor, the Elders, and other members of the Body of Christ.

Churches are failing today and people are running from Church to Church

because we've failed to understand and be governed by the principle of

covenant relationship with one another. We treat each other as casual

friends with something in common instead of treating each other as Brothers

and Sisters whose relationships will last forever. Leaving one church and

supposedly becoming a member of another congregation is as easy to some as

choosing which fast food restaurant we'll be eating at the next week or the

next night. We simply lack true commitment to one another and Christ's Bride

because we simply do not consider ourselves married or in covenant

relationship with one another.

Consider your Brothers and Sisters in Christ as your own mother and father

or as your own daughter or son. Jesus had true covenant relationship in mind

when He spoke the following verses, speaking of a bond His Church would have

that was deeper and more intimate than the bond of natural relationships:

Matt 12:48-50

48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, "Who is My mother and

who are My brothers?"

49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My

mother and My brothers!

50 "For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and

sister and mother."

(NKJ)

We say we are committed to Christ, but are we committed to His Body? Isn't

our love for the Head proven by our love for the Body?

I Jn 4:20-21

20 If someone says, "I love God," but hates a Christian brother or sister,

that person is a liar; for if we don't love people we can see, how can we

love God, whom we have not seen?

21 And God himself has commanded that we must love not only him but our

Christian brothers and sisters, too.

(NLT)

We say we know these things already, but I'm hear to ask, "To what degree to

we practice them?"

Eph 5:1-2

1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children

2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for

us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

(NIV)

Christ died for us giving us an example of how our lives can be a fragrant

offering and sacrifice to God as we imitate God's Son and lay down our lives

for one another. To lay down your life for someone means to risk the danger

of death for someone you love. Does your attitude express the level of

commitment towards you Brothers and Sisters in Christ so much that you would

consider your relationship with your Pastor worth losing your life over? He

or she is willing to risk endangerment as an officer against the powers of

darkness for your soul's sake, but will you return the favor by laying down

your life as well? A Pastor's own natural sons and daughters are placed in

the path of spiritual danger as they war against the powers of darkness to

preserve the life of your daughter or perhaps your son. The favor we return

for them risking their lives for us through their obedience to the Call of

God is that the next time they say some little thing we don't agree with, we

run off and leave their congregation. Or they say something that we

misinterpret and get offended and start rumors about how insensitive and

unloving the Church or the Pastor is.

I know that in my house that if someone broke into my house to cause bodily

harm to my wife or any of my 4 children, I would risk my life to protect

them even if it meant my death before a thief or murderer or rapist could

get to any member of my family. False prophets & evil spirits are breaking

into our Churches to destroy our Church mothers and fathers and to destroy

the family of God, but what are we doing to prevent it? Do we pray &

intercede for the Church like we should? Do we give financially to the

Church as earnestly as we pay our own rent, house payment, or any other bill

at home? Just what is our level of commitment to the Pastor, the leadership,

and our Brothers and Sisters in Christ? Would you be willing to step into

the arena where wars are being waged over eternal souls and face death and

endangerment to save their lives? Will you be willing to continue to use

your Gift and Calling in Christ in a greater dimension even if it means more

severe testings, more severe trials, and a more severe attack and onslaught

from the powers of darkness? Will your be willing to face greater powers of

darkness to bring the world into a greater dimension of light?

Are we willing to face death and peril to be used by God to help save the

spiritual lives of our Brothers and Sisters in Christ and to help keep our

Pastors in the position of leadership & respect they are called to have in

the Local Body of Christ? Or are we always negative about the way service

went, how long it was; critical of our Brothers and Sisters, how they dress,

the way they sing or how loud they pray? Saying things that destroy the

wholesome image of the Call of the Pastor in the minds of others Saints,

poisoning them with our personal feelings about the Pastor's personality

without even paying attention to the lives that are being changed by his or

her true commitment to Christ? WE MUST DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO PROTECT THE

BEAUTY OF THE UNITY OF EVERY LOCAL FAMILY OF GOD. WE NEED TO GET PERSONAL

AND STOP BEING CASUAL ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LOCAL CHURCH AND

REALLY AND TRULY SEE IT AND TREAT IT AS OUR OWN FAMILY.

I Jn 3:16

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

(NIV)

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"BEING MARRIED TO YOUR LOCAL CHURCH"

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