Why the Church isn't Optional

You Can't Make It Through the Maze Alone: Why the Church Isn't Optional

Have you ever tried to navigate a difficult season of life completely on your own? Maybe you thought you could handle the challenges, the pain, or the uncertainty without anyone else's help. I've got news for you: "I can't make it through the maze without you. I can't fully become that which God desires for me without you. Without you, I will never fully accomplish that which God desires for my life."

This isn't just pastoral sentiment—it's Biblical truth that Jesus himself established when he built his church.

The Rock-Solid Foundation

In Matthew 16, Jesus asks his disciples a pivotal question: "Who do people say that the son of man is?" After hearing various responses—John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah—Jesus gets personal: "But who do you say that I am?"

Peter, who "was not the sharpest crayon in the box" and "wasn't the most educated of the 12 disciples," declares something revolutionary: "You are the Christ, the son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16).

Jesus' response reveals something incredible: "Blessed are you, Simon-Bar-Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:17). "What Jesus is saying to him in that moment is you heard this directly from the voice of the Father. I want you to know something. That is the privilege you and I have today—that when we get into an intimate relationship with God that at some moment he will reveal to us things that no one else has revealed to us."

Building Something Unshakeable

But here's where it gets really interesting. Jesus continues: "And I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).

"Peter is not the rock of the church. Let me just dispel that right away." The rock Jesus refers to is "the profession that Jesus Christ is the son of God—that's the very rock. That's the very foundation that we build our lives upon."

When Jesus says "church," he uses a specific Greek word: "ecclesia." This wasn't just religious terminology—it had powerful cultural meaning. "Ecclesia was not abnormal. They understood what that meant in their day. That was a cultural thing. And what it really meant was this: this assembly of free citizens to which belong judicial and legislative power."

The Power of "You Plural"

Here's where we've gotten it completely wrong in modern Christianity. When Jesus says, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19), "this is where we make a mistake. This is where we have gone so far astray from the ecclesia. We have taken the you and made it singular instead of it being plural."

"He says, 'You plural, look at your neighbor and look at your other neighbor. Look behind you and look at me. You plural that God says that you, the church, I will give you the keys to the kingdom.'"

The problem? "We go home, we pull ourselves out of the ecclesia, out of the church. We fight our own battles. We find our own ways. We go home. We begin to bind the enemy. And we don't include the ecclesia. You don't have the power on your own. You have the power in the ecclesia, in the church."

When Independence Becomes Isolation

"What has happened to the church? Where is the power gone? Where are the healings? Where are the miracles? Where are the signs and wonders? Why are we not adding daily to those to the church that are saved? What has happened? We've become independent."

We are so independent we start claiming that…My salvation is mine — it’s personal — and I can go to God with my problems. I don’t have to talk to other people about what I’m facing, because sometimes they’ll gossip or misunderstand, and they don’t always need to know. I trust that God will make it okay.

But what has happened in the church is this: we’ve essentially said to the gates of hell, “Go ahead and prevail against my family.”

The enemy's strategy is simple: "The enemy desires to isolate us. His biggest tactic is to isolate you. And he's attacking the family and he's attacking the church. Why? Because he wants to pull you away from that which will make you strong."

The Church's Warranty System

"We're hearing over and over again this idea, well, you know, pastor, I got my own support system. Your support system does not come with Jesus Christ’s guarantee. He's got a warranty, baby, that says the ecclesia, when they come together, the gates of hell will not prevail. Your support group probably does not have that warranty."

"My relationship with God is only as strong as my relationship with his body. That me by myself, if I isolate myself, I am more likely to go farther away from God than I am to draw closer. Why? Because you hold me accountable."

Four Earmarks of the True Church

UNITY AND DIVERSITY

"Look around the room right now, find somebody that looks different than you. It's not very hard." The church should be "a representation of what heaven looks like. Every tribe, every tongue, every language, every people group."

MUTUAL SERVICE

"When everything is great with you, you should be here because the person next to you might be at the worst moment of their life. And they need somebody to say, 'Hey, I've been there. I'm not there now, but that's okay.'"

"I need you and you need me. I'm here because I know you need me. And I hope you're here because you know I need you."

SHARED VISION

We join together because we desire to worship God together. We long to grow in our faith as we hear about the testimonies of what God has done in each others life. We grow in our knowledge of God as we open the book of Life and read together. And then we Go Give LIFE, as a strong body telling people about Jesus.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRUST

"We're told to judge people by their fruit." But here's the challenge: "I don't want you to hold me accountable. Hence why I don't tell you about my life. Because if you realize the music I listen to, you realize the movies I watch, you realize some of the things I do, then you might hold me accountable.” But you and I need people to speak into our life and help us see where we might be missing God.

Dealing with Church Hurt

"I know we've dealt with church hurt. Believe me, I'm a pastor. I know a lot about church hurt." But here's the truth: "Church hurt is because of the minority, not the majority."

"The majority realize that if God didn't heal you, there was a purpose behind his not healing you but that one person said; ‘they weren’t healed because they lacked faith.’ We've allowed those type of moments to pull us away and say, 'Well, I don't want to open myself up too much. I don't want to be too transparent because I don't know what the people are going to do.' The people aren't the problem. The minority is the problem."

"The wolves wait for you to get out of the flock before they can kill you. They try to maim you enough to get you away, to slow you down so you don't stay in the flock. But as long as I stay in the flock, guess what? I have all judicial legislative power."

Putting It Into Practice

The early church in Acts 2:42-47 shows us what this looks like practically: "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship... and they broke bread together and they prayed together."

The result? "And awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles... and the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved."

YOUR NEXT STEPS:

Remember: "Those that do not invest in the church slowly fade away and die." The church isn't just a nice addition to your spiritual life—it's God's designed support system with a guarantee that "the gates of hell will not prevail against it."

You weren't meant to navigate life's maze alone. The question is: are you ready to be the ecclesia God called you to be?