Building the Church One Broken Life at a Time
“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners.”
Matthew 9:13
Transparently broken, standing on the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, I believe this is where we are called to live as Christ followers. Not just the ones who have or are enduring public brokenness, shame-filled pasts, lived out one poor choice after another, but all Christ followers. Because really, aren’t we all falling ridiculously short of living a life that would qualify us to be identified as sons and daughters of God?
There is tremendous rhetoric within the body of Christ regarding social and political stances. Left or right, liberal or conservative, kind of small if you stop for a moment and consider the Church is universal, exceeding any bounds of time, cultural, or tradition. Unbound by our binding thoughts of what others should do or not do, how they should vote, who they should welcome or not welcome into their community, how they feel about wars, or protests.
Bigger, the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ are bigger than our small thoughts. What if instead of looking at ways to define other, or exclude, or question, we look through the lens of grace and mercy at our own lives? What if all the humans that make up the expanse of the Christian Church from its origin until Christ reigns, outside of Jesus Christ himself, are ridiculously broken, missing the mark, transparent or not, and yet, God is willing to use them to advance His kingdom, His purpose, anyway? What if instead of ugly and divisive, it’s glorious? What if all this brokenness, falling short, missing the mark enhances the glory of a God who is willing to use all things to advance His kingdom?
I’m wrestling with the divisions in the North American Church. (Even there, I have to designate, “North American,” as if there was a “North American Church” versus an “African Church,” or an “Eastern European Church.” Have we forgotten many bodies under One Head?) Perhaps rather than something to scorn, we are called to celebrate the differences in church communities. Paul was sent to preach to the Gentiles. Peter was called to eat with the Gentiles. Gentiles, those different people, separate, but grafted in through Christ. What if we need all the different parts of the church to reach all the different people who do and will make up the church? What if there are lives that Christ is going to change that can only be reached through a church body that looks different, votes differently than yours?
One Gospel, one Christ, one Salvation, one Church on display for the world to know and see through the love of the Christian community, all over the globe for all of history. The love of Christ is to bind us to Him and to each other in a way that designates us as different for Christ. We are to be known as Christians by our love, by our lived out gratitude for a God who is willing and able to use us for His glory despite our miserably inadequate attempts to be like Jesus Christ. Christ’s love is to be what makes us different, not our opinions, not who we vote for. Christ’s love and broken body are what allow us to be presented as righteous, nothing else.
Do you want to change someone’s thoughts about Christians? Love them. Do you want to change the opinion, behavior, or heart of another? You can’t. That is work done by the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ. Heart changes are accomplished by the Father. (Don’t be surprised if it’s your heart that ends up changed while you wait and pray for the heart of another.) What you can do is to tangibly love others, know others, be willing to go outside what is familiar to you and have relationships with others. You won’t do any of those things well unless you’re loving Jesus. You won’t love Jesus well unless your crawling close and recognizing any good thing in you comes from Him and through Him.
We are all on various levels of brokenness. No one makes the mark, not one. All need Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to accomplish any good redemptive work that will not fade. That is a tough mirror to peer into, but a mirror which makes the ultimate glory of the church even more miraculous. You know your own brokenness, your testimony, what God has redeemed in your life. Let others be broken too. Don’t dismiss the work being done through Jesus Christ by broken people in church bodies that look different than yours.
One Gospel, one Christ, one Salvation, one Church on display for the world to know and see through the love of the Christian community, all over the globe for all of history.
