God has a very definite purpose of His Church. And it is not what we usually think. Steeped in our selfish motivations, we define and describe the church in our "need and want" perspective. And usually, what we talk about are "externals", size, worship band, youth program, kids ministry, mission trips, and an occasional "bible study". But that is not God's perspective, and most of what we look at will not lead us to His Goal for His people. In Ephesians 3:8-11, the Apostle Paul gives God's intent and purpose for his preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ, "to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." And again in verse 21, after Paul's prayer for the saint's increased apprehension of the Love of Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, that we might be filled with the fulness of God, he concludes, "to Him (the Father) be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen". Very evidently, God's purpose in the Church far exceeds anything visible on the earth in a material sense. In chapter 4, in expounding upon God's gifting His church with gifts of leadership and ministry, he explains God's purpose in doing that. In verses 12-16, Paul bathes his discourse in the Person of Christ. In vs 12, the gifts are for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. The gifted servant leadership of whatever description does not do the work of the ministry. No, they are for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. And Paul implies that this ministry is for the building up the body of Christ--the assembly of the saints, the church. And how do we tell if this ministry is going on? Verse 13--#1. We all come to the unity of the faith once delivered to the saints. #2 We all come into (and increase in) the knowledge of the Son of God. #3 We grow into a mature man that is measured by the litmus test of the fulness of Christ. This fulness is the result of the Spirit's work in increasing us in the Love of Christ as he stated in 3:14-21! And what is the fruit of this ministry? That's verse 14-15. The saints grow up, they don't fall prey to tricky men who want to make merchandise of the people of God.(II Peter 2:1-3) Mature saints don't have itching ears.
(II Timothy 4:3) But rather (vs15) the increased comprehension of the Love of Christ by the Spirit (3:18-19) manifests itself in a "speaking the truth in love, growing up in all things INTO HIM WHO IS THE HEAD--CHRIST, and it is from our Head, Christ Jesus, Vs 16 "that the whole body is joined and knit together by what every joint supplies , according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."
Did you notice, it's all about Christ! The Father's purpose has been accomplished in Christ before the foundation of the world and in history, on the cross. He manifests the wisdom of His Will and Purpose in the church before the angels and everybody, by conforming His people to the image of Christ Who is the exact image of God (Hebrews 1:3), the fulness of the Godhead in human flesh!(Colossians 2:9 If church leadership is not equipping the saints to show forth the sacrificial love of Christ to one another, strengthening the feeble knees and lifting up the hands that hang down, then they are about some other business than God's.
But what about evangelism?, you say. In John 17, our Lord's prayer to the Father for His people, vs 21 He prays for all those who will believe in Him because of the Apostolic witness, and He says, "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE THAT YOU SENT ME." And again in vs 22, in words reminiscent of Paul's Ephesian exhortation, "I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfect in one, and THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW THAT YOU HAVE SENT ME, AND HAVE LOVED THEM AS YOU HAVE LOVED ME." That is Jesus' method of evangelism, the very work of the ministry in Ephesians 4 that unites His people in the One of the Godhead, that the world may know that the Father sent the Son! No amount of money, no high powered methodology, no amount of "hell fire preaching" can replace our Lord's Gospel Method. People who are growing up in the Love of God and manifest a heavenly devotion to one another because they think and operate like their Head--this becomes the spectacle presented before the world that the world may know that the Father sent His Son for the sins of His people. This is God's witness to the fulfilling of His Will in gathering together in One all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10), and that to a world that only knows wars and rumors of wars. The book of Acts is the foundational activity of this method. Read it and behold the Work of the Holy Spirit of God in "adding to the church daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47)
(II Timothy 4:3) But rather (vs15) the increased comprehension of the Love of Christ by the Spirit (3:18-19) manifests itself in a "speaking the truth in love, growing up in all things INTO HIM WHO IS THE HEAD--CHRIST, and it is from our Head, Christ Jesus, Vs 16 "that the whole body is joined and knit together by what every joint supplies , according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."
Did you notice, it's all about Christ! The Father's purpose has been accomplished in Christ before the foundation of the world and in history, on the cross. He manifests the wisdom of His Will and Purpose in the church before the angels and everybody, by conforming His people to the image of Christ Who is the exact image of God (Hebrews 1:3), the fulness of the Godhead in human flesh!(Colossians 2:9 If church leadership is not equipping the saints to show forth the sacrificial love of Christ to one another, strengthening the feeble knees and lifting up the hands that hang down, then they are about some other business than God's.
But what about evangelism?, you say. In John 17, our Lord's prayer to the Father for His people, vs 21 He prays for all those who will believe in Him because of the Apostolic witness, and He says, "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE THAT YOU SENT ME." And again in vs 22, in words reminiscent of Paul's Ephesian exhortation, "I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfect in one, and THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW THAT YOU HAVE SENT ME, AND HAVE LOVED THEM AS YOU HAVE LOVED ME." That is Jesus' method of evangelism, the very work of the ministry in Ephesians 4 that unites His people in the One of the Godhead, that the world may know that the Father sent the Son! No amount of money, no high powered methodology, no amount of "hell fire preaching" can replace our Lord's Gospel Method. People who are growing up in the Love of God and manifest a heavenly devotion to one another because they think and operate like their Head--this becomes the spectacle presented before the world that the world may know that the Father sent His Son for the sins of His people. This is God's witness to the fulfilling of His Will in gathering together in One all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10), and that to a world that only knows wars and rumors of wars. The book of Acts is the foundational activity of this method. Read it and behold the Work of the Holy Spirit of God in "adding to the church daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47)
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