Why I Love The Church: Conclusion

A friend of mine asked if I was going to write as many “Why I Love” as I did “Why I Hate” blogs.  It is much easier to find fault with the church, or with anything for that matter.  Optimists see the glass half full and the pessimist half empty.  Me, I am an optimistic pessimist.  I am positive things will go wrong.  The Apostle Paul said, “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” 1 Thessalonians 5:18.  The essence of giving thanks is seeing the glass half full, it is seeing the hope that we have in Christ and looking past the deficiencies that make up the church. Peter said, “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins” 1Pet. 4:8.  A barometer for church health is our thankful heart toward God in all situations, and our love for one another as we work through the painful issues of relationships.

The reason it is easy to hate the church is because there is nothing good about her except that which Christ has done to redeem her and conform her to His image.  I need to step out from behind the curtain of the term ‘Church.’  I am the church, if you are a believer you are the church, the church is made of us.  I hate me because of all the reasons I have written about.  I love us because of what Christ is doing in and through us as He conforms us to His character and will.  

I love to sit on my porch, but this wet spring produced a harvest of gnats.  They swarm, buzz, and annoy me so much that I was driven back inside.  I can focus on the gnats and allow them to determine my behavior and maybe never go out on the porch again.  Or I can realize that they are for a season and a time will come when I will sit and enjoy my front yard once more.  The choice is mine not the gnats’. 

It is the same in the church.  People annoy me and I annoy people.  I can chose to allow their treatment of me to determine my behavior but that only confines me, or I can chose to allow love to cover their sin against me and treat them with the graciousness God has shown me.  I am not very good at it, but I want to be.  I struggle with the same things I hate, but I won’t let that define who I am in Christ. 

The Church, though it has caused me pain, has ministered to my family over the years.  It has fixed my car, bought a new furnace, brought meals when my wife was pregnant, prayed with me during times of loss, confronted me when I wondered, challenged me to think beyond myself, celebrated my doctorate with me, sang me happy birthday, and the list could go on.  It is good to reflect on the pain that others cause because denying its existence is destructive.  But after a time of reflection we must move beyond the pain and find the good that God is doing and embrace His will in love.  If we can’t find the heart to love and forgive the pain, then we will miss out on the joy of God’s family.

Every time I am at a wedding and hear the bride and groom commit to a life long journey of love until death parts them I am saddened.  With a 50% divorce rate in the church the words seem to ring hollow.  The power of the words lies in the character of the couple.  When a person tells me he is committed to the church I am weary because too often the words are empty.  Like my marriage I am committed to the bride of Christ until He calls me home.  There will be heartache, fighting, love, and forgiveness along the way, but in the end it is about family.  Here’s to the journey!  I’m just saying…          

Why I Love The Church: Part Six

It was one of those moments that take your breath away and makes an indelible imprint on your memory.  As a third grader I looked up to my older brother, Brian; he was in the fourth grade.  Brian has an ability to make friends with everyone; he’s just likable.  It has always been that way, and as the youngest in the family I was always following him around.  I saw his friends as my friends.

            

He was on his way to meet some of those friends and, as usual, I was tagging along.  I can’t remember what made that day different, or what I did that annoyed him any more than any other day, but he turned to me and said, “Paul, go find your own friends,” and he walked off.  I stood there and was at a loss.  It made me feel small, useless, and a burden.  The years have passed and I have made my own friends, but that moment has stayed with me.  It has helped me to see that the world can be harsh.  My brother still tells me I need to get over it, and we laugh at the memory. 

            

There is another memory, however.  I have not been known for my fashion sense.  In fact I look my best when my wife buys my clothes.  When I was in the 9^th grade I owned horses and enjoyed wearing western apparel, and at that time I was rather fond of corduroy pants with a particular high wasted corduroy jacket.  My brother and I were in the mall together when I decided to purchase a new jacket.  He accompanied me into the store and waited patiently as I tried on different sizes.  After watching me for a while the clerk came over and made the comment, “You know, no one wears those anymore, they aren’t very cool.”  It made me feel small and useless, but Brian stepped up and looked at the guy and told him, “If my brother likes it, then it is cool.”  Now, he didn’t think the jacket was cool, but in that moment he honored me and made me feel important.

            

The world is full of people who want you to conform to their image and is quick to let you know if you don’t.  Non-conformity is dissuaded and people treat you differently if don’t fit in, and this is true for con-conformists as well.  You can tell when the world infiltrates the church, because it begins to judge people for not conforming to the socio-economic, racial, and cultural irrelevancies.  Don’t get me wrong Christians are to conform to the image of Christ.  There are things that we need to leave behind for the sake of the gospel, but those parameters are set by Christ.  When the Church is functioning the way God intends there are no divisions based on race, wealth, status, national identity, or fashion sense; each person is honored.

1Cor 12:24-26 “But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, 25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”

I love the church because it is the body of Christ where each member has as much value as any other, and when one hurts or rejoices the rest respond in kind.  I’m just saying… (Continued). 

Why I Love The Church: Part Five

           

A yelp came from the backyard, and when my brother-in-law went to see what had occurred his white Samoa was running toward him.  Before realizing what had happened his dog jumped into his arms and the cause of the dog’s consternation became evident – she had engaged a skunk.  The odor was nauseating, and now it had been transferred to him. 

            Darrel tied the dog outside and promptly went to the store to buy tomato juice, with its promise to take away the smell.  He rushed through the store, not wanting to linger any longer than he had to, but was met with a long line at the check out counter.  People’s faces began to contort as they tried to figure out where the smell was coming from, and it eventually became evident that the man at the end of the line was its source.  Weighing their desire to get through the line quickly with a greater desire to be relieved of the smell they all moved out of the way to let Darrel buy his tomato juice and exist the store. 

            He carried the dog through the house and into the bathroom where he soaked her with tomato juice.  As her sad eyes met his the common bond of a bad aroma made Darrel smile.  The dog’s white fur and the red tomato mixed to create a pink Samoa, and the new color was a reminder of the horrific experience.

            Dogs are funny creatures; they are repelled by the smell of a skunk but are drawn to, and will roll in, the body of a dead animal.  To me there isn’t much difference in the repelling nature of the smells, but for my little dachshund it is like the sweet fragrance of  honey suckle.  

           

           

The church is described as both a sweet and a repelling fragrance.  When the body of Christ lives out the law of love the aroma of Christ permeates the air.  Everyone sees the knowledge of Him, and for those who are being called by the father it is the sweet smell of life.  When I first went to the Youth Group at First Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida, I wasn’t repelled by what I saw; instead I was drawn by God’s grace and the knowledge of what I was learning about him.   However, that isn’t the case for everyone.  There are those who want nothing to do with Christ or with the church.  They are anti-Christian and not only do they shun the faith, but they are openly antagonistic.

            To them the church stinks; it is an aroma of death and dying.  They don’t understand why we would roll in the cause of Christi’s death and resurrection, and it is repelling to them.

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.” 2Cor. 2:14   

            I love the church because it is the fragrance of God to a dying world.  It is the expression of God’s forgiveness to one another and draws those who God is saving.  I’m just saying… (Continued).

           

Why I Love The Church: Part Four

The phone rang and the voice on the other end was somber, “Joe was killed.” I was stunned.  Joe was only 15 years old, he had lived with us for a summer, and the news took me totally by surprise.  I quickly made arrangements and flew to be with my family.  My mother had raised her grandson.  His life had been an emotional roller coaster of neglect and abuse.  He longed for the love of his father and found it illusive and lacking.  His mother was unstable and absent, and his grandmother was the only steady influence in his life.  In the end it wasn’t enough.  Joe had taken a hallucinogenic drug, and in his altered state ran out into the highway and was struck by a car.  They life flighted him to the hospital but it was too late—he was gone. 

Emotions ran deep and the constant questions that surface  The animosity between siblings hung in the air, and when Sunday arrived I had to get away.  The only place of refuge was the church where I had become a Christian.  I was an hour early for the service so I decided to attend one of the adult Sunday school classes.  The building was the same familiar structure I had joined years earlier, but the faces were all different.  The chairs in the room were in a circle and people had already laid claim to their usual spots.  One was open and I sat down. 

d because of pain were draining.

The people were friendly and a few introduced themselves.  When the class began the leader asked me what had brought me to their class.  I briefly explained the occasion of my trip to Florida, and when I had finished they came around me, some laid their hands on my shoulder, others stayed in their seats, but they all prayed for me.  I don’t know what the topic for the day was, or the names of those gracious saints, but I will always remember the connection that we had in Christ.  They prayed because I was family.

My wife and I have commented on how difficult it must be for people who don’t have a relationship with Christ to endure suffering.  I think it goes even deeper than that, I don’t know how people who don’t know Christ and aren’t connected to his body can endure suffering and the pull of the world.  The Church has often caused me my greatest pain, but it has also been a source of comfort, encouragement, and blessing.  I have seen too many Christians play at the edge of church.  They like the feeling of family and community but they are caught up in the world and the fringe requires less of them.  Yet, in times of difficulty and pain they edge back within the walls of their family, because there they find the source of peace in Christ. 

“Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” Gal. 6:2

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.” James 5:16

I love the church because when it really matters they come together to support one another through the pains of life.  I’m just saying… (Continued).

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).