Building to Last
Oct. 22 2007
We are in a series right now in our singles ministry called Build.
As a singles ministry we are asking the question together “How do we build churches that last?” We are seeking out the answer in the book of Titus.
What floors me about this book is the way that Paul is so glued to the gospel--it is the cornerstone of how he builds churches. It seems like Paul’s equation to Titus for a church that lasts is, “Get the gospel, get some leaders that get the gospel, and get some people that get the gospel and are dedicated and zealous to do good deeds in the name of Christ.” What a book.
What I really appreciate about Paul’s perspective is that he built on what is central, not what is peripheral and novel. D.A. Carson says it this way in The Cross and Christian Ministry: “I fear that the cross without ever being disowned is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight. Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center we are not far removed from idolatry.”
We cannot allow our churches to displace the center with the periphery. Yet we so often tend to do this by assuming the gospel and being more passionate about something else. We end up wanting to see the church built around this peripheral issue we are so passionate about.
I see this tendency in my own heart in so many categories. Here is just a small list…
_Evangelism
_Music
_Social Justice Issues
_Biblical Roles
_Reaching the City
_Being Relevant
_Feeding the Poor
_Politics
_World Missions
_Preferences about Media
_Courtship vs. Dating
All these things are great and godly. They’re good works and biblical truths that I want to follow, but they are not the cornerstone.
Why do I bring this up? We are a new generation of believers that are coming into leadership in God’s church. The question is, “Are our hands ready to receive this responsibility?” One way we ready our hands for this is by making sure we grip the gospel tightly and not let it slip. It is the cornerstone and foundational message for building communities of people who follow Christ, the local church.
I love innovation. I am very glad that I have an iPod and not an 8-Track (although the 8-Track looks pretty cool). I am glad the overhead projector has been replaced by the digital projector (although I really miss when someone turns the transparency the wrong way or a bug is flying on it). I also love reading church history and seeing that church really looks different now then it did 400 years ago. I think God has lead wise men to innovate certain things in the church for the better—better caring for believers and better reaching the lost. But let us never forget this central truth.
In our attempts to innovate and reach out let us never forget this central truth, let us never forget that we should not attempt to innovate the cornerstone.
Let’s build churches that last. Let’s build them on the gospel.
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Eric Simmons leads New Attitude and One--the singles ministry at Covenant Life Church. To hear the audio messages from the Build series visit the One Ministry Website.