DOES THE CHURCH MATTER?

“He pressed them, ‘And how about you? Who do you say I am?’  Simon Peter said, ‘You're the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus came back, ‘God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn't get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I'm going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.” Matthew 16: 16-19 (Mess)
 
Jesus lets Peter know that upon this profession of faith in Him, He will build His church.  That He wants to build a family from every nation who will love Him and love others.  That His agenda in the world is to create a family of faith and as His followers you must take this message to the world. (Matthew 28, 18-28, Mark 16: 15, John 20: 21, Acts 1: 8).  This church is to be so expansive with energy and power, so favored by God that not even the gates of hell will keep it out.  Wow!! This is Jesus church.  It is to be vibrant, alive and on mission.  The truth is that there is nothing more important to the heart of God than His church and He showed it because Jesus literally laid down His life for His church. The church is the bride of Christ.    
 
In his book Christ among the Dragons,  James Emery White wrote of sitting in the boardroom of a prominent Christian business leader.  He was determined to boast of his company’s identity as a Christian enterprise.  He told of the mission trips he had taken with his employees, the investments the company had made from its profits in select boutique parachurch ventures, and the Bible study offered on-campus for employees.
 
He then proceeded to take more than his fair share of shots at local churches and pastors who were not as “alive” as he and his company were in their faith.  Then, in the midst of one of his personal asides about the sorry state of the church, as compared to the pristine missional nature of his business, he maintained that it was for this reason that he wasn’t involved in a local church.  They were, he intimated, beneath his own theological vision.
 
“And after all,” he added, “we’re the church, too.”
 
And then everything within me wanted to leap from my seat, shout “Enough!”, and say, “No, you are NOT!”
 
A company is not the body of Christ instituted as the hope of the world by Jesus Himself, chronicled breathtakingly by Luke through the book of Acts, and shaped in thinking and practice by the apostle Paul through letter after letter now captured in the New Testament.
 
A marketplace venture which offers itself on the New York Stock Exchange is not the entity which is so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell can withstand its onslaught.
 
An assembly of employees in cubicles working for end-of-year stock options and bonuses is not the gathering of saints bristling with the power of spiritual gifts as they mobilize to provide justice for the oppressed, service to the widow and the orphan, and compassion for the poor.
 
And I’ll go further.  No company will ever hold a candle to what the church can do.
 
While the church on earth has never been or will be perfect it is still the heart of what Jesus is about on earth.  The church, the people of God sharing His love with a hurting world.  It is the local church that has been given the great commission, and it is His church that has been given the life-changing and eternity altering message of Jesus Christ
 
So remember, nothing compares to the church.  No business, no investment, no enterprise, no activity.  It's the heart of God's plan, and the hope of the world.  It's the most dynamic, active, vibrant, forceful movement on the planet.  It is the one thing we will give our lives to that will live on long after we are gone - and not just for a generation or two, but for all of eternity.
I know of nothing greater to throw your life into.  It will matter for eternity.
 
Pastor Scott