A friend of mine who is a pastor sometimes says that he has no problem thinking that God has included him as part of the group plan, but he does have a hard time connecting with the thought that God has loved and included him as an individual.

I can very much relate to this sentiment. There are times when I wonder how God could love me as an individual since I know how far short of anyone’s standard I fall.

Reflecting on this brings back memories of lining up to get picked for kickball in elementary school. Since every kid got put on a team there was no question about whether I would be included, but there were huge questions about whether I was wanted by the captain who chose me.

Yet, one of the names associated with Jesus is Immanuel which is translated as “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). Jesus himself promised to be with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). There are no qualifications to this bold statement. Jesus gives us no indication that we can mess this up in any way.

Jesus is with us no matter what.

Now, the grammarians in the group might look at Matthew 28:20 and point out that the “you” is plural, so we still have the issue of whether I am accepted as part of the group or as an individual.

To answer that question, I point to Matthew 11:29 where Jesus says, “take My yoke upon you.” The “you” in this command is also plural. Thinking about this for a few moments will cause us to realize that we cannot collectively take up Jesus’ yoke, taking up Jesus’ yoke is an individual decision. We individually come into relationship with Jesus and follow his commands.

So, Jesus is “God with us” as individuals. He is with me, he is with you and he is with every other believer. And because he is with us, he understands the joys and the difficulties we face. Furthermore, he promises to see us through until the end. If you doubt this, see Philippians 1:6 where Paul tells us:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6 (ESV)

So, Jesus is with us:

• When we succeed
• When we fail
• When we are joyful
• When we are sorrowful
• When life is good
• When life is difficult
• When we feel loved
• When we feel rejected

The bottom line is that Jesus is God with us at all times.

We are never alone, even when it feels like it.

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While it is always dangerous to judge the heart of someone else, we are called to exercise wisdom in determining who we spend time with. I was reminded of this when I read this verse in Jeremiah.

” . . . you are near in their mouth and far from their heart”

Jeremiah 12:2 (ESV)

I wonder if most believers have experienced this in the church at one time in their lives. We find people whose talk and whose actions seem to be vastly different. What is really difficult is when this type of person is in leadership in the church.

Sure, we all suffer from this gap between our words and our actions. Who among us hasn’t found solace in Paul’s lament in Romans 7 of his inability to live as he knew he ought to live. We are encouraged to know that we are not alone in our sense of falling short of where we’d like to be.

We then take great comfort in Paul’s declaration in Romans 8:1 that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

The goal is to find those who confess the gap and are seeking to allow God to work in their lives to close that gap. You will know this by how they react when confronted with their hypocrisy.

I’m thinking at this time of a painful experience in a previous church. The pastor would say really stupid things like he and his wife never had an argument. He maintained that he had a perfect marriage.

Those of us who have been married know that this could only be the case if one spouse was severely medicated at all times. Put two sentient people in a relationship and sooner or later there will be conflict. So the pastor’s statements about having a perfect marriage were obviously pure nonsense.

And even if it were true, by some amazing miracle, a man who reached such an elevated state of perfection would be of limited use in helping someone like me since he could hardly understand my struggles.

My lament is that I lingered too long in that church thinking that I could make a difference or I could help people in the midst of the confusion. Because the pastor had a skewed view of reality and a huge gap between what he claimed to believe and what he actually practiced, the church became a huge mess, and people were deeply hurt as a result.

So, what am I looking for in a church?

I’m looking for other sinners who know they need lots of grace. I’m looking for people that welcome the broken knowing that only God can make them less broken. I’m looking for those who ache with a desire to close the gap between their belief and their behavior and who are willing to submit to God and their fellow believers for that closure to take place.

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In his book Center Church, Timothy Keller compares the ideas of faithfulness and fruitfulness in ministry.

Those who emphasize faithfulness, point to the accuracy of their teaching and their diligence in presenting scripture as the guide for life and godliness. They point to the fact that regardless of the apparent results, they remain steadfast in proclaiming the truth.

Those who emphasize fruitfulness point to the results of their labor such as attendance, giving, the vibrancy of their worship, etc. The drive for fruitfulness causes everything that is done to be evaluated as to how it impacts the measured results.

This comparison was called to mind when I read Isaiah’s recording of his vision of the throne room of God recorded in Isaiah Chapter 6.

In that vision, Isaiah is overwhelmed by the glory of God to the point where he exclaims:

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Isaiah 6:5 (ESV)

After the atonement for Isaiah’s sin, he receives his call to ministry to the nation of Israel and exclaims, “Here I am! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8)

This is very heady, how cool would it be to get such an amazing call to ministry?

But it is instructive to read the rest of Chapter 6 to see the message that Isaiah is to carry to his people and the response which he is to expect to that message.

Isaiah is called to speak a message to people who will remain deaf and blind to the message he bears to them. He is called to be faithful in the midst of seeming unfruitfulness.

I call it seeming unfruitfulness because we have to be careful as to who defines what fruitfulness looks like. If we have the wrong definition of fruitfulness, we have the potential for getting severely off track in ministry.

I really don’t know the answer to the questions I’m about to pose. I have no idea what the church should look like as we move further into the 21st Century in the United States. It seems to me that it should look vastly different than it did 10, 20, or 50 years ago. It also seems to me that the current emphasis on growing large churches isn’t always producing the desired result of spiritual growth in the people who attend the church.

Should we gauge fruitfulness by Sunday attendance? Do we have some means of measuring spiritual grown our members? Do we know if we are making true disciples of Jesus Christ or just fans who will ride the bandwagon as long as it seems to be getting them where they want to go?

Gathering a crowd is not necessarily indicative of real spiritual growth.

Jesus gathered a large crowd while he entered Jerusalem; the same crowd called for his execution just a few days later. So numbers are clearly not the best gauge of fruitfulness.

Let’s go back to the comparison of faithfulness with fruitfulness. It seems to me that without faithfulness to our Savior and to the accurate presentation of the message of Scripture, very little good will result, no matter what the numbers say.

But on the other hand, faithfulness cannot be an excuse to not do the hard work of showing to the current culture how relevant the gospel continues to be, even in a culture that feels that they have moved on from religion.

If you are encouraged by this post or would like to make a comment, please use the comment form below to offer your feedback. If you are reading this in an email and would like to comment, you can reply to the email or click on the “Read in browser” link below to go to the web page where you can enter a comment. I enjoy hearing from you.