Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

From time to time, it’s good for us to reflect on how we’re doing as a church. Are we fulfilling the purposes for which the church exists? Are we merely going through the motions, or are we serving God with devoted hearts? Are we shrinking backward in hopelessness, or are we pressing forward in hope?

“Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ ” (Matthew 16:16-18)

I’d like to focus on two points from this text, and talk about how we have and will see them played out in the life of our church.

1. Christ stated that He would build His Church.

We’re not the ones who build the church. The church isn’t built by pastors, missionaries, or even by the apostles. It’s not built by programs and events.

In 2010, we did many worthwhile things. We hosted a Trunk or Treat at the church. Our youth went to the Youth Encounter this year. Our youth went on a mission trip to Ohio! We started a new Sunday school class for young adults. We’re systematically following up with guests. Our children have been doing Bible Drills on Wednesday nights, and this year they’ll be participating in the State Bible Drill in Decatur. God uses people, programs, and events, but we can’t say that the church exists because of these.

Jesus Christ said that He would build His Church. When Jesus made this statement, He was talking not about any specific local church, but about the Invisible Church. Can we, then, claim this promise for ourselves? I think we can. The Invisible Church only exists in terms of local, visible churches. This means that as we work in the life of the church, we can be confident that Christ is working through us to build His Church in this place.

We see this very clearly when people come to know Christ as Savior. Since I’ve been the pastor, we’ve seen five people believe and be baptized. Four of these were in 2010, and two of them are still active members of the church. We might be saddened by such a statistic, that many people we embrace and accept into the church do not continue with the church. But Christ also gives us a promise regarding the future of the Church.

2. The gates of Hell will not prevail against Christ’s Church.

When speaking about the Invisible Church, this makes perfect sense. Christ will be victorious. God wins in the end. As a result, many will be saved. The gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church. But can we apply this promise to the local church as well?

As with the idea that Christ will build His Church, I think we can. As long as we hold to Jesus Christ as the foundation of the church, we will not be overcome. So this year, and every year, we want to make sure Christ is the foundation of everything we do. When we have fellowship, we do it not only to enjoy each others’ company, but to strengthen our faith in Christ. And our fellowship is a sweet aroma to Christ. When we do ministry, we’re not merely serving others for their sake, we’re serving Christ. As we disciple one another, we’re not seeking knowledge which puffs up, but the wisdom of God so we can reflect Christ through our lives. As we evangelize, we’re not merely trying to grow a church, but we’re striving to tell them about the grace of God available through Christ. And obviously, when we worship, we don’t just want a feel-good experience, we worship Christ in spirit and truth. And we bathe all these things in prayer so that we’re doing them not in our strength, but in Christ’s strength, given to us through the Spirit, that we might be pleasing to God.

Having Christ as the foundation of the church, we can have confidence to press forward to accomplish the work of the church.

To a great degree, the work of the church is evangelism. Every other purpose of the church can be done in heaven. This is why I’d like to see a greater percentage of our giving going towards the cooperative program. The cooperative program funds 10,000 missionaries around the world. The cooperative program funds our six Southern Baptist Seminaries, so that future pastors, missionaries, and evangelists are able to afford to get a good education in God’s Word and ministry practices.

But I don’t want our evangelism strategy to just be about giving, either. It’s my desire that in this decade we would as a church go on a overseas mission trip. More locally and more immediate, though, we talked at the last business meeting about hosting a fun evangelistic event at our church this year to invite the community to, and I’m hoping to organize this for the early Fall season.

But all of these require that we stay focused upon Christ. That’s our aim this year and every year: to aim to please Christ in all that we do.