Over the next several weeks I will be sharing what the purpose of the
church is and why it exists. Before we start, there are some things that
we must understand concerning the church. The church
is not a parenthetical revelation which came due to the failure of the
Jews to recognize their Messiah through unbelief. God had the church in
mind before the foundations of the world. In Ephesians 3 the Holy Spirit
through the apostle Paul reveals the mystery of the church, "To me,
who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that
I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from
the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things
through Jesus 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." (Ephesians 3:8-11)
Several times the New Testament mentions the two ethnic groups that
encompasses all of humanity, Jew and Gentile. However, Paul tells us, "Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God."
(1 Corinthians 10:32) God in His eternal plan has brought forth another
ethnic group in which He is at work combining both Jew and Gentile, "For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, (Jew and Gentile) and
has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His
flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in
ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, (Jew and Gentile) thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body (The Church) through
the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and
preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For
through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father." (Ephesians 2:14-18)
This third ethnic group as mentioned by Paul is "the Church of God." The word church is
a translation of the Greek word "ekklesia' which consists of two other
Greek words, "ek" which means out of and "Kaleo" which means to call.
Thus the word ekklesia literally mean, "the called out ones." So, the
church consists of every person, regardless of nation or culture who
through Christ "are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him
who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were
not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy
but now have obtained mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10) The church has been
called out of the world, (John 15:18-19), out of the flesh (Galatians
5:13, 16-18) and out of the devil's dominion (Colossians 1:13-14) for a
fourfold purpose.
The four main purposes of the church's existence are, to worship God,
build one another up in love, win souls and make disciples, and uphold
and enforce Jesus' triumph over Satan and his kingdom. As we progress in
this series we will explore each of these areas which concerns the
purpose of the church's existence that will help us see if we are truly
flowing in what God has called the church to be. It will also give us a
benchmark do what God called Jeremiah to do if need be, that is, "to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down..." the worldly concepts that have crept into "the church of God" so that we through the Holy Spirit can "build and plant." Jesus said that He would build His church, so the question we must ask ourselves, "Is Jesus really building His church or are we building what we think is the church?"
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Monday, May 17, 2021
We Have Purpose
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