The Church, Messy? | REV3 = Revitalize, Energize, Visualize

Just the mention of Her – the Church –will cause extreme reactions. Some love Her, some hate Her, and both groups have their reasons. Many people inside and outside the church would agree that She is in a mess. “In a mess?!” You may be shocked at the audacity to print such a thought or say, “Finally, someone said it.” One side may think the mess is inside of Her, or others may say it is outside of Her, or others may say both are correct. One group may say the church is the cause of many problems, while others believe the mess would be worse if it were not for the Church. Part of the cause or part of the solution? Is it possible both are correct? Anyone who has been sick, raised a child, or cared for a pet knows there is an immediate need to clean up after them. If you live in a household of more than one, you clean up messes you did not create. Even if you live by yourself, you will clean up unintended messes periodically. By not cleaning, you are making the mess worse, and this is seen throughout life.

If one or more people live in a house for ten years and don’t clean up after themselves, it may brink on needing a tear down, rebuild, or at least a major remodel to clean the mess to make it inhabitable again. It is better to go in and out than to have it closed up for a decade. Even the smallest act of life can bring a breath of fresh air. The greatest attempts at avoiding a mess will not prevent a decline in livability.

Relationships are messy, and we all require some heart-cleaning because of them. As we go through life being helped and helping others, we realize that messes come and go. For some souls, life is a mess. The Church is a body made up of many parts — all somebodies creating their own byproducts of life. Our bodies are made up of proper levels of many of the elements in the periodic table. As these levels are kept in check, they sustain life with minimal mess, but still require regular detoxing. Imbalanced levels of our body’s basic elements can cause sickness or even death. Given some thought, the decomposition of any organism back to its elements will be messier than an exuberant life. The life of an earthworm is considered to be a slimy resident in a mess, yet it benefits us all, not just the fishermen in the crowd. It contributes to the last stages of decay and helps return organic life to basic elements. In order to walk in freedom in the mess, we must look to Jesus and His Word. Is your church’s mess a result of sickness, dying, or just being alive?

Death was not God’s ideal from the beginning, so he sent Jesus to demonstrate and gift more abundant life (John 10:10). We were created to live healthy, enjoyable lives in a paradise called Eden. Humans were placed on the winning team; we did not have to earn our position. God as the captain of our team provided the playbook. Humans rebelled, and our time in Eden ended. Outside this paradise was less desirable property. This land had not yet been annexed by the Master Gardener waiting for His designers to expand His territory under His hands-on oversight. When He gave us over to our desire to disobey, the captain of the “farm team” called the shots. He was not always present because he was given a large domain for himself in which he traveled to and fro. The ruler of this domain had not prepared the land for human life because not only was he nonhuman, this new leader had no desire to ever become an earthling to experience it himself. Our new team leader did not like order or community because he wanted his rules, his way, no matter how often he changed them. Life became more and more difficult. When this new captain was not around, humans could do whatever they wanted and it gave them a sense of freedom and power of their own. Those who remembered the Garden found the old owner forgiving and even helpful, willing to teach applicable techniques in this barren land. All who turned back to Him found grace and forgiveness, but they had to be prepared to reinstate His dominion over their lives. They found blessing in obedience to His rules, not without challenges and even death.

The same messes that have assailed God’s people existed almost from the beginning of time, and He chooses whether to clean them up. The solutions are still the same. Yahweh, through His prophets, calls for a return to His ways precipitating a renewal. His call for reconciliation culminates in the promised “new Shepherd” (Ezekiel 34). The example He set was one to be simply, yet not always easily, followed. Man has been slowly shifting all glory and honor from God and instead migrating it to nature, men, or their creations because they have succumbed to the deceitful scheming of the devil (Ephesians 6:11). To clean up “the mess”, the first humans, then the Jews, followed by the nation of Israel, and now the Church are regularly duped into trying to control what belongs to God. Some Christians have been wrongly sold a bill of goods reassuring them that they can live a righteous, godly, fulfilled life without the Church. Solidarity or isolation will not clean up the mess! The solution is His narrow way instead of the world’s broad all-inclusive way (Matthew 7:13-14).

Like the finite details of God’s plan, the lug nut is a very important part of the car. Fastening on the wheel, its purpose is vital, but try to visualize the expression a car buyer would have if the salesman handed him a lug nut and said, “Here is your new car, drive safely.” Conversely, one cannot imagine “driving carefully” off the lot without the lug nuts on your new vehicle. Anyone who thinks God made a mistake in creating the “body of Christ” and then decides that they don’t need every part, thinking they can spiritually flourish on your own, well… enjoy your new ride. He designed Her to operate His way with minimal mess.

The church has no better place to look other than Jesus’ perfect example for how not to be a mess. He displayed the corporate intermingling of each part of His body showing how we can work together to accomplish His will with Him as the Head (Colossians 1:8). While Jesus ministered on earth to a small group of followers, He was laying the foundation for the functioning of the church, His Bride, preparing her for the time when He would physically leave.

God’s final plan to create a better life for humans is in community with Him through His Spirit. Our life in sub-paradise will remain until our physical death. This new hybrid of organic life and spiritual paradise will prepare us for the New Jerusalem where He will relocate His family. Until then, we will live in as big of a mess that we or those around us create.

Reflections on The Church, Messy?

Describe the “mess” that you live in using the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How model of questioning?

Who

What

Where

When

Why

How

Maybe you don’t see it as a “mess”, so how would you describe it?

What contributes to the “mess” we see in our lives?