If Jesus Had a Church #2

I spoke with a woman the other day who told me of becoming a part of a rural church when she was a teenager.  She told me how they loved her and accepted her.  She went on to say, "To this day, these are the most wonderful people.  When we went through a difficult experience with one of our children, these people loved us."  At the same time, other people tell stories regarding church life that are not so positive. 

Yet, if Jesus had a church, that church would focus on what God through Jesus was doing to change lives.  Those of us who witness such change would have many great stories to tell.

Jesus had a way of changing a person's life.  Yet, so often in the Gospels, the religious people would miss the point.  Like in John 5, where Jesus heals a man who has been lame for 38 years.  He heals him on the Sabbath.  For the first time in 38 years, the guy is walking.  Along come some religious people who stare.  They stare, not at the legs that now function, but at the mat the man is carrying on the Sabbath.  And--they get upset.  They don't see the work of God while they focus on a mat in his hand.

Sometimes we get overly focused on matters that were foreign to the experience of the early church. We get worked up over matters were not a part of the experience of the earliest Christians.  Think about what is familiar to contemporary Christians but which was absent among the eariest Christians:

• No building – auditorium, sanctuary, classrooms.
• No pews, no podium
• No water fountain, no air conditioning
• No organized, graded Bible classes (Sunday School)
• No committees
• No offices with desks, telephones, etc.
• No budget
• No computers
• No communion trays or collection plates
• No podium
• No hymnals or screens for Power Point
• No bulletin
• No order of worship

The list could go on and on... Are these things bad?  No.  Yet, it is possible to get so consumed by this stuff that we miss the work of God.  We get wrapped up with "running the church" smoothly.  Consequently we can spend hours in church committee meetings and the word "God" or "Jesus" may not even be mentioned.  We miss seeing the lives that are being touched and changed by God while our time and energy are being consumed by the above.

Ultimately, being a Christian is all about  relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  It is to experience his life in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Being a Christ follower is learning to treasure him more than houses, cars, careers, appearance, or having the latest toy.   It is to believe that God is at work in me and in the church, the community of faith.
 
Until I hunger for that life, I will stay right where I am, wherever that might be.  I will get focused on large or small church buildings, committees, and whatever-- while I miss what God is doing in the lives of ordinary people all around me. 

If Jesus had a church, he would want his people to stay focused on what he is doing in real, everyday people.  To miss what he is doing in our lives is to become focused on something other than Jesus.

Comments

[julie]

Yes. If Jesus had a church, he'd be interested in people and God's activity, not inanimate stuff. His church would also be taking that loving power into the community - not all cloistered together 1 hour a week, and pretending nothing happened the rest of the hours.

[becky]

the balance......the tension in finding the balance......

[Perry Lamm]

I noticed once when a person asked me for advice, a split second before I answered I thought about… Oh no, lets see… I am a Christian…What advice would Jesus give them? All of the sudden my answer changed to something positive, positive for that person as well as myself. I told the person to turn the other cheek. They we much better off than returning an insult. If Jesus had a church would he forgive them? Would he want the people in the church to invite their coworkers, neighbors, classmates, friends, etc. to the next service?

[gail]

Crestview may have problems like any church with people and their human problems, but what I see, as a new member, are the wounded members walking to the front asking for prayer and members flocking to them to hug them. With my nurse's eyes it is like a wound being surrounded by white blood cells helping the healing to begin. I see a total abandonment of pride and full care and love for the hurt.

[Jim Martin]

Perry,
I've had the same experience. Shifting from what I am tempted to say to someone to what I think Jesus would say to that person. So often the response was very different than the one I would have made.

[Jim Martin]

Gail,
Thanks for your note. I really like your comparison with white blood cells. Thanks for pointing out the specialness of this. I don't want to take this for granted.

[Tony Myles]

We are the new sanctuaries... our bodies are living sacrifices that serve as his temple.

The church, in short, is the supernatural union of "people and God."

[Jim Martin]

Tony, I really like these two lines--in particular the last one. Thanks.

[barbara gunsolley]

please view gunsolley.blogspot.com thank you

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