Introduction
Have you ever thought about the type of church that Jesus would attend?
That would be a pretty hot church wouldn’t it?
Recently I started asking this question not only of myself but also of others in my circles. The answers have been quite interesting.
Some of my friends from a Jewish background emphatically said He would attend a messianic congregation.
Others got super spiritual on me and said that Jesus attends all churches that are gathered in His name.
Of course, He does.
That is His promise.
Matthew 18:20
“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Now before I go into the heart of this teaching I need to make something clear.
When I use the word “church” I am using it in a biblical sense. I am not talking about my denomination or yours. I am not talking about a brick-and-mortar building. I am talking about a group of believers that have gathered publicly in His name.
However, that is not the point of my question. My question is this.
What type of values would Jesus look for in a church that He was going to attend if He was physically on the earth today?
So let me give you a few of the things I have come up with in order to answer this question.
Jesus Would Attend A Church That Had The Same Mission As He Did.
Luke 4:16-21
16 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:
18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
19 and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.”
20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. 21 Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!
This is the first public message that Jesus taught. He had just come out of the temptation in the wilderness and was now beginning his public ministry.
When a person begins their ministry or starts to lead people, they set out an agenda.
Jesus was not only telling these people that they were seeing the fulfillment of prophecy before their very eyes, He was also telling them what He planned to do. He was sharing with them His values.
That leads me to believe that in this passage we find many clues as to the type of church or congregation that Jesus would want to be a part of.
They would be doing the things that He set out to do.
Jesus Would Attend A Church That Has The Same Passions As He Has.
In the western church, emotions are treated suspiciously. We have been taught to suppress or hide our emotions. We rule our lives with reason and logic.
This was not the case in biblical times nor is it even the case in many parts of the world today.
Emotions are part of the complexity of God’s creation of man. Jesus showed emotion, including some that we try to suppress today.
When a person gets emotional, it shows a part of their heart and what is important to them. In this case, we can tell what type of things were important to Jesus by the emotions that He expressed.
Anger
Mark 10:14
When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.
John 11:33-35
When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, 6 and he was deeply troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Then Jesus wept.
Outrage
John 2:13-17
13 It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. 15 Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. 16 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” 17 Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”
These are some of the most poignant examples of Jesus showing what He was passionate about. When we get angry or outraged about something it means that it is really important to us.
I do not believe that Jesus had an anger problem or was a hothead. I believe that these struck deep into what was really important to Him.
Rejoicing
Luke 10:17-21
17 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”
18 “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! 19 Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. 20 But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”
21 At that same time Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and he said, “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.
Here we see that Jesus was rejoicing and had the joy of the Holy Spirit because the principles of the kingdom of God and how to apply those principles had been revealed to the common man. It was not given to just the educated or smart. It was given to those that were just everyday people like you and me.
Love
John 13:1-51
Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. 2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.
Notice that this passage shows that Jesus loved His disciples to the very end. Love was a motivating factor in His example of servanthood to them. He even washed the feet of Judas!
Final Thoughts On The Church Jesus Would Attend
I did not want to tell you my interpretation of all of these passages and how to apply them.
I want you to look at them and ponder them and come to some of your own conclusions.
I am not interested in making cookie-cutter Christians that all look like clones. We all need to express the passions of Jesus as they fit us.
I do hope, however, that after reading this you will look at your church, and your family, and your own life and ask yourself this question.
Am I attending and being the type of church that Jesus would choose to attend if He were physically living in the community that I live in?
What things can I see that need to be changed?
What can I do as an individual to help foster this change?
Blessings!
Pastor Duke
