I may have said this before, but I will say it again: You CANNOT love Jesus and hate His Church, which He died for and established, and is returning for to claim as His Bride.
Let’s just give a hypothetical instance here: you want to be my friend, but you’re constantly speaking bad about my wife (usually the opposite is true…it’s hard to not love my wife!). Then, you begin telling everyone you know how she’s imperfect, how she lets you down, how she doesn’t fulfill every purpose you think she needs to in your life, and things like this: how do you think I will respond when I ultimately find out? I will have no relationship with you whatsoever. Why do we think we can do the same to Jesus’ bride?
Now, am I saying not to scrutinize what is being taught? Absolutely not! We must guard, always, against false teaching, and call out false teachers (let the scriptures be supreme on this issue). Am I saying the Church is perfect? Absolutely not. It is full of people who need Jesus just as much as you do, who are imperfect, who are not Jesus, and thus can’t possibly meet your needs perfectly, nor know your thoughts, nor know when you’re struggling (unless you tell them). Yet, every single one is someone for whom Christ has died. And the purpose of the Church IS community, but it is community with intent on getting to Christ, and so does not exist to cater to the wants, wishes and desires of individual members. So, if this steps on your toes today, and I hope it does because it steps on mine frequently.
The Church is the Bride of Christ, and He is returning for her soon. Are you a part of it? Or are you protesting against it? Examine the Scriptures carefully, and see where you need to stand.
James 1:19-27
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
James 3:1-12
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
