Loving Jesus But Not His Church

It seems there is a growing idea that a person can love Jesus but not His church. It’s that someone can have a relationship with Jesus without a participation in His church or a local group of His people who are worshipping and serving Him.

Think about Colossians 1:18 which says that Jesus is “head of the body, the church”. I heard someone say, “How would a wife feel if her husband said, ‘I love your head, but not your body’?” That’s what we’re saying if we say we love Jesus but not His church, His body. That’s what we’re saying if we say we want a relationship with Jesus, but not with His people.

Jesus is different...

Part of the problem is that Jesus is different from His followers. Jesus is perfect in all ways and His people are not. When we’re part of His church we have to deal with imperfect people. Even Christians sin. When they are trying to serve God, they may sometimes fail in how they respond to others, or act inconsistently or even hypocritically. True Christians seek forgiveness when they sin, but sometimes we see false Christians who live in sin, refusing to repent and turn back to God. This makes being part of Christ’s church challenging but doesn’t excuse not being part of Christ’s church. Ephesians 2 reminds us that we too were once immersed in sin and must lean on God’s grace in Christ.

Our interaction is different...

Another part of the problem is that our interaction with Jesus is different from our interaction with His church. Jesus is in heaven and we don’t have to face Him (yet). People who did interact with Jesus while on earth tended to struggle with Him, His perfection, His teaching, His commands, etc. The distance we feel from Him may make it easier to accept Him at times. But members of His church are in our face – we have to deal with them now. Sometimes that is frustrating. But Jesus said that if we love Him, then we’ll love like Him and those He loves (Jn 13:34-35). It’s amazing to be loved, but sometimes hard to love. It’s wonderful to be forgiven, but a challenge to forgive. We love to be blessed, but find it hard to bless. Jesus wants us to be like Him and the church, with its imperfect people, gives us the opportunity to treat others as He has treated us.

Abuses and corruption...

Perhaps one of the greatest problems is that some people have been turned off by abuses and corruption in what they call “organized religion.” Church leaders at times have taught false doctrine and used people to gain power and wealth for their own personal gain. The Scriptures warn that people like this will exist (2 Ti 3:13; Jude) and that people will be turned off to God, even blaspheming Him because of them (Ro 2:24). Our job is to be Christ’s church in spirit and in truth and show it to the world. Our job is to truly be Christ’s church. False churches don’t mean that true churches can’t or don’t exist. And we need to look for and be a part of Christ’s true church.

Jesus said, “I will build My church” (Mt 16:18). He felt His church was important enough to die for it. We need to value it enough to be an active part of it. Don’t tell Jesus that you love Him but not His body, His church.   dd