The Church is NOT a Whore

Yesterday I read a tweet that really caught me off guard. I was fairly certain it was a quote - that I had read or heard it before. Was it Augustine? I couldn't remember. I didn't care. I couldn't get past it. It read:

"The church is a whore but she's my mother"

I read it several times. I inquired with the person who posted it if they could give me some context. I thought, "Surely this makes super-spiritual sense and I'm just missing it." I get the Hosea reference - that God had to powerfully convey to Israel that the nation He had called His own - God's own people - had become a harlot. Israel had been "unfaithful" to Yahweh. They were spiritually "sleeping around". There is no more powerful public display and exploitation of sin - and no more powerful call to repentance - and no more beautiful and mindblowing story of redemption than the story of Hosea. I understand. Israel was unfaithful.

I remember 10 years ago (I think it's been that long) hearing Derek Webb's "Wedding Dress" for the first time. Wow! A serious - and probably well-deserved, well-timed - punch in the gut for the American Church. Here's a sample:

If you could love me as a wife, And for my wedding gift your life

Should that be all I'll ever need, Or is there more I'm looking for

And should I read between the lines, And look for blessings in disguise

To make me handsome, rich and wise, Is that really what you want

'Cause I am a whore, I do confess, I put you on just like a wedding dress

And I run down the aisle, I run down the aisle

At first I was mad at Derek. Did he call us prostitutes? What a jerk! Then I began to understand and embrace a bit of where I believed my brother was coming from. I began to come under the conviction that, YES, I had been guilty of being seduced by the things of this world while waiting on the Bridegroom to come. I understand. And as much as it pains me to say it, at times...I have been unfatihful. 

But here's the thing: "The Church is a whore...?"

I don't understand this. This doesn't resonate with me. The point of Hosea is NOT that the Church is a whore. The point of Hosea is that even in the midst of our unfaithfulness, because the King has purchased us - has "bought us back" with his own life - that we no longer have to live as unfaithful. "The Lord says, 'Then I will heal you of your idolatry and faithlessness, and my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever!" The King is going to come, lay down His life, shed His blood, atone for the sins of His people, purchase them out of slavery - out of prostituting themselves to the world - and give them freedom and victory and new life!

We were harlots. We were prostitutes. We were dead in our sin.

We are no longer harlots. We are no longer prostitutes. We are alive and victorious!

We are sheep with a shepherd. Sometimes we wander. He brings us home.

We are branches attached to the true vine. We bear fruit. We also get pruned.

We are a new creation. The old is gone. The new has come!

This is not the description of a whore. I don't care if Augustine or Billy Graham said it. 

I think I understand the reactionary fuel behind making statements like this - that we are trying to counter the pious, "holier than thou" attitude that has come from some Christians in the past decades. Don't get me wrong; I'm a firm believer in total depravity. I was born a sinner. There was nothing good in me. But friends, when the Holy Spirit of God indwells you and consumes your life, and when the work that was wholly and completely accomplished by Jesus' death and resurrection transforms you from the inside out, there is something good within you now! No, it's not YOU. It's the Lord. But don't think you have to counter piety with prostitution. The Church is NOT a whore.

Jesus didn't willingly lay down His life, suffer humiliation, shame, and indescribable pain, die a criminal's crucifixion, and rise from the dead so we could be unfaithful. 

God's people don't have to degrade themselves in an attempt to magnify His love and grace. If we are His Church - His Bride - that He is going to "present to Himself without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish", we no longer need to wallow in the mire and guilt and shame of our past. Remember: "No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool."

Yes, Jesus loves, pursues, redeems, and saves whores. 
But He also says to them, "Go and sin no more."

May we never forget the depths of the depravity where Jesus found us.

But may we never forget the heights of holiness to which Jesus has raised us.

"Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him. For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives." (Romans 6:3-4)

Dig Deeper:

Hosea 1:1-14:9

John 15

Romans 6

2 Corinthians 4-5

Colossians 3