I Love the Church

I love the church. Now, don’t misunderstand. I get frustrated with the church at times. I have served local churches since 1975. Yes, there have been times when I have been angry at the church.

There are three things that help me love the church.

#1: Jesus loves the church.

In Ephesians 5:25 Paul tells us as husbands to love our wives as Jesus loved the church and give Himself up for the church.

Ephesians 5:29 tells us that Jesus cherishes the church.

One of our highest callings as followers of Jesus is to love what Jesus loves, and Jesus loves the church.

#2: The church is God’s, not mine or any other human’s.

Matthew 16:18 says that Jesus will build His church.

1 Corinthians 10:32 refers to the church as the church of God.

Since the church belongs to God, so it His job, not mine, to rebuke and correct the church.

#3: The church is not “them”, the church is “us”.

The church is the gathering of the called-out ones.

The church is not the building.

The church is not the pastor.

The church is not the programs.

The church is not the ministry.

The church is the people. And I am one of those people.

I hear many people saying, “I love Jesus but not the church”. And believe me, I get that. I understand that.

Since the church is called the family of God and the bride of Christ, saying that I love Jesus but not the church is like telling me that you love me but hate my wife, my children, and my grandchildren. If that is your attitude you, will not be my friend.

So yes, there will be times I will get angry at the church but I will bring that anger to Jesus and stay with His body, the church.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is loving the church and serving God through the church.

I serve a truly awesome church. Over the last five days we had 75 of our people serving inside and outside of the walls of the church building. They did it not for pay, not for man’s acclaim or to win gold stars from Jesus. They did it because God loves people and they want others to know that.

So, over the five days I asked myself how to measure a church.

Often the church is measured by buildings, baptisms, and budgets. If you measured my church that way, we are not special. We would be average at best.

But as I read the Gospels, I see Jesus measuring His church in a different way.

#1: Does the church love God with all their heart, all their soul, all their mind, and all their strength?

Jesus tells the church in Ephesus that they did a lot of things really well. But in Revelation 2:4 Jesus says they have left their first love. The first love for the church is to be Jesus.

I once had somebody tell me that our church was a Jesus church. I said, “Aren’t all churches Jesus’ churches?” and he sadly shook his head and said no.

#2: Does the church love their neighbor as themselves?

In Mark 12:31 Jesus says that next to loving God, the second command was loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Now, my neighbors are very different from me. So, when Jesus says that the church is to love our neighbors as ourselves, He means we are to love those who are not like us or those who don’t share our beliefs or who don’t even like us. 

In Matthew 5:44 we are told to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

I was never prouder of our church as when we had a man who came to worship with us who had been asked to leave several other churches because of his appearance and lifestyle. He asked if he could worship with us. When I told him yes, he was amazed. I told him that we didn’t support his lifestyle, but we loved him.

#3: Does the church see our self as a servant?

In Matthew 23:11 Jesus said the greatest is the one who serves.

The church is a servant of God serving people. Our calling is to serve those whom Jesus brings into the life of our church.

If you measure a church by how they love God, love others, and serve God by serving others, then my church is a truly awesome church.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is loving God with all that we are, loving others and serving them out of that love.

I love God’s church. My prayer is that you love God’s church.

With God’s Church, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                             Joe