Jesus Hearts His Church

The Church has been getting a lot of attention these days; but probably not the type it would like.

Several weeks ago there was a viral YouTube video titled “Jesus Hates Religion” that essentially argued that Jesus resents the religion that was founded after him because of its sins, and if you could only just scrape it all away and boil Christianity down to what’s really fundamental you’d be left with just following in the ways and teachings of Jesus.

In a similar vein, Newsweek recently ran a cover story, "Forget the Church: Follow Jesus”, which argued,
"Christianity has been destroyed by politics, priests, and get-rich evangelists. Ignore them and follow embrace him...If you stripped Christianity of the doctrines of the incarnation, resurrection, and the various miracles, the message of Jesus was the deepest miracle. And that it was radically simple...The difference between the real Jesus and the Church’s embellishments is as ‘diamonds’ in a ‘dunghill’."

According to this article if you simply scrape away all the extra trappings of the Church’s doctrines, following Jesus is really about the adherence to some simple moral rules and the Church is the enemy not the leader of such efforts.

Twenty million people viewed the YouTube video, there are millions of people who subscribe to Newsweek, and many other news agencies around the internet touted both as avant-garde heralds of lost truth; but are they right? 

The Plaintiff’s Merit

I think the first thing to say in response is “yes,” there is some merit to the arguments forwarded and allegations against the Church.

Follow Jesus!

First off, emphasizing that people should follow Jesus more closely is a great thing to advocate for. The Church desperately needs to re-evangelize itself to the way, life, and teachings of Jesus!

Theological Complications  

The plaintiff’s also have a point that theology today does seem a bit “embellished.” It doesn’t take a PhD in church history to sense that what used to be just Jesus’ simple teachings about loving God and neighbor seem to have become over the centuries a labyrinth of endlessly nuanced dogmatic theology with more volumes than one could possibly read in several lifetimes. If Christ is for the huddled uneducated masses then why can only PhD's seem to makes sense of it sometimes? The genius simplicity of the Gospel does seem to be obscured.

Moral Sins

In addition to theological obfuscation, the Church has also had it’s moral issues over the course of history and we simply need to admit that. There have been endless arguments, pope’s that belonged in jail, priests who have abused children, the church has caused wars and played in dirty politics. And yes, this still goes on today with money loving tv preachers, politically power hungry tools who twist the Gospel to meet their purposes, and priests who molest the defenseless. 

Organizational Confusion

To make things worse the Church is also an obvious exponent of "organized religion" and therefore immediately suspect and dubious in the popular mind. Perhaps this criticism is not also without its merit; the institutionalized Church can indeed have too much red tape, too much bickering, and it doesn't always spend it’s money in the right ways. 

An Apologetic of the Church

So yes, the various critiques of the Church that are going around these days have some merit.  But I don’t think it means that we should all abandon the church. Rather, it means that we are in need of mercy, that we need God’s grace, and that we have a lot to say we’re sorry for; but it doesn’t mean that we should give up on God’s dream to have a people who worship him, who love each other, and who reach out to the world by inviting the lost into this holy community.

Moreover, I think that there is much that can be said for in defense of the Church and it’s necessity in every Christian’s life. 

Epistemological Necessity: 

How does someone who claims to be "just following Jesus" know who Jesus is in the first place? You can't just look out your window and derive the stories of Jesus! The Bible didn't just fall from outer space, but rather it is the ancient first generation witness of the Church who wrote, collected, and painstakingly passed this specific set of holy writings down for the edification of all Christ’s followers. 

The Bible is one of the greatest gifts of the Church and to tote around a Bible and then to say that you don't need the Church sounds a lot like an ungrateful sophomoric rebellious teenager.

Theological Necessity: 

Furthermore, even with your Bible in hand you are still going to need the Church to help  you know what it means. We are separated from the Bible by oceans of time, space, culture, and langue and therefore interpreting these ancient texts is best left to highly trained professionals. 

The Bible may tell you "plainly" somethings about Jesus but it doesn't parse out the doctrines of the incarnation, Christ's work on the cross, how Jesus relates to the Father and the Holy Spirit, or many other theologically complicated issues. If you are going to follow Jesus and not just make up your own version of the Christian faith then you're going to need the help of the great doctors of the Church. 

If you don't listen and learn from the Church on these matters and instead do this doctrinal work yourself then how is it that you're not just making stuff up when you "follow Jesus?" And if you're just making stuff up then what is really behind your judgements, and how are you going to avoid simply creating a religion for yourself that justifies exactly who you already are?

Moral Exemplars

Additionally, even with a Bible and sound doctrines in hand, how are you going to know what it looks like to actually follow Jesus rightly? Who are going to be your moral exemplars? Here again you are going to need the Church to show you how to live and what it means to live rightly. The Church’s saints are the living interpretations of what it means to read scripture rightly and to follow Jesus. 

Sacramental Benefit: 

Looking at courage and morality of the Church’s saints can be a bit like looking at a pro-football team from the sidelines and wishing that you too could do what they did. Even if you want to follow Jesus through the examples of the saints, how are you going to become capable of such things? Can you do this through mere herculean effort with your own broken and sinful will power? Probably not. In order to become a saint you are going to need the effective empowerment of the Church’s sacraments. 

Abundant Grace

Moreover, if “following Jesus” is all about your hermited personal spiritual enrichment then who is going to encourage you, or pray for you? Where is there room for Christian community in your life? If “following Jesus” isolates you from the benefit of Christian community the you will have missed one of God’s greatest blessings: 

" 'Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!' (Psalm 133:1)...It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians...It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share God’s Word and Sacrament. Not all Christians receive this blessing” 
(Bonhoeffer, Life together)

The Church is not just an institutionalized burden of "following Jesus", but a gracious ark where tired travelers can come together and be in community. 

Incarnational Inevitability of Bureaucracy: 

But once you get yourself into a community questions of polity, politics, and management are going to arise. Who is going to lead? What happens if there is a disagreement among you? What projects are you going to do? Who controls the money? Where will you meet? You are going to need some rules, leaders, policies, and red tape! The fact is that you will always have to deal with politics in the church, it's an inevitable fact because whenever you get real, imperfect, people together you’re going to have to navigate the various conflicts of interest. 

Other Responses:

In a direct response to the video above this talented priest makes many of the same points I've made in a creative way.

Final Thoughts: 

I’m in my final paragraph which means that I have only a little bit more time to drive this point home so let me put this simply: those people who say that they don’t need to go to church to be christian are indeed desperately in need of the family of God and it’s gifts in order to follow Jesus in the way they want to. 

Honestly, how many prayers do those people say for their friends and neighbors and loved ones, how much scripture do they read rightly, how many songs do they worship God through, how many sermons do they hear, how many lessons do they hear or teach, how do they receive the sacraments, how many friendships do they form with other christians, how many Lobsterfests do they put on, how many Habitat Houses do they build all by themselves, how many Special Sessions do they run, do they baptize themselves?

If you’re a baseball player who doesn’t have a team then you’re not going to play a lot of ball and you’re not going to get any better. The same is true for faith. Look around next time you’re at Church; you all ARE the church; you ARE christ to each other. And you are lucky to have one another, and we are lucky to have a God that allows us to have friends of faith.