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The War for the Soul of the Church
The words of the LORD are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.
(Psalm 12:6 NASB)
God has indeed set his sights on the whole Earth – He intends to fill it with His glory. In order for us to participate in His plan, we who constitute His house must invite and welcome Him into our midst. It is not our commitment to Him so much as it is His commitment to us and to His purpose that guarantees His ultimate success. Our hope cannot rest upon ourselves or others, even powerfully gifted and anointed leaders. For example, even the apostle Paul had his weaknesses.
Paul wanted the believers at Corinth to know not only about his strengths, but his frailties as well. So he communicated with them first about how he struggled with deep despair in Asia. Then he revealed how he had failed to fully apprehend God’s will when he was at Troas. It was here that the Lord opened a door for Paul to preach the gospel. But he just could not find rest in his spirit because Titus wasn’t there. So he left for Macedonia (2 Corinthians 2:12 - 13).[4] Imagine the apostle walking away from a door that God had specifically opened for him to preach the gospel!
Yet Paul’s own testimony was that God always led him in triumph in Christ.[5] How amazing! The promise for us is that even in our frailties and failures, our conquering King has captured our hearts and is leading us in His train into the fulfillment of His purpose. Not only that, in the meantime, He consistently manifests through us the fragrance of the knowledge of God.
We simply must grasp the significance of Paul’s words. The gospel is not primarily about the Church and what we should or should not be doing, even though these are important considerations. Rather, it is about God, His name and reputation, His power to accomplish what He has promised, and finally, about His absolute commitment to do so. True Christ-centered preaching unveils the glory of the One who guaranteed that He would build His Church despite Hell’s best efforts to oppose Him.
While it is true that God holds us responsible if we resist His Spirit and try to run from His call on our lives, the good news is that our human commitment and zeal are not the foundation of God’s constructive work on earth; Christ is. His dedication and passion for the great work He is doing among men undergirds all that He does.
When we understand properly the foundation that God has established for His work on Earth, we are then free to let others see our weaknesses, since we are not the ones upon whom God’s work depends. That is why even though Paul’s ministry was under attack in Corinth by certain false apostles, he could still confidently open his heart to the believers there about his own flaws. Indeed, such vulnerability was part of his apostolic strategy. In order to accurately reveal Christ as God’s flawless foundation Paul had to make sure the believers saw clearly the frailty of even the most committed of Christ’s apostles. We see this illustrated at another time when Paul wrote to the Galatian believers about how he had to rebuke Peter publicly for the sin of ethnic favoritism due to the fear of man (Galatians 2:11 - 14).
Paul’s openness about his and others’ weaknesses is also reflected in God’s strategy when He wrote the Bible. All through its pages we see the failures, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities of its mighty men and women of God. Abraham lied about his wife. The book of Jonah ends with the prophet angry and arguing with the Lord. David committed adultery and murder. The list goes on and on. Yet it obviously is not as though God wants to simply parade the sins of His people. But He does want us to see clearly why our hopes cannot be placed on men, but upon Christ, the only sure foundation of His work on Earth.
So God’s Church (leaders included) is made up of flawed but forgiven people. Does this mean that His project is in trouble? No, the promise remains. Even in our struggles and failures, God leads us in triumphal procession and manifests through us unto himself the fragrance of His Son both among those who are saved as well as among those who are lost (2 Corinthians 2:14-15). Because God delights in the revelation of Christ in us from among these two groups, two results come to mind.
The Earth is not destroyed. God has sown among the nations the preserving power of the salt of the earth – an imperfect but redeemed people. And just like the smoke of the burnt offering ascended to God as a sweet smelling savor in the Old Testament, the perfection of Christ’s offering at Calvary rises to bless the Father from our lives as we live among those who do not know Him. Because of Calvary, we are received in Heaven and at the same time, the Earth is preserved. The ongoing presence of the Church is the guarantee of the continuing survival of the planet.[6]
The Church will ultimately come to the fullness of God’s glorious design. He does not receive us into His presence because of our obedience records; He welcomes us because of the perfection of Christ’s sacrifice at the cross. If His embrace were to be based on how deserving we are, there simply would be no Church. No one apart from Christ is worthy to stand before Him. But gazing into our hearts and perceiving unmistakably what He has to work with, God has made clear promises concerning his ultimate success among His people on Earth. Herein lies our hope. The question we face is whether or not we believe He is up to the task.
It is important that we not make light of our sins (God hates sin). At the same time, we must recognize that He is far greater than the sins of His people. He is greater than our tendency to divide from each other. He is mightier than our pride and plans for self–promotion. His available grace surpasses in glory and power the foolish eruptions of fleshly pride among us. Indeed, there is plenty wrong in our midst. But these impediments to God’s work shall not succeed. They shall be overwhelmed by the grace from Heaven necessary to bring forth on Earth the glorious Church, a bride adorned with eternal beauty.
While we are not content with the present condition of God’s house, we must not succumb to discouragement; what we see is a project still under construction. To put it another way, where we are is not where we are going. Or again, how we presently do church is not the final word on how church is done.
And because God delights in the fragrance of Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary when we apply it by faith to our hearts because of our sins and failures, He is then able to abide in our midst. Not only is the Earth preserved, the Church is as well, but with the hope of being filled with the glory of God. His merciful and gracious commitment to abide in our midst guarantees the ultimate success of His work to bring forth what He intended from the foundation of the world.
Indeed, He has paid the price to dwell fully in our midst. Though we do not yet see a fullness of His manifest presence among us, such abundance is guaranteed. He is the One upon whom we have set our hope that one day Christ’s Church will speak with one voice, express one mind, and stand integrated as one corporate man.
Paul knew that the Corinthian believers would have an incorrect vision if they placed their hope in him or in any other man. So he exalted Christ and spoke of his own frailties. In fact, he even went so far as to glory in his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). How we need such leadership in our midst in these days!
Today, Christ is leading a flawed, divided people in His victorious train. And He is bringing us to the glorious conclusion described in scripture as a bride made ready for her glorious Bridegroom.
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