Thinking about THE Church and all the different 'churches' that claim Jesus . . .

I remember hearing a 'joke' once, about a man who has been stranded for years on a desert island, and is finally discovered by another man.  Before they depart in the rescuer's boat, the survivor wants to show him what he's built on his island.  He shows him his home, and his church - the place he built to worship God.  He prays a last prayer at the altar, and turns to head toward the boat.  The man stops him, and points to a third structure that they didn't visit.  "What's that?" he asks.  "Oh, that!" says the survivor.  "That's the OTHER church - I NEVER go there!" . . .  

It is interesting to think about the state of 'the church' vs all the denominations who claim Christ . . . I think it is more accurate to think about the actual body of Christ vs man's attempts to follow God . . . I tend to relate this to the fact that there was a remnant within the Israelites that followed God in their hearts vs the organized activity and teachings in the synagogues . . . the prophets spoke to the nation, but the message was to each individual's heart . . . Jesus challenged individuals as well.  Yes, we are to participate in the church, but my responsibility is to make sure that MY heart is right with God, that MY life is lived in obedience to Him.  Jesus' answer to the question 'what is the greatest commandment?' - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; and the second is like it:  love your neighbor as yourself.  On this hangs ALL the law and the prophets."

I do not believe that the church will ever be a perfect reflection of Him on this earth because of the frailty of our flesh . . . we each struggle daily with living worthy of our calling; when we function collectively, those struggles are multiplied exponentially.  The Holy Spirit within us is fully capable of doing anything and everything perfectly, but God gives us the right and responsibility of exercising our will - to believe we are able to find a group of people on earth who are ALL collectively submitting to the control, direction and purpose of the Father and therefore living out the "true" church is a deception of pride straight from the enemy - one of the proofs of that statement is the fact that whenever we 'feel' that we have found that church, we also come to believe that everyone else who is worshiping differently is 'wrong' . . . yet it is not our calling to judge others . . .

Discerning false teaching is absolutely our call; proclaiming truth is absolutely our call; to say that I'm living truth and you're not is NOT our call, it is the Holy Spirit's.  A preacher once said that a man can truly be humble up until the point that he calls himself humble . . . then he has become proud.  That line is so fine as to be able to be walked only by the GodMan Himself, and I dare not believe that I, another individual, or a group of individuals has somehow risen to that level.

I believe that all of us who genuinely desire to follow God are being led by His Holy Spirit, but the fact that we are each still in the process of being transformed into His image, that is, being sanctified, means that there are things about me that are NOT in line with His image, His being.  I still have distortions of thought, lies that I am held captive to - often unaware, due to my own blind spots, conditioning, or societal justification; these things are continuously being revealed to me by God as I meet with Him in His word - He brings truth to bear and exposes the lies, but then I must be willing to turn from that which I have known, reject it and submit to His truth - and that is not an instantaneous process.  I am justified by faith - completely; but He who began a good work in me is seeing it to completion in Christ as I am transformed by the renewing of my mind.  I thank Him that His mercies are new every morning, because without His grace I would be lost and without hope, as there is no good thing in me . . . I am but dust, but I am His dust; and when He has tested me - and sifted me - I will come forth as gold - not because of me, but because of His work in me. 

All that to say - I am not representing Christ perfectly; NO human on earth is representing Christ perfectly, therefore NO church on earth is representing Him perfectly either. 

He said "I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  He promised that His followers would be more in number than the stars.  He states that people from every nation will follow Him.  That is the church - it is universal and supernatural.  We meet in local bodies of believers, and we have strengths and weaknesses in those groups . . . we have a mixture of truth and error in our attempts to live out our faith . . . often because of personal bias, preference and even prejudice . . . But THE CHURCH in reality is the collection of individuals whose hearts are set on Him - and we are scattered all over the planet, throughout all generations, and members of many different 'denominations' - He is our head, He is the Word, He convicts of us of our sin, leads us in paths of righteousness, causes passion for truth to burn within us parallel with compassion on the multitudes who have been deceived by the enemy.  The enemy would like us to be distracted by accusing each other of error - but that is to participate in his evil work - he is the accuser of the brethren.  The Bible is the sword of the Spirit - it is to be wielded against the enemy, not against each other - in order that truth may be recognized and captives set free by it.  Jesus said that if He is lifted up, He will draw all men to Himself.

He states that "narrow is the way that leads to life, and few who find it", but those of us who find it recognize that He found us - that is why we are never glad to recognize how many people remain deceived by the enemy, never proud that we "get it" and they don't . . . 'we' have been pursued by God Almighty, and even our faith is a gift from Him.  He is not willing that any should perish, and neither should I be.  Any concern I have about 'error' in the teaching of a person or a church should be motivated by my love of Truth, and my belief that only the Truth can set men free. 

Here is Truth:  that God is utterly Holy; He is sovereign; He is the Creator and all of Creation, including every human being throughout time, is subject to Him - whether we 'believe' that or not.  Man was never intended to live separate of God; separation is the result of sin, which every human is guilty of.  We don't 'die' physically when we sin, and therefore we become deceived into thinking that nothing has changed, that we are indeed 'alive' . . . what we fail to recognize is that we have become separated from Life Himself, God, and therefore are actually the 'living' dead.  Without a sacrifice being made to cover our sins, there can be no forgiveness, no reconciliation to God, no restoration of genuine life.  Jesus Christ became flesh - fully God/fully human, lived a perfect, sinless life, and offered Himself as a sacrifice for all the sins of mankind.  His shed blood satisfied the requirement of the sacrifice of a pure life to pay the debt of sin.  Any human being who acknowledges Jesus Christ as God and His sacrifice as the substitutionary payment for sin can ask Jesus to cover them with His blood.  That person's sins are then atoned for, full forgiveness of sin (past and future, since this debt was paid prior to most of our lifetimes) is granted, the Holy Spirit is imparted to dwell within this individual and he becomes subject to Jesus as the Lord of his life.  (This, I believe, is the missing emphasis of most evangelistic messages - Jesus Christ is Lord AND Savior . . . NOT Savior only . . . If one is unwilling to submit to Him as Lord that person should seriously question whether or not he has truly received Him as Savior - He is both.  One who has been forgiven is indwelt with the Spirit and therefore aware as never before of their sin nature, their tendency toward sin, and the absolute necessity of reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit within him to keep him from sinning.  Believers are also aware that this is a constant struggle, that we continue to sin, and must confess our sin, repent - that is turn from it - and seek God's power to live victorious over that sin continuously, as a matter of day to day living as long as we are on this earth.)  Our purpose on earth is to glorify God - that is, to live in such a way that reflects God's glory - His power in us and through us, and points men to God.  This world will eventually pass away, and those who come to Him throughout all generations will one day inhabit a new world together, living in unity with Him and each other in a life that is free of sin. 

That is the truth that cannot be compromised - everything else is shades of grey, areas of hair-splitting and the devil's playground that tempts our pride to unite with some and scorn others - all distracting from God's purpose of calling forth a people to Himself.