The title of this blogpost is not just clickbait. There is something fundamentally askew with the modern day church movement that I believe calls for a heartfelt repentance. I trust in faith that this will lead to an exciting beginning for what many of us have never experienced before.
I find myself in conversations all the time now that reveal this problem, as you do as well, I’m sure. Whether you’ve identified it as a problem, well, that I do not know. Not too long ago a trendy phrase began being used on t-shirts and bumper stickers everywhere connected to communities of faith that communicated one simple idea. “I Love My Church.” It seems almost daily that I hear similar comments as well that get tossed around so easily. I’m sure that idea was generated out of experiences from people that genuinely loved the community of believers they were doing life with. Community is awesome. Ontologically speaking, it’s who God is, so we know it’s good. That’s not the problem. The problem lies within a fundamentally massive lie that has been navigating the practices of the church for quite some time. The problem is simple: the church doesn’t belong to us.
It’s not my church. It’s not your church. The Church was purchased by Jesus and eternally belongs to Jesus. The god of this age has seduced generations into the faulty thinking that the church actually sits underneath the authority, wisdom, and leadership of humans. The “I Love My Church” movement is the poster child that encompasses in the natural what many believers have grown to steward in the spirit. Sadly, the normative practices and disciplines we have cultivated reveal that we love control and that the church should continue to operate the way that we desire and see fit.
But, the church was God’s idea. He designed it, established it, made Christ the head of it and continues to build it through His means.
“And God placed all things under his [Jesus] feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” - Ephesians 1:22
My children have a favorite word - it’s “mine”. Often times when they use the word they are expressing possession of something that they don’t actually have ownership of. Just as you would expect from young children, this is the result of their immaturity and lack of understanding. When we use similar possessive language in speaking about the church, we are demonstrating that same lack of understanding or immaturity. We are either intentionally or unintentionally trying to usurp the authority of the one who spoke the planet into existence. The bride of Christ needs to seriously reconsider how we view our rightful identity as the body in relationship with the God-head. Even in my role as a pastor, the church doesn’t belong to me. A more appropriate bumper sticker or coffee mug would say, “I love His Church”, or even “I love the church.” This needs to go far beyond just speaking with our lips. The functional operations of the church need to reflect it as well.
It seems silly to even have to make that differentiation, but it’s vitally important that we get it correct. It’s painful to admit that although I would never tell God verbally to take a lesser role of what He is worthy of, sometimes my heart can be the reflection of that sentiment. Pride, fear, love of money, control, among many other things can spur the collective heartbeat of the church to pursue a distorted or perverse identity that is not in alignment with the heart of The Father.
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you love one another.” - John 13:35
Generally speaking, mankind has done a great job helping people develop a love for the church. We’ve also done a great job to help people despise her as well. I think the enemy loves when man creates systems that make people dependent on platforms and programs instead of dependency on Jesus and the empowerment of The Spirit of God. In man’s systems of church life the priority is to convince people to love the church. So much so that we [the body of Christ] have neglected to help people love Jesus. Obviously, both are important, but the proper order of how these take place is super important. Priority to know Jesus more intimately transforms the heart of man to love what He loves.
To clarify, I am not advocating that we don’t love the church. I am advocating that we love the church that Jesus loves as it’s positioned in her rightful place. I believe He’s coming back for a bride that loves Him more than she loves herself. A Bride that lives in joyful submission and dependency on Him, not in her own desires of rebellion and self-reliance. We only love because Christ first loved us. [1 John 4:19] It originates with Him and perpetuates an eternal burning flame of love for the man who sits enthroned as King. This is the church that the Father has designed, where Jesus Christ sits as the head.
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “ All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” - Matthew 28:18-19
Sure, we know that God places individuals in various positions of authority to serve in unique roles and positions as He sees fit. I am not advocating that the church become structureless and wild in nature. God cares about order, even more so than we do. I’m addressing the danger of any and all levels of authority within the church, individually and corporately, that have wandered away from the Ephesians 1:22 model. It’s time to get low! It’s time to embrace joyful submission to the Father, by honoring what The Son labored for. For “God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.”
The bridal identity of the church is one of deep intimacy in the context of anticipated marriage. I don’t think it’s by chance that the sexual identity issues of our day are so prevalent. Satan is waging war on the church in step with the way he wages war on the earth. Behind the warfare of what we see in the natural with our eyes exists a consistent attack on the Kingdom of God. There’s temptation for the church to become something she isn’t. There’s temptation for the church to be unmoved by adulterous love towards God. There’s temptation for the church to exist simply to please herself when she usurps Christ’s authority and rules independently on her own.
I believe the voice of God is shaking the earth [Hebrews 12] so that what cannot be shaken, will be what remains. This sifting is preparation for the great wedding when the eternal, spotless lamb of God will meet her bride, who will be found just as God set her up to be in perfect alignment. Everything is better when it’s found in its proper place. A great lie of the enemy is that twisting and rearranging the established order will bring greater fulfillment and satisfaction. Be on guard! Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal areas in your own life that are not in alignment with his established order. As God revealed in the Genesis account, He loves to bring order, so that He can then fill!
Prayer prompt: Father, I surrender to you. Bring everything in my life into alignment with your ways and truth. I submit to you as Lord, again. As you bring peace into my chaos, fill me with your Spirit! In Jesus name.
Jared Menard
