Who Builds & Leads the Church?

#Theology #ChristianThought #BiblicalPractice #Discipleship

A fundamental question arose during the SBC Annual Meeting in light of an arrogant defense by a well-known pastor. Who builds the Church? Further, the following question attached to this one is who leads and how is the Church led? The way we answer this question has invariable results in the culture, dynamics, and the witness of the local church, and it reflects on the foundation of the congregation.

The first truth from John 17 is that the Church is founded and built up by the work and ministry of the Son of God. Nothing stands apart from Jesus Christ and the empowering work of the Holy Spirit (Read Colossians). The Church is the result of a Holy God being incarnate in the form of sinful flesh and leading a perfect life that he might redeem every aspect of it to make those led by the Spirit righteous by his declaration of victory through the empty tomb.

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is the one that enables men, gifted, or plain, talented, or dull, to build the church. Therefore, today’s disciples must shed off the inclination to think that each of us, in some measure, add anything of value to the local church, as though we are doing God a favor by working on His behalf (read Philippians 2). The truth is that God has called us out of darkness and sin, empowered us with the Holy Spirit, and compels us to live out the works of righteousness He has prepared for us to accomplish in our weakness through His strength (2 Timothy 3; Proverbs 16:3; Ephesians 2:9).

Second, Scripture reminds us that our intellect is minimally essential as a component to further the kingdom of God, as it faces off with the wisdom of this world and faces off with the attacks of the evil one. Colossians 3 testifies that the wisdom we gain is from God’s hand as we dwell in His word alone when the Scriptures testify that the awesome nature of wisdom is not men’s logic or ability to reason on his terms. The wisdom is worthy of praise and points back to God as He is the one who authors it and provides it to us. Rightly, we see that we are instruments in the hand of a just, loving, and masterful God.

Third, when any man, let alone a pastor or religious leader, make outlandish claims of “look at what I have done,” the writing is on the wall. Pride is present, and a sense of selfish accomplishment taints the truth of the Gospel. So rightly does 1 john 2:16 testify to the symptoms of the worldliness in us. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” The church cannot be built due to the means of the world or the created men that lead it. The Church of God is built on nothing less than the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit, testifying to God the Father’s justice, love, grace, mercy, and patience toward the unrepentant and the hostile men and women in the world.

Dear reader, if we can learn something about leading a church and surrendering to the faithful leadership of the men called to pastor the Church in local congregations, it is to practice Proverbs 3:7, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”