When someone becomes a Christian, the Bible says that they are called to belong to something that is utterly and eternally unique: ‘The Church’. Unlike any other institution or organisation, ‘The Church’ of the Lord Jesus is a gathering of His people throughout the world and throughout the ages. In the last book of the Bible, Revelation, that great gathering is described several times in the most graphic and exciting terms at the end of time and it sounds almost too wonderful for words! Yet right now, as members of a local church, we can start to appreciate the enormity of the privilege that God has given us as we think about what He’s done through our faith in the Lord Jesus. Last Sunday morning we read amazing words from Paul’s letter to the Christians at Ephesus:
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism;one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Eph 4:4-6)
The uniqueness of this body we’ve been called to belong to by the Holy Spirit is designed to reflect the uniqueness of God Himself: as we exercise faith alone in the one Lord who saved us, declaring to the world our utter dependence on our gracious loving all-powerful Heavenly Father, so we find together our unique role in showing for all eternity what God is doing.
His gifts to His church that this and other New Testament passages describe are all designed to support that goal of showing His glory. Whichever gifts or abilities we have received from Him are for this express aim. What are you doing with what He’s given you?!
Spencer Shaw