Why I Love The Church: Part Three

The pews were hard, with no back, the only cool air was a breeze that blew through an opening where a window should have been, and the humidity was so thick it made it hard to breathe.  Yet, when the man up front began to play his guitar the voices of those in attendance rang through the little town.  We had been in Monterey, Mexico, to help build small churches in surrounding villages.  The pastor stood to preach, and though we couldn’t understand what he said we knew that he preached the God’s word.

            I have had the opportunity to worship with people in Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mexico, Greece, Bahrain, and Turkey and they all had one thing in common, they were believers in Jesus.  There is something refreshing to fellowship with people of like faith, and comforting to know that we had Christ as our common bond.

            For most of the twentieth century the greatest missionary effort came from the Untied States.  After World War II Christians fell in love with people they had met during the war and felt God’s call to spend the rest of their lives sharing the gospel.  My wife’s parents were such people.  My father-in-law was stationed in Morocco, North Africa, and after the war he returned to be a part of God’s plan to bring the gospel to the world.  Yet, the fervor of the early part of the century waned, and churches in the United States sent fewer and fewer missionaries.  But God’s plan would not be thwarted. Jesus said that the gates of hell would not prevail over her 

            Today there are now more missionaries coming from Asia than the United States.  God has raised up His church in one place to fill the deficiencies of the church in others.  This is the pattern of history, and He will continue to do so until Christ returns.  The church is His bride, and through her He has chosen to bring the gospel.  The Church is made up of individuals called to follow and live in community with one another.  The church collective is the vehicle through which God has chosen to bring the message of the gospel.  It is a mixture of individual and collective effort.

            There has been tension in the U.S. between para-church and church ministries.  Organizations outside the church sprung up because individuals felt the church was not fulfilling its responsibilities.  The answer, however, is not the para-church; it has not been called to bear witness to the truth.  We must never abandon the church with all its flaws for something that God has not called to be His means of proclaiming His grace.

Eph 3:10 “so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

             Paul was a minister of the gospel, chosen by God, sent and supported by the church.  His goal was to share the good news with individuals and establish churches where the grace of God could be lived out.  We must not abandon her for something else.  We can try to do it on our own, and we might see fruit from our efforts, but individual effort has never been the plan of God.  I Love The Church because it is God’s chosen instrument to make known to the world His love and grace. I’m just saying… (Continued).

Why I Love The Church: Part Two

           Sitting on the porch a cool breeze rustled the leaves in the trees, the birds chirped, the squirrels scampered, and the words I had just read seemed to come alive.  It is my intention to spend time every morning reading the Word and praying.  My front porch is one of the most serene places for communing with the Father.   As a Pastor I have encouraged congregants to take time during the day to cultivate this relationship because in the depth of God’s Word and in prayer we come face to face with the God who has saved us.

            Jesus was the example of this devotion.  He withdrew to the mountains, spent hours in prayer, took his disciples away on retreats, and refreshed himself in the midst of a demanding ministry.  His declaration as being one with the Father was lived out in his constant commitment to living in union with Him.  However, what we see as a singular relationship between the father and son was actually a triune experience between father, son, and spirit.  It is this triune relationship that makes sense of Jesus’ statement to his disciples, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matt 18:20). 

            Too often I have heard the statement, “I don’t need the church to be a Christian.”  However, the Church is Christians, not individually but collectively, and the expression of Christ’s presence is when two or more of us are gathered together.  Yes, we are individually responsible to live out our walk with Christ, but we cannot live out its reality without other people.  We can’t love one another, encourage one another, bear with one another, forgive one another, or pray for one another unless we are gathered together.   The minimum is two and when they meet, Christ is in their midst and the triune nature of the relationship is complete, and when others are added to the mix the depth and complexity of the community grows.

            I have been to churches where the pastor prays and invites the Holy Spirit to meet them, but the reality is that the Spirit is already there because they had gathered in His name.  When we gather to worship He is there, when we gather to serve He is there, when we gather to reach the lost He is there!  I might not feel or sense him, but that is an issue of my faith, not the reality of His presence.

            The Church is called to be the expression of Christ’s presence, not individually but corporately, when two or three are gathered in His name.  “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.” 1Cor. 1:2   

            Living in community is never easy, in fact is down right hard.  But what do Christians of different ethic, socio-economic, and cultural backgrounds have in common?  They have the spirit of Christ in their midst.  It takes some adjustment to worship with person who are not like me, whose music is different, whose language is strange, whose customs are foreign, but all that disappears when the reality of God’s presence is understood.  I Love The Church because in its midst the presence of Christ dwells when it is gathered in His name.  I’m just saying… (Continued). 

Why I Love Church: Part One

She was the smartest, prettiest, and most gracious girl I had ever met.  She also laughed at my jokes.  When I first met my wife we were in a freshman college class. Required to sit alphabetically she was the reluctant recipient of my affection.  There were days she came to class determined to ignore my charm and tenacity, but persistence won out.  Certain that I would receive a positive response I asked her out on a date only to be rejected.  My ego was wounded, but my determination was not diminished; I wore her down until she relented.  We had our first date, and we lived happily ever after.

            We had been dating for a while when, the week before the party (we didn’t have dances) where the girls asked the guys, she wanted to take a break from our dating relationship. There are differing accounts of this event, but the next week was excruciating for me.  In the end I was able to talk my way back into her heart, and a year and half after dating I asked her to marry me, and we lived happily ever after.

            Stepping off the plane I was wearing a tattered leather jacket, a British cap with an afro poking out from under it, painters overalls, and carrying a guitar case with the words “Jesus Saves” painted in bright yellow on its side.  When my wife’s father met me he greeted me warmly.  Over the next month I worked in his church with the teens and waited for his daughter to join us.  When she finally arrived her parents took her aside and asked, “Are you sure you want to marry this young man?”  And we lived happily ever after.

            We were engaged for a year and half, way too long for a young couple in love.  Our Bible College had strict rules that were difficult to adhere to, and we fought over their application.  There were ups and downs and I am sure moments where her parents’ question echoed in her ears.  In the end we planned our wedding, invited our guests, and waited with great anticipation for that special day.

            Looking back I can’t, for the life of me, understand why I picked baby blue for the color of my tux, but no one was looking at me.  When the music played and the congregation stood all eyes turned to the woman walking down the isle.  When I saw her for the first time, wearing the long white gown, approaching me with a smile that melted my heart, everything that happened in the past faded away.  She was a bride prepared for this moment, she was pure, she was dedicated, and she was giving herself to me.  When the vows were said, the promises made, and our commitment sealed with a kiss, I was the happiest man alive.  And we lived happily ever after.

 “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. 7 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”  Revelation 19: 6,7

I Love The Church because it is the bride of Christ.  With all its imperfections it is the object of Christ’s affection.  He has made her holy and pure.  It is His death and resurrection that prepares her for the wedding day.  Life is not made up of “Happily Ever Afters”, but it is the testing ground of our faith and the preparation for the marriage of the Lamb.  When that time comes, when the church walks down the isle to meet her groom, all that will be seen is the glory of what God has done to prepare her for that moment.  The past will have faded, the tears will have been wiped, the pain will have been healed, and all sorrow turned to joy.  I love the church not because of what she is, but for what she will become in Christ.  I’m Just Saying… (Continued). 

Why I Hate Church: Part Eleven

           

           Expectations, we all have them.  We have expectations for our spouses, our children, our employers, and our friends.  Some of the expectations are realistic and others are unrealistic, but whatever they are they say that another person should live up to a certain set of standards to garner approval.  When those expectations are not met then people respond, and depending on the value we place on the relationship, respond in anger, frustration, disappointment, bitterness, hurt, offense, and even hatred.

            Recently one of my elders and I went to a district conference.  It was a one-day event centering on church growth, or rather the lack of it.  The church in America is in decline, and 50% of the pastors would chose another profession if they had a different skill set.  One of the reasons why pastor’s leave a church is the unmet expectations of their members, and either the church asks him to leave or the conflict becomes too great that he choses to find another ministry.

            Should members of a church have expectations of their Pastor? Yes, but the problem doesn’t lay in the right to have expectations, but rather the broad rang of expectations.  There are basically four types of Pastors: the pastor leader, the pastor teach/preacher, the pastor shepherd, and the pastor evangelist.  However, there is no pastor who embodies all these personas.  Yet, there are members in every church who expect the Pastor to represent them all, and if he doesn’t display the type of pastor they expect then they have failed. 

            And even if the church only expects the pastor to be a leader there are different types of leaders.  There are Inspirational leaders, organizational leaders, and relational leaders, and God doesn’t make every leader the same.  The same can be said of how a pastor teaches/preaches, shepherds, and evangelize.  The reality is that every Pastor will, and does, fail the expectations of their congregation.  The question isn’t if people will be disappointed, but when.

            Pastors also have expectations on staff and congregants, and it is important to note that Pastors can be just as unyielding in those expectations, which creates conflict.  The problem isn’t unmet expectations, but rather what we do with the inevitable disappointment.  The answer is Grace, the answer is Mercy, the answer is Forgiveness, and the answer is Reconciliation.  But instead of a biblical view of community the church exhibits a consumer mindset where the congregant is the customer (who is always right), and the Pastor is to supply what the consumer has paid for, and when he doesn’t they will leave for a church/pastor that will provide, or replace the pastor. 

Gal. 5:15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

Eph. 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

I hate the church because it has become a consumer-based organization where people pay (tithe) for services, and if they are not rendered according to their expectations they either cut and run, or run the pastor out the ministry.   The church is called to repent and restore, extend grace and forgiveness, and work together in love.  I’m just saying…. (Continued – Why I Love The Church).