Tuesday, August 18, 2009

A Creepy Bride: Part 3

We'll just say the figure had several zeros and could pay my first years salary as a pastor. He then shared that this was the point when his tithe (Southern Baptist for 10%) went else where. Now I was discouraged, expensive bathrooms and moving tithes. "A Church you can Believe in." Good motto, creepy story.

I have been in church all my life. As a kid my dad sat on elder boards where men used profanity to give weight to their position (fortunately aside from this fact, he never shared many of his battle stories). I've heard horror stories of my peers who were deacons (some stories are so unbelievable they're comical). I have listened aghast to godly saints while they have gossiped to me about the stumblings and shortcomings of their leaders. I have set under the tutalige of the brightest minds within academic Christianity, many of which were previously pastors, and have seen them in fits of passion hurl pieces of chalk across the room to show their disgust of churches that have chewed up and spit out their pastors. "The Bride of Christ . . ." Nice title, creepy bride!

Like my five creepy movies, I have trouble getting these creepy stories out of my head! Yet maybe it depends on your context. Ephesians 5:25-27 states,

"Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also love the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glofy, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless."

The church consists of Christians, fallen sinners redeemed by God's grace. It should not surprise us to see warts, bunions, scars, and blemmishs. We are the problem . . . we are the church. Yet, it seems that we expect perfection (on this side of eternity) from the church and because of this we are really creeped out. That's bad theology! Where does scripture ever say that we're to put this type of expectation on the church or this degree of hope in man?

It doesn't! In fact our theology supports just the opposite, we are sinners saved by grace.

So how are we to respond when we freak? Toward those within the church we are called to love one another (John 13:34-35). Interestingly we are never commanded to love the church as an entity or body. That job is left up to the God-man, Christ himself (Eph 5:25)!

We are commanded to "hold fast to the confession of our hope" and to "not forsake our own assembling together" (Heb 10:23, 25). While we are to have fellowship with the believers that God places in our lives, which requires trust, we are never called to put the expectation of perfection or to entrust the confidence of our hope to these individuals. It is only when our hope resides safely in the perfection of Christ and His ability to perfect his bride.

The writer of the Hebrews declares "the LORD is my helper, I will not be afraid (of warts, bunions, scars, and blemmishs). What will man do to me . . . Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb 13:6, 8). Armed with this hope, we can overcome any crepetivity and be part of what on this side of eternity can be a really creepy bride!

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