In the midst of our bustling lives and active ministries, it is all too easy to overlook the state of our hearts. Central District Associate Supervisor, Beth Hackbarth, shares a reminder to reflect on the state of our hearts and the underlying motivations that drive us to serve the Lord.
I deeply love the church. I always have.
I remember, as a young girl, attending my old school Pentecostal church in Orange County, Calif., where we’d sing hymns like, “Bringing in the Sheaves” (as a five-year-old, I thought it was “Bringing in the Cheese”). Ladies would come with a tambourine in tow, pulling the instrument out of their purse at just the right time to join the worship band in projecting a slightly off-beat symphony of sound across the sanctuary. I’m talking OLD school! Amazingly, these early experiences caused me to love the church even more. There’s something beautiful, quirky, and slightly messy about all of it.
Despite our deep love and commitment to the church, it doesn’t belong to us. It’s Jesus’. It’s His responsibility to build it and make it grow. It’s His possession. It’s gathered under one name, Jesus Christ.
My love for Jesus and His church has also grown as I’ve grown. At the age of 18, I committed to pursuing vocational ministry so that I could serve Jesus and His church full-time. After graduating from Bible school at 22, I became a credentialed minister of The Foursquare Church and have invested the past 20 years serving the church in a wide variety of ways (you name it, I’ve probably done it). I can think of no greater joy and honor than investing my life this way. And I know this same passion and commitment is true for so many of our pastors in the Foursquare Central District. Our love for Jesus and His Church compels us.
Over the past few months, the Lord has continued to bring me to a verse in Matthew 16 where Jesus speaks over Peter, “…on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades, will not overcome it” (Matt. 16:18). This is the first time the word ‘church’ is used in the New Testament. The more I’ve read the verse, the more the Lord has highlighted three specific focus points for me:
- “I will build” (oikodomeō) – In a literal sense, this phrase means to build a house or erect a building. In a metaphorical sense, it means to establish, edify, and cause something to grow.
- “My” (egō) – This is a primary first-person pronoun used to indicate possession. It’s used 2,581 times in the New Testament. The same word is used in passages like Matt. 2:6, “my people Israel,” and Matt. 2:15, “’Out of Egypt I called my’”
- “Church” (ekklēsia) – These are the ‘called out’ ones; a gathering or assembly of people. In a Christian sense, it’s coming together for worship and being united as the body of Christ.
Despite our deep love and commitment to the church, it doesn’t belong to us. It’s Jesus’. It’s His responsibility to build it and make it grow. It’s His possession. It’s gathered under one name, Jesus Christ. The only “ego” that should be in the Church is Jesus’ alone.
We get this; we know it cognitively. But sometimes, our deep love and commitment cause us to slowly shift from the simple, pure place we started from. Most often, it’s not done with ill-intent or ulterior motives. We love the church, and we want to see it succeed. But we can begin to step into a place of over-responsibility, doing things Jesus never asked us to do. We allow our “ego” to seek approval and accolades for our service. We allow differences, preferences, and offenses to divide us rather than being united under the Name of Jesus. We move from Christ’s sufficiency to a scarcity mindset, from trusting to territorial, from surrender to control.
My encouragement and prayer for each of us is that we would take some time to reflect on the state of our hearts and our motivation for ministry in this present moment. It’s not an indictment, but an invitation.
Jesus and His church are worthy of our love, service, commitment, and passion. But it must be done from the right place—with Jesus as the source and the center of all we do.
