OUR HEARTS YEARN for the perfect church—the church where all are in unity of Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12:4-10), where worship, praise, and prayer are lifted up before the Lord as a fragrant offering. Paul speaks of this emanating from the body of Christ, and says, “There is one body and one Spirit.” (Eph. 4.4) And he adds that all of our activities, properly offered before God and with others, “All are the work of one and the same Spirit.” (cf. 1 Cor. 12:11)
In fact, both historically and experientially, church is seldom an unsullied atmosphere in those various times in which we meet together, for we are imperfect people in tension with a call to the One who is perfect. Various stresses may be especially prevalent on Sundays, when the largest number of us gather, and our individual universes encounter the force fields of others. It is good to remind ourselves periodically that many of the hard sayings of the bible were written to the church, not to the world.
The real church, it has been said, consists of one-third sinners, one-third saints, and one-third hell-bound. This is a facetious statement on the face of it, yet with a rather deep sardonical wisdom. Gallows humor is certainly not something we generally expect to hear in the halls of the Temple, nor is the unpleasant presence of iniquity something desirable in the Sanctuary. Our expectation as we eagerly wend our way to worship is to aspire to inspire a unity of prayer and praise in the community of the faithful; to be refreshed in Spirit from the trials of the week past and renewed in energy for the challenges of the week ahead. The tensions of unresolved conflict dissipate such positive energy, and we may be led to think that the only thing inspired is a spirit of torpor.
The church that fails to recognize both the presence of the negative elements and the need to carefront the sinners and confront the hell-bound is a church without the power of the Holy Spirit. ‘Maybe’ is its strongest truth, ‘plaid’ is its favorite color, and ‘caretaking and fellowship’ are its primary activities. This is a body of people un-or-ill-equipped and unprepared, and therefore unable to prevent hell prevailing against the gates of the church (cf. Matt. 16:18b, c). This typifies much of the universal Christian church today, unwilling and unable to stand for its professed truths. And, it is a church of words without the signs and wonders (cf. Mark 16:17-18) should “accompany those who believe” (Mark 16:17a) as they work in faith in the realm of the Kingdom of God.
The church, the “ecclesia”—the “called-out ones,” is not a building, but a people who have come out of darkness to light, out of hopelessness to hope, and who have come to the throne of the living God as willing servants to his will. These people share the same values, and when they do so with a will towards purity of purpose, the power of the Spirit is present, and the saints can effectively minister to the sinners and also cast out demons. By such rigorous and intentional and persistent house-cleaning, the ratios are changed, with the balance swinging heavily to the saints and reforming sinners, and the demons, if not exorcised, at least wise enough to cloak the darkness within.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22) “Let us not love with words or tongue but with action and in truth.” (1 John 3:18) “If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.” (1 John 3:20-22) As we personally hold to these ways, we will be doing the work of God that is expected of us. Dead churches will be reborn; churches that are asleep will wake up, and churches that are healthy will challenge the gates of hell. It simply depends on you, and me. While we do these things daily, we must “keep ourselves from being polluted by the world.” (Jam. 1:27) And we need also to walk with hope in our hearts and a spring in our step, “stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28)
Rather than be dragged down in despair when church “doesn’t look the way it should,” the saint is always to look to the word of God for encouragement. We are told, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” (Heb. 11:1, 3) Paul encourages us to “set our hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” (Col. 3:1) This is no mere power-of-positive-thinking approach to spiritual life; instead, it keeps us focused on the source of all hope, the meaning of all life, and the purpose of all ministry, and that is in the person of Jesus. Church will always have its tensions in this world, but Jesus told us, “In me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) And because he has, so can we. “We can do all this through him who gives us strength.” (Phil. 4:13)
In those times of tension in the church, Jesus tells us that we are to be “as wise as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matt. 10:16b) Paul, similarly, says that “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.” (Tit. 1:15) The mature(ing) saint will necessarily walk in tension in all spiritual matters, for we recognize that we are in constant spiritual warfare, especially in the church, where our hearts are more vulnerable. Nevertheless, we are called to guard the sheep, to rebuke the demons, and, as the last Psalm reminds, to “Praise God in his sanctuary.” (Psa. 150:1b)
Q. How perceptive am I in the realm of spiritual discernment?
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