Listen up, little ones
Listen for the words I and church.
Reading
Matthew 16:13-20—I Will Build My Church
Optional Reading
Haggai 1
Keys for kids
- Haggai told his hearers to build God’s house.
- Jesus says He will build His church.
- We build because Jesus is building.
Questions
- How does Jesus build His church?
- What promise does Jesus make about His church?
- How can we build Jesus’s church?
Notes
(See Saturday for authors.)
When Haggai calls his hearers to build God’s house, we don’t have the contrasting statement that Jesus will build His church. For instance, in Psalm 127 we read that Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. We labor to build Jesus’s church because He is building it and therefore our labor—in the Lord—is not in vain. So, Paul would identify himself as a skilled master builder of God’s house (1 Cor. 3:10). Jesus builds and He uses us. Jesus is building His church. O’Donnell states that Jesus claims that he will build an eternal, invincible assembly against which even the powers of the devil and of death are powerless.
Because Jesus is building His church, we can build with confidence and hope. Our labor is not the final determination of the success or failure of Jesus’s church. Even the continuing or the closing of a local church is in Jesus’s capable hands.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that our building has no bearing on the local church. Jesus tells the church in Ephesus that unless they repent, He will remove their lampstand (Rev. 2:5). Our faithfulness, our building, our repentance may be factors in whether Jesus chooses to continue to build a local church or remove its lampstand. Lord Jesus, build our church, and use us in it!
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 127a, 119u
Prayer
- Pray that Jesus will build SRC and that He will use you in it.
- Pray for a specific application from yesterday's sermons.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.