The Perfect Church

Does The Perfect Church really exist?

If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? (Hebrews 7:11; NIV 2011 Edition)

Over the course of this past weekend, I had the opportunity to experience three distinctly different church services. Saturday I ministered with a group at a Seventh Day Adventist church, early Sunday morning I watched my non-denomination church online and shortly after I went to my "home" church which is of the Baptist denomination.

Three denominations. One God.... is there one perfect church?

I'm thoroughly convinced that we humans cannot even begin to fathom the idea of perfection. If you ask someone to describe the perfect anything you will get an answer comprised of some fact but also some bias, prejudice and opinion. Often times the idea of perfection can becomes a heavy burden. When we flood the media with images and ideas that we believe are perfect most of us just don't measure up and we can pay a heavy emotional, spiritual, financial, and physical tax trying to achieve this "perfection." We just can't comprehend true perfection because there is only one perfect and pure entity that has ever existed on Earth. And would you believe that we will never measure up to Him either?

The Bible says in Galatians 5 that the perfect God came and lived to free us from this pursuit of perfection. In the scripture above, the passage hints at the fact that law held by the Levites fell short and that Jesus would need to come to inspire true perfection. Jesus in the flesh was the only human to effectively live a perfect life, honoring all of the Old Testament laws and covenant without fail. His death on the cross sealed not only His perfection but our capacity to be perfect in the eyes of God as well. So then back to the question: is there a perfect church?

The answer is yes.

First of all, we have to understand that true perfection only comes through Christ. Secondly, we have to understand that the church as a whole is a representation of Christ's bride and therefore, at the end of the day, is one corporate body with different functions. So true perfection, in my opinion, is not about whether a church does something this way or that way but instead about whether or not they are in constant pursuit of relationship and fellowship with Christ. All three services that I attended reached out to God in a different way but the point is that they were all reaching. If you are looking for a church home, find one where you feel comfortable reaching out for relationship with Christ or your relationship can falter - trust me.

So is there such a thing as a perfect church? Yes, look all around you because you are it!