Church. It’s not what you think.

Background: It’s 11:37 pm on Tuesday, April 22. Unable to sleep, I arise from my bed and sit in front of my laptop. And I begin to type.

What I was thinking about or listening to escapes me now, but I heard this title in my head, “Church. It’s not what you think.” At first I thought it was a great title. As quickly as the thought arrived, it left.

Now 11:40 pm and I am staring at my laptop wishing someone else would write about this topic. It is something I am passionate about, yet, I am oh so hesitant to write it. Try and try again to write in other iterations, but none can quite capture the depths of what is inside me.

11:41 pm

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What struck me when I heard this title was how true it is for me. Now, truth be told, this is coming off of a thought from last week. That thought was anger and frustration at how much “church hurt” there is in America, how many people have left the church, and how wrong people are about church.

Wrong may be a bit harsh, but the more I think about it, the more accurate it is.

Church isn’t just a thing. It’s not just a place we go to talk about God. It’s not just this thing we “do”.

Let’s look at Ephesians 5 for a moment. No, not the part about submission, although that is the verse I am looking at:

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,  that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. (Eph. 5:25-27, NKJV)

“…just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her…” It goes on to say, “…that He might present her to Himself a glorious church…” Christ loved a building? Christ wanted to present a place/thing to Himself?

No. The church is the body of Christ. It is a group of believers in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, Savior of the world – the One who paid the price for sins. There’s more to say here, but grasp just that part for a minute.

Body of Christ. Group of believers.

In the Book of Revelation, we read about the Bride of Christ. This Bride is the body of Christ, the group of believers who have given their lives to God. The one who has made herself ready for His return.

The church is people.

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11:58 pm

So many things I want to say, but I can’t seem to put the thoughts together in a way that won’t offend.

I mentioned “church hurt”. The countless number of blog posts written and YouTube videos created and social media posts posted can paint a very negative picture of “church”. Some might say it paints a negative picture of Christianity. Both would be true.

For a time, I was one of those who walked in the world of church hurt. I was hurt not once, not twice, but three times by church leaders. The second one nearly destroyed me. Literally. When I finally walked away from church, I thought I was free. Only, no one really tells you that sin isn’t free.

Sin costs…a high price.

There was no way that I would return to church. To have to deal with the drama, gossip, and church politics was more than I ever wanted to go through. I had enough problems in my life without all of that.

Calgon, take me away, just not to church!

It took having a middle-school son – our last child – who needed godly influences in his life to get me back through those church doors. But I made sure that I had nothing to do with the people inside those walls.

Years went by. I attended dutifully with our son. Slowly. Gently. Lovingly. God met me right there…inside those walls. He healed me through the words and songs. He spoke to me through the sermons and teachings.

And He showed me things about myself that I had never dealt with before.

He showed me defeating mindsets that I had developed based on my past. He showed me the lens that I viewed others through was sometimes similar to how I viewed myself; negatively. He showed me how my thinking was renewed alright, but not with His word – it was renewed through my pain and heartache.

I was buried underneath a mound of unforgiveness. When I became a Christian, I had this notion that Christians, church should be perfect. Jesus is perfect, so naturally His people would be perfect too, right?

Yes, I was wrong.

It has taken me decades to reconcile that thought process. I put church leaders or Christians in the public eye on pedestals. I mean they hear from God, right? That’s why they’re in the public eye, right? They hear from God, so God “promoted” them.

Somewhere along the way, however, I finally grasped what I have been missing about God’s church. Yes, there are “buildings” all across the word that represent “church”, albeit in all its various forms.

Yes, it is the people, the Body of Christ.

But why did the Christian church ever come to be in the first place?

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV)

God…so…loved…

He gave His Son, Jesus. Why? To restore humanity to Him. He created us. We sinned. He is holy. Where there is holiness, sin cannot be. Holiness, purity. To atone for sin, there must be a sacrifice, sealed with blood. Everything else before that didn’t work. Sacrifices were made with spotless, unblemished white lambs. Sin continued.

A pure, spotless, sinless lamb was required. God gave that through His Son, who was born of a virgin by His Holy Spirit. Jesus lived His life on earth, experiencing the feelings and emotions that we do even today. He spent time with God, His Father. He listened. He learned. He obeyed.

That obedience cost His life. He gave it freely.

Why?

God…so…loved…

Jesus was betrayed (Judas), rejected (God turned away as part of the plan), and abandoned (Peter). He was abused (that’s a term for today) but really He was tortured. Read how badly He was beaten – or watch The Passion of the Christ movie – and tell me that’s not torture.

And that’s before the nails were pounded into His hands and feet upon the cross where He would be crucified.

Christ endured all! All forms of pain and hurt beyond what most people today have ever gone through. None of us knows the depth and levels of human emotion Jesus experienced that day.

So why would we expect anything different in today’s church?

Jesus is perfect. We who call ourselves Christians seek Him and His ways. We desire to walk this earth like He did. But if His own disciples abandoned Him and couldn’t put into practice all that He taught them face-to-face, what makes us think that people today will be any better?

Why do we think church should be perfectly designed to help us and meet all of our needs? Why do we think church won’t be filled with people who are broken, confused, frustrated, angry, emotional, unsure — just like us?

Why do we think church (aka church people) should be perfect? Why do we think church (aka church people) should always have the right answer? Why do we think church (aka church people) won’t ever do anything wrong?

If Jesus dealt with that…

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12:29 am on Wednesday, April 23. There is so much more I would like to say, but that will have to do for now. No fancy images yet on this post. No slick cover photo. Just words and thoughts from the heart. If someone is offended by this, well, it wouldn’t be the first time I offended someone.

My only ask? Just think about it from the perspective of Jesus. God loved. Sent Jesus. The world rejected and killed Him. He was raised from the dead. And people still reject Him today…even within the confines of the “church” walls.

If God’s love – His hesed (covenental, loyal, obligatory love) – didn’t change despite what was done to Jesus, why should ours? We are commanded to love one another – there are no conditions attached. Jesus said to love one another, not attack other members of the Body of Christ when they don’t meet our needs.

He said love. God sent love.

Love. It isn’t what you think.

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Knees Down, Prayers Up

Sunny