The Church is a Thorn in the World’s Side
Written by: Mark
February 15th, 2010The Church is a thorn in the world’s side.
Okay – now that its written and out there, let me explain what I mean.
I like to think of the Church as an alien race, or a immigrant citizenry. We have no green cards, no real rights in this world (though we fight for the rights of others). We live, eat, sleep, breath, vote, and more through the lens of living “in the world, but not of it.”
That’s the idea – but too often we fall off one side of the horse or the other. For instance, we may become so embedded in our culture that we lose our heavenly citizenship – forget our allegiances, and start taking on the values of Wal-Mart, Hollywood, or an earthly nation. Or we may swing the other direction, holding so tightly to our heavenly home-world that we disconnect and judge the world… in which we are still very much entangled. Its easy to get so hopeful about heaven that we miss our point on earth. “We become so heavenly-minded that we are of no earthly good.”
These are only two ways to fall off the horse…there are many…many more. But how do we stay on? I think this metaphor is helpful –
The Church is a wedge into our culture. A thorn in its side. We are embedded into a culture without necessarily being overtly visible. We are very much in the world, but we are foreign, alien, and a nuisance to the prevailing power structures and systems of brokenness.
The Church as a thorn may critique the values of greed, pride, selfishness, hoarding of resources, the destroying and devaluing of human life, bigotry, and more.
We may as a thorn introduce other things that irritate the skin of the “world.” Things like peace, reconciliation, justice, abundant life, family, healing, hope. This alternative life is announced as the “Gospel” (Good News) and like a thorn begins to infect parts of the local body – spreading its infection like a virus throughout the system. This is, of course, an offense to the world, and something it cannot understand. (John 1:10)
And by the way, a thorn only goes deeper into the darkness when pressure is applied. It “incarnates” itself by being immersed (baptized) with flesh (taking after its Lord, Jesus).
So!
Plunge deeply into the world as a wedge – prying open the doors leaving the world in the dark. See yourself and specifically your church as a part of a thorn – charging ever deeper into the flesh of the world, irritating and paralyzing the dying corpse, and introducing a virus that leads to unending life!


