Jesus is the Savior and Lord who redeems and transforms us, not the Church

I read a statement not too long ago that says something like committing the Church to saving and winning souls to the kingdom of God. This statement sets me thinking wondering whether in actual sense it is the Church or Christ Himself that saves souls using the Church as an instrument of His redeeming grace. My concern seems to center on at least two Scripture verses of the Bible thus:

John 16:8, “And when He (the Holy Spirit) comes, He will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness and judgment”. While the Church has the responsibility and commission of reaching the world for Christ, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict you and I of sin leading to repentance and salvation.

The second Bible statement is the inspired word of Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:12-13, “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but how much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work His good pleasure”.

This focuses on the fact that it is God Christ Himself that inspires and does His good pleasure in and through us, His Church. And Jesus Himself said, “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me … for apart from Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5). Hence, the challenge and encouragement is to trust and depend on the person and finished work of Jesus for our salvation and not any other person or entity.

One cannot but be concerned about the state of the Church, especially in our day and generation where one can simply summarize that the Church is an imperfect institution, no matter where it exists and functions around the world. Love of money and power struggle, politicking, immorality of highest order, hypocrisy, backbiting, etc have become the order of the day. Winning souls and mission endeavors have become secondary. Faith and Obedience to Jesus and His Holy Spirit is what saves and not the Church.

The Church ought to return to the rightful priority place of Christ in the ministry of winning the world for Christ and deliver the world from its self centered sinful tendency. It is not enough for the Church to have well organized powerful preaching and other ministries, we must live out the wordings of the message and allow the Holy Spirit its priority role in all our life endeavors. In general, it seems unfortunate that today’s Church is a mixture of generate and ungenerate people that leaves much to be desired!

In conclusion, coming to Jesus by faith is what saves and redeems sinners through His precious blood shed on the Cross. Jesus is the One who saves us and not the Church and He must be the Pointer to His redeeming grace and not the polluted Church. He is the Author and Finisher of our Faith who empowers us to be an effective soul winner to His Church making us brand new regenerate person by the power of His Holy Spirit ( 2 Corinthians 2:17). In case if any reader may have been disappointed by the Church, we ought to keep trusting Jesus.

May God grant us the spirit of discernment so that we don’t feel discouraged when we see the anomaly of today’s Church, but keep trusting Jesus to sustain and uphold us as believers in the Lord Jesus.

We owe it a responsibility to keep praying for the Church to live in a way consistent with the tenets established by Jesus and be doers of the same.

Jesus is the Lord of His Church and no one else.