A relatively new phrase is floating around Christendom these days. Perhaps you've seen it: "I love my church." In part, this is a reaction to an awful lot of church bashing that has gone on over the years. I cringe every time I hear someone bring a charge against what the church has not done that it ought to have done or how it has somehow failed. I cringe, because those well-intentioned speakers are talking about the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ.
God has said in His word that the church is His body (Colossians 1:24). God has also said in His Word that Christ has given "himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-27). When we speak of the failings of the church, we speak of a failure of Christ and His promise to build and advance His church. My point here is not to exempt ministers and members of local churches from critique or even censure, but to recognize that the church is a special "being" that serves as a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 2:5) and we need to be careful of impugning the Lord's church even as we observe the errors of the people within her.
On the other hand, I also want to think carefully about what it means to say, "I love my church." We work hard at the church I pastor to help people connect with our church, meaning the family of God that serves together here. I don't want people to say: "This is the church I attend." I want them to say: "This is my church."
Within that construct, however, we will do well to remember that even as we say "this is my church" or "I love my church" that, ultimately, the church belongs to Jesus and it exists for Him above all else. Consider Paul's words in Colossians 1:16-18, "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy."
I draw our attention to the above passage to offer this caveat about "my church." My church is not about me, but about Him first, only, and always. The minute my church becomes about anything less, then we have deviated from the purpose and focus of His church. That Jesus is the foundation and end of my church is vital to your and my participation in the respective churches we attend.
