CHURCH CAN BE MESSY

In our market-driven culture, people learn “comparison-shopping.” That’s where you compare prices and features to get the most for your dollar. It’s not a bad idea when it comes to buying things and investing your hard-earned money.

The problem of comparison-shopping arises when we apply it beyond its intended scope. Take matrimony, for example. If, after some mileage accumulates in their marriage, Mr. Jones begins to compare his fifty-something wife with the twenty-something babe at work, he might end up making a grave error in judgment. The problem could have been avoided if Mr. J. had just refused to “compare” and “shop.”

Being in a church family is somewhat like that. Granted, church membership is not marriage, and none of us has been required to promise, ”Until death do us part,” as a condition to being part of the Body of Christ. Yet, there is a basic similarity.
Both relationships – marriage and church – are based upon committed love.

Committed love is a comprehensive obligation, which is why some find it too far-reaching, too difficult. Someone who occasionally attended my first church explained such a sentiment this way, with a rare honesty: “The reason I don’t come to church much is that it’s too much bother. I just don’t want to get that close to people, because when you get close to them, you have to deal with their messes.”

Yes, committed love has a cost. It’s not easy. It can be messy. In fact, it’s sometimes downright hard. But that’s what makes it so valuable and so vital. If love were easy, it wouldn’t be worth much.

Our model, of course, is Jesus, and from Him we learn that the essential character of committed love is that it is unconditional. There is no “if” in committed love. This means that we actively stand by each other in support and prayer, that we challenge and encourage one another, even when we’re not particularly crazy about each other. It means that nothing anybody does or says could ever keep us from our relationships in the Body of Christ.

This is what the Holy Spirit told the church at Colossae 1,960 years ago, and it’s what the Holy Spirit is telling the church in Sterling today. Here’s how Paul put it in Colossians 3:12-14: “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other. Yes, forgive as the Lord forgave you. And above all, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

There’s no getting around the fact that church can be messy. That’s true, because committed love is messy. The only way to avoid the mess is to neglect the love. However, that’s just not a valid option, because Jesus commanded His people to love each other. Listen to His words: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

Listen, beloved, to that commandment. Listen, and then obey.