When Jesus walked on the earth, He went to the most broken, the least good. In fact, it was always the most sinful He ministered to. He touched them and healed them and loved them back. They needed Him. I will go ahead and say I don't want to be a Pharisee. I always find it odd that the Pharisees were religious people. They should've been the very people to want to see Jesus and hug him. But they rejected him. They despised the Son of God. Please read Matthew 23.
We tend to get caught up in playing church, being religious, following the rules, and looking like a dang Pharisee. It breaks my heart because Jesus doesn't honor that. I remember the first time it occurred to me that my life looked more like the lives of the people Jesus rebuked than the people Jesus drew near to. When I read the words of Christ, I felt a call to fall on my face. I lived like a Pharisee in all my pride and arrogance. See, I liked to feel good about myself. I preferred high places where I was numb to a place where my face was wet from tears because I realized how hopeless I was apart from Jesus. I've learned to fall on my face a lot. I fall because I can't keep pretending I am okay when I'm not. But I also fall because I find God in the sand. I find God with my face in it. And then He gets to be the lifter of my head, rather than my pride.
"I hate all your show and pretense- the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won't even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living." (Amos 5:21-24)
What is the church? It's not a show. It's not about singing hymns. It's not about our pride. The book of Acts is famous for how the church should look like. It shows how the church continues the work that Jesus began.
"All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need." (Acts 4:32-35)
These people just saw a man die and rise from the dead! They didn't care! They didn't say, "Hey lets get together and practice community and fellowship" and went about their business. They were on this mission because they saw someone rise from the grave. They saw Him on a cross and they saw Him die. They didn't care about any of their stuff. They made it their mission to tell people there is life after death. It's radical. But it makes sense. What would not have made sense if those people saw all these things and all they did was gather in a small room every Sunday, sang songs, and then a guy taught. And did the same thing the next Sunday...the Sunday after that and so on. Sometimes they would even throw in 10% of their income. That wouldn't have made sense at all. So why do so many people in the church do that?
What is the church? Jesus treated the church as his bride. He loved her. We are a body. We are the body of Christ. We are his hands and feet. We reach the broken. We grow. We go. We lead. We give. We send. We teach. We worship. We pray. Most importantly, we love.
I know this is all over the place. My heart just spilled out.
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