The church gets a lot of attention in the news and on social media for being out-dated and judgmental. I’ve seen article after article pointing out the flaws of the institutional church. Some claiming that the church hasn’t changed with the times and is stuck in the past, others saying that the church has gone too far into the future and are more concerned with being “cool” than teaching Jesus. Many have gone as far to say that the church is broken. I agree with that, the church is indeed broken. But only because I am broken and I am the church.
The church is not four walls and an altar. It is not a steeple and hymnals. The church is the people who sit in the pews, (or chairs, or bar stools) and worship God. The church is not a building, it is a people.
This should come as surprising to no one but we are a sinful people. We leave God, forsake Him, and all together deny Him time and time again and yet He stays. I am not above this either. I question God, doubt His goodness, even doubt His existence and yet He still calls and claims me as His.
It’s a love deeper than we can possibly imagine. It’s a love where Jesus would die for us. And not a death where He passed peacefully in His sleep, a crucifixion on a cross. In those days, crucifixion was a popular punishment for crime. Jesus literally got a death sentence for loving me, for loving us. He didn’t do so begrudging, He did it willingly. He died willingly so we could live.
Even though we are the cause of His suffering and pain, Jesus does not look at us with distain. No, He looks at us with such love. The love a groom has for his bride because we are the bride of Christ. How beautiful and awesome is that!! I have been to many weddings and my favorite part is the look in the grooms eyes when he sees his bride for the first time. As she walks down the aisle, his eyes say it all. That is the way Jesus sees us and so much more.
When we enter Heavens gates, that is how Jesus is going to look at us. Revelation? ?21:1-4? reads:
“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
The church ordained by God is people, His people. We are a beautifully dressed bride with Christ as our groom. The best part of this truth is that He calls us His bride exactly as we are, a broken people. Scripture doesn’t read “As a bride beautifully dressed for her husband (that is once she gets her act together)” No. Jesus knows we are a broken and lost people, but He still died for us and chose us. He died for His church, the church we are so quick to judge.
The church that we say has bad music. The church where the preacher just “talks for too long”. The church who never makes enough coffee. The church who’s choir robes really just need to be ironed. The church where no one seems to be able to clap on beat.
That church is the bride of Christ.
So if you’re looking for the perfect church, you’re not going to find it here on earth. Here on earth you will find a building filled with broken people who are sharpening one another and calling each other higher. Here on earth you will find four walls with people striving to look the most like Christ they can on the inside, and failing every day.
I too am waiting for the “perfect church” but I know that will be the day I enter Heavens gates. Until then, you’ll find me in a church building on Sunday mornings praising the God who calls me His bride and considered me worth dying for even in my complete brokenness. I’ve heard that Jesus is jealous for His bride so I would be careful next time you speak ill of her.
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