Don’t Go to Church; Be the Church
“I have been looking for a church for so long now, but I just haven’t found the ‘perfect’ one.” How often have we either heard someone else say these exact words or even thought them ourselves? Nowadays, people are looking for the perfect churches. Well, news flash: there is no such thing. We have found ourselves ‘church shopping’ looking for the perfect fit without any flaws. The truth of the matter is no matter what church you enter into, there is automatically a flaw. I’m guessing you want to know what that flaw is. Well, it’s you. And it’s me. It’s all of us. We are not perfect beings, so no matter how hard we try looking for perfection, we will never succeed in finding it.
In our day and age we have found ourselves too often looking at church as this pretty looking building we attend every Sunday morning, the occasional Sunday night, and the midweek service. Our typical Sunday morning service consists of us dressing up, driving to church, greeting the fellow elderly as they shake our hands, sitting in pews/chairs listening to the Pastor speak on all things lovely about Christianity, sing a few worshipful songs, and proceed to exit the building without even the slightest bit of offense. That’s right. OFFENSE. God’s Word is offensive because it shows how wicked and sinful we are compared to a holy and perfect God. In churches today, they are focused on the ‘feel-good’ aspect of Christianity when in fact there is nothing ‘feel-good’ about it. It is not this fuzzy romantic feeling you get, but rather it is a gut-wrenching realization of how weak we are in comparison to the strength of our Savior. Church is not constricted to a building. In fact, nowhere in the Bible does God mention about us attending a place in order to worship God. According to Matthew 18:20, Jesus says, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I will be there.” Jesus quite plainly states that when people are worshiping His name and boasting about His greatness, He is glorified. We are to worship God wherever we are no matter the time or place.
How many times have you attended church and left feeling better about yourself? Is that the attitude we should have? We should leave with this realization of how weak we are in need of God’s strength. I like to think of the analogy of going to the gym. Why do people go in the first place? Is it because they are strong and don’t need any more help? No. It is because people are weak. They see the need of building up strength. They keep going time and time again knowing they will continue to progress and make changes. The same thing applies to church and our need for God. We don’t go to Him because we are strong. No. We go to Him because we are hopelessly lost and slowly falling down in need of someone to lift us back up again. That someone is Jesus Christ. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, “Each time Jesus said, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Again, we go to church not to be reminded how great we are, but to be shown how we need to humble ourselves before the Lord and allow Him to point out our weaknesses.
Throughout the past number of years I have had the opportunity to experience quite a few different churches. While some of those experiences have been positive, I have also had my fair share of negative memories. For example, I attended a church for several years where the leadership and preaching was not what I had expected. I felt as though we all had to put on this ‘I’m okay’ face and stay on the surface level instead of forming deep and meaningful relationships with people. I was never challenged by God’s Word, but rather the preaching was watered-down and focused on one side of Christianity: everything wrong with our world and how we should not be a part of it. Never one did I leave church with being offended or challenged in my walk with Christ. Because of that experience, my view and perspective of church has shifted and warped. I’m not going to lie and say that I always have the best of attitude when thinking about church and policies. I struggle quite often with them, but I realize now the importance and benefits of attending a whole-some and uplifting congregation. Being part of a church who worships God in a genuine way and allows space for vulnerability and encouragement is crucial for any Christian.
Another aspect of church which I think we are starting to pull away from is how real the people should be. We can attend church all we want to with this happy-go-lucky smile on our face all the time, and no one would suspect a thing. Yet, deep down you may be struggling with different circumstances, but you are too fearful to share with anyone. Church is where you should feel comfortable to open up about what God has been teaching you and challenging you with. Life is never easy, and being a Christian takes hard work and commitment. Surrounding yourself with a body of believers who will encourage you and draw you closer to God is what churches should be doing. Instead, we act as though everything has to be perfect and nothing ever goes wrong. I believe a person is stronger when he or she admits to a weakness or something he or she has been struggling with. It shows a sign of humility. People are human beings who sin on a consistent daily basis. Church is full of sinners who are in desperate need of a Savior.
We need to remember that church is not a building. It is not a structural concrete piece of construction filled with carpet, bulletins, pews, and a pulpit. No. WE are the church. A body of believers worshipping Jesus together is the church. According to Paul in the book of Acts, he proclaims that great fear took over the whole church and they sent others away. Looking at this we get the picture that we, the people, are the church. While reading an article on sojo.net, when you read the Bible, the people were not concerned about where they were supposed to meet up. Rather, then enjoyed fellowshipping together and worshipping our One True God. When reading in Ephesians, we again read how we are being built up together as a church. We need to step away from this modern mind-set that a church has to be this corporate place where people meet up to worship God. Instead, we need to engulf ourselves in the Gospel and remember that ‘where two or more are gathered in my name, I [God] will be praised.’
God is not concerned about the building you are meeting up at to praise Him. He is more concerned about your heart and how your relationship with Him is. He wants all of us to turn and run towards Him while He has outstretched arms waiting to catch us. When we focus on the checklist of Christianity, we miss sight on what is really important in life. We forget to be obedient to God’s Word because we allow ourselves to become too busy in doing things for God instead of simply being with God.
I read this quote once which I find to be of much value. It stated: We will never change the world by going to church. We will only change the world by being the church.
What are you doing as the church to make a difference in the world by carrying out the Great Commission?
