So I spoke candidly about my identity crisis last week. If you weren't able to read it, go back and read my story. Because of that identity crisis, I was forced to see and experience "church" in a whole new way... I refused to allow my hurting heart the opportunity to keep me from “going to church”, even though there were days of healing and uncertainty, I am grateful that the Lord allowed this experience to refine me rather than define me. So in my journey towards restoration, after being banished, there were precious moments when I realized that banishment really means something so much more than a door closing in our lives. It is actually a sacred moment where you are SENT into your destiny… And God sent me to see something I had never even thought was possible, He sent me to see “church” in a whole new way.
You see if the church can’t give us identity, then the question becomes “Why do we go to church?” What is the reason we gather in a building, or in a home, or in a place? What is the reason we feel called to serve in a church (whether in children’s ministry, teaching other believers, taking up an offering, or holding a door), or preach on a pulpit in a church building, or worship together with other believers? Have these things become religious rituals that we’ve somehow made requirements in the House of The Lord? What does it truly mean to BE the church? These were the questions I wrestled with when my own idols and identities came crashing down on April 1, 2019. I had made “going to church” an idol. I had made my “position” within my church my identity. And when those were taken from me, I was left wondering who I was and why I even allowed myself to call a church building my home, especially when I felt more alone and orphaned than I ever had in my life…
You see the church is not designed to give you identity, but it is designed to give us purpose! And I’m not talking about a denomination or a church building, or even a ministry. I am talking about our purpose within the BODY of CHRIST. You have a function within the Body of Christ; we are all individually and collectively made to work together in unity, just like our very own body does. In Ephesians 4, Paul talks about this Body of Christ. A body that is maturing, whole, joined, and knit together by ligaments, every part working properly, building itself up in love, with Christ as the head. (Ephesians 4:15-16) And Paul is not talking about church buildings or denominations here. He is talking about us individually and collectively as people.
So the truth is that church is not limited to a building, but we are called to gather and assemble together for some very specific reasons that are also found in Ephesians Chapter 4… Christ gave gifts to the Body, His Church, “in order to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12) And those gifts are people (apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers ((Ephesians 4:11)), they are purposed specifically within the body to help equip, build, unify faith and knowledge of the Son of God, and help us grow in maturity and imitation of Christ.
We gather to grow, and to grow up in order to assemble for battle against the enemy. The jobs of those who are gifted to lead within the body are to train up others within the body so that they can function and position themselves for the return of our Bridegroom. So our leaders within the body equip us for ministry, then it is our job to minister. They build up the body and give us strength and encouragement so that we then give others in our circles of influence strength and encouragement. And they are called to do these things until we come to unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, and that has always been the mandate. We are to preach and teach until Christ returns. And how will we know that we are growing? There will be a maturity that is evident because we will look like Christ. The Church will look like Christ, because He is the head, it is His Body. All of us collectively, in unity, will look like Christ… We will walk in the authority that tramples the head of serpents, and lay hands on the sick and they will recover, and we will raise the dead back to life. Now, that sounds a lot like PUSHING BACK THE GATES OF HELL. That sounds like THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST!!!
I had a very enlightening conversation with my dear family friend, Pastor Robin Tittle yesterday. And there was something that she said that confirmed that God’s timing is perfect. She was telling me about how she is preaching right now about the Church of America, and how God is showing us what He wants church to be… She told me that God has revealed to her that we look to the all the evil in the world to tell us when Christ is going to return. But our focus should actually be on something else as an indicator that the Lord is returning… She said in the book of Revelation there are two women who are described, the “great whore” and the “Bride”. The Lord revealed to her that we are constantly looking at “the great whore” to tell us the return of our Groom, when the indicator for the return of Christ is found in these verses… “Let us rejoice and exult and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready;” Revelation 19:7. The sign of the return is in the fact that the Bride was MAKING HERSELF READY. She was positioning herself, she was purifying herself, she was eagerly awaiting her Groom, and because she was found MAKING HERSELF READY, then she would be granted to privilege of being clothed with fine linen, bright and pure which would represent the righteous deeds of the saints…
We are the saints. We are the church. We are the body. We are called to so much more than Sunday pews and worship sets full of our favorite songs… And I’m telling you all of this because I myself had to come to this realization. I want to be found getting ready! And not getting ready to go to a building! I want to be found walking in the authority of Jesus Christ, the authority He died to give us! I want to be found praying for those who are afflicted and hurting, and encouraging those who are oppressed. I want to be found on the front lines of injustice and evil within our world, to stop the darkness from taking one more innocent victim. I want to be found raising the dead back to life! I want to found living it out every day, not just when the church doors open. I want to found worshiping and praising God, even when the situation looks hopeless. I want to be found equipping the believer for more than a Sunday sermon, but equipping those around me for the everyday ministry of raising families, going to work, shopping at Walmart, and loving even my enemies. I want to be found pushing back the gates of hell, and with fear and trembling I want to preach, and teach, and lead, and disciple a generation until my Groom, OUR GROOM returns…
And the Angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” Revelation 19:9
