Christian Battle Lines | REV3 = Revitalize, Energize, Visualize

Are there battle lines in your congregation?

Every person should have insight into this question regarding their local church, if they are part of the body. Also, this is not just a pastoral question. The battle lines can be drawn inside or outside of your fellowship: the color of your carpet, current praise songs or hymns, should the organ stay or go, real or imitation plants, regular or decaf coffee and a host of other internal skirmishes can take pre-eminence over the battle out in the harvest field. Through infighting, churches could give the aura that they are in the right battle within their confining walls. Unfortunately, people can begin separating internal walls in order to protect themselves from each other. This construction may only keep us busy enough to drain our energy. These battles do change the floor plan and even may appear to be connected to the Cornerstone, but are not adding up to expansion for the Kingdom. The hope is that Hades would not ever have an internal effect on the church or the external growth of it. Sure, there are times of the passing of a church member which will cause varying degrees of grief for those who knew them closely, but the time of reunion promised in the Word will bring comfort to those dealing experiencing grief. In reality, death of the saints is not a victory for our enemy.

Continuing, Matthew 16:18 says, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Looking at the word prevail, we can see that it means to overpower or get the upper hand. This verse does not say that there won’t be effects of Hades’ kingdom within the church. Therefore, we the Church can allow the battle lines to be drawn within our gates, and the enemy’s kingdom can advance into our church to create a battlefield, and their clanging gates can keep us up at night, and the clatter can rob us of the sleep that God promised we would have. In Psalm 127:2 the Word says, “He grants sleep to those who He loves.” If we fight well for His Kingdom during the day, only God’s protection will keep our enemies from hammering on our walls and robbing us while we sleep.

You see, our heart’s gates have become the new battle line due partly to a message of appeasement and retreat to comfort, rather than a proclamation of peace to the dying world. In some cases, we cannot even close our church’s gates because some ungodly battles are ensuing within our walls. Our heart’s gates need opened and the enemy needs pushed back while God allows us the privilege to fight for other’s souls with an attitude of gratitude coming from the freedom and the gift we received in Christ.

It is safe to say that we will not win over all people, but it is far better to keep the unconquered enemies behind their own gates rather than banging on our foundations at night.

If there are fights about the food inside our church’s gates, there may be too many of Christ’s servants helping in the kitchen. Keep the chefs in the kitchen cooking, and send the soldiers out to spiritually fight and build an appetite. “Hunger is the best cook,” my Grandmother often said. If the enemy has undermined the kitchen walls, we may have to relocate our footings in order to build our walls on the rock of Christ. In conclusion, if we don’t know where we are supposed to build, we may cause the fight within our walls.

Reflections on Christian Battle Lines

Are there battle lines in your congregation? If so, what are they?

In Matthew 16:18, the Greek word for rock is petra (πέτρα). This word is also used in other gospels and Paul’s letters with the same meaning. Check out the additional verses with this word and noticed how it is used literally and figuratively.

Matthew 7:24, 25
Matthew 27:51, 60
Mark 15:46
Luke 6:48
Luke 8:6, 13
Romans 9:33
1 Corinthians 10:4
1 Peter 2:8

How can we put an end to the battle lines within our church? See the following Scriptures for guidance:

Ephesians 6
2 Timothy 2:14-26
Romans 14