‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25:40

I love the church. It is an imperfect mixture of a people struggling with sins that have found life and hope in the grace of Jesus Christ. People are complex. Christians are a complex people in the midst of transformation. They do many things that are hurtful and frustrating. Anyone who has spent any amount of time around churches know that God’s people are not immune to the foolishness of our human brokenness. In fact, when a Christian does something wrong it usually becomes fuel to attack all church life and the God who is being proclaimed. Many people have been scared and burned by hurts of bad religion. However, the imperfect should not cause us to abandon the ideal that God has revealed in the life of Jesus Christ. We do not praise and lift up near enough the stories of good news that God is doing through his church today.
Recently, I learned a story of a young man whose life was forever changed by the church. John’s story starts in a dark place. His mother abandoned him when he was a little boy. It was just he and his father. He grew up at the bar that his father owned. They lived in the apartment space above the bar. When the bar closed, the party moved upstairs. As a child, he saw drug and alcohol abuse of every kind. When he was in the 7th grade, he was walking to school one winter morning when a car pulled up beside him. It was one of his classmates and his family. “You want a ride?”, they asked. “No, I walk this way everyday”, he replied. “Don’t you have a coat?”, they asked kindly. “No, I grew out of it. I’ll be fine”, he assured them. Later that day when John came home from school he found a package sitting on the front porch of the house. When he opened it he found a brand new jacket inside.

Soon, he developed a friendship with his classmate and family. They began to take him to church and he became involved in the youth group. He heard the gospel and became a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. When John was in High School his mother came back into the picture. They were just beginning to reconnect when she became ill with cancer. She died. John and his father were the only family. John’s father was still bitter towards her abandoning them and refused to go. The service was in another town. John went by himself. He was seated by himself in the family section at the funeral home. To his surprise his youth minister came and brought his entire youth group. They were his family. They sat with John. When he stood to view his mother, they stood with him. He was not alone.

This is the church of Jesus Christ being the church. There is no perfect church. People, even people of faith, still have troubles and challenges. However, when Christians live up to their calling in Christ they shine. John’s life was forever changed when one family felt God calling them to act. John learned that he was loved by a God he had never known until he met Him in the face of the church. As the years passed, John helped to lead his father to Christ. Today, John is a youth minister changing lives just like his.

If you want to hear more, watch my latest sermon on this topic Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?