God Does All the Work

“Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than they love the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest and sacrificial. God hates this wishful dreaming because it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious.

“Those who dream of this idolized community demand that it be fulfilled by God, by others and by themselves. They enter the community of Christians with their demands set up by their own law, and judge one another and God accordingly.

“But it is not we who build. Christ builds the church. Whoever is mindful to build the church is surely well on the way to destroying it, for he will build a temple to idols without wishing or knowing it. We must confess, he builds. We must proclaim, he builds. We must pray to him, and he will build. We do not know his plan. We cannot see whether he is building or pulling down.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community

I would like to suggest that there is a principle in this quote by Bonhoeffer that applies to more than just Christian community. For example, think of the quote with blanks after the word Christian and what are some of the things that come to mind?

Those who love their dream of a Christian ___________ more than they love the Christian ___________ itself become destroyers of that Christian __________.

With a little editing you could add many things into these blanks: “Family,” “Spouse,” “Children,” “Missions,” “Small Group,” “Church,” “Friends,” “Sunday Service,” “Worship” and “Leadership.” As a young man, I’m almost ashamed to admit how often I have been guilty of this error. I have wasted countless hours dreaming about my dreams for God’s church, God’s family, God’s worship services, God’s friends, God’s leaders, etc., and I can admit that such dreams only served to make the dreamer “proud and pretentious.” 

But the type of dreams Bonhoeffer rebukes is actually the dreams of my old self. In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul shows us how in Christ I am a part of God’s building for the Lord and built up in Christ for a dwelling place for God.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. – Ephesians 2:19-22

I find my flesh drawn to and enamored by leaders who build incredible things. I start thinking things like, “How did they do it? How did they go from good to great? What’s the secret formula I’m missing? What’s the secret ingredient our church is missing that they need me to show them?”

This type of thinking is all vanity though. It is not wisdom. To think that way is to elevate myself to a place where only God sits: able to build/change His church. The people who create great empires, companies, church buildings or programs, or even leadership teams, are still not able to add one thing to the work of God.

Instead of building God’s church to “be better” God is building me and you, His church, to be holy. The leader I am to be enamored by is the Triune God Himself, not to imitate for my own building for my own glory, but to abide in for His glory.

As the ancient sage says it: “I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken away from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.” Ecclesiastes 3:14

God has saved me from a life where I work all my days attempting to build things that will long be forgotten. Further, He is making me into a dwelling place for Himself by His Spirit in union with my brothers and sisters in Christ, and what God does endures forever.

As Bonhoeffer put it: “We must confess, he builds. We must proclaim, he builds. We must pray to him, and he will build. We do not know his plan. We cannot see whether he is building or pulling down.”

I can build nothing, but I can be sure of this, what God has done in and through Christ endures forever and nothing can be added to it, nor taken away, and I am in Christ.

Persevere,
Joey Turner
Pastor of Student Ministries