I read constantly. Paul told Timothy to “give attention to reading, to exhortation and to doctrine.” (1 Timothy 4:13). In the contest of this verse it seems that he is encouraging Timothy in the public reading of Scripture, and the English Standard Version even translates this passage in that way. In other passages Jesus stressed the idea that we need to take heed how we hear, and what we hear (Luke 8:18). In the same way, it is imperative to understand that there are some things we need to pay attention to, and we need to be discerning in what we listen to and read.

I have begun to read a lot of blogs on the internet by preachers in the church, and while many of these have good things to say, others concern me. In my perusal this week I have found some appealing to the masses by talking about how people want to see Jesus, but not wanting the church that comes with Jesus. In the very next blog I read one preacher made the statement that “You cannot preach Christ without preaching his church.” Contradictory messages? Does this cause more confusion that causes many more to turn from the church, and from the Christ?

From the Biblical perspective (the only real perspective), we must understand that Jesus and His church are inseparably connected. You can’t have the head without having the body (Ephesians 4:4-6; Colossians 1:18). In the figures of the body that Paul uses, he emphasizes that the church exists because of the relationship it must have with Christ. He only teaches what Jesus so vividly taught in John 15; that the branches get their life from the vine, and if the branches (Christians) do not stay in the vine, they will be cut off. The church exists because of the relationship it has with Jesus.

As a result of that relationship, there are some other things that necessarily follow. First, because Jesus is the head of the church, then the church must do what the head says. The church cannot set its own agenda, goals or purposes—they must be set by Jesus. When the church does anything but what Jesus has said, it ceases to be the church for which Jesus died.

Second, the church exists to glorify the head. The church glorifies the head when it does what the head has commanded, and when it obeys the head in everything. Some have been turned off to the church because the church has failed to live up to the commands of the head. When the church spends more money on buildings than preaching the gospel or evangelism, one has to wonder if it is all about the head or all about the body. When the church fights, bites and devours one another, we have to wonder if the church is truly obeying the command Jesus made to “love one another as I have loved you.” When the church does everything for itself, and closes its eyes to the needy, the lost and wandering, then we have to wonder if it is really following the example of Jesus (Luke 19:10).

Third, because the world hated the head, the world will hate the church. One complaint against the church is that it is to judgmental—that it judges the sins of the world, and thus it should not be given a fair hearing. Americans and others have made a god in their image—tolerant, sweet, loving and certainly not harsh or wrathful. Hence, when they read of Jesus talking about hell, he doesn’t fit in with their ideas of what God should be —and when the church preaches what Jesus said about sin, then they are turned off from the church and the message it preaches. The church cannot soften the message of judgment against sin because it follows a HOLY GOD – a God that cannot stand sin; a God that hates sin because of what it has done to his creation; a God that sees sin as it is and sent Jesus to DIE ON A CROSS because sin is so serious. The church cannot soften that message! It cannot tolerate sin that destroys that relationship with God among its members, and it cannot tolerate sin when it understands the ETERNAL implications of a soul still in sin when it dies. As a result many will hate the church no matter what, as long as the church stands for what the God of the Bible stands for.

We can’t change the church to fit what we want! We must allow God to change us to be molded and fit into his image. Some will hate the church; some will love it—but what matters is not what men think, but what God says!