The Church: An Easy Target

Let's face it. It is easy to rip on the church. It is not only easy for non-Christians to rip on the church, but it is also easy for Christians to do so. We can talk about how Jesus did not come to start an institution, but a relationship. I think there is truth to this. At the same time, when those of us who are Christians distance ourselves from the church, we miss the mark. Jesus promised that he woudl build his church and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Still, many times we tell people not to judge Jesus by the church. When we do this, we are disregarding the significance of the church. It seems from Scripture that Jesus does want people to judge him by his church. If they are not seeing him through the church, our response should not be to downplay the church, but to repent.
When the church is failing, it is not that THEY are failing. It is that WE are failing. We need to own the church. The church belongs to Jesus, and we are a part of it. We absolutely need to embrace and own the church.
G.K. Chesterton, my favorite non-biblical author, said in his book Orthodoxy that true patriotism is not simply loving one's country. It is also hating one's country. A person is patriotic if he loves his country enough to hate the things that are wrong with it. I believe that this is how we need to view the church. Do we love the church enough to hate that it is not what it should be? And do we love the church enough to be a part of the solution when the church is falling short?
When the church is an easy target, we can turn and rip on the church. We also can respond by blindly defending the church by saying that things are not really as bad as they appear to be. I am not in favor of being pessimistic about the state of the church, but I am in favor of being realistic. I am in favor of, like my son Jack in this picture, taking a good look in the mirror (by the way, isn't that picture awesome? I love my sons). If my church has problems (and, as is true of all churches, it does), then these are OUR problems. I am not doing any good by ignoring them, defending them, or explaining them away. I am also not helping by leaving the church. This solves nothing (except in some extreme exceptions). I think the best thing that I can do is to own these problems, to be broken over them, to confess and repent about them, and to take action in order to correct them.
I don't think the world expects the church to be perfect. I don't think Jesus does either. But perhaps we can be broken. What if when people ragged on the church, the church responded by saying, "You're right, and we are humbled and broken over our shortcomings. Please forgive us"? It seems that this would speak volumes.

In Psalm 51:16-17 David wrote to God,
For you will not delight in sacrifices, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

That is powerful. God desires brokenness and humility from us. He opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. It is pride when we rag on the church without ownership, or when we distance oruselves from the church because of her (OUR) problems. As the church, and as individuals, we ought to hunger and thirst after humility and brokenness. This is precious in God's sight.