Some time ago, there was this naive or ill-informed video by a teen where he said he loved Jesus but not the Church. His reasoning demonstrated a commonplace biblical illiteracy. People love to criticize the church, not go to church (we’ve talked about this before). “I was hurt at a church, and so I can’t (won’t?) return to another church. I was hurt on a playground once in kindergarten, but I later returned. Perhaps you had bad service in a restaurant? Do you still eat out? Still eat? You get the picture. Christians love the church. Why? They love God’s people. NonChristians do not. I can’t make an elephant like a steak. It’s not in its nature. Birds fly. Fish swim. Horses run. Christians worship—individually and collectively. It’s who they are. It’s what they do (read Hebrews 10:24-25). Psalm 100 speaks of the excitement God’s people experience as they prepare to worship together. Nehemiah 8 describes the determination God’s people had to come together to hear His word taught and carefully explained.
Someone once accused me of loving the church too much. I found that odd. Paul described his love for the church as that of a nursing mother (1 Thess. 2:7). Jesus said a good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
What is the Church? It’s been called the body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. Jesus gave up His life on the cross for His people, the Church. I’ve never seen Jesus in person. One day, I hope to do so. I have, however, seen His bride. How could I not love the Bride of Christ? The Church is the physical representation of Christ on earth. To neglect her is to neglect Jesus. To denigrate or minimize her is to minimize or disrespect Jesus.
I recently preached a sermon series on rethinking church. You can find it in our sermon archive. In this series I explained that if you don’t love the church, then you don’t love Jesus. To dismiss the importance of the Bride of Christ is to dismiss the Groom (Jesus). Where did I get an idea like that? From Jesus. What we do for the church. The love we show for His bride, we show to Him. You can’t separate one from the other—no matter how much you’d like to find an excuse to do so.