Do you believe in God, but not in church?
Join the crowd.
This seems to describe almost everyone I meet these days. The verbage might change, but the sentiment is the same: People tend to still believe in God, but want little to do with the church.
My initial reaction to this is understanding. After all, Jesus seemed to butt heads with the religious leaders more than anyone else in scripture. If there was anything could elicit the anger and frustration of Jesus, it was the religious establishment that had lost God’s heart.
So when people share their frustration with religion, I understand. As a pastor, I am not trying to win people to lifeless rules, heavy burdens, and institutional preservation. I actually applaud their distaste for such things. Such folks share a lot in common with Jesus.
But there is also something much deeper going on. Criticizing the church might hold some validity. But it is also a cover. A mask. A guise to disguise a deeper truth. The deeper truth is people are not leaving the church due to their devotion to Jesus. They are leaving the church because their belief in God is casual, at best.
Pointing our finger at the church can be a magic trick. It can be an illusion to divert our attention from what is really happening. We want the attention on the church and its problems. Because if we can keep the focus there, it will not turn to us. It will not turn to our apathy towards God. Our unwillingness to invest in eternal things. Our refusal to take up our cross and follow Jesus.
I am not saying the church does not have issues. But let’s be honest: The deeper issue is us. We don’t like church because it actually demands something of our faith. And we are uncomfortable with that. We prefer to keep things casual when it comes to God. We like believing in a generic God because it requires nothing of us. No love. No surrender. No devotion. No church community asking us to actually put our faith into practice.
For most of us, we did not leave the church because of its issues. We left because of our issues. We left the church because we prefer to dabble in spirituality at our convenience, not sell everything to follow Jesus.
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In scripture, John writes, “If anyone says “I love God” and hates his brother, he is a liar.” Harsh? Maybe. But I mostly think John is just being honest with people. Honest about what life ought to look like if we claim to love God. Honest that our love for God has to be connected to our love for one another. Honest with the fact that the two cannot be separated.
So… let’s be honest about our claim of “loving God but not the church”: It does not work that way.
John goes on to say that our love for God is displayed in our love for one another. The two are eternally connected. Our love for each other (the church) is how the world primarily gets to see our love for God. If our love is not displayed there, it does not exist.
So what does our avoidance of the church really say about our love for God? I think if we are being honest it says this:
We are willing to believe in God so long as it does not demand anything of us.
So long as we don’t have to put others, or God, before ourselves.
So long as our love can be theoretical, not practical.
So long as it does not radically alter our lives.
So long as it is convenient.
The church has problems. I get it. But let’s be honest on why we really left the church.
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When God’s love truly gets inside of us, we will find ourselves loving what He loves. And at the top of that list is His church… warts and all.
