Fix The Church!

After Pentecost (Proper 22 ) | Year A | Philippians 3:4-14 | TJ Torgerson

This week's New Testament Lectionary passage is Phil 3:4-14. When contemplating this passage today, my mind zigged where I expected it to zag. I thought about the long standing sentiment that people like Jesus, but dislike Christians.

When I have taught through Philippians in the past, the thing I focused on in this passage is where one places the confidence of their salvation. Is it in something outward (like the mutilators of the flesh in v. 3)? Can we, like Paul, boast about our accomplishments and all the ways in which we are religious, and zealous for the cause? We were baptized very young, we are faithful in tithes, and attendance. We read our Bibles often and have a Jesus fish on our bumpers. Or do we, on the other hand, focus on Christ, the power of the resurrection, and running after him? Of course, it is a good thing to contemplate these things. We should often consider where our true focus is as we walk along on our Christian journey. Are we focused on Christ or something else? Is the assurance of our salvation in Christ or our own efforts? Can we echo Paul and say, "I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection!"

Now, of course, we will very quickly answer, "it is Christ, of course! My salvation rests upon Christ and Christ alone!" That is great, but what about the salvation of others? In our evangelism efforts, are we modeling an attitude that says Christ alone or an attitude that says, "work harder"? In our efforts to bring Christ to the masses, are we communicating the beautiful truth that God is already actively at work in each person that we encounter as well as being at work in all of human history, or do we act like we must force a square peg into a board with no hole? Are we panicked or at peace?

The idea that people like Jesus and dislike Christians is not new; Gandhi said something like that once. It is also not really debatable; because how often do we hear about the bad reputation of the church? How often, after hearing about how church people are hate-filled hypocrites, do we wag our finger at "them" and tell “them” to do better? Now, it is true there are things in which we can do better. It is also true that there will ALWAYS be things at which we can do better. So perhaps the fact that people like Jesus but dislike the church is a genuine problem. However, a bigger problem is we keep messing up the solution.

People love Jesus but hate the church. So, we say let's make church better! We do that in a variety of ways, from smoke machines to stained glass windows, or maybe both! We strive hard to make church fun, or to prove that we are fun. We try hard to be relevant, often to such a degree that the message we end up presenting is a spiritualized humanism. We hold event after event, and Christ gets lost in the crowd. We have 3, 5, or 10 easy steps to everything you can possibly imagine, but sometimes with an anemic theology. Religious life hacks served with a side of a bible verse out of context. We can even think moralism is the answer. If we can just show them how good and moral, we are, then they will finally believe!

Consider the times you have invited a friend to church or shared your faith; how much of your energy was spent trying to prove that your church, or you are "one of the good ones"? I have some bad news for you... you're not one of the good ones! You are messed up and broken and imperfect, and you will very likely let that person down in some big or little ways. And your church is filled with people like you.

We can't earn our salvation through our own religious zeal. We also cannot earn the salvation of our neighbor through our own efforts. People love Jesus but hate the church. The solution to that is not to “fix the church.” When my mind zigzagged on this passage today, I quickly thought of a video presentation I saw from Scot McKnight. In this video, he said something to the extent of, "The world loves Jesus but dislikes Christians, so let's give them Jesus!"

People love Jesus and hate the church. Friends, the solution is to give them Jesus.

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