For all you who think church is for those who have their life together… it is not.
For all of you who think it is for those who know everyone there… it is not.
For all of you who think it is for those who say or do the right things… it is not.
For all of you who think it is only for people who are good enough… it is not.
If you have met people who have given you false impressions like these, and you have stayed away, please reconsider. Please forgive.
If you use these as excuses and stay away, please reconsider.
The church is none of those things.
The church is a place for those whose lives are broken, hurting and messy.
It is a place for people who are strangers, to become known.
It is a place for those who admit they often don’t say or do the right things.
It is a place for those who admit they’d never be good enough…
It is a place where JESUS begins a healing in us.
It is a place where JESUS meets us, knows us by name, and invites us to know Him.
It is a place where JESUS grants forgiveness…for wrong things said, and so much more.
It is a place where JESUS gives new life, and allows His goodness to flow through us;
A place where true comfort and joy are realized.
Church is not a building. It’s a body. A family.
A family that God is gathering through Jesus Christ. Also known as His bride.
Gathered from all eternity, from across the globe.
That through meeting Jesus we would find forgiveness from sin, and freedom beyond the brokenness and pain.
“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
That we’d become known by the One who made us and so come to know Him.
“But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.”
“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
That we’d become filled with new life to speak in grace and truth.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come.”
That we’d find a place where our goodness and our worth come from what He makes of us…
“He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.”
…and not of anything we must prove.
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk in Him.”
Church is a place we find our place in God’s story…
a story unfolding before our eyes…a story made more clear as God would open our eyes.
A story of a good world gone bad through sin and betrayal,
a story of a good God who acted to do something about it,
who entered into the story Himself as Jesus Christ, to save His bride.
As Redeemer and King, He came to make all things new by ushering in His Kingdom and His rule,
including rescuing and gathering for himself His people – His church, His bride.
His church is not for those claiming they have it all together, but for those pro-claiming a need for Jesus in their life as Saviour and Lord.
This is the Kingdom of Jesus initiated, but not yet complete… because more family members are still being gathered in.
As the gathering continues here and now, our function as church, saved by Christ, is to point others to Him, as the Way, the Truth, and the Life…
joyfully proclaiming forgiveness of sins, freedom and new life in Him,
until he comes again, when He will take us His church, His bride, to be with Him forever.
Might I invite you to join this church…while the gathering is still going on?
Before it is too late?
The Artisan Post 