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...and they'll know we are Christians by our ... “I love Jesus, but I’m not so sure about the church.” My young friend went on to talk about the many failings of the church and why he is soured to it. He continued,“It’s self-serving, and full of some of the meanest, judgmental people I’ve ever met. Do they really think that their religious routines will cancel out the hatred and judgment in their hearts?” Ouch. It’s hard to hear things like that, but my friend raises an important question that God himself answers with a resounding “No” (Isa 58). You can see that my friend has not had a positive church experience. He is among the masses of people his age who are, in their own words, leaving the church to find God. They are self-professed “Jesus followers” who make a distinction between themselves and churchgoers. The assumption is that God cannot be found in the church. I explained to my friend that God sees the church as the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:24-25; Rev. 19:7-9; 21:1-2) and that Jesus loves her enough to lay down his life for her and, for whatever reason, God chose this as one way of manifesting his love among people. “Well I don’t see the love,” he insisted. I had to confess that there were times when I didn’t see it either.But the fact remains, we don’t get to say “I love Jesus, but not the church.”In effect, that would be saying, “I love you Jesus, but I think yourwife is a dog.” It breaks God’s heart when the bride of Christ, the church, prostitutes herself to the world and copies its behavior. The word “church” in the New Testament literally means, “Called out ones” – a distinctly different people who run counter to the culture they live in. In this case it’s loving and serving in the name of Jesus. When the bride lives this way there is no greater testimony before an unbelieving world. When she doesn’t, there is no greater hypocrisy. Are we really interested in completing the mission Jesus gave us (Mt 28:18-20)? The logic driving the exodus from “church” goes something like this: “God is love, I don’t see love, therefor God must not be in this place. Move on.” We have theopportunity to change that perception by being unified in love. God did not win us through law, but through a loving relationship (Jn 3:16). And we get to do the same. It’s what Jesus prayed about (Jn 17:20-23). I’m hearing a song we used to sing: “… and they’ll know we are Christians by our…”
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