“I Will Build My Church”
Posted in UncategorizedOver the last few months I have been gripped with Jesus’ statement in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church and the power of death will not overpower it.” I haven’t been able to get away from this proclamation and it has echoed in my mind day after day. Jesus was in essence saying, “My church is an unstoppable force!” (and no, I have never read McManus’ book) This undeserving group of people who were graced by the Father to understand that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (v. 16), would be assembled in such a way that nothing (very bold word) would stop them from fulfilling the purposes of God. Nothing!
The first night I began to think through this, my wife had gone to a movie with some friends and I had put the kids to bed, and I was left silent with this thought. I stared out my window overwhelmed with awe at being included into this movement. Todd Nighswonger, one of a few billion people to walk this planet since the dawn of time, was given the grace to understand the greatest message since the Fall and the pleasure to be involved in an unavoidable finale that God has been orchestrating since eternity past.
As I sat captivated in my thoughts, a really obvious question snuck into my mind: “If this God ordained body is so ‘unstoppable,’ then why does the church seem so ‘stoppable’ in the U.S.?”
After floating in the clouds of my euphoria, this thought brought me quickly back to earth (with a thud!). What would happen if you removed all of the money, programs, air conditioned/heated buildings, extravagant children’s and youth ministries, tight worship bands, expensive sound systems, worship “expressions” (I still haven’t figured out that one), Christian books, blogs, podcasts, cheesy lingo…? What if all we had were a few Bibles and some people?
A couple of years ago, I took a Roman Catholic friend of mine out for coffee to discuss the ills of the Roman Catholic faith. We talked about various Church Fathers, creeds, councils, etc., but in the end he was convinced that the Roman Catholic Church was the “one true church.” As a parting shot I left him with this statement, “Do you honestly believe that as Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross, everything the Roman Catholic Church has become is what Jesus envisioned? St. Peter’s Basilica? Vatican City? The Roman Catholic liturgy? All of that is what he died for?”
I sat back in my chair smug, thinking I had the last shot to part on. Little did I know that he was going to respond in like manner: “You think Jesus had in mind what the Conservative Evangelical Church has become? Come on!”
Tonight I sat quietly in my chair thinking to myself those same words…“Come on!”
As I write this, I don’t remember if it was frustration or disappointment, but that night I picked-up my Bible and read those words out of Matthew again and again: “I will build my church…” After about four or five deep breaths, I was reminded that in spite of the mess we have created, it was so good to know that God will build his church.
by: Pastor Todd Nighswonger
April 1st, 2009 at 7:58 am
As I was reading this particular article I was reminded of something I read in the book The Hiding Place. Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie had been imprisoned following their arrest stemming from accusations of hiding Jews…which was true. In the women’s prison there was all manner of filth and discouragement. Betsie saw God’s grace and blessings in everything. Corrie had managed to get in a small Bible which had “miraculously” been overlooked by the prison guards during their search of her. In the book Corrie said that she began tearing out pages of this small Bible and she, her sister, and the other women would hungrily devour every word on those pages. Not physically devour……but spiritually devour. They met every evening to pray and to devour God’s word……the “bread of life”. I don’t wonder that for all the church buildings, that this is what church truly should be. The gathering of people who seek to devour the bread of life. To learn from the Word of God. To love one another as Christ loves us.