As a youth I struggled with the difference between Christ and the Church/church. I am an idealist by nature and when I see and hear that some say they believe something I expect that they also live it. Now we all know how well that is lived out in the Church and churches all over. People are fallen, selfish, and sinful. That is the greatest struggle we face. We like things to be our way and we like to be comfortable, but does that fit what the biblical image of a follower of Christ? Did Christ guarantee for us comfort and ease in our journey with Him? I think with careful reading of Scripture you'd find that the journey of faith is one of struggle, heartache, and deep soul searching. Jesus didn't say pick up you backpack and follow me, but take up your cross and follow me. The cross is a burden, the cross is a sign of suffering and pain, the cross is what kills us that we may be raised to new life.
The church is not a place of righteous people that have it all together, the church is full of bereft people fallen in sin, burdened by their own shortcomings, needing to hear the message of salvation that our Lord and Savior can bring us. It is a place in which the Holy Spirit strives to bring us to that newness and understanding as we listen to the message and hear the Gospel proclaimed. It isn't a place in which we can be self-righteous, but we must be turned to understand our own unrighteousness that we can let Christ's righteousness fill us.
The success of the church does not depend on us, but is dependent on our full reliance on God. When we try to do it ourselves and in our own way we miss out on the great blessings that God can give us. We miss the opportunity to see God's glorious work in the midst of us. We lose the chance of being renewed in the hope and the love that is Jesus the Christ. We must all be first aware of our fallenness that necessitates the cross on which Jesus gave His body and shed His blood for each and every one of us. Then we can come before that cross, lay our burdens down, step up on that cross, and let our old Adam die that the new Adam can be raised, our daily walk in baptism.
The Church is not the same as the church and neither are they truly representative of Christ, but the Church and the church are the bride and Christ is the bridegroom who is washing us in His blood and cleansing us that we may be that bride to which He is forever joined.
