I used to ride with a friend who had a van painted with crosses and other Christian symbols. One side of the van had the sentence: “Jesus Christ is the answer.” One man stopped us and said: “What’s the question?”

The questions are all around us. Who can stop the antisocial behaviour within our society? Who can mend the broken hearts? Who will be a father to the fatherless? Who will stand up against injustice? Jesus is the answer because He is the only one who can change a person’s heart. Unless we change from the inside out nothing imposed upon us by law will change the condition of society as it now is.

The church has the potential to resolve all the questions. It has the potential because it is the body of Christ, His representation here on earth. The church is Christ in the flesh. We are His body. There is only one problem. This body is made up of people who were part of the problems of society until they met Christ. These redeemed people are not perfect yet. They are in process. This process of change or transformation isn’t always pretty.

Have you ever seen a child throwing a tantrum to get his or her own way? It’s not pretty! Funny sometimes, embarrassing for the parent if it’s in public, and always disturbing to everyone’s peace! While we are His children even though we may be adults by chronological age. When our heavenly Father wants to change us for our own good, we often spit the dummy out and have a little hissy fit.

What a mess! We have a body of people who are the answer to the questions of the world. Yet they enter into this family with all their problems, weaknesses and strengths unabated and untamed. The strong, organised and disciplined look upon the weak, disorganised and unruly with a pretense of kindness knowing that the answer is working harder and sorting out all the clutter. (I know cause I was one of them!) Oh, woe is the church if one of these able but merciless people becomes a leader.

The vision is great, the plans are clear and the ideals are upheld. The goal is succinct – the world taken over by the redeemed army of God. (Sound like the crusades?) Present the vision every 28 days and keep the people motivated for the cause. The ability to communicate and the power to inspire can be intoxicating, drawing many. But the reality sometimes is more about self-sufficiency than it is about the love and grace of God. The agenda for God becomes more the issue than the love of God expressed in worship – bigger buildings, better equipment, the best musicians, and the latest audio-visual displays. It can have all the hallmarks of success: money, masses and momentum.

Sometimes in the process people become the fodder to fill the cannons of success rather than the reason we actually exist. When this happens, it isn’t pretty. Many a soul is left on the roadside unable to keep up with the level of intensity and perspiration required to be a part of the whole. These are the victims who never really grace the doors of a church again saying they have been hurt by the church.

The biggest catastrophe happens when the strong, disciplined, multitalented and organised leader stumbles. It has to happen, as we are all part of His family. Dad is not that interested in what we do for Him as who we become. He wants us to be like Him, just like Jesus. If we think we are above the transforming power of God, we have another “think” coming. Everything here on earth is temporal and passing, except you and me. This is the testing and shaping ground of our eternity. Who we be is more important than what we did. Remember He introduced Himself as “I am”.

Ideals will fail to grace. Grace is that wonderful gift from God that works upon the heart producing outward change! No matter how we could do it, no matter how well the rest of the world does it, the church rocks on grace, the love of God for us. He loves us too much to leave us like He found us.

We, the church, do have the answers for the world. The answers need to be worked out in us first as changed people change people. We need to be able to sing, “Look what the Lord has done for me”. I suppose we all thought the house of the Lord would be a safe place. We never really caught the drift that it was also the family of God. Where would you as a parent like to deal with your child’s selfish, self-willed, self-seeking temperament? In public or at home? It’s certainly less embarrassing at home then in the grocery store. I think Dad likes to deal with His kids at home too. Its wonderful when you take the kids out and people compliment you on such lovely children. All the work it took at home to shape them into the people they are today goes unseen, as it should. So why are we surprised that Dad uses the home as the place where He shapes us into His image?