the body

I love my church. As flawed as it is. I think I love it more for its flaws than for it’s perfection. It is far from perfect, but a perfect God makes it out of imperfect people. That’s the beauty. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of great things going on there. My Pastor and his staff are God ordained. God’s ministry is alive and well. That’s why we’re there. We believe in what He is doing and want to be a part of it. But it’s just like every other church, flawed. I think the flaws are what make us vunerable and unique. It’s what gives us a need for a Savior. Just like an instrument with it’s distinctive patterns, our flaws give glory to its Creator.

I have learned a lot from my church. Yes, by sitting in the pew and hearing the truth of God’s Word boldly proclaimed, but more than that. It’s the people that make up the church. I didn’t used to fully understand the whole concept of the “body” of the church. Not that I totally comprehend it now, but I have a lot better grasp on it. I always understood the intellectual side of it, in my head, but I never got the heart and soul of it being fleshed out. I always got the fact that God was the “head” and we were the thumbs and elbows and so forth, but that was just it, facts. Facts that I had accepted, but never fully understood. (If I’m honest with myself, there are a lot of things in the church that I accept this same way, but those are other issues for another day).

My dad walked out on my mom and I when I was 15 months old and never looked back. He was always faithful with his child support check, but that was about it. I don’t say this to ridicule my dad. I love him. More importantly, God loves Him and has done some amazing things towards restoring our relationship. But I have learned that through our human nature we often attribute the characteristic of our earthly father to those of our heavenly Father. That is definitely a charge to myself and all the other fathers out there to strive to be a worthy example of Christ to the ones He has entrusted to us, because we don’t justly know how enormous the impact of how we lead our lives is to our little ones. Anyways, due to this stigma, I always had the image of a distant God, one that was out there, but I truly couldn’t relate to. One that came around on Holidays and would help bail you out if you needed, but that was about it.

Now, back to the “body”. The “body” is where God manifests Himself, or at least it is for me. That’s the “body” being fleshed out. He uses His people, as flawed as we are, to be His “body” here on earth. What an amazing picture. What an incredible calling. I have felt the presence of God near, and it’s not because of the work that I have done, but because of the work HE has done through HIS church.

So I could tell you that my church doesn’t play the style of worship that I want, that people don’t clap their hands enough, or that we don’t have enough small groups, but who cares? These are issues that divide. We are commanded to love, edify, lift up, and support one another, the “body”. That’s just it! It’s not about me or what I want, it’s about HIM and what HE desires. To see HIS body whole and functioning the way HE wants, so that we can affect the rest of the world. Instead of sitting in the pew saying, “I wish it were this way or that”, we should be uniting in love to tell the rest of those that don’t know this truth.

Here is my charge, to myself first, and then to believers. We might be the only “church” or “body” that the world sees. There are those that are out there that feel distant our completely dis-attached from God, and you might be the only link in their life. The answer is not to bring them to your church, but bring the church to them. We are the church. God didn’t say, “sit in your pews on Sunday, and bring people with you to hear your pastor proclaim the good news,” HE said, “Say among the nations, ‘The LORD reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.” Psalm 96:10. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20. We are just His vessel.

God is not distant. He “is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1. He “will never leave you nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6-8. So I praise God for His church, and pray that I can be used in the most effective way to make His presence known.