The Perfect Church part 3

"One of the seven angels who held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come here. I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." He took me in spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

It gleamed with the splendor of God. Its radiance was like that of a precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal." Revelation 21:9-11

I suppose I could probably end up writing a book on this subject, being that this is yet a third part of this blog series. And I am sure, even after this, there will be more to say.

As we know from "The Misunderstood God", Love believes all things.

I heard it put poetically in a song by one of my favorite bands "Saviour Machine". The Song is called "Love never dies." There is a line that I think captures the thought wonderfully. It goes "Love desperately cries unto the unborn child in your eyes."

In short, love sees what will be, what can be, the wonderful things that are in the waiting that have not yet been revealed or materialized in this physical world.

I am struck by the description of the Bride of the Lamb spoken of in Revelation. The entire chapter is dedicated to pointing out every breathtaking detail of this mythic city of the New Jerusalem. Of course we know through careful study that this magnificent, radiant city represents His Church.

Even in John's day the Church was having problems being one. There were a lot of divisions and dissension and disputes. In some places, sin was rampant (i.e. the Church of Corinth).

In the beginning of Revelation, John makes some strong exhortations, encouragements, as well as stern rebukes to the wayward churches.

I find at the end of Revelation a gorgeous, breathtaking picture of the Bride at the last day, that is, the finished work. Reading through the details we find something so beautiful, so pure and so heavenly that is nothing like this world has ever seen. The Bible makes it clear that the Bride is kept free of corruption and is kept in purity.

Those who are awake know that this is a far cry from where the Church is today. We see a broken body split into thousands of denominations, arguing and debating and attacking each other.

Some denominations are given to gross sin, others have resigned to stoic, cold, lifeless religious practice. It hasn't really changed much since the days of John. If any skeptic or cynic were to take a look at Revelation and see what the final picture of the Church will be they would laugh and state how impossible such a thing is to make the Church look like that by the condition of today.

I pointed out previously that God has no problem rebuking The Church. Many, if they don't understand that God IS Love will never take this rebuke well. So the question is, WHY is God so harsh in rebuking churches like Laodicea? It is because God knows we are much better than that. We deserve to act better than that. He knows our potential, He sees our beauty. And when we toss that aside and degrade to the mediocre, lifeless routine, He gets angry.

Can you imagine if I had a child who had every talent and gift in the world and could be a success at anything he touched but he threw his life away using drugs, alcohol, and sleeping around with whoever? I would be furious. And for good reason. Because the love inside of me knows that the child is great and can accomplish anything, yet he throws it all away and sells out.

When I address the hard issues of rebuke and such for the Church I am told "Well, the Church isn't perfect." Or I am told that I should just find another church to my liking. Neither response gets anyone anywhere. We can't settle for mediocrity by stating "well, the church isn't perfect". And leave it at that. True, it ISN'T perfect, but Love knows that it could be SO much better and do so much better if only we would see the truth about ourselves.

And leaving a "church" to go find another one won't solve anything. God doesn't abandon His people. Love always perseveres.

The problem is that the Church twists and turns and squirms, rather than face the problems and deal with them head on and change according to where God wants to take her.

Yesterday, the words of a pastor I knew came to mind. He is impassioned and wants to do real good to change the city of Spokane. He wants to transform the people's lives in the community and bring it together to know God's love. And this is a great idea and exactly what God has in mind.

Yet I also know, about this specific gathering that they, like MANY church institutions abroad are focused on what their specific gathering is doing and cannot think outside of its walls.

While I was thinking about this I was driving through some beautiful neighborhoods and I saw about 4 different church buildings within the space of half a mile from each other. Two of them were within half a city block from each other. I began wondering how many of these places have pastors with the same kinds of visions, yet they want to do it alone. I remember thinking that there would be an immense power and a real force if only these pastors could think outside of their buildings and realize that those who gather in these places are valid, vital, and essential parts of the Church that could very easily accomplish this vision.

But she won't for various reasons. There are always excuses, problems, differences, disagreements over minor points of the Law. Some church gatherings persist in gross sin and demand the right to do so. Whatever the case, the Church is crippled and won't change.

I began to cry in a mixture of sorrow and a sense of awe. I thought about how great the Church truly could be. I saw her through the eyes of love. I saw that she could do so much better than she ever did even in the first century. And I felt a sorrow and even a jealous anger when I saw the barriers, walls, and obstacles of backwards thinking that hindered her from shining radiantly like the book of Revelation describes.

So some may reject my words when I speak boldly against what goes on in The Church. If they knew that I see her through the eyes of love. If they knew that I see her as she was meant to be and that I see what she is capable of doing. If they knew that I see what hinders her and am impassioned about getting rid of the obstacles and the sins and barriers that renders her powerless. They would then understand my angry and impassioned words.

When I see the Church, I don't see her in this ragged, divided, disputing and broken condition riddled with sin and gross error. I see what John on the Isle of Patmos saw. I see her in her radiant, flawless beauty that God endowed her with. I see her as the spotless bride of the lamb. And I am a man in love with what I see.