John MacArthur: How Christ Builds His Church

Nathan Busenitz has provided what he refers to as a "summarized paraphrase" of John MacArthur's opening presentation at this year's Pastor's Conference. What follows is a summary, but the rest can be found at "Pulpit Magazine" (until I get my hands on an mp3 of the actual sermon)....

"There are many ways to build “The First Church of the Tares,” behind which Satan is the real power. It can be done very effectively, it can be big and enduring. The gnostics, the Roman Catholics, the liberals, and the cults have all done it—and they are still around. The Church of the Tares is actually bigger than the Church of the Wheat. And today, those calling themselves “evangelicals” are also doing it. There are churches all around the country where tares gather together and call themselves churches.

If you want to take a shot at competing with the rest of the “tare-pastors” on how to get a large group of tares into a building each Sunday, there are plenty of strategies to do that.

But if you want to build the true church, the wheat, in the way that God commands, then we must discern how Christ builds His church, and how it is that we are to be part of that.

The answer is not vague or obscure. When you ask how it is that Christ builds His church, the answer is not hard to find. In fact, it is so clear and inescapable that we are bound to follow what He commands.

If you are caught up in the church growth mentality, trying every devise to increase numbers, I want to throw the gauntlet today and ask you to make a choice: If you want to build the church of the tares you’re on your own; but if you want to be part of Christ’s work of building the church, that is a different thing altogether...."

Again, the rest of the article is available at Pulpit Magazine.