Today is one of those days. I always try to come to the church building on Sunday mornings to pray, do a blog and just be here for service time. There are no people, just myself and the Lord. But what I have discovered over the last 7 weeks (as of today) is that the church is viewed very differently across the nation. Like today, I get to the church and the dumpster has been used again by someone who lives near by as if it were a public dumpster. That makes it three weeks in a row now. So the church is a public dump site for some people. I have not had many transient people come by the church recently, except one person and it wasn’t to pray, it wasn’t to seek spiritual counsel, it was to get money in order to continue their journey to somewhere. For some the church is the place to go to get help if you’re on a trip and need more money. The church is a place to have a funeral, or a wedding but only when needed. That is the way the world sees the church and it sorrows me.
What would life be like if not for the church? I am not talking about buildings, I am talking about the body of “called out ones, the ekklesia,” those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and are a part of the body of Jesus, the redeemed of the Lord who are adopted in God’s eternal family. For those who are born again believers the church is a family that exist for the purposes and glory of God. We’re really not about dumpsters, transient travelers, or being a building for special events. The church is to be about the Gospel – living it, sharing it, and glorifying God through it. When believer’s get intentional in doing these things the church through the power of the Holy Spirit takes the shape of what Jesus taught for the church to be. Ephesians 2 19-21 gives a description of the church, “So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself as the cornerstone. In Him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” We see that the church is a spiritual building, built by God on the work and teachings of the apostles and prophets of the Bible, and Jesus Christ is the anchoring cornerstone. The picture is of a spiritual temple being built in the Lord. That is the consummation of the church to be eternally in the presence of God where He dwells with the redeemed, the church. There are a lot of things that take place on this temporary earth that sometimes don’t fit into the Biblical concept of the church. But with faith in God, trusting Jesus, and intentionally living out the Gospel we can be encouraged that the church belongs to God, even as each believer in Jesus does as well. But the church is here to have an impact on a world that does not understand. Our gatherings, our ministry, our focus point in life is to demonstrate God’s Kingdom has come and it does make a difference spiritually in people’s lives today. Continue to be the church even though we still are not gathering together!