Recovering Church
The church can sometimes feel like a hard thing to trust, but God’s design for the church is not a broken machine or a religious commodity. God’s design is exactly what a hurting and disoriented world needs. On Sunday, Pastor Jake kicked off our new sermon series, “Recovering Church,” where we focused in on Ephesians 2:19-22.
The church is full of imperfect, broken sinners, but it is not built on the people who have failed, betrayed, or wounded others. Christ stands at the center of the church as the cornerstone. The church remains a healing family, still being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Christ invites His people to become co-builders who see not only the church’s present flaws, but also what it can become through His grace. The Spirit-filled church remains the hope for the world because Christ is still healing, freeing, restoring, protecting, and making Himself known through His body.
Key Takeaways
– Christ brings believers into a household
Paul’s language does not leave faith as a private arrangement between an individual and God. Christ makes strangers into fellow citizens and outsiders into family members. Belonging to God includes belonging to the people God has called out for Himself.
– Local church makes belonging visible
The universal church becomes touchable in actual gatherings of believers who worship, pray, learn, serve, and share life together. Digital access and scattered spiritual inputs may be useful, but they cannot replace embodied life with a particular people. God gives grace through presence, not merely observation.
– Family cannot be treated as commodity
A commodity is evaluated by preference, convenience, and personal return. A family is held with covenant love through weakness, inconvenience, and changing seasons. The church calls believers to give themselves away, not merely keep one foot in the door.
– Jesus remains the church’s cornerstone
Church wounds are real, and broken people can do deep damage. Yet Christ, not failed leaders or painful experiences, determines the church’s true foundation and measure. The whole structure rises true only as every part is aligned with Him.
– The church is a healing family
The church is not a gathering of emotionally cured people performing perfect harmony. The Spirit is building imperfect people together into a dwelling place for God. That ongoing work invites wounded believers to move from cynicism toward faithful co-building.
Reflection Questions
- Have you experienced hurt, disappointment, or distrust connected to a church? Without minimizing what happened, what might it look like to bring that wound to Jesus, the cornerstone, rather than allowing it to keep you permanently distant from His people?
- Is there a way you have been keeping “one foot out the door” in church relationships—avoiding vulnerability, resisting commitment, or only participating when it is convenient? What is one wise and healthy next step toward deeper belonging?
- In what ways are you tempted to evaluate church mainly by what you receive—music, programs, comfort, friendships, or preferences? How could you begin asking, “How can I help build up this household?”
- What gifts, time, resources, or encouragement has God given you that could strengthen someone in this church family? Who could you intentionally serve or encourage this week?
- Where do you most naturally fall on the spectrum of critic, cynic, curious observer, consumer, or co-builder? What experiences or assumptions have shaped that posture?
Watch the Message
Worship Songs from October 18
- “All Hail King Jesus”
- “Do It Again”
- “Here In The Presence”
- “King Of Kings”
Listen to the songs we play on Sundays by clicking the image below to access our Spotify playlist!
