The Church: A Place to BLESS

The View From Above: Thoughts To Help With Everyday Life

September 22, 2026

Guest Contributor: Pastor Harold Warner — Part 13

The Church: A Place to BLESS

I want to end my contribution to VFA where I started: loving the Church.

I’m not making too much of this, as if it was my hobby horse. No, the whole Book of Ephesians has this as its central theme: the mystery of the Church.

Salvation is personal, but it is not private.

When God saved us, He calls and invites us to become part of something much bigger than ourselves.

In the Book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul piles one stunning image on top of another talking about the church, in order to help us see and truly get this mystery.

In chapter 2, the church is God’s city (our identity is as its “fellow citizens”)—God’s family (our privileged relationship as members of God’s household)—God’s temple, the place of His manifest presence in this world.

In chapter 1, we are His body, the purpose of which is to express the life and character of the One within.

Eric Lane sums this up by saying:

“To be a member is to belong to a community bound by a common fatherhood. To be a stone in His temple means to belong to a worshiping community. To be part of a body means to belong to a living, functioning, serving, witnessing community—Put together, you have the main functions of an individual Christian. Evidently, we are meant to fulfill these not on our own but together in the church.”

This is where authentic Christian living and worship is lived out.

The capstone of this truth is found in:

Ephesians 5:32

“This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

This is not something stale, insignificant, or second rate—it is a mega mystery.

We usually only hear this verse at weddings, which is appropriate.

How much does Christ love the church?

He gave Himself for her.

He continues to work at cleansing and preparing His bride for eternity by the washing of water by the word.

His ultimate goal is to “present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

I know that’s hard to wrap your head around since we all see too clearly the flaws in and around us, every week.

Jesus’ love for the church is not fickle or flighty, but He is committed and He nourishes, cherishes, sustains, and protects His bride—warts and all!

I ask again considering this breathtaking passage, how can we be indifferent toward or denigrate what Christ loves so deeply?

Let us spend time in a pertinent passage:

John 21:15–17

This is famously dealing with the restoration of Peter, but it also gives us a wider context to live out our new life in Christ.

Three times (corresponding to Peter’s thrice-denial) Jesus asks, “Peter, do you love me?”

There is no higher question in life since the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

It stands at the heart of everything.

Peter says with much more humility, “Lord, you know that I love you.”

Three times his affirmation is met with the Lord’s command, “Feed my sheep.”

The connection is clear: if we love Jesus, we will also love what He loves—feed my sheep.

This is not a reference to having warm emotions all the time, but a call to loving action.

If we love Jesus, He will grow in us a deep care for the flock of God.

My prayer for decades has been, “God, help me to carry upon my heart what is on your heart—help me to feed the flock of God which you purchased with your blood.”

The following paragraph captures what I’ve been trying to communicate this past two weeks in VFA.

It was written 17 years ago by my assistant, Garett King. He was beginning to grasp this sacred romance I’m talking about.

“I was reading (Philippians 1:8) the other day and it really struck a chord with me. The TM says, ‘Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does.’ I couldn’t help but think of the Tucson church. After having the privilege of serving there for some years, you get to know the church better and you realize how beautiful she really is. When we left, I didn’t realize how much we loved the church and would actually miss the church. When I read that scripture, I could feel the heart of Paul. It’s so difficult to put into words, but it is very possible and necessary to fall in love with the church, but even more so if you are a pastor. I honestly don’t think you can love Jesus without loving what He loves. The church is His bride, and He is madly in love with her. Our job as pastors is to labor according to His word and present Him a bride that He is attracted to. We are stewards of His bride.”

I couldn’t have said any better.

The church that is a place to belong, a place to become, a place to build, a place to battle, and finally, a place to bless with our lives, our words, our service, our giving, and our prayers.