I suspect the Godhead sees no reason to place an adjective before church.

Church is church. On earth, it is the assembly of faulty believers, and in heaven it will be the assembly of sinless believers.

If church were for dogs, all churches would be faithful. That has to be the greatest trait of canines.

The truth is all churches are problematic because humans form the membership.

Were it not for problematic churches, the New Testament would be much smaller, since its letters are addressed to churches with faults.

In this one way we are great at accurately imitating the church of the first century.

Jesus begins the final book of our Bible by writing to seven churches. Two are faithful.

I must conclude to be faithful is a reachable goal.

The other five churches present serious areas of unfaithfulness. To those Jesus speaks of removing their star should they fail to consider altering their course.

How can my church be the church God rewards for faithfulness? How can I be the church member God wants me to be?

The cross is God’s ultimate symbol.

There is no greater symbol of love. There is no greater symbol of faithfulness. There is no greater symbol of hope. There is no greater symbol of forgiveness. There is no greater symbol of salvation. There is no greater symbol of truth. There is no greater symbol of God.

Wow. I expect a lot from the cross.  Shouldn’t that always be my first place to look for a sense of my own faithfulness and the reflection of my church?

I am an advocate of using the brains and good sense God wired in me to aid church growth. However, all of my genius will have little effect upon a church lacking cross-focus.

By the way of the cross, Jesus becomes the foundation of the church.

A Jew named Paul gives me building instructions. As a Christ follower, I am an ordained builder. At times I plant. At times I water. At times I build.

I am to build with gold, silver, and costly stones rather that using straw, wood, and hay. The latter makes all of my effort go up in smoke.

There is only one foundation. It is Jesus. All other foundations are sand.

Many songs of my youth taught powerful messages.  It is a loss for all of us to miss the periodic and poetic reminders of song writers throughout the history of the church.

This morning a song arose deep from my memory bank. Buried for years the song I sang as a child now seems appropriate.

Written 141 years ago, by Tullius Clinton O’Kane, it reminds me of my proper focus.

There Stands a Rock on shores of time.

That Rock’s a cross, its arms outspread,
Celestial glory bathes its head;
To its firm base my all I bring,
And to the Rock of Ages cling.

Some build their hopes on the ever drifting sand,
Some on their fame, or their treasure, or their land;
Mine’s on a Rock that forever will stand,
Jesus, the “Rock of Ages.”

What’s my point?

Would not it stand true that the more church reflects the cross by standing on the foundation of Jesus, the easier it will be to fellowship God’s children, and the more the use of adjectives such as true, solid, liberal, conservative, faithful, and unfaithful, will seem irrelevant?

Let’s be Cross-Church people and not just cross with each other.

Stay tuned. – Gary J. Sorrells – On Cross-Church.