Commitment is a word that brings up all sorts of thoughts, baggage, and preconceived notions.  At our final Whiteboard Session (two Sundays ago now) we began to talk about commitment.  I asked everyone to list the things that they are committed to.  Someone said parenting, someone said work, one mentioned marriage, a wise-guy said student loans.  There are lots of things that we are committed to in life.  Ironically, no one said God.  No one said Jesus. And no one said the Church.

Church Isn’t a Building

We live in a culture and a time that sees church as something that we should fit-into our already crazy busy life.  It’s a periphery thing that hangs out there and if we’re able to fit that into the equation of life, then we’re a good person.  AND if we’re able to mix in a small/home/life group, then we’re doubly awesome.  We ask questions like, “Which church do you go to?” or “Where is your church?”  Inherent in these questions is an underlying philosophy that says that church is a building that you go to or a service that you attend.

But church isn’t a building or a service that you “go to.”  It’s a people.  It’s an identity.  It should be central to who we are as Christians.  Rather than a periphery thing that we try to fit into our already packed-out life, church (as an identity) should be at the center – with everything else branching out of that. Note that this does not mean that all of your life should be spent “at the church.” Quite the contrary.

Rather than ask the question, “Which church to you go to?” we should ask, “Which church are you a part of.” Church is a body.  The answer to “Where is your church?” should be “all over this city” (or at least as widely spread as the zip codes of those involved).  People are not “at church” or “not at church” we “are the church.”

Church Isn’t a Grocery Store

If we slip into thinking of church as a building or a service, the danger is that we also slip into treating the church like a grocery store.  When my wife and I buy groceries, we shop for the best products at the best prices in order to get the most bang for our buck and optimize our budget.  We treat the church like a grocery store when sermons and worship music become bacon and eggs and programs and events become milk and cereal.  We treat the church like a grocery store when we shop for the best items – where we can get the most bang for our buck and optimize our budget which is made up of the currency of time, effort, finances, and convenience.

Church Isn’t a Phone App

We live in a consumeristic culture that tells us we need the best phone with the best apps that will save us time, money, and energy simultaneous with making our life easier.  The problem is that we often approach church with this same consumeristic attitude – looking for a church to “go to” on Sundays with a few extras that “fit into our already packed-out life.” One that doesn’t cost us too much money or energy and one that makes us feel good about ourselves.

But the church isn’t an iPhone app.  It won’t save you time, money, energy, or make your life easier.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  Being a part of a church – really “being the church” will cost you time, money, and energy.  It won’t make your life feel easier – it should make it more complicated because the church is a body.  Being a part of the body means being a part of other people’s lives.  And other people have problems – just like you.  So take all of your problems and combine them with others’ and you can see that things complicate really quickly.  But that’s the point.

Christ Loved the Church and Gave Himself up for Her

Galatians 6:2 tells us that we are to bear one another’s burdens.  Bearing one another’s burdens does not come without a cost.  That’s why Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 that “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  Taking up your cross requires laying down your life.  Denying yourself.  Not because Jesus demands it in order to be in right-standing before him, but rather because that’s exactly what he did for us.  He laid down his life.  Ephesians 5:25 reminds us that “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”  Acts 20:28 reminds us that he “bought His church with His own blood.”

If we are Christ’s followers, we too will love the church that he gave himself up for.  Jesus is all in.  He’s fully and radically committed to the church.  Are you?

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(picture via: motivatedphotos.com)