Attempts at Honesty

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Who builds the church?

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God Builds the ChurchThrough the years, the church has had to endure persecution, neglect, corruption and apathy, but yet she endures.

The church has displayed the best and the worst of humanity. She has both stunning victories and miserable failures on her record. Yet, she endures.

When I am tempted to be overwhelmed by the problems in the church, I need to remind myself that it is not up to men to build the church. Jesus told us that he, himself, is the one who builds his church (Matthew 16:18). (Tweet This)

We can be co-laborers with him, but he is the architect and builder.

This is good news! It is good news because it takes the pressure off of us as church leaders.

Certainly we need to be diligent in presenting the truth of Scripture to those who come under our care. We need to be diligent in reaching out to those in our community who don’t yet have a relationship with Christ. We need to be diligent in equipping the saints for the work of ministry (Ephesians. 4:12).

But we must always keep in mind that it is only God who change change hearts and bring people into relationship with himself. It is only God who can cause spiritual growth. God is the only one who builds his church.

One analogy that Jesus used is that of a laborer in a harvest which can be seen in John 4:35. The farmer can plant, water and remove weeds, but he cannot cause the crop to grow. The farmer cannot cause the growth.

In the same way, church leaders cannot cause anyone to grow spiritually. We cannot save anyone. We can only be faithful in promoting conditions that are beneficial to spiritual growth.

We will be judged on how diligently we worked to promote the conditions under which growth happens. We will be judged on how faithfully we worked at the tasks that God calls us to perform.

We will not be judged on the results. The results are in God’s hands.

Ultimately, we can’t mess it up. God will build his church with or without us.

Whose church is it anyway?

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Church-of-the-Resurrection_thumb.jpgIn Matthew 16:18, after Peter makes his inspired confession that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus claims ownership of the church when he says, “upon this rock, I will build my church.”

In Greek, the order of the words can allow for emphasis to be put on one of the words. In this phrase, the emphasis is on the word my. It is Jesus’ church. It is not Peter’s church, nor Paul’s church, nor does it belong to any mega-church pastor or denomination. The church belongs to Jesus. Jesus began the church and he maintains the responsibility for its growth and health.

Below are five implications that can be drawn from Jesus’ ownership of the church.

  1. It is Jesus’ responsibility to build the Church. Yes, good preaching plays a role. A vital youth group can play a role. Exhilarating worship may also play a role, but the ultimate responsibility is on Jesus. It is Jesus that brings people into relationship with himself. We can only make the introduction.
  2. All of the “church building” methodologies should be reexamined for their faithfulness to what Jesus taught us either directly or through the Biblical authors. We should not confuse building attendance with building the church. Gimmicks such as the “Toronto Blessing,” motivational talks in lieu of sermons and trendy worship music may build attendance, but do they build the church? Do they bring people into solid relationship with Jesus Christ?
  3. We need to guard against a cult of personality built around a gifted preacher or teacher. When I lived in Southern California, we attended a congregation pastored by a well known radio preacher. On the Sundays when the preacher was out of town there would be a significant drop in attendance. Is this a healthy church or is it a gathering of consumers who want to get their weekly fix of “spiritual” entertainment?
  4. Pastors need to be careful about assuming too much responsibility for the growth of the flock they lead. As under-shepherds, they rightly feel responsibility to minister to those God brings into their care, but that responsibility should not be an excuse for attempting to control all that goes on in the local congregation. I attended one church where the pastor made all the decisions and gave little freedom for others in the body to be led by God in their ministries. His strangle hold actually inhibited growth by driving away people who understood their own gifting. They moved on to another congregation that valued their gift.
  5. The leaders need to be sensitive to where God is leading the congregation. True Biblical leadership allows for God to orchestrate how the various gifts and talents work together for the building of his church. Even a casual reading of 1 Corinthians 12 or Romans 12 shows that God is the one in control of bringing together the various gifts that are necessary for the health of the local body of Christ.

The church is initiated and maintained by Jesus. Jesus commissions elders and deacons to maintain order and oversee the care of the congregation but they are to do so in a way that is consistent with Jesus’ direction. Jesus is to remain in control.

When that control is wrested from the hands of Jesus, the local congregation becomes less than what it should be. It then becomes a social organization at best and a cult at worst.

What you build and how you build it matters to God

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Build Stone Wall
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Perhaps it due to the nature of the blogs I follow, or perhaps it is because of my own discontent, but I sense a growing dissatisfaction with the organized church. As evidence I would point to the Barna statistics that show that 6 out of 10 young people walk away from the church; many of them never return. I read some verses that seem to speak to this issue. In 1 Corinthians 3:10-13, Paul is writing about the foundation on which he builds and the quality of the work and the materials used to build upon that foundation. He writes:

According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. (NASB)

The first thing to notice is the foundation on which Paul builds. That foundation is Jesus Christ. Anything that does not point to or is built upon the relationship with Jesus Christ is not built on a solid foundation.

The question for church leaders is whether or not the activities of the church deepen the relationship with Jesus. Any activitiy that does not is not built upon a solid foundation.

The second point is that what is built upon the foundation needs to be made of material that will stand the test. Wood, hay and straw will be consumed, while gold silver and precious stones will last. Are we building into the lives of our members such that their relationship with Christ is strengthened and deepened or are we merely treading water?

Do we have a structure in place that allows for training members in the foundational truths of Scripture? Are we teaching men and women how to read Scripture in context and understand how to apply it? Are we providing a forum where doubts and questions can be addressed? Do we have a safe environment for doubters to seek answers? In short, are we making disciples (root meaning learner) or are we making conformists? There is a large difference.

In addition to this type of training, do we as parents and church leaders model the life of a disciple? Can we be found studying Scripture? Do we honestly wrestle with how Scripture should be applied in our lives? Do we respond in obedience when Scripture brings conviction on an issue? Does the next generation look at us and see something that they want to emulate?

With 60% of young people leaving the church, it would appear that the church as a whole can use a lot of improvement in these areas. The good news is that there are individuals and  churches that are doing well with these issues and there are organizations who seek to train people to be excellent disciple makers.

I thank God that when I left for college, He brought men into my life that could point me toward the answers I sought. It is my hope that my generation can begin to do better at living out the gospel and training the next generation to do so.

We cannot sit back and rest thinking that we are on a good path. A 60% failure rate is unacceptable in any endeavor, especially when an eternal destiny is on the line.

Here is a question for my readers: What have you seen that has worked well in reaching out to the next generation?

We Are Designed by God to Create, Build and Accomplish

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bricklayer Man was given an objective at the time of creation. Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden “to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15 NIV).

Creativity and accomplishment are part of our DNA, we are designed to build, create and do. Our creativity comes from being in the image of God, we imitate the creator by creating.

Like every good gift, our drive to create and accomplish has been warped by sin. Left unchecked, that creative power can turn to evil ends. Therefore some in Christendom have condemned ambition as sin. Ambition can lead to sin but is not inherently sinful.

The problem is not that we want to accomplish or achieve, the problem is what we want to accomplish and why. The goal and the motivation for the accomplishment make all the difference.

It should be kept in mind that the “to work it and take care of it” command was given before the fall of man. Therefore the drive for doing and accomplishment was in humans before sin entered into the world. From this I conclude that doing and accomplishment are inherently good.

What is the difference before and after the fall? The difference lies in the motivation and the goal. Prior to the fall, the motivation would be as an act of worship and a deepening of the face-to-face relationship with God.

After the fall, the motivation had the potential to be quite different. We see an example of this in Genesis 11:1-9, where the story of the Tower of Babel is recorded. This passage records the motivation for building the tower as self-glorification rather than worship of God. They said to one another, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4).

It is impossible to over emphasize the two great commands as recorded in Matthew 22:37-40. First, we are to love God and then love our neighbor. The commands are all about relationship. We are to be in harmony with God and our fellow man. Jesus thought that the whole Judeo / Christian ethic depends upon these two commands.

The problem with ambition is when it is used in violation of the two great commands. If my ambition is to make a name for myself, then I am not fulfilling the first. I cannot be loving God as he deserves if I am practicing self-worship. If I am abusing my coworker, or neighbor to accomplish my goal, I am in violation of the second. Ambition that does not care for the well being of others will lead to abuse and mistreatment.

But, ambition that is in obedience to the two great commands is a very good thing. At right is a still from the movie Amazing Grace, depicting William Wilberforce in Parliament. He had the ambition of seeing slavery abolished. This abolition was pursued as an act of love and obedience to God and as a means of loving his neighbor as himself. The task was made more difficult by the culture of the day which did not see the imago dei, the image of God, in those of African descent. Yet Wilberforce thought it his duty, and therefore it became his ambition, to abolish this abhorrent practice.

The point of this post is that we should not hold back ambition and the desire for achievement. We should focus it on the right things and have the right motivation.

The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:31, that everything we do should be for the glory of God. Dream big things, do big things, but do them for God’s glory and not your own.

I would enjoy your comments. Please feel free to add your thoughts in the comment form below.

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