QT 7 Mar 17, Eph 2:19-21, We spend too much time criticizing the church for not being beautiful instead of serving in our role

Ephesians 2:19–21 (ESV) — 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

NOTE: One of the mysteries of the new covenant is a new entity, the church, made up of Jew and Gentile, as fellow citizens and as members of the household of God. The universal church is God's desire for man. I must admit, that we have not done a very good job of creating the universal church. It is a diverse, which is good, but it is not unified. It fights against itself. It forms itself into cliques. It hates and despise without understanding. As much as that is true, it is not true everywhere. There are churches, a remnant, who love their fellow believers, who love the lost, and are seeking to live like Christ on earth. We struggle with this body of sin that hinders our ability to truly live for God, but we don't give up. We do the right thing. I suppose for all our failures as a universal church, the only thing we can do is to do our part as a member of the body of Christ. We need to serve in whatever role we have in the body. It is not perfect. We need to get off that criticism and focus on our part. The church can be beautiful and glorious but only when we stop criticizing her and start individually serving as God has called us to serve. Open our eyes Lord Jesus.