Podcast-Feed6th December 2009 - Peter Williams - The Church Is God's Plan For The World
Peter continues our study of Ephesians looking at chapter 2 v7 and chapter 3 v10
There are loads of e-mails about Church notices, but the church is not a joke! It’s not a strange institution that is out of touch with society. It should not be a place hidden, who do funny rituals and practices!
• She is a city on a hill; giving light to the world around.
• She is Gods design for the salvation of the world.
• She is the bride of Christ.
• She is the wonder of angels.
We can criticise the church and grow weary of what we see as its shortcomings, but God himself is committed to it, and Jesus to building it. P19 Christs radiant church- JH
So why do I say that the church is the wonder of angels?
It’s what Jesus said.
Gates of hell…
Matt 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matt 18:15-20 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Both passages have the loose on earth and in heaven statement from Jesus, and He talks of the church in both, which He does not elsewhere. Why? Because the church has spiritual authority, through the Son.
Kingdom of God
City on a hill
Salt and light
Rev 7:9 – great multitude and then v13 “who are these?” is asked…“These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
So why do I say that the church is the wonder of angels?
It’s what the Bible says.
Eph 2:7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
This answers the question of why God has lavished His love upon us.
The angels will marvel for all eternity over the incredible kindness and love that God has lavished upon us. It will take all eternity to do this; we will never get to the bottom of it.
Immeasurable riches follow from v4 his richness in mercy.
Eph 3v10. “So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
Eph 3v10 in The Message translation:
“Through Christians like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about, even amongst the angels!”
The church is the glorious point of God’s plan.
• Extreme? No. They do not marvel at creation.
The church is a means through which God manifests His manifold wisdom.
“Angels must view such a community with huge pleasure for there they see the wisdom of god and what he has done. Demons must hate it.” p26 John Hosier – “Christs’ Radiant Church”
Eph 5:29-32 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
Why would He do this?
It was not difficult for God to create the universe. All he did was say let there be light, and there was light. The nations are like ‘the drop of a bucket’. Man’s sin was the greatest problem that God ever faced. p87 MLJ
We rob God of His glory if we imagine that forgiveness and salvation are simple and easy. p88 MLJ
Rom 11: 33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
Eph 1: 22-3 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Eph 1: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
Eph 6: 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
• We excite the angels
• We depress the devil
1Cor 1:26-9 God chose the weak to shame the strong. We will see His redemption plan through this (v30)
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption
Ps 148 all creation must praise God
Rev 7:11 the angels are round the throne in heaven worshipping. Also Rev 19:1-8
• The church does righteous deeds.
• The church is beautiful because of the change she affects in the world in bringing forth God’s plans and purposes.
We are not just a chance collection of individuals. God wants the diversity in the body of Christ on full display, each one individually responding to Him and relating to one another. Love being the energising power behind all these activities. p139 Future Church, Terry Virgo
What is happening in the church is so stupendous, so glorious, that even the brightest of angelic beings who have spent their entire existence in the presence of God, even they are staggered and amazed at what they see in and through the church! p81 MLJ
Sanctification is a community project – John Piper
Think Globally, love locally. Habig and Newsom
So why do I say that the church is the wonder of angels?
It’s what the Spirit testifies to us.
How many people’s hearts leap when they see God working in and through the church?
Conversely – see the church doing its own thing…. Run away!
1Pet 1:12 says that angels long to see what we see now that we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Titus 3:4-6 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
What is God’s plan?
Rev 22:17 “The spirit and the bride say come.” This is the high privilege of the church in the new order. In ch21 there is a new heaven and earth with the new Jerusalem at the centre.
Heaven will be built around the church!
One new man in Christ
Only the miracle of one new man in Christ can overcome the deeply entrenched racial hatred that so divides the modern world. p68 Future Church – Terry Virgo
God’s intention is that through the church he will amaze rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. The church of God is the greatest manifestation of his wisdom. p68 Future Church
Ephesians – Christian “Utopia”.
• Family
• Work
• Church relationships
• Spiritual warfare
• Social justice
• Our position in God’s plan for the restoration of humanity
We are Christ to the world
We demonstrate Christ to the world. p25 John Hosier – “Christs’ Radiant Church”
Because the church is what Jesus is building, because the church is the body of Christ on the earth, then the church will be offering hope to the world until the day the king returns. p223 John Hosier – “Christs’ Radiant Church”
So what?
Spurgeon – a Christian not in a church is a “good for nothing brick”
Jn 13:35 – By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love, one for another.
Service – doing things not because you must, but because you may! When you see the church as God does, you’d give your life for it too.
How can I serve the purpose of God? The local church is a microcosm of the whole universal church, so that in that locality you become the servant of the Lord, serving the purpose of God in that community. p141 Future church
So much ministry is done behind the scenes, not on platforms. The question we should ask is not, ‘Is there a platform from which I can speak?’ but rather ‘What can I do to serve?’ p133 Future church
It’s not what we can get out of it, but how we can serve the church to see God’s purposes fulfilled in our community and to the ends of the earth. And to the end of the ages.
Conclusion
“The heavenly beings look down at the church and they see an amazing family. The power of the gospel is not only changing individuals, but is also creating a new kind of humanity. In the middle of a strife torn world – a world divided by race, gender, class and political ideology – the church is a city set on a hill where people who once hated God and each other because God’s children are members of one family.” Joshua Harris – Stop Dating The Church
Could have told 1000’s of stories of what the church is doing. But, you have heard them or ones like them. But I wanted to convince you of the glory of God’s plan, and that however ‘insignificant’ you think you are as part of that plan – the angels are jealous of you!
I HAVE SEEN A MYSTERY,
The hopes of prayer and prophecy,
And rising from all peoples see, she comes.
Rescued, ransomed, lifted up,
Crowned with mercy, clothed in hope,
The object of all heaven’s love, she comes.
It is the church,
The hope of all the world,
And here I fix my heart and hand,
I cannot turn away!
It is the church!
The passion of God’s Son,
The goal of history, come.
You’ll see we’ve nearly reached the day.
And she will be all glorious;
Fitting for Him whose bride she is.
In that day, in that day,
In that day, in that day.
It is the church…
Lex Loizides
Copyright © 2003 Thankyou Music
So what should we do?
• Read these books
• Read these passages
• Ask God to reveal your place
• Get serving
• Start fulfilling your potential
The church is not part of God’s plan – it is His plan!
In Christ, through the Spirit we have the power and authority to change society; To affect change, to see His purposes fulfilled, to see the salvation of the world.
Don’t squander your opportunity!
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During the meeting, there was a clear sense in the prophetic words that were brought, that there needed to be a personal response to the Kingship of God in our lives. That some people had been going through a difficult time in life and that surrendering in this way was the answer for them.
Questions:
Did you find anything surprising from the word?
Did the word change your understanding? If so in which way?
What is your place in the church? Do you feel you have a role?
If not, why not, and what do you want to do?
What are your giftings?
Prayer:
You could pray about where we are as a church.
You could pray about where we are going.
You could pray about the wider church.
You could pray to have the supremacy of Christ in our church and meetings.
Listen now! (0:39min / 11MB)