The Church

Our family is called to serve God through the church, and we have done so in many capacities over the past 16 years. As I think about Spain and our future work there, I have been thinking and praying about and for the Church with renewed vigor. The book of Ephesians is where I have been spending much of my time. Ephesians 3 has been a particularly fruitful chapter as I consider the work before us. 

Leading up to chapter 3, Paul has been talking about how the mystery of the gospel is that Jews and gentiles have been brought together through the saving, life-giving, reconciling work of Christ’s death on the cross. In Christ, people who hated each other were brought together because Jesus tore down the wall of hostility that separated them from God and from each other. (Ephesians 2:14-17) He did not simply break down the dividing wall, he made them one, as a gathered body. This is the mystery of the gospel.

So, this “gathered body” was called the εκκλησια, or, as it is rendered in Spanish, iglesia or English, the church. Verse 10 says that God’s intent is to show his manifold wisdom through the church. What is God’s manifold wisdom?

Well, it has to do with what Paul has been talking about. Through Jesus Christ Jews and Gentiles are made into one people. They are reconciled to God and one another. This unity serves as a testimony in itself to God’s wisdom expressed through the execution of his purposes.

You see, in John 17:20-23 Jesus prayed that believers would be united so that the world would do what? He prays that we may be one so that the world might know and believe that God the father sent him. So, the unity of believers – now called the Church - serves to testify that God sent Jesus into the world and that God loves Jesus.

Let’s return to Ephesians 3:10. If John 17 says that the church serves as a testimony to the world that Jesus was sent and loved by God. Ephesians 3 says that the Church also serves to show God’s manifold wisdom to the “authorities in the heavenly realms.” What does that mean? Well, I think reading on to verse 11 adds significant clarity.

“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ephesians 3:10,11 NIV

The church demonstrates that God’s eternal purpose was accomplished through the work of Jesus Christ. If only the Bible gave us some clues as to what Jesus came to accomplish we could understand what the church is actually displaying. 

Oh, it does give us some clues. Let’s look at two:

1 Timothy 1:15 – “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”

1 John 3:8 -  “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

According to these passages Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and to destroy the works of the devil.

When we gather as believers we are testifying that Jesus was loved and sent by God to save sinners and destroy the works of the devil. Our gathering not only testifies that this is what he came to do, but that he accomplished the task.

I know that was a rather lengthy exposition, but I hope you see the connection. The church is important both here and around the world because our public gathering for worship and life together as brothers and sisters in Christ shows the heavenly beings and a watching world that Jesus has accomplished the mission he was sent to do. 

As you gather for worship on a Sunday morning do you see your gathering as a testimony to what Christ has done?