I was really struck by a song lyric yesterday. The song is “The Church” by Derek Webb. Here is the part that hit me:
“I haven’t come for only you but for my people to pursue. You cannot care for me with no regard for her; if you love me you will love the church.”
I’ve had an appreciation for this song for some time and had “understood” the concept – if you love Jesus, you love his church. But the poignant part for me yesterday was, “I haven’t come for only you but for my people to pursue,” taken in the context of “if you love me you’ll love the church.” In other words, the church does not exist only of those in it currently but consists also of those who are to be part of it. And, our love of Christ extends not just to the people in the church, but to those God is drawing to his church, the people who are not even part of the church . . . yet.
This thought led me to Psalm 22, which is a fascinating psalm in its own right, and contains a peculiar passage toward the end of the psalm that expresses in part Derek Webb’s powerful lyric. Verses 30-31 tell us, “Posterity shall serve [God]; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.” God’s goodness and rescue is being proclaimed and will be proclaimed to every people, and this includes people yet unborn. I think we can interpret this literally – future generations will hear and know and serve the Living God. And we can also interpret this typologically – that the current “offspring of Israel” fear and know the Lord and proclaim his goodness, and ultimately “all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord” – meaning that these people yet unborn, these people who have yet to hear and know and serve the Living God.
So, I’m remembering today that Christ has not come only for me, but for his people to pursue – the yet unborn. And, I cannot care for Christ with no regard for the church which consists not only of those presently joined to Christ, but to those yet to hear.
Worship Reflection 
May 28, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Challenging on so many levels!
June 1, 2009 at 6:43 am
that’s what we call hearing a song.
thanks Jay.
June 1, 2009 at 10:06 pm
So interesting that you brought up these particular lyrics today. Although I don’t think I’m familiar with this song, I am reading “The Shack” by Wm. Paul Young (which I highly recommend if you haven’t read it yet), and the chapter I’m in now is all about the character of “Jesus” in the book describing what the church is supposed to be. He is telling Mack (the main character) that the church is made of “people and their lives, a living breathing community of all those who love me, not buildings and programs…it’s all about relationships and simply sharing life…being open and available to others around us. My church is all about people and life is all about relationships.”
We humans tend to make things more complicated than they need to be, don’t we? It really comes down to simply loving our neighbors as ourselves, and treating others as we’d like to be treated. God didn’t put us here to live solitary lives–we were made to be in interdependent relationships with others, to learn and to grow together, and to share joys and sorrows with one another, and pray for one another. And what better way to witness (to a nonbeliever) than to reach out a hand and put his or her needs before our own? That is just what Jesus did for us.