RATING YOUR CHURCH
On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your church? If you’re reading this as a blog post, feel free to think about the church you know best. How would you rate it? If you’re reading this as a member of Mount Lebanon, feel free to think about Mount Lebanon. How would you rate it? There are no limits to the way by which you measure your church. Think about the facilities. Think about the programs and the services. Think about the staff, the called workers, the leaders, and even the people in the pews. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your church?
If you’re like me and you’re rating your church, you’re going to find a number somewhere in the middle. Hopefully, your number rates your church more highly. We want our churches to be awesome. We know that they’ll never be perfect, but we want to do our best for the sake of our Lord and for the sake of souls.
We want our churches to be awesome, but the reality is that we can poke holes in our churches rather easily. Too much clutter. Too stuffy. Too casual. Too rigid. Too loud. Nothing for me. The songs are boring. The songs are unfamiliar. The people aren’t friendly. The people didn’t treat me this way or that way. The pastor didn’t say “hi” to me. The pastor embarrassed me. He didn’t visit me in the hospital. We can poke all kinds of holes in the church as we seek to rate it.
GOD’S RATING
Here’s another question: How would God rate the church? Now, you might expect that God would give the church rather low marks; after all, your God expects perfection. Your God expects perfect love and hospitality. Your God expects perfection, but he doesn’t see it as he looks at Mount Lebanon. He doesn’t see it as he looks at any congregation.
But that wasn’t my question. I didn’t ask how God would rate your church; I asked how God would rate the church. That’s a very different question. See, I’m not asking about how various church organizations would rate in God’s sight. I’m asking how God would rate his holy Christian church, the communion of saints. That’s a different question with a very different answer.
Now the rate that God gives is through the roof. See, we “believe in the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, and the forgiveness of sins.” Yes, when God rates his church, the church, he gives her a perfect 10 out of 10. On every measure, God rates his church as a perfect 10; his church is absolutely stunning in his sight.
And that means everyone who fits in this church by faith is a perfect 10 out of 10 in every way. You, dear Christian, are a member of this holy Christian church by faith. You are a perfect 10 out of 10. You are wholly sufficient and perfect in his sight. You are perfectly shaped by his Spirit with gifts and experiences and abilities and desires. You are a 10 out of 10 because of the way he created you because he redeemed you, and because of the way his Spirit sanctifies and makes you holy. And if that is true for you (which it is!), then it is also true for every other member of Christ’s church. They are a perfect 10 out of 10. All of us are. And that makes the church, his church, a perfect 10 out of 10.
This Sunday, as we gather for Welcome Home Sunday, we’ll celebrate the way in which Christ gathers his church, sanctifies us in his sight, and shapes us for service. We’ll be looking at Romans 12:1-8.
For other news and notes, check out “the Mount Weekly.”
We’ll see you Sunday! Pastor Nate