I’ve been involved in a number of construction projects. There’s a lot of preparatory work that goes into such an endeavor. Yet despite all the planning, once it’s underway there are always unforeseen challenges. If those involved are agile enough, and knowledgable enough, the challenges can be responded to and the project can be brought to completion. From my experience, however, the finished product is never exactly as it was laid out on paper.
Jesus’ states that he is building his church and gates of Hades will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). Now, when the one who made heaven and earth says that he is going to build something, we should have confidence that it will be built! But sometimes it feels, does it not, as if unforeseen challenges have arisen that threaten the project? Is it possible that Jesus didn’t know the troubles that would plague the church? After all, isn’t that the way all construction projects go? In the world, yes. In the Kingdom, no.
Unlike those who spend a great deal of time anticipating problems but never accounting for all of them, the one building his church knows the end from the beginning. Even when the church seems to be weak, unwanted, under threat, it has all been known from the before the foundation of the world. Consequently, even when it appears that the church is losing ground it is where Jesus knew it would be. There are no Plan B’s or work-arounds necessary for the maker of heaven and earth.
This should encourage us to persevere despite present challenges. He is creating living stones from every tongue, tribe, and nation to be part of his invincible building, making them one by one though the preaching of the gospel. Faithful stewards of the message strive to preserve the truth while seeking to make it known to “everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:39). And once fitted into the structure, the gospel continues its work of refining and honing each stone that has been chosen to a part of “a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22).
Jesus is building his church and it will be built — and all according to plan, down to the last detail.
