I’ll be honest… I’ve been a part of a church for a good chunk of my life, and I’ve seen some messed up stuff!
What does the Bible say about the church?
1 Corinthians 3:16
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
The church is not a building or an organization, the church is the PEOPLE. God says that not only does He love His church, but that His Spirit dwells in the midst of the church, and He is willing to defend it.
Ephesians 5:25-27
…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
So God is so in love with His church, His family, that He gave Himself up for the church to make you holy, not because you already are holy. God never asked you to start being perfect in order to life life with Him, He meets you in your mess.
Romans 5:8
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God Meets Us in our Mess
Acts 16:16-28
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.
24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
So Paul and Silas are praying and worshiping God, and all of the sudden, a massive earthquake hit that caused all of the jail cells to fly open and all of the prisoners chains fell off.
Naturally, the jailer freaks out. He must have been terrified of the earthquake itself, but also of this unknown God who was wreaking havoc on his normal life, and also the fear of what his commanding officer was going to do to him.
So, he tried to commit suicide.
Acts 16:28-34
28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
If you are like that Jailer, you need to know that trying to get things in your life together on your own is never going to give you the results you’re looking for!
Life change starts with being REAL, being okay with being MESSY, and letting God meet you in your MESS, here TODAY. Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.
Live Messy
Because, let’s be honest… We are all a mess! Every person in the church world-wide is a mess. But, those are the same broken people that Christ died for.
Ephesians 5:25-27
…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
So how do we go from arrogant, egotistical, know-it-alls to a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless?
We be REAL about who we are, and we give out MESS to God.
