For Better or For Worse

Ephesians 5:25-32

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 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 their own body, but they feed and care for their body, 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.

You heard these words a thousand times. At weddings. On TV. Maybe you even said them in your own marriage vow. It’s a promise bride and groom make to each other. They won’t stay together just when things are going good. They’re together for the bad times, too.

You also know people don’t always keep this vow. When the going gets tough, the marriage falls apart. When things get better than better, one or the other or both start looking at other options.

Whether or not you’re married to someone here on earth, you’re part of another marriage. When Paul talks about Christ and the church in Ephesians 5, he’s not drawing the picture from the earthly relationship. Instead, Christ and the church are the model for marriage.

As Paul says, “We are members of Christ’s body.” By faith, he has brought you into his church, his bride. He gave himself up for you, to wash you with water through the word. Every stain, wrinkle, and blemish are gone. You are his radiant church.

Just as husband and wife promise to remain faithful for better or for worse, Christ has promised to be faithful. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:11-13,

“Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him,
    we will also live with him;
if we endure,
    we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
    he will also disown us;
if we are faithless,
    he remains faithful,
    for he cannot disown himself.”

Jesus is faithful in the good times and the bad. When times are good, it is because of the faithful blessings of God which come to us through his Son. When times are bad, God faithfully remains with us to shelter us. When we have brought the bad on ourselves, he still faithfully calls us to repentance and promises forgiveness for Jesus’ sake.

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). Christ has promised to be his church’s head for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. He has made this promise to you, as long as you shall live on earth and as long as you shall live in heaven—eternally.