The Church Today

America the beautiful...Oh how we have lost sight of what beautiful is. If America kept it’s eye on what true beauty is (Jesus) and the means of displaying it to the world (the Church - big “C” which means the universal Church - people), she would be hopeful instead of in despair these days. Or maybe we have it backwards. Maybe it’s the church (little “c” which means the local church across the globe - institution) that has taken their eye off of what true beauty is and placed their affections on the comfort in which a dominant state such as America could provide for her. One only needs to go back to the Old Testament to see what happens when people want or trust in a king to rule over them, rather than God:

 1 Samuel 8:10-18: ¹⁰ So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. ¹¹ He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. ¹² And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. ¹⁶ He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. ¹⁷ He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. ¹⁸ And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

And gave them a king the LORD did. They relied on the king to judge them and protect them instead of THE KING. The history of Israel from this point on is very sad and tragic as God’s chosen people, who were supposed to show God off to the world, squandered all the grace that God poured out on to them and took comfort from the created rather the Creator (Romans 1:25).

Now I’m not saying that the church is like Israel and I don’t desire to slander the church. After all, the “Church” is more powerful than ever throughout the world and lost souls are being saved in great numbers in nations that have never been reached before. But the “church”, I’m convinced, has lost sight of the true King and adapted the Gospel into civil religion, thus making America the great comforter. The church has turned to the comforts that come from created things rather than the Creator. The church has sought it’s identity in it’s ability to be heard in the legislative world and has thus fought for an identity of being for life, for same sex marriage, for conservative values, etc...more than they are known for being for God and for His people. The church has pursued social justice for their sake and their comfort, and not for the sake of Christ and the Gospel.  

Now don’t get me wrong, I believe it is our obligation to fight against these issues that minimize life, marriage and biblical values, but when these values give us our identity, we’ve missed the mark. When our comfort flows from getting the laws to abide to our biblical values, rather than flowing from being a son or daughter of God, then we are very far from the true Gospel. Christian ethics should be socially oriented because the Church is socially oriented if it indeed obeys God’s word (John 13:34; 15:12-17); but the purpose of the church should always be to make Jesus look beautiful. The church is supposed to make the cross of Jesus Christ the hinge of everything they are, never to leave it! For when the church moves from the centrality of the cross and the implications of it, it begins to lose it’s purest identity that Christ has given it...namely, an image bearer! 

If the church is standing “against” or “for” certain things for any other reason than “this is the way God is”, then the church will be misrepresenting the Gospel. Let me explain...If we are feeding the poor because it makes us feel good or that it is a good thing to do, then it has lost it’s purpose. The church feeds the poor, stands for the life of babies, protects marriage, stands against racism, etc...because that is the way the God is. God is gracious to the poor. God alone gives life and takes life. God ordained marriage, not man. God create all men and women in His image, and all are one in Christ. That is why the church should do good at what the church should be known for. This is what makes Christ look beautiful. A church (people) who live in light of the Gospel not just in word, but in every aspect of their lives. Stanley Hauerwas, in his book Resident Aliens, says this: “The only way the for the world to know that it is being redeemed is for the church to point to the Redeemer by being a redeemed people.” We do good to point to Jesus, not to because doing good is the right thing. Everybody does good things for the sake of it being the right thing to do. Christians do the right thing because we are redeemed, and we want our lives to point to the Redeemer. This is the proper motive for the church in all circumstances.

When, and only when the church gets back to the sole purpose of making Christ look beautiful to the world, instead of trying to make their society (or church building) beautiful and meaningful, will the church reclaim it’s power that it had in the first 100 years of it’s existence. When we read Acts, it is clear that the church was socially concerned (Acts 2:44-45; 4:34-37; 6:1-6), but it was not in the up and up with the powers that be and their Gospel was not civil...it violently opposed the kings and leaders that were governing them (Acts 4:1-3; 5:17-18; 7:54-58; 8:1-3; 12:1-5 and many others) and the leaders could care less about the consequences. Peter says: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20) Peter did what was right because God told him to do it, not because it was the “right” thing to do.

Oh that we would be a people who would not water down our Gospel to be acceptable and civil and that we would not be a people who contend for the Gospel to the point of being against people rather for them. Oh that we would be a people who advance the social agenda of the Gospel for the Gospel’s sake, not for “goodness” sake. This is the separation that must happen with God’s redeemed if we desire to speak of a Redeemer.

What would this kind of people/church look like in the days that we’re living in? I think (to be idealistic) that it would be a church that brought in the tax collectors and prostitutes and that these “sinners” would be loved and accepted without their behavior being overlooked. I think that these tax collectors and prostitutes would be deeply convicted of their sin and would have amazing testimonies that would reach a world that the church has missed for centuries. I think this church would call out the pharisees who are running off the “sinners” and they would realize that they too are among those who are “sinners”. I believe the pharisees would be repenting of their self-righteousness and that they would lovingly, yet violently seek to call out other pharisees out of a love for the reputation of God’s name and out of a love for that person (Matthew 22:37-40). I believe this church would serve “the least of these” not because it’s the right thing to do (and it is), but because that is how God is. God alone is good (Mark 10:18b).

I believe this church would be loved and hated, but it would have peace and favor from the King, and that is the only thing that matters... acceptance and provision from the King, which is only granted by faith to those who trust in Jesus. Oh may this church be real and may this movement begin with me, and you, and those around you. Oh that this movement would be centered on the cross and not man, that it would glorify God and not man, and that this movement would be powered by the Holy Spirit, not man.

To God be the glory in the church forever, so that a lost world will see the LORD!