A Church Built Only by Christ, an Operation Which God Has Promised to Perform

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A Church Built Only By Christ, An Operation Which God has Promised to Perform,

A Stewardship Owed Only to Your Fellow Man

By Rev. Jonathan Fisk

Part I - A Church Built Only By Christ

It's easy to raise money in the name of God when one attaches false promises to God's name. "If you give this, then God will do that." But such false laws not only anger God, but they also create either guilt and shame, or self-centered "super spiritual" pride.

·  I urged you…charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine….The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussions, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make such confident assertions. 1 Timothy 1:3, 5-7.

God's Word is not a tool that we use in order to get the things we want. It is the power of salvation and resurrection for those who hear and believe it. This Gospel has only one condition: that there is no other Word that God wants all people to hear more than that of Jesus Christ, and him crucified for the forgiveness of your sins.

·  I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you….For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared…. 1 Corinthians 15:1-2a, 3-4.

Part II - An Operation Which God has Promised to Perform,

This work of saving mankind is both God's primary Word to you, as well as entirely and totally his work, by grace, through faith, without any merit or effort on our part. This truth also is true of the human side of the work of mission. By our human efforts, we can neither add to, nor detract from, the eternal Kingdom of God in Christ Jesus. All that we can do is that work which Jesus himself sends, and which he himself will enact and complete by his Spirit, the work of preaching the Gospel which he so desires all mankind to hear.

·  I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18b.

·  Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Matthew 9:38.

·  How will they then call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear unless they are sent? Romans 10:14-15a.

So, while God will do his saving work even without your cooperation, it is you he wills to operate upon, and through this Word hearing, believing and confessing, to also operate upon others, drawing all men to himself through faith in our risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

·  As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in him might have eternal life. For God so love the world… John 3:14-16a.

·  Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow, we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit" - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16. MOVED FROM SECTION I

The true mission work of the Church is to then believe this stewardship of the Word and Sacraments of Jesus, which gives free salvation to all, belongs not only here among those who are like us in race and culture, but also among all nations. This is doubly true for those of weak or impoverished spirit who call out to us, "Come over here and help us learn the Gospel!"

·  And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the Gospel to them. Acts 16:9-10.

A Stewardship Owed Only to Your Fellow Man

All of this means that, for us Christians, there is nothing we owe to anyone, with one exception: the debt of love which flows from being people who have been forgiven all of our own trespasses against God's holy Law. How can faith in the salvation which Christ bought with his atoning blood do anything other than overflow with generosity when it sees the need of a brother in Christ, not for food and drink, but for the Bread which comes from Heaven and for the Water which ends all thirst?

·  Owe no one anything, except to love each other…. You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Romans 13:8a, 11-12.

·  For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. 2Corinthians 8:3-4.

The real Kingdom is coming when Jesus returns. Until then, he has left us here, not because it is better for us, but because it is better for our neighbor. It is better for all nations that as we go about wherever and whatever we are, we hold fast to the stewardship of making sure that baptizing in the Name of the Triune God and teaching people to believe everything Jesus said about himself is going on as often and in as many places as possible. This is Jesus promise: that where this is happening, he is already with us always even to the very end of the age.

·  My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Philippians 1:23b-24.

Conclusion

Washed in the water and the Word of Christ, the mission of the Church is not, "If…then…" but "Because…so…." Because Jesus has done all and there is nothing more for us to earn or gain, so the stewardship that we have from God that is by faith alone is certainly worth passing on as far and as often as possible. Where I can not do this myself, I pray that God will send a missionary. Then I, as steward of all that God has given me, share what I have with that work, so that unburdened from the primary task of working with his hand to earn his bread, he can freely work with his mouth give away the Words of salvation to all who will receive him.

·  To me, though I am the least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the Church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known….This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him. Ephesians 3:8-10b, 11-12.