Ever notice how many beautiful churches there are in this area?
A Great deal of care is placed on the outward appearance of these buildings. The grass is always perfect, the paint is usually fresh. There's always some catchy slogan to lure you in outside on the marque sign.
When you go inside, typically it's just as well kept. Everything put in order, floors vacuumed, fresh clean smelling conditioned air...and so on.
It reminds me of when I was a kid and my parents would have company over. In a matter of hours our house would go from "relatively clean" to "model home" clean. Why? Well, in our case, we wanted to make a good impression on our guests. We wanted them to feel comfortable while they visited us. But, I remember that we never cleaned where our guests wouldn't be going. (closets, garage, master bathroom, ETC.) So really, the "illusion" was only as strong as our ability to control where our guests went or looked throughout our house. The dirt was there, you just couldn't see it.
Could this be the case in a "Spiritual" sense with our churches today? Could there be a "keep them comfortable" mentality? Are some "guests" being led to look at only the "pleasing" things found in The Bible? Where do they keep Christ? Is he front and center, or pushed back in some corner closet as to not offend anybody?
Christ's church "Body" is made up of repentant, born-again, Christ following believers. And if they are blessed enough to have four walls around them then great! But with or without the walls, the church still exists.
So the question is "Are you a member of Christs' Church body or of a beautiful building?"
How do you know? Just look at some evidences of either
You might just be a member of a Building if:
~The air has to be just right
~The music has to be to your liking
~The Pastor has to use a certain bible (i.e. King James V.)
~Everyone has to be well dressed
~NO SANDALS
~That idiot is in my seat
~Why is the coffee so strong today
~The sermon was too long
~We need to do something about that smelly guy
You might be a member of Christ's Church Body if:
~Jesus Christ has to be there.
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Would you still go to church if you had to stand? Or sit on the ground?
Excellent post! What if it was all about Jesus!?
ReplyDeleteGreat and thought provoking, Bryan, especially since I just finished spending the day cleaning my home for houseguests. I certainly hope that during the visit Christ shines through me as brightly as the clean house does, but you know what? You don't have to look too hard to find the dirt, either in my home or in my life. I'm thankful for a Savior that washes us as white as snow!
ReplyDeleteIn light of my comment yesterday, I wanted to share the lyrics to a song the Lord led me to early this morning. It's called "I'm Clean" by Chris Sligh:
ReplyDeleteLove is just a picture of Your glory
And my best tries at love have fallen short
I pretend these dirty clothes are holy
Knees patched up with grace from You, O Lord
No one is righteous,
But I'm not the one You see
I'm clean
I'm covered by forgiveness here
And only You can forget all I've done
I'm clean
Through no good of my own
But when You look at me You see Your Son
And I am clean
Looking back, my past is worth forgetting
But every try brings me to my knees
Where I can see shades of Your forgiving
Each color covers a sinful memory
No one is righteous
But I'm not the one You see
I'm clean
I'm covered by forgiveness here
And only You can forget all I've done
I'm clean
Through no good of my own
But when You look at me You see Your Son
And I am clean
On my own I'm simply man, at best
But my sin's
As far as east from west
Covered by the blood
That Your Son shed
His perfection now defines me
I'm clean
I'm covered by forgiveness here
And only You can forget all I've done
I'm clean
Through no good of my own
But when You look at me You see Your Son
And I am clean
I'm clean!
MAY THE BODY OF CHRIST BE AS CLEAN AS THE CHURCH BUILDING, BUT AT THE SAME TIME LET US BE REAL ENOUGH TO POINT OUT THE STAINS ON THE CARPET THAT JESUS HAS WASHED CLEAN.