The Church of God, Purchased with His Own Blood

As Christians, I think we sometimes fail to see the church for how big it really is. We can think of the church primarily as the place where we worship on Sunday or where we have fellowship with other Christians. While the church is certainly these things, the Bible gives us a much bigger vision. When we look across the whole story of Scripture, we see God gathering a people for Himself. The gathering of God’s people is one of the great movements running through all of human history. 

Our Session has just started reading the book How Jesus Runs the Church by Guy Waters. The title itself makes an important point: the church belongs to Jesus. It is His church, and this being the case, He has not left us to decide for ourselves what the church should be. Jesus loves His church, builds His church, and governs His church according to His Word. 

Paul’s words to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28 press this home for us: 

“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” 

The church belongs to God because He purchased it with His own blood. 

And that is not something that begins in the book of Acts. From the beginning of the Bible, we see God gathering a people for Himself. After the fall, God promises that the seed of the woman will crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). He calls Abraham and promises that through him all the families of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:1–3). He establishes His covenant with Abraham and promises, “I will be God to you and to your offspring after you” (Genesis 17:7). The story continues through the biblical history of Israel until it ultimately comes to fulfillment in Jesus Christ. 

Peter describes Christians as “living stones” being built into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5). A few verses later, he takes language that God had used for Israel and applies it to the church: “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9). 

God is gathering a people for Himself. 

That means that when we belong to Christ and His church, we are part of something much larger than ourselves or even our particular congregation. We are part of what God has been doing throughout history—redeeming and gathering people to Himself. 

And because Christ has purchased us, we are reminded to whom we belong. If the church belongs to Christ, then we don’t get to remake it according to our own desires. We submit to Christ. We follow His Word. We seek to be the church that He has called us to be. 

But we do all of this knowing what our Savior has done for us. He purchased us at the cost of His own blood. We belong to the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. 

To be joined to Christ our Head is also to be joined to His body. The New Testament even calls the church Christ’s bride. Jesus loves His church. And if Jesus loves His church, then surely His church ought to be precious to us as well. 

That doesn’t mean pretending the church is perfect. Far from it. We see her warts, weaknesses, and failures. We experience some of them, and we likely add to them ourselves! And so we long for the day when Christ will present His bride “in splendor, without spot or wrinkle” (Ephesians 5:27). 

But until then, we love the vision of the church that Christ has given us in His Word. We pray for its fulfillment. And, to the best of our ability, we give ourselves to the life of Christ’s church. 

When we gather for worship, serve one another, and bear with one another, we are participating in something far greater than ourselves. We are taking our small place in the great work God has been doing throughout history. 

Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). 

He has not abandoned that work. Jesus is still building and caring for His church, governing her according to His Word and preparing her for the day when He will perfect her. 

What a wonderful privilege that, through His blood, we belong to Him—and we belong to His church.