Jesus would beg to differ. The church, as it turns out, is not ours; it's His. Paul wrote, "Christ is the head of the church, His body." (Eph 5:23) Jesus said, "I will build My church" (Matt 16:18). In that same verse He said, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Scripture assures us, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Rom 8:37) This is not a question. The existence of Christ's Body is not dependent on the good will of the world or even believers.
Remember the story of Elijah (1 Kings 17-18)? He told Ahab it wouldn't rain and it didn't. He hid and God fed him. When the stream dried up he went to a widow's house who was preparing her last meal before she and her boy died and God fed them. When the boy got sick and died, God used Elijah to raise him from the dead. Then he had that famous battle of the believers -- Baal worshipers against Elijah. Who will produce fire? The fire god or Jehovah? It's a fun story, really, and in the end God produced spectacular results and the prophets of Baal were hunted down and killed. The end. Except it wasn't the end (1 Kings 19). Queen Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah, so he ran into the desert and asked to die. In a remarkable story on its own (1 Kings 19:4-18), God told him that He had kept 7,000 of Israel for Himself. Wait ... Who kept 7,000? You see, from beginning to end it has always been God sustaining His people. Always.
People are wondering today in our COVID-19 world. What will happen to the church if this keeps up? Will there be deaths? (Probably.) Will there be fundamental changes to church? (Changes, maybe, although "fundamental" is not likely.) Will the church cease to be the church? Absolutely not. Some will point out that in times of crisis the church grows, and this is a crisis. On the other hand, rarely do those numbers remain when the crisis passes. Some will tell you that the church needs to change, but that's not up to us, is it? Some are concerned that this could end the church. Can't happen. It cannot happen. That's because the church is not dependent on the world or even believers. She is built by and sustained by Christ, her Savior.
I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:38-39)Rest easy, my friends. Times are tough, but our God is tougher.
3 comments:
Great piece; yes we do well to remember to whom we belong.
Little children to him belong, they are weak but He is strong..
yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me. The bible tells me so.
Great theological treaties, by Charles Spurgeon
heavy stuff....
Did Spurgeon write that? :)
I do think that God can and will use this circumstance to strengthen both individual believers as well as the Church.
I saw something the other day that struck me. The point they were making is that in this time of virtual church, where we can virtually attend any church we want, that people are mostly sticking to the church where they physically attend. What's more interesting, to me, is that even though I am watching other services (mostly churches where I have some relationship) I'm still engaged in the church where I'm a member.
Stuff like this is always ripe for theories and speculation. But there are two things that I've found interesting. One, that God is stripping away the things we really worship. Two, that this is a taste of potential things to come. I'm not saying that either is right, or even worth dwelling on, but that both caught me eye as intriguing.
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