Presentations of Perfection and Grace
One of the biggest mistakes we make when we think about the role of the church community in the world is to forget exactly what God is presenting to the world when he presents the church. Much disappointment, hurt, and unfulfilled expectations arise out of getting this wrong. When God presents the church to the world he is not presenting perfection. He has done that already, when he presented Christ to us all. Jesus lived the perfect life and showed the world, for a brief thirty-something years, what perfection really looks like. When God presents the church to the world he doesn’t present perfection, he presents grace. He presents a community where the perfection of Christ is slowly doing it’s work of grace to ensure that ultimately this earthly community will be transformed into perfection.
If you think that God is presenting perfection when he presents the church then any sort of failure, frustration or hurt experienced in community will greatly disappoint you and also significantly reduce your commitment levels to such a body. Your suspicion will be heightened and you’ll find yourself mistrusting much of the teaching and activity of the church community.
If, on the other hand, you think God is presenting grace when he presents the church then you’ll see that experiences of failure, frustration and hurt need not lead to disappointment and mistrust, but rather to forgiveness and reconciliation. Brokenness (both within yourself and in others), instead of crippling your relationship with the church will instead lead to opportunities for redemption and testimony of God’s working.
A lot of people in our city are hurting because they demanded perfection and found the church wanting. A lot of people in our city are missing the amazing redemptive joy that comes from being in a community of grace. Grace says “ultimately our performance doesn’t define us. We are instead defined by the perfect performance of Christ.” How do you view the church?
Good post. But there are two sides to saying that people demanded perfection of the church and found the church wanting. I think it is equally true that many hurting people wanted grace from church leaders (or other people) and instead got demands of perfection in terms of their performance. Wanting to show mutual grace but instead being beaten with perfection, found that they needed to walk away from actively seeking reconciliation. But where the problem lies is in defining all church relationships through the lens of that bad grace-deficient relationship and thereby writing off church because of one or more bad relationships.
Yes John, I think you’re exactly right. I suppose I should have said that to see the church as God’s presentation of grace and not perfection is a leadership issue as much as it’s an issue for your average congregation member. When leaders see God’s church as a picture of perfection instead of grace then things also go horribly wrong.