“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:1–2, ESV)
The church is the bride of Christ. He loves her and has surrendered himself to rescue her. He has clothed her in white and his fury is displayed in the book of Revelation on those who mistreat her. Paul says to the church in Corinth,
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16–17, ESV)
God destroys those who destroy God's temple. He gets angry when people mess with his bride. One would think that this would give people pause when attacking the Church. Yet, now more than ever, people both on the outside and inside of the Church have taken delight in slapping around the bride of Christ. Don't get me wrong, the Church is full of imperfect and sometimes very difficult people. Its not that we should ever excuse bad behavior. But we should also be very cautious of beating up the bride of Jesus.
In our postmodern era, everyone wants to be their own church. "Let's do away with organized religion" many say with a sneer. People despise all authority and desire for themselves to be their own god. They want no accountability, no correction, no oversight, no conviction and no boundaries. For them, the church is the object of scorn and ridicule. Their ecclesiology is watered-down and resembles nothing more than a casual chat at Starbucks. True love is dismissed as we only seek to gather around people who think and speak just like us. The old are mocked and called out of date. The young are viewed as foolish and only concerned with entertaining themselves. So, we just mock each other and devour the leaders who strive to bring people together. This is not love. It is selfishness and idolatry. It is arrogance and resembles nothing of the call of Paul that says we should be willing to think first of others before ourselves. Instead, we think only of ourselves and contemporary authors are making a killing on books that beat up the bride of Christ and reinforce our own selfishness. We don't care about others, only "my personal walk with Jesus." Yeah, find that phrase in the Bible.
Pastors are caught in the cross-fire. Some try to paint pastors as nothing but the religious elite and treat them as Pharisees. All doctrine is viewed as cold, dry and dead. Never mind Paul's command to Timothy to "watch your life and doctrine closely. If you do you will save both yourself and your hearers." Committing ones life to studying the Scriptures is viewed as a bad thing. Loving God with the mind is now viewed as carnal and elitist. Newsflash: The Pharisees were not chided for their diligence in studying the Scriptures...but their failure to recognize Jesus as the one toward whom the Scriptures pointed. This is not the "same thing" as pastors who preach the blood of Jesus given for your salvation! Somehow the "Spirit" has become a synonym for spontaneity and gut reactions. Each person's "Spirit" is calling them to impose their agenda on their pastor and each "Spirit" is different...but equally harsh and critical. Others view pastors as personal servants. They think, "We pay you to make us feel good." Though they would never actually say this, clearly it is the mentality. Preach sermons that affirm us and make us comfortable. Exalt the USA, honor our military, make sure you talk about our moms on mothers day, don't forget to bring me flowers at the hospital. You didn't call my mom when her wive's brother's sister's uncle died. How dare you!
Now it may sound like this is anything but, "I love the church." But I do. In spite of all her faults, she belongs to Jesus and she alone is the hope of this world. Its time we stop being selfish, forming our own little eclectic groups and joining in with the unbelievers in their harsh attacks on God's people (ministers included). Instead of throwing her under the bus, lets begin to teach and train so people move from selfishness to service. Rather than joining the criticism or nitpicking her faults, why not be a part of building her up? She is beautiful you know. Look around at your local hospitals. Chances are they were formed by the Church. Same thing with your nursing homes that care for the elderly. You local food kitchen is probably run by a church. In fact, most of the really wonderful things happening in the world are happening because of the church. Certainly we still have a long ways to go, and God's grace will see us through. But, Christians, stop being part of the problem and become part of the solution! Its easy to cut down. Its easy to blow things up. Its easy to point out faults. But God has called us to the hard, heart-breaking and humbling work of building people up and bringing people together.
Jesus loves his bride. Its about time we started loving her too.
The church is the bride of Christ. He loves her and has surrendered himself to rescue her. He has clothed her in white and his fury is displayed in the book of Revelation on those who mistreat her. Paul says to the church in Corinth,
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16–17, ESV)
God destroys those who destroy God's temple. He gets angry when people mess with his bride. One would think that this would give people pause when attacking the Church. Yet, now more than ever, people both on the outside and inside of the Church have taken delight in slapping around the bride of Christ. Don't get me wrong, the Church is full of imperfect and sometimes very difficult people. Its not that we should ever excuse bad behavior. But we should also be very cautious of beating up the bride of Jesus.
In our postmodern era, everyone wants to be their own church. "Let's do away with organized religion" many say with a sneer. People despise all authority and desire for themselves to be their own god. They want no accountability, no correction, no oversight, no conviction and no boundaries. For them, the church is the object of scorn and ridicule. Their ecclesiology is watered-down and resembles nothing more than a casual chat at Starbucks. True love is dismissed as we only seek to gather around people who think and speak just like us. The old are mocked and called out of date. The young are viewed as foolish and only concerned with entertaining themselves. So, we just mock each other and devour the leaders who strive to bring people together. This is not love. It is selfishness and idolatry. It is arrogance and resembles nothing of the call of Paul that says we should be willing to think first of others before ourselves. Instead, we think only of ourselves and contemporary authors are making a killing on books that beat up the bride of Christ and reinforce our own selfishness. We don't care about others, only "my personal walk with Jesus." Yeah, find that phrase in the Bible.
Pastors are caught in the cross-fire. Some try to paint pastors as nothing but the religious elite and treat them as Pharisees. All doctrine is viewed as cold, dry and dead. Never mind Paul's command to Timothy to "watch your life and doctrine closely. If you do you will save both yourself and your hearers." Committing ones life to studying the Scriptures is viewed as a bad thing. Loving God with the mind is now viewed as carnal and elitist. Newsflash: The Pharisees were not chided for their diligence in studying the Scriptures...but their failure to recognize Jesus as the one toward whom the Scriptures pointed. This is not the "same thing" as pastors who preach the blood of Jesus given for your salvation! Somehow the "Spirit" has become a synonym for spontaneity and gut reactions. Each person's "Spirit" is calling them to impose their agenda on their pastor and each "Spirit" is different...but equally harsh and critical. Others view pastors as personal servants. They think, "We pay you to make us feel good." Though they would never actually say this, clearly it is the mentality. Preach sermons that affirm us and make us comfortable. Exalt the USA, honor our military, make sure you talk about our moms on mothers day, don't forget to bring me flowers at the hospital. You didn't call my mom when her wive's brother's sister's uncle died. How dare you!
Now it may sound like this is anything but, "I love the church." But I do. In spite of all her faults, she belongs to Jesus and she alone is the hope of this world. Its time we stop being selfish, forming our own little eclectic groups and joining in with the unbelievers in their harsh attacks on God's people (ministers included). Instead of throwing her under the bus, lets begin to teach and train so people move from selfishness to service. Rather than joining the criticism or nitpicking her faults, why not be a part of building her up? She is beautiful you know. Look around at your local hospitals. Chances are they were formed by the Church. Same thing with your nursing homes that care for the elderly. You local food kitchen is probably run by a church. In fact, most of the really wonderful things happening in the world are happening because of the church. Certainly we still have a long ways to go, and God's grace will see us through. But, Christians, stop being part of the problem and become part of the solution! Its easy to cut down. Its easy to blow things up. Its easy to point out faults. But God has called us to the hard, heart-breaking and humbling work of building people up and bringing people together.
Jesus loves his bride. Its about time we started loving her too.