Part III- The Reconciliation of the Church

For Part 1 and Part 2 of this series

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“The power of God unto salvation” is the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no mistaking that the capability to call someone out of darkness, into a light of marvelous-ness, is only by the grand power of God. It is not by chance that nothing becomes something. Who can make the mountains quake? And who can make the earth tremble at their presence? A response to which I hear a grand choir of silence. There is none. If there is one thing that we should understand about God, it is that He accomplishes the impossible. The Gospel reconciles impossible man to a possible God. It transforms the wretchedness of our being into the radiance and glory of Christ, His Church and His Bride.

Over the last several weeks I have received many comments concerning church membership, church attendance and abandoning the church. The majority of the comments stem from a broken relationship between the Church and the individual. I have heard it said "the Church is like a hospital full of sick people wanting to be healed" and this is true in every sense.

We all are sin sick and sick of sin. The very one abused by the Church is leaving a place full of those that have been abused. And the one that has been hurt by the Church, is leaving a place full of those that have been hurt.

The Indebted Church & the Indebted Member

Imagine a college debt of several thousand dollars that you have been unable to pay (this might not be hard for some of us to imagine). One day you receive a letter that states, “If you do not pay in full by the end of the week, we will confiscate all of your belongings. And if that doesn't equal the amount you owe, we will garnish your checks until it is paid off ”. Well of course this is impossible, so you respond pleading that they be patient until it is all paid. A friend, that has compassion for you, pays off the debt, so that you are now free.

In an effort to celebrate, you call one of your other friends who owes you $35, demanding they pay immediately so that you can go out. The other friend hears about this and becomes furious.

We are that college student that is in debt. God is the friend that pays the debt. The Church is the friend that owes the $35.

If we have been forgiven, then we must forgive. The Church is not spotless or without blemish and neither are we. Everyday, under the power of the Holy Spirit, we are being conformed into the image of Christ. We are not perfect, therefore the Church is not yet perfect. While we were yet sinners Jesus died for us. Christ also loved the Church, not that it was in a state of perfection at that moment, but that He “might sanctify and cleanse it”. The process of reconciling the Church began when Christ gave Himself for the Church (Ephesians 5:25-27). If God has reconciled the Church, then we must reconcile the Church.

Discovering Freedom

We must forgive as we have been forgiven. Jesus said that, “he whom has been forgiven much, loves much and he that has been forgiven little, loves little”. In our interaction with the Church we must not be so quick and judgmental at how quick and judgmental those in the Church appear. Our freedom from the judgment of people is found in the comfort of Christ. Once we are enamored with the glorious Gospel, all else becomes minute flutterings of the flesh, cries of the immature. Though we are imperfect and the grace of God abounds, as Paul proclaims, “God forbid” that we continue in this sin of condemnation!

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If you are the Church, I implore you to fellowship with the very ones that others reject and rebuke (Luke 7:36). And if you are being rejected and rebuked, I implore you to embrace the Gospel, allowing God to transform your heart.

We must assemble ourselves together, exhorting each other in the Word of God and this must take place in a church, by the Church. Whether it be in a home, a gym or a movie theater, we must BE the Church. There must be a shepherd, a Pastor (Ephesians 4:11).  We must be a flock, a congregation (Acts 20:28). And we must not be alone, but assemble (Hebrews 12:25).

If we believe the Gospel, then we believe not only the reconciliation of ourselves, but the reconciliation of the Church. If the Gospel has reconciled us back to God, then we must be the living Word of the Gospel. We must be ministers, servants, of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). This is the Glorious Gospel that transforms the wicked hearts of man into the Beauty of the Church. We are His body. We are His glory. And we are His Church.

How glorious is this Gospel? How beautiful is His grace? How extravagant is His love towards us? Share your thoughts in the comments below.