Daily Devotional For Saturday, July 5, 2025
Good morning Southside! We are learning what it means to follow Jesus. Yesterday, we saw that it is impossible to love the Lord and not love His church. It is impossible to be a Christian and not part of a local body of faith. These two go together like PB&J, Mutt & Jeff, Laurel & Hardy, Abbott and Constello, and Lucy & Ricky. You don’t have one without the other.
Today, people may ask, “Where do you go to church?” They are asking for a location. And if they were to drive by that location with you, they might look at the property and buildings and say, “Oh, so that is where you go to church!” The problem with this kind of discussion is that it limits the church to a location or to property or to buildings. The church is not a location; it is a lineage. The church is not a building; it is a body. The church is not property; it is redeemed people.
Not only do we label churches by their address or buildings, we also label churches by the ministries they have. We say things like this, “My church has a children’s ministry.” Or, “My church sings contemporary Christian music.” Or, “That church has a Celebrate Recovering Group.” Or, “That church is big on mission trips.” In this case, we have reduced the church to personal preference that is consumer driven and customer designed to attract more and more people. This approach is from the devil. Why? We give the impression that when new people come, they get a special parking place, a nice gift, proper lighting and comfortable seats where they can receive their latte of choice before going into the “worship center.” This is not what the Lord had in mind when He created the church.
And when you read the New Testament writers, they did not either. Oh, I know what you’re thinking, “Well, PK, they were all dead and are not living today.” True, but for the New Testament writers who were inspired by the Lord Jesus Christ, who created the church, to them, the church was the people. Don’t take my word for it. Read the New Testament for yourself. There is not one reference any of the New Testament writers that church is to have customized program and buildings. The church itself added these. Deuteronomy 4:2 says, “Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you” (NLT). I think much of what we are doing today in the church is adding to God’s Word to attract more "consumers" to our “business.” We have to maintain and budget for this, but are we undercutting what God’s Word says about our identity, our mission and our purpose to do this?
When you read the New Testament, you never see a building. What you see is a body of Christ who loves each other, who has died to self. You see members with personal struggles getting help from other more mature believers. You see a family – people who are brothers and sisters in Christ to one another. You see people who are joining together due to Christ’s death, Christ’s Resurrection, Christ’s sufferings filled with His Holy Spirit empowered to make disciples. I hate to burst your bubble. Biblically, a church is not made up of people who come and park beside one another and participate in programs in that building. The church consists of people who share the life of Christ with each other day-by-day and week-by-week.
We see Jesus modeling this with His own 12 disciples. For 3 years, 24/7, they lived together. They traveled together, going to towns that were Jewish, Gentile and Samaritan. They dealt with huge crowds and single people. They fished together and ate together. They sailed together on the Sea of Galilee and prayed together in Jewish synagogues and the Temple. During these 3 years, Jesus showed them how to love and how to live as a band of brothers who lived alongside one another for the sake of each other. This is the picture in the New Testament. We are a community that is to care for one another, love one another, forgive one another, confront one another, receive one another, serve one another, honor one another, instruct one another, encourage one another, motivate one another, esteem one another, show kindness to one another, hurt with one another and restore one another. That’s the church. The church is not programs; it is the people. The church is not a building; it is a body. The church is not a location; its redeemed lives.
Do you see it? Do you get it? We have taken what Jesus died to create and turned into something we fund, control, manage, and program. That is not the church of the New Testament. Unfortunately, this is the church we have created over the last 2,000 years – a consumer-oriented business that is working hard to attract more business. Do you really believe this is what Jesus died and rose to create? Please do not misread anything here. I understand why we do what we do today, but we have lost something along the way. In the New Testament, when people thought of the church, they did not picture radical programs; they pictured redeemed people. Today, if you are asked where you go to church, you typically give the name. If that does not ring a bell, you give a location. Even people in the church today do not picture people, they picture a place.
Assignment: Use your imagination. When asked, “What church do you attend?, how could you help others see people and not just a place? How could you help people see lives, not just a location? How could you help people see a body, not just a building?
Scripture To Meditate On: Philippians 4:1, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Lord, please help me to see Your church the way You do. I don’t want to see it as a location or place or building with programs, but as redeemed people who have come together to help each other become more like You and to take the Gospel into their community and world to make disciples. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly