Beloved in the Lord,
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia!
As I sit down and I think about what to write this week, I find myself thinking about the church and what it is, and our tendency, in this world, to reshape and remold it.
The thing is the Church isn’t ours to define.
One of the things that is often missed in our society today is that the Church doesn’t belong to the pastor. It doesn’t belong to the people, and it doesn’t belong to the times in which we live. It belongs to Christ, and Christ alone. It is His body. It is His bride. And because it belongs to Him, the Church must always remain centered on what He has given – not what we invent. It must be centered on what He has delivered, and chief among those gifts is the clear and faithful preaching of His Word.
In the Epistles, the apostle Paul writes to his young protégé Timothy: “Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” (2 Tim. 4:2) Why is this message so urgent and so important? The reason is simple: it is through the preaching of the Word that the Lord speaks to His people. He brings repentance. He gives faith. He strengthens the weary and comforts the broken.
That kind of preaching is not about eloquence or personality. It is about truth. It is about Christ.
There are times in the life of any congregation when the voice of Christ has not always rung out as clearly as it should. We see it in the world around us. Whether through unclear teaching, misplaced focus, or a lack of confidence in the power of God’s Word, the message can become muddled and messy and disjointed.
But even in such times as those, the Lord does not leave His Church without His mercy. Our Lord is patient. And He has not abandoned His Church. He remains faithful. He continues to call, to gather, and to guide. And by His grace, He gives renewal, not by chasing something new, but by returning to what has always been true: His Word, and His Word faithfully preached, centered in Christ, and grounded in His objective truth.
In His grace, He gives fresh opportunities to recover and hold fast to what matters most, to anchor our life together in His living and active Word.
It is no small thing to say that a church’s strength will rise or fall on this point: whether Christ is clearly proclaimed, whether the Scriptures are rightly divided, and whether the Word is taught in its purity and fullness. Not as an accessory to our worship, but as the heart of it.
The Church stands or falls on this. Because the Church is not a building or a series of events. It is the gathering of those who have been called by the Spirit, heard the voice of Jesus and believe that His Word is truth. That is why the preaching of the Word must never be treated lightly. It’s the very instrument by which God works faith. (Rom. 10:17) And it is why we, as the people of God, must be discerning, watchful, and prayerful.
This calling belongs to all of us. We’re not called to be passive hearers. We are called to be active stewards of the truth. We have the responsibility to expect and insist that what is preached be rooted in Scripture, centered in Christ, and faithful to sound doctrine. This is how we are fed spiritually, not with opinions, not with platitudes, but with the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for sinners.
So, as we look at the world around us, let’s do so with confidence, never getting discouraged, committing ourselves to the work that our Lord has entrusted to His Church, not by our strength, but by the power of His Spirit, with full confidence in what God will do when His truth is spoken clearly
Pray for our church, pray for all churches, that they may be a place where Christ is truly preached. Pray for those who teach, that they may be faithful. And pray that every heart who hears may be brought to repentance and faith, comfort and peace, by the voice of the Savior who still speaks today.
Lord, grant this unto us all
Now may the peace of the Lord that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting.
In Him,
Pastor Wyatt
