Redeeming Church

 Hey, Cobblestone,

Three weeks ago I wrote to you about the nature of redemption. The long and short is this: Redemption runs on love, and always has – if there’s no affection for the person or object or activity being redeemed… well, it won’t be. I wouldn’t expect you to remember why we we’re brushing up on the topic, so here’s Why: in this ongoing “Three R’s” series, where we decide which road to take at the intersection of culture and faith – Receive something as all good, Reject it as all bad, or Redeem something inherently good from whatever not-good purposes it may have been put to – there are some heavy-duty matters still to consider. Frankly, I’ve been eager to write on the redemption of marriage or sex or civil government or some other hot topic on my list. But it seems the Lord’s priorities are elsewhere at the moment – this letter and three to follow will deal with the redemption of Jesus’ bride, the church, and what Christians can do to cooperate in the work.  

Jesus has a very definite plan for the church, and at the right time he will present her to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing (Ephesians 5:27). A quick glance around will confirm we’re not there yet. Many details of the plan have been revealed; others, the Lord will keep to himself (see Deuteronomy 29:29). But we can be certain there’s enough work to keep us busy till he puts on the final touches. What might the work be? My brain is not large enough or swift enough to give an exhaustive list, so I’ll hoist up a few thought-starters to get us going.

It seems an unlikely place to begin, but let’s ask Haggai how it was going in his day. You remember old Haggai; he was just a couple weeks back in our Bible reading plan. He came to the returned exiles in Jerusalem to find them not doing the very thing God brought them home to do: restore worship in the holy city. What happened? By gleaning Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and the early chapters of Zechariah, a long and formidable list of obstacles comes together. Basically, there were four major monsters to battle: Disappointment, Past Trauma, Opposition, and Distraction. If I were writing a book, rather than a weekly letter, each of these would get a chapter or two. As it is, I’ll ask you to trust me to “contextualize” faithfully, and I’ll trust you to go back and look up whatever I don’t make sufficient sense of. Deal? 

I wouldn’t be doing any harm to holy Scripture to say you and I are in much the same predicament as the returning Jews. God’s people have always been cast as pilgrims and exiles, seeking a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10). In the souls of the redeemed, every other city and foundation is merely a tease – at best. There’s no reason to think God’s people, in this present age, wouldn’t run up against the same monsters as our forbears did 2,500 years ago.

When Haggai came to Jerusalem, he expected to see a lot more work done on the temple – a loose paraphrase would have him asking, “What the heck have y’all been doing?!” Really loose paraphrase, but maybe we can hear echoes of Jesus in Haggai. We could ask ourselves and one another, “When Jesus comes again and does the final-and-best work of redeeming his bride, how much work is he expecting us to have done already?” The best answer I can think of: “A great deal.” As in times past, he has given his Holy Spirit as Helper and Advocate – the difference in this age being that the Holy Spirit is not only with or upon the people of God, but within. Does that shed a more favorable light on cooperating with Jesus in this work of redemption? I hope so. Now let’s look at the monsters again.  

It’s tempting to blame Disappointment, Past Trauma, and/or Opposition for the bulk of our troubles. Every one of us has had a belly-full of each, with every reason to expect more before this life is over. But is there anything new under the sun? The old-timers wept with a loud voice when they saw how puny the foundations of the new temple were (Ezra 3:12); the Babylonian exile was a great trauma; enemies of the Jews were willing to kill to stop the work (Nehemiah 4:11). Precedent has been set, big time. So this is where I ask you to remember: I love you, Church. Far more beastly than Disappointment, Past Trauma, and Opposition all rolled together, Distraction leads the pack of monsters. 

“Life comes at you fast,” as one ad agency was hired to say. I can’t say it’s untrue. I may also say that our concept of “fast” is off to a large degree. Is there time to accomplish every work the Lord assigns us? Jesus would say so – see, for example, Matthew 6:33. I like agreeing with Jesus, and I know most of you well enough to believe when you say you do, too. The problem lies in walking out the agreement, doesn’t it? Best I can tell, our most effective strategy will involve putting a sword through the heart of Distraction, and looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2) – and the church he established.

Distraction and affection are mortal enemies. Good husbands will have learned that by now – good parents, too. The realization is open to anyone who’ll take time to notice. Whatever else may be said about love and affection, this may certainly be said: Love and affection without a proper recipient is neither. Distraction blurs the field of recipients. Imagine doing brain surgery and tap dancing at the same time. Right. Given the fact that redemption runs on love, we stand little chance of cooperating with Jesus in the full and final redemption of his church if our affections are pulled anywhere/everywhere else. 

“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house (the temple) lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes” (Haggai 1:4-6). Does any of that sound familiar? I can’t imagine it doesn’t. Far be it from me to be throwing guilt on you – my dearest hope is to help you focus. And I’m not throwing rocks at anybody’s “paneled house” (even my own). But I will say this…

My soul perceives that Jesus is doing a clarifying work in each of his churches separately, calling all his brothers and sisters to truly become family within those gatherings. We could grit our teeth and try to be more obedient, try to put up with one another better. Or we could lead with affection, without which redemption can’t happen anyway. All the biggest mistakes I’ve made in the local church can be attributed to misguided affection – or sheer lack of it. When the time is exactly right, Jesus will do a work of unification in the total church, such as we’ve never seen. It may be in the last ten seconds before he receives his bride, but Ephesians 5 guarantees that it will indeed happen. Meanwhile, our mission is to focus our Jesus-powered affections on those tangible, nameable, look-‘em-in-the-eye recipients.

Confession: I have a tough time focusing on the work in front of me. As soon as I set my mind on loving my extended family better, the nuclear family calls me inward. As soon as I set my mind to evangelize my neighborhood, the broader community calls me outward. As soon as I reaffirm my commitment to the local church, the Big-C Church stumbles into a ditch (as if it’s my job to pull her out). As I write this letter, I can’t stop thinking about the meeting I’ll be late for if I don’t make the letter’s deadline (besides putting Stacey and Rita behind in posting it!). The ironic part? None of these recipients are mutually exclusive. Throw in some politics, some noise, a pandemic, and… stuff – you know how it rolls. But I’ll tell you what, dear friends, when I pause just long enough to consider the idea of letting affection take the lead, a little child giggles inside of me. I’m praying, even now, that a good moment’s reflection will give rise to the same sound in you.

Next week we’ll chase down some more dragons. For now, I’ll leave you with the words Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians, once Jesus had him cooling his jets, under house arrest in Rome: God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:8).      

Grace and Peace (and a clean kill on distraction),

John