More on Jesus, me, and the church

Let's get something straight. The first century church WAS NOT PERFECT! In fact they were just as much the sinners as we are today. Don't try to tell me that the reason for our "image" problem today is because we aren't as good as they were. And that they way to cure it is by better behavior on our part. And don't try to tell me that the church in the first century were such darlings that everyone loved them and they always did the right thing. They weren't loved by everyone - they were often persecuted. They didn't always do the right thing. They needed chastisement often got it by a letter from an apostle or prophet.

The church at Rome was divided between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. Apparently there was some judging going on that wasn't all that pleasant (Rom.14-15). Paul had to set them straight. And let's not forget that Paul and Barnabas had a rather LARGE spat concerning John Mark. The church at Corinth was quite divided. There are at least four groups that we know of. They were quite egotistical about their gifts and who knows what else. We won't even get into the Galatian error. Regardless of what that error entailed, Paul was pretty mad about it. He didn't have anything good to say to them in the letter. The Philippians had a couple of ladies arguing. I'm reasonably sure that their argument is probably bigger than we realize otherwise Paul wouldn't have dealt with it. The church at Ephesus had some elders who would begin to devour the flock. Later Jesus in Revelation says that the church at Ephesus was way too interested in putting people down than loving them. The church at Thyatira tolerated sin and the one encouraging the sin. The Laodiceans were quite self-sufficient. They didn't need anyone - including Jesus. The church at Saris was hung up on their past reputation and were dead to the present. Don't forget that Peter was confronted by Paul and stood condemned for his actions in Antioch.

And yet the problem is us. As Paul told those who trusted in The Law (Romans 2:17-24) that their inconsistent behavior was causing the Gentiles to blaspheme God. Those outside of Christ will blaspheme the name of our savior because of our inconsistency and sin. But we will always be sinners. Those before us were sinners, and those after us will be sinners. Our sin will always get in the way. We will never overcome the fact that we are imperfect. So the way to overcome this is not by telling us how good the first century church was. We need to focus on our savior and Lord. We need a healthy dose of his grace and how to be gracious to others. We need to keep our eyes and ears on the Word that God graciously brings to us and heed what it says.

We will always have disagreements. We will always have people dividing who think they are right in their beliefs. We will always fail under the scrutiny of the world. And yet if we realize that we are sinners we will seek a power outside ourselves (2Cor.4:7; 1Cor.2:1-5). We will seek the one who can make us adequate (2Cor.3:4-6). So we are the problem and the solution. But we are only the solution as we trust in Christ. Praise to the one who is perfect on our behalf.