Convenient Truth: Day 4

“She is His new creation by water and the Word.”

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known…according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 3:10, 11

All human organizations are organized around a specific purpose. Membership in an organization means allegiance to and interest in, the purpose for which the group was organized. If the SPCA strays from its purpose of preventing cruelty to animals and begins organizing after-school clubs for boys and girls, then it loses its identity. The church was instituted for a specific purpose: “go into all the world and preach the gospel…”. If it forgets this, then it is no longer the church.

In the above verse, the word manifold in “manifold wisdom” means “diverse,” “abounding in variety.” The church exists to tell the world all the ways God’s wisdom was displayed and His eternal purposes were accomplished, in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. We don’t need to deal in quotas or membership packets. The good news of the gospel speaks to the hidden needs in the hearts of all kinds of people.

All human organizations run on two things: activities and ideas. The church runs on the Water of the Spirit and the truth of the Word. In other words, Divine power and Eternal truth.

Our energy, activities, or ideas are not the final determiners of whether people come to Christ or the world will hear the gospel. As we go in the purpose for which the church was birthed, we ride along in the slipstream of the Spirit, rest in the unchanging truth of the Holy Scriptures and the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Anything less and we might as well sell Girl Scout cookies.

Nancy Shirah