The church is not God...
...but the church is the bride of Christ.
The reason I wanted to talk about this is that sometimes church can seem unnecessarily complicated. Usually, this is just us making it complicated for ourselves. Firstly, it's important to remember that the church is not God. Far from it. The church is a family of people, none of whom are perfect. That's to be expected, since we are all human and all sinners. So, we shouldn't be trying to worship the church itself, or get the church confused with God. The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints. Our worship should be directed only to God and Jesus.
At the same time, the church is very dear to God. Of course it is: Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He surely wouldn't have died on the cross for our sins if he didn't care for us and was just ho-hum about the human race in general. Make no mistake: he didn't choose to die for us because of anything inherently good in ourselves, or because we in any way deserved this (we don't). He did it because it was the will of his Father, God, and because in God's mercy and grace he made a path to salvation for us. But still, that this was part of God's plan means that God wants to have us live an eternal life with him. He wants us to be with him forever. Therefore, the church is dear to God. It's comprised of sinners, but is still dear to God. So we should remember that the church is the bride of Christ. He paid a price for us. He redeemed us. This means that the church is not something we should just ignore.
Now, if you or if your church gets God and the church mixed up interchangeably, that is certainly a big problem. If your church does not seem to be teaching according to the Bible, then you should look for another church. A church community should be loving and should be inclusive of all - and this includes literally everyone.
A church is also a family, and like most families, not everything goes smoothly and not everyone will be guaranteed to get along with everyone else, although ideally everyone should be making an effort to meet the other person at least halfway.
The church has been mentioned as the bride of Christ several times in the Bible:
For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind - yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body.
Ephesians 5: 23-30
and
I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
The reason I wanted to talk about this is that sometimes church can seem unnecessarily complicated. Usually, this is just us making it complicated for ourselves. Firstly, it's important to remember that the church is not God. Far from it. The church is a family of people, none of whom are perfect. That's to be expected, since we are all human and all sinners. So, we shouldn't be trying to worship the church itself, or get the church confused with God. The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints. Our worship should be directed only to God and Jesus.
At the same time, the church is very dear to God. Of course it is: Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He surely wouldn't have died on the cross for our sins if he didn't care for us and was just ho-hum about the human race in general. Make no mistake: he didn't choose to die for us because of anything inherently good in ourselves, or because we in any way deserved this (we don't). He did it because it was the will of his Father, God, and because in God's mercy and grace he made a path to salvation for us. But still, that this was part of God's plan means that God wants to have us live an eternal life with him. He wants us to be with him forever. Therefore, the church is dear to God. It's comprised of sinners, but is still dear to God. So we should remember that the church is the bride of Christ. He paid a price for us. He redeemed us. This means that the church is not something we should just ignore.
Now, if you or if your church gets God and the church mixed up interchangeably, that is certainly a big problem. If your church does not seem to be teaching according to the Bible, then you should look for another church. A church community should be loving and should be inclusive of all - and this includes literally everyone.
A church is also a family, and like most families, not everything goes smoothly and not everyone will be guaranteed to get along with everyone else, although ideally everyone should be making an effort to meet the other person at least halfway.
The church has been mentioned as the bride of Christ several times in the Bible:
For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind - yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body.
Ephesians 5: 23-30
and
I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:2
Obviously, this does not necessarily mean that that Christian men and women are all literally going to put on a wedding dress and walk down the aisle with Jesus. It means that each one of the church family is as dear to Jesus as a bride is to her husband. Wow. That's powerful stuff.
So, the church is not God. It's important to very clearly distinguish between these two. Yet we should remember that the people that make up the church are dear to God.
If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog:
So, the church is not God. It's important to very clearly distinguish between these two. Yet we should remember that the people that make up the church are dear to God.
If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog:
- Why do people blame God for all of the bad things but never credit him for the good things?
- Organized religion and why it is important
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