Church isn’t everything.

Every person who craves more of the Lord has to find this out for themselves.
And that can be a rocky, sad, disappointing path.

Church is a lot. But it’s not everything.

We are called to our own personal, intimate, daily fellowship directly with the Lord.
We don’t need an intercessor, a High Priest, as in the olden days.
We can go directly to the Throne. We can talk and walk and be one with the Lord.
The curtain is ripped in two. Go right in.

I call this having the Red Phone.
We can pick it up any time and talk with Him.

We’re able to be as intimate with God, through Christ, as Adam and Eve were in the Garden, before the Fall.

Church is great.
It’s an expression of Christ.
His Body, even.

But it’s not everything.

Disappointed Christians writhe in pain as they find this out for themselves.
They are hurt by someone in the church.
Disgusted by politics in the church.
Saddened by apathy in the church.

So what do they do? Leave the church. Like hitchhikers looking for a ride to Glory, they hit the road, thumb out, looking for the perfect place.

Pssst, guys.
Hitchhiking is illegal.
If you’ve got someplace to go, you’re going to need to get there yourselves.

Christ is our High Priest.
Praise God, He’s right there!
YOU DON’T NEED TO TRAVEL.
He’s right next to you.
Talk to Him.

Why, then, do we long for an intermediary, or a team of intermediaries?
We are trained through tradition to believe that someone else is going to do it for us. Explain it to us.

It works like this. Church-goers become accustomed to someone else teaching us the Word.
(Thus we don‘t rely on the Holy Spirit, our teacher.)
We desire a person, preferably one who has been to seminary, who will listen to our struggles and comfort us.
(We forget that Christ told us that the Holy Spirit is our comforter and our counselor.)
We want a safe and soft place to fall, this side of eternity. And hopefully, a few meals if we’ve had a baby, or cards when we’ve been sick.
(Christ himself can feed us and speak words of comfort to us. Do you believe??

What if church is what is keeping us from Christ?
In many cases this is true. And our enemy, Satan, delights in that.

The prescription? An attitude adjustment. Church is great. But it’s not everything.

Here’s some of what church is. Church is:

A fellowship of like-minded people.
(Or minded people that we like…we are called to unity, not uniformity.)
A place for corporate worship, many voice to join in song.
(Praise the Lord, all the earth!)
A place to share our gifts with others, and benefit from others’ gifts to the Body.
(If your gift is teaching, teach…if it’s serving, serve!)

Here’s the deal. Christ told us to pray for our daily bread. That means that we pray to be fed every single day.

What’s the food? Christ himself. That’s right, the Bread of Life.

He said in John 6:35,
“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

He didn’t say, “He who comes to church will never go hungry.”

He said, “He who comes to ME will never go hungry.”

One of our problems has been that we’ve gotten comfortable with someone else feeding us bits of bread, little Christ-bites. Like baby birds being fed by a mother bird, we’ve even gotten accustomed to someone else chewing up the food and feeding us partially digested bits.

No more! Gather your own bread, your own Christ. Feast on Him, and Him alone. Don’t expect or even allow someone else to do that for you. If that’s disappointing, I’m sorry. And I am sorry, it’s a hard lesson to learn. But Oh! The glory of intimacy with Him! It’s worth it!

Go directly to Him.
Let Him feed you.
You will never go hungry.
You will never be thirsty.

And then, God willing, you’ll find a body of believers that encourages you in this world.

Church is not God.
Don’t expect it to be.


Thanks to Margaret, Suzanne, Steve and Jeanette for conversations this week that helped clarify all this.