Church is not a building; Church is the people
As the Church, our responsibilities are to evangelize sinners and equip saints. Basically, to tell people about Jesus and to help those who have heard to become spiritually mature. But if we’re divided, the task is impossible. As humans, we’re never going to get on with everyone all the time. And in some ways that’s a good thing. Disagreements can lead to new ideas, fresh ways of doing things and a stronger church in the end. Yet when these disagreements become so deeply rooted that the church becomes divided, it loses its focus and its effectiveness. If our motive is love, there’s more chance we’ll stay united as God’s church.
‘I didn’t like any of the songs today’; ‘I didn’t get anything from the talk’; ‘The singers were out of tune’; ‘None of my friends were around’; ‘The coffee was awful’…. How many times have you arrived home from church and had thoughts like these? We all fall into the trap at some point. And sometimes these thoughts become so big that we decide to leave the church because ‘it’s just not the church for us, we’re not getting anything from it.’ It’s so easy to fall into the trap of being a ‘consumerist Christian’. We look around for the church that’s got what we’re looking for – a great worship team, good biblical teaching, a thriving youth group. But the truth is that we can meet God at any church, as long as our focus is on meeting Him rather than anything else. The Psalmist writes, ‘I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”’ Ask God to give you gladness about church, and when you leave service, only say positive and encouraging things about it. - UCB
Selah.
7th March 2017, Journal entry.
