I came across this great post about the church, or rather what the church should\could be. Jeromy from Mending Shift has graciously allowed me to re-post it over here on Seeking Things Above. Let me know what you think. If this message resonates with you, drop by and visit Mending Shift and give Jeromy a shout.
What if we, as the church, were invisible? What if we had no church buildings? No signs declaring a church location? No denominations or headquarters? No mega weekend gatherings? No Christian radio presence? No Christian stores? No Christian bumper stickers or other outward personal identifying stuff? What if the Yellow Pages didn’t have a “church” category and if you Googled “church” it came up with no search results? What if there was no such “thing” as the church? Would there still be a church?
What if we, as the church, were invisible? What if we simply lived the life of Jesus, speaking and displaying his love to the people we knew and came in contact with on a daily basis? What if we as followers of Jesus simply did just that? What if we gathered quietly in homes to break bread and encourage each other in Christ; where our goal would be to simply live as agents of God’s restoration, serving God and the “other” in real and tangible ways? What if church were not a weekend thing, but a people who radically lived behind the cultural scenes bringing God’s kingdom to earth?
What if God’s church was more like a tiny mustard seed instead of trying to be the biggest oak tree on the hill? What if Jesus’ church was more like a tiny amount of yeast…itself unnoticed, yet quietly transforming and restoring people and, in turn, culture? What if the Holy Spirit’s church sought to be the last and the least—a servant? What if the church daily sought self-death—dying to itself and loosing its life in order to find it—instead of doing all it can to save its life? What if God’s church chose to sit down in the least honored seat of society and culture, instead of clamoring and fighting for the most prestigious one? What if the church “thing” disappeared and all that was left was the church—people who realize they are forgiven and loved by God and who actively want to be a part of his restorative and healing work in lives of other’s?
In other words, what if the church was invisible—or even better: visible, yet invisible? What if?
8 comments:
The early church had none of those things, the persecuted church doesn't have them now. Even without all the useful/silly/wasteful/inventive things the American church is blesses with or cursed with, we are and will remain The Church as long was we belong to Jesus.
Tony, thanks for the kind words and honor.
Carol -
I agree - we are the Church of Christ, the bride of Christ. I think the presecuted church and the early church (which was ofen persecuted) focus thier hope on the bridegroom, Christ. In the west, particularly America, we tend to put our hope more in ourselves than in our Lord. We worry more about the bridal dress, shower, reception, guests, etc... than focusing on our bridegroom. However, we are still the bride. To me, this post by Jeromy awakens my heart to focus more on Christ, the bridegroom.
On the brght side...
Revelation 19:6-8 (ESV)
6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
Jeromy -
Thank you again for letting me share this over here.
Yes!!
I believe that the church would still exist because the church is not made of buildings or structures. It is made up of people which God would bring people together. Much like the early church. They didn't have all the things that we have and they sometimes had to meet secretly, so there were no announcements that say, "I'm a Christian." God would make a way for it to exist after all we are the bride of Christ.
I moved the summary break in the post. I started to get the feeling people were not clicking on the read more and just responding to the question in the first paragraph.
Thanks. Tony
yeh, what if the Church today live as Christ live during his time on earth, what if the Church today will live like the Church in Acts. Maybe, maybe, the Christians are the most powerful on earth.
I think we are if we only realized that.
Post a Comment
Please feel free to comment. Be honest but be gracious to others. My kids may read this post.