Serve All Out in Church, Knowing Christ is Building His Church

I am writing to those who are tired and exhausted in serving the church.  I am writing this to encourage you to continue to serve God at church, and to do so by the grace of God.

Sometimes serving in the church it can feel that the gates of hell is pressing unto the church.  And sometimes that is true.

Certainly Jesus recognized this reality.  As He described it in His own words:

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 16:18)

Yet did you catch what Jesus said? “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  That’s right, in regards to Christ’s church He will not allow Hell to prevail against it.

Of course sometimes Christ moves the church elsewhere outside an apostatizing body of people.  Yet for those involved with teaching and preaching, discipling, ministering and serving with sound doctrines the church is always under the pressure of Satan from outside worldly influences upon the members, false teachings, or members’ love for God growing cold, worldliness, sins, etc.

It can be easy to be discouraged.

Sometimes it feels everything depends upon us.  Or at least humanly speaking.

Yet Matthew 16:18 gives us hope.

Again “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

But did you catch what Jesus said before that?  Jesus said “I will build my church.”

He will build His church.

Christ will build His church.

Part of that involves Christ giving spiritual gifts to the members of His church to build His church.

Yet when God uses members of the church to build the Church it is Christ who builds His church.

What an incredible truth.

What an incredible truth to meditate upon.

What an incredible truth that should move you to serve all out in the church.

What an incredible truth that should also make you not trust in yourself or your strength or your self-confidence; rather it should move you to trust in Christ for strength!

Have you gone to Him to pray for that strength?

Then go all out knowing Christ is working in His church!  And count it a joy to thank God that He is using you!

If Christ is building His church through you that means we should also serve faithfully according to His blueprint in the Scriptures but also through sound doctrines from the teaching of Scripture.

Finally after all that you have done, at the end of Sunday you can go to God to pray for His grace with your shortcoming and also knowing that ultimately it is Christ who will build His church and not ultimately you.  How liberating!  How liberating it is this truth that frees us to go all-out serving God, liberating us from fear that immobilizes us when we think we are doing everything all alone.