What is the purpose of a church?
“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” – Ephesians 3:10-12
If there is any segment of society that could not walk in the doors of your church and feel welcomed and loved- it is not a church you attend but a group of people with similar legalistic mentality that just want mutual comfort in the rule book they follow! And they all follow a different rule book!
The manifold wisdom of God is this- He wants a relationship built on Love with you! Since Jesus came and died and rose again it’s possible because that opened up the ultimate forgiveness- Grace!
A Grace-Full church therefore is this- Love!
It is a house, a building, a barn or a bar where people meet, everyone is welcome with a non-condemning, non-judgmental spirit and Love prevails above all!
At a Grace-Full church you might be sitting next to a prostitute, share a hymn book with a homosexual or kneel and pray with a rapist- but there would be Love!
At a Grace-Full church that I could picture you might have a choir director that just got out of prison and a person playing the guitar who had more tattoos and piercings than an entire Hell’s Angels biker club- but there would be Love!
With Jesus- labels went out the window, as did guilt, shame and condemnation- but there was always Love!
So here is a simple question for you- Can we really be about our Fathers business and show His wisdom and share His Love while we label, judge and exclude any of the least of these?
There was no segment of society that was worth less in the eyes of Christ that any other- so why is it today that we tell people they have to change to be acceptable to our church?
Love the creation that God made and He will make the changes that need to be made- it’s not my job to change people and it’s not yours either- our job is to Forgive like there was no yesterday and Love like there is no tomorrow!
