Church Solutions
6 min read
12 With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.
— 1 Peter 5:12
It takes a community to build up a disciple of Jesus Christ. We need faithful brothers and sisters to help us in our walk of faith. And we ourselves need to be faithful brothers and sisters to help others in their walk of faith. Because a walk of faith is never a “stand still” of faith.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
— Ephesians 2:10
The work that God has prepared in advance for us to do is to encourage one another to persevere in the love of Christ as we build up His church together (Ephesians 4:11-16).
The work that God has prepared in advance for us to do is to testify to one another and to the world that we need Jesus and we need Jesus now.
And the work that God has prepared in advance for us to do is never easy work. But is any worthwhile work easy? And is there any work in this world that could be more worthwhile than the work that God has prepared in advance for us to do?
And so, because this work is not easy and because this work is worthwhile above all things, we need one another. We need to help one another. We need to encourage one another. We need to love one another.
Because even though the work that God has prepared for us (to build up His church in love) is never easy, that work was never meant to be a tedious chore but a joyful calling. However, the work does become a tedious chore when we do not help one another, when we do not encourage one another, when we do not love one another, when we feel as if we are all alone as we do the work.
Of course, we are not supposed to compare ourselves with others. What about him? What about her? But because of sin, how many of us can be that mature, really? Not comparing ourselves with others is like Jesus-level faith—all alone, agonizing on the cross with the weight of the sin of all of humanity across all of time, crying out, “Father, forgive them. For they don’t know any better.”
In a way, Jesus was all alone so that none of us would have to be.
The work that God has prepared in advance for us to do (to build up His church) is never accomplished by programs, strategies, and solutions. Of course, every human institution needs programs, strategies, and solutions—even marriages and families. But the work that God has prepared for us can only be accomplished successfully through love grounded in faith. That is called “faithfulness,” and that is the “true grace of God.”
Father, thank You for GCC and thank You for Canvas. Thank You for establishing our church by the blood of our Lord Jesus. Thank You for inviting us and allowing us, a sinful and proud people, often times, to partner with You in this great work of building up Your church. Just let us be YOUR church, and may we never try to claim it as our own. Let us do this work in YOUR ways and not our own. In Jesus’s name. Amen.