Matthew 16:18
In review of the past two pieces, the word "church" is a noun, thus it must be a person, place, or thing. The Bible reveals that Jesus’s Church is not a place or a thing, rather it is people, people who believe in Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
Now, I want to make a key statement about the nature of Jesus’s Church: Jesus’s Church is loving.
First, some of you may have this response: “Hunter, how can this be the nature of Jesus’s Church when I have been hurt really bad by a Christian?” Good question.
Honestly, I have numerous personal stories about being hurt by Christians. And I have been told by other people about hurts they experienced from other Christians.
Just a unique suggestion: Write down on paper the name of a Christian who hurt you, and maybe even write down what that person did. Then pray to forgive that person, asking for help from Jesus. Then rip up that paper to shreds. (I just did this myself.)
(And note I am better about keeping certain boundaries with people who are prone to hurt others on a continuing basis.)
Back to this serious question: How can the nature of Jesus’s Church be loving when so many of us have been hurt really bad by Christians?
In order to recognize Jesus’s Church as loving, we need to start with the head of the Church, who is Jesus. Jesus is always loving.
Jesus loves you and me so much that Jesus died on a cross as the substitute for our sins.
Let us ponder a few Scripture verses which tell of the nature of Jesus.
“…God is love…” (I John 4:16).
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us…” (I John 3:16).
“We love because he first loved us” (I John 4:19).
To be personal, when it seems like I have been hurt one too many times by a plethora of Christians, I work to focus on the fact that Jesus loves me. The reason I have salvation is because Jesus died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins of anyone. Jesus was the atoning sacrifice for the consequence of sins, which is spiritual death in hell. I was in need of forgiveness, and Jesus forgave me.
Continuing on with this fact:
“[Jesus] is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:2).
This is one of a number of verses which proclaim the fact that anyone has the opportunity to be saved. There is no elite group of human beings who were predestined to be saved while all other people were predestined to be doomed in hell.
God made all people in His image! God loves all people! Jesus died for all people!
On the other hand, the Bible teaches that not all people will be saved. (See Matthew 26:28 for example.) Each person has the opportunity to receive the gift of salvation from Jesus, or reject the gift. Each of us has a decision to make.
But what about those people who have received Jesus, and who are grafted into Jesus’s Church? Should we expect they will keep hurting us?
Back around the turn of the century, (yes I am getting old), I read several books over a period of a few years by Dwight Moody, and from one of those paperbacks I learned the principle of “justification” and “sanctification.” Putting those big terms in my own words as a young Christian, I defined justification as “being forgiven by God,” and I defined sanctification as “the process of being made holy by God.” I add now that justification involves gaining God’s righteousness from Him, and the definition of sanctification which I latched onto when I took two spiritual formation classes at a seminary, is to grow in the love and knowledge of Jesus, to be made more like Jesus in our heart.
I sometimes still make mistakes which hurt people. I still need to grow more in the love and knowledge of Jesus. I still need the help of the Holy Spirit to become more like Jesus in my soul. I still need the help of the Holy Spirit to be a truly loving person.
The great news is that after following Jesus for over 32 years, my heart is incredibly more loving than I was 33 years ago. I have genuinely loved people for years.
Right now I think of one specific expression of my true love, which is a personal story of which I will refrain from details. The bottom line is simple: I gave a backpack to a teenager. Please know, I am convinced the gift was given out of true love.
Regarding others, I sometimes lament the lack of love in Christian communities I was a part of. Yet when I start thinking of the true love which was expressed by a number of people in Christian communities I was a part of, I even remember more and more love expressed by brothers and sisters.
For example, a memory comes to me of a time a woman in my church gave a Christmas gift to a child from an impoverished family. That woman in my church loved Jesus, and I could tell she was so grateful to have an opportunity to give that big gift to a child who lived in poverty. It was an expression of true love.
From a number of sisters and brothers-in-Christ, I have known true love!
Jesus’s Church is a body full of true love, because Jesus is Love, and as we followers of Jesus live by His love, true love will be known. May we plead with God for help to be more like Jesus in our hearts.
Hunter Irvine
