Adam and Eve part2: Christ and the Church

Last time, we looked at the relationship of Adam and Eve. What I want to do is look at another example in the Bible that shows the opposite reaction: Christ and his Church.

 Understand that we, the Church, are the bride of Christ. The Church is referred to as the Bride of the Lamb in Revelation, but also in Ephesians 5, Paul uses the analogy of a husband and his wife in reference to Christ and the Church.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

(Romans 5:6, 17-19)

Obedience is not doing what you feel is right; it is doing what you have been called to do. Look at the last prayer of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’ He went away a second time and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.’” (Matthew 26:39,42)

It is possible for us to allow God’s obedience to live through us. Christ told Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, put it this way:

“[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.” 

Paul relates to our spiritual struggle against sin.

            We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:14-15,18-19)

In his Confession, St. Patrick puts the struggle with following a call the best:

I certainly don’t plan on sinning, but I don’t trust myself as long as I am a mere human being. The tempter who every day tries to turn me from faith in God and the true religion is very strong—but I have dedicated myself to serve Christ my master to the bitter end. Human desires, however, are always dragging us toward death—to act out our sinful wishes. Heaven knows I have not led a perfect life (as some of you undoubtedly have), but I have made my peace with God and am not ashamed to stand before him. This I declare—from the time I was a young man, the love of God and respect for him has grown in me. Now I can say, as an old man, that with the help of God I have been faithful.

“If only you had obeyed my commandments, prosperity would have flowed to you like a river, deliverance would have come to you like the waves of the sea.” (Isaiah 48:18)

Obedience is:

1. Answering the call placed on your life

2. Stewardship of your time and resources

3. Relinquishing control to God

4. Placing God’s will above your own

Obedience is not:

1. Perfect compliance- we don’t give up when we fail

2. Contingent on your resources

3. Relying on your own strength

4. Doing what you feel is right