When Jesus Leaves the Church by Nicole Webb

“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory,for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
Revelations 19:7-9
My pastor said something in staff devo today that really struck me. He said, “Your love for the Lord should trump your love for the church.”
Reflecting back on it, there is so much to unpack from that statement–so much to understand, to debate, to ask. But I think the more captivating and thought-provoking push of his statement is that it has me sitting here–ask myself, “Has Jesus left the Church?”
Sis, how did you end up asking that question?
Well...for a number of reasons friend. One, we, The Church–the body of Christ as a whole–are failing...at multiple things. 
Why does it seem like you’re always critiquing the Church? Are you still a Christian?
I know, and I am–I promise. And honestly, you’re right I am always critiquing the Church. Why? Well, because the Church–the body of Christ–is one of the most important communities that I identify as being a part of.  I love the Church, and our charge as the Church is one of things I am most passionate about. So as a member of The Church and an active participant of fulfilling our charge–The Great Commission–it is my duty to uphold a level of accountability just like we would expect from anyone who says they love us. Without critique and accountability, we are susceptible to remaining mundane–plateauing in our charge, and even possibly declining.
Alright, fine, sis! How are we failing?
Great, so glad you asked. Let’s start with who and what the Church actually is. One of the most popular references for the Church in terms of its relationship with Christ is that of a bride and groom. In Ephesians 5:25-27, the scripture says, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Preceding this scripture, the text states, “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”
Based on the text it is clear that the Church should be viewed as the Bride of Christ. And as the bride of Christ, we stand as a representation of our groom–Jesus. But what happens when our love for our groom becomes fixated more on His hand rather than His heart?
What do you mean by that?
Going back to the Church being the bride of Christ, the Church not only has a responsibility to our groom to represent Him well, but we have a responsibility of being faithful to His cause–the Great Commission. The Great Commission says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20).
As the bride of Christ, the charge is clear: go out and make disciples. And not just in our own communities, not just in our own circles, our own fraternities, sororities, priorities, or whatever other “ority” we’re a part of. The command is to go and make disciples of all nations. Translation: win souls for our groom–Jesus Christ.
It’s a great and noble charge; it’s one of the boldest efforts we can seek to achieve in a world where there are still areas of the Earth that have yet to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ–our groom. 
But what I am witnessing is that the bride doesn’t seem to be really concerned with staying faithful to its groom. Recently, I’ve noticed the bride doesn’t seem to be reflecting and representing its groom. Instead, the bride is beginning to seek out its own charge–putting forth its own beliefs, its own missions, its own commissions, and its own motives–forgetting the responsibility of its faithfulness to the groom.
It seems the Church has become more concerned with the appearance of being a bride than actually being the bride of Christ...and it’s evident in our inability to not only win souls (the heart of Jesus), but also in our fixation with prosperity (His hand).
At the epicenter of our GOD is the desire for His children to be reunited and in communion with Him. That was really the whole point of Jesus’ coming–sin created a separation from GOD and His beloved (us) because sin tainted us. It made us full of blemish. And GOD being the holy King that He is cannot be touched by sin nor can He touch it. But He still wanted to touch us. In order to do that, He chose to become one of us. He came in flesh as Jesus Christ–not only to die for our sins, but to relate to us in our humanity–to touch us.
One of the major attributes of the Great Commission is to reach people where they are and touch them–physically in community and spiritually with the message of Christ. We are called to reach people and touch them–just as Jesus did for us.
But that seems to no longer be of the Church’s concern.
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