The Goal of a Church

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Last Sunday night, I tried to tease out some thoughts on the value of each individual member, each individual part of the church body. I tried to make the case that no part of the church body should try to claim superiority over another part of the body. even our weaker parts, according to the Apostle Paul, our weaker parts have greater honor. Especially reprehensible is the suggestion that only certain sorts of Christians are the really super spiritual ones that really bugs me. And I said that it’s me and my ilk, my get a paycheck, my having gone to school and get a degree kind of peoples, the people I hang out with at conferences because I only go to such certain kinds of conferences, I guess.

But me and my yoke are largely responsible for having communicated that idea that the really spiritual people are the ones who read their Bible and pray. And the fact is, there have been, like in history, many pastors and theologians who did a lot of Bible reading and praying who weren’t even saved, let alone spirit-filled. So your task is not necessarily what makes you spiritual. It’s whether you are, I know this is really the brain surgeon part of me, what makes it a spiritual activity is if you do it spiritually. So obviously, you should be doing that reading your Bible and praying in the spirit. You should also be disciplining your kids in the spirit.

You should also be making cookies for your neighbor in the spirit. You should be visiting the person in the hospital in the spirit. You should be showing up at your job on time and working hard while you’re there and not checking out, clocking out early. All of those things can be done spiritually if we do them in the spirit. And even in the church, what I was trying to make the case is that we all have a part, we all have responsibility, there’s all things, all of us have things that we need to be doing. There’s no monopoly. Pastors, professionally paid ministry kind of people have no monopoly on spirit-driven schedules and task lists. So whatever your weekly calendar looks like, whatever God has put on your task list, whatever your giftedness in this body is, we need it. It’s valuable and done by the power of the Holy Spirit makes a huge difference. I’d like to develop that a a little bit further tonight with a few questions.

That is questions that I’m going to ask, and questions for which I expect your multitude of responses. And I get it. Those of you who are students in school, you don’t like to have to talk. And those of you who are no longer students in school, in class, you figure you graduated so that you didn’t have to do that anymore and you didn’t even have to feel bad about it. And I totally get that there’s times when, I mean this happens even around my dinner table, let alone when we have a corporate service, there’s totally times when I want to talk and I don’t want anybody else to talk. And then there’s other times where some discussion, some discussion log is a good thing.

And we’re in this together. So here’s the first question. And I’m serious. And I can stand here for a long time. I run a lot of miles. My legs are strong. Unless God takes my life right now, I can stand here waiting for some answers. So a few questions to tease it out. Then I have some comments I’d like to make after we work through a couple of these things together. The first question would be, and this is not just theoretical. This is really practical for a church that’s only been around seven or eight weeks. The first question would be, what is the goal of a church, specifically the goal of a local body of believers?

What should we be aiming at? How will we know if and when we’ve arrived successfully at our goal, at our purpose? Now, there’s probably not just one. And if you say to glorify God, I say, yay, and I will bring out my flanograph, and we’ll have Moses on there, and Joseph and his coat of many colors. But in addition to glorifying God, or maybe even we’ll incorporate that into the question. This is all giving you time to think about your answers. What is the goal of any given local body, any church? How will they, if they meet their goal, glorify God?

You. To present every man complete in Christ. I think that even has a verse that goes with it in Colossians chapter one verse 28. Great. So to see each and every person, now think about that if that was your goal. To get person sitting right beside you. complete in Christ so that when we stand before Him, He recognizes Himself in us. Or specifically, He recognizes Himself in the person that we’ve been ministering to. What if that was your goal? You’d be freaked out. And here’s the thing, that is your goal. That isn’t just my goal, the elder’s goal, pastor’s goals in general. That’s a goal of the body. To see every part, I mean this is a part, these are parts, complete in Christ, perfect in Christ, Christ-like, what else?

What should be the goal of a local body? That’s a good one. It’s probably not the only thing we could say.

So to summarize, because I have a microphone, to summarize, first that’s only in chapter four, nine through 11, the goal of a church would be to love one another so obviously that others would see it and God would be honored. Is that a fair summary of what you describe? Like whoa, I mean try putting that as one thing on your task list. For everyone to be loving each other so obviously that the community sees it and talks about it and glorifies God because they are watching it happen. That’s a good one. What else will we say? Goal of a local body. Okay, so serving, taking care of the rest of the body. In terms of your physical health, that’s probably a important goal to make sure that each part is working properly, being taken care of, has the support or the strength that it needs because you’re connected. So to make sure that the whole body is healthy, taking care of all the needs of the rest of the body, if your foot was on fire you wouldn’t ignore it, you would vigorously pay attention to it and seek to remedy that situation. So the goal of the

church, maybe if I was summarizing that would be the health of the whole body in terms of its various needs, serving, caring for, tending to one another. Come on, that can’t be it. Okay, unity. And if we miss that one, we miss Jesus’ high priestly prayer. Now, I understand John chapter 17 isn’t necessarily about the church or about a specific one or all of the different local bodies. And nevertheless, Jesus prayed for his disciples and for all those who would be disciples that they would be one. And what was the standard of their oneness? Now there was a standard of unity that he was praying them towards. That the The disciples would be one just as he and the Father were one.

So until there is a Trinitarian unity, inseparable connectedness between us, we’re not done. We still have work to do. There’s still a goal. So unity. Okay, to be a light. Israel in particular was assigned the task to be a light to the nations. And I couldn’t this afternoon come up with one specific New Testament verse where it assigned that role to the church. And nevertheless, I totally think it is part of the church’s goal to proclaim the good news to all the nations.

To make disciples of all the nations, obviously in Matthew chapter 28, And at least Matthew, when he was writing that, didn’t say it needed the church to accomplish the making disciples of all the nations. Nevertheless, I mean, clearly we do a lot of discipleship training and teaching men to obey all that Jesus commanded in the context of a church. So kind of a mission mindedness. The church has a light in a dark world. So we should be proclaiming the excellencies of His glorious light who called us out of darkness into light. That’s 1 Peter chapter 2. So far we’ve had a light to the nations, even community around us, taking care of the whole body, unity in the body, loving one another.

What was the very first one that we talked about? to make every man complete in Christ. Anything else? OK. And maybe we could say that’s taking the local body and recognizing its place in the universal body. So we take care of the needs of somebody across the room who is in the same local body. And that should cause us to consider also the needs of our brothers and sisters throughout the world who have various needs. Somebody else, okay? And unless we individually are doing our part, it’s unlikely that we’re gonna have unity. It’s unlikely that we’re gonna be taking care of the needs locally or globally, unless we are doing our part.

And for that matter, we’re not gonna be complete in Christ unless each one of us are serving with the spiritual giftedness that God gave us. How about from a couple Sunday mornings ago when I talked and preached even from Ephesians chapter 3 verse 10 that the church, and I think it’s expressed in local bodies, it’s speaking on a broad scale, but it’s expressed in particular places where the church is the display of God’s manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places. That’s a goal. Part of the goal of the church is to live in such a way that the spirit beings we don’t even see get that something is going on among us as a demonstration specifically of God’s wisdom.

I put that as the church as object lesson, as a universal object lesson. I’ve got to declare the gospel to the nation’s church as a mission platform. How about 1 Timothy 3.15, which talks about the church as the pillar and support of truth. There’s an element where the truth is ours unlike it is anybody else’s. And specifically that truth as it is revealed even in Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. But we have God’s word, which is more certain than people’s personal experiences, according to 2 Peter chapter 1. So we are the pillar and supportive truth. Paul is writing, he said, so that you may know how to behave yourselves until I come in the church, which is the pillar and supportive truth.

So I have that summarized as truth protectorate, because I thought that sounded fancy. Is it not the goal of the church to see all of the saints equipped for the work of ministry? That’s really what we narrowed in on last Sunday night from Ephesians chapter 4, verse 12. So church as a training center, that has to be a goal.

Ephesians 4, 13 and 15 talks about how none of that is done until the whole body is at the fullness of the stature of Christ. And maybe that’s another way to say complete in Christ or perfect in Christ, but that maybe we could summarize the church as a spiritual greenhouse where there’s major growth and fruit being produced.

Clearly one of the goals of the church in Hebrews chapter 10, 24 and 25, you know that passage, where we’re to be busy doing what? In Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. Stirring one another up to love and good deeds and verse 25 specifically then goes on and says, encouraging one another as the day draws near. So that could be the church kind of as a support group. Church as an accountability group. Stirring one another up or depending on your translation if you like, irritating one another. Stirring the pot so that the beans don’t get stuck on the bottom. Making sure that everybody is doing their part. How about 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 5, where we are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

The church is a worship center. And obviously that has transforming power to it in us, according to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18, where we all are being transformed into the same image. And what is that image? Well, it’s the glory of the Lord that we’re beholding. So as a group of worshipers offering spiritual sacrifices to God, we’re changed. That has to go into being a light to the nations when they see that we have something to actually sing about and praise and be thankful for. They don’t have that. So it benefits us. It has implications for outside of our walls and it honors God. But I think another way to say this is the last one I have written down in terms of the goal of a church, of a local body.

Could we not also say that the goal of a church is to get prepared for the marriage supper of the lamb? And who’s getting married at that particular celebration? At the marriage supper of the lamb? Jesus, yes, and his bride, the church. The goal of a local body is a season of beautification. Now, that should have been more funny than the looks on your faces kind of expressed. But wasn’t it Esther? Not that Esther, but since she has the same name. Wasn’t it Esther who had like months of beautification to get ready for the king? We are right now in an ongoing process of beautification. In Ephesians chapter five, it talks about being made blameless, so that we’ll be presented holy and without spot to our husband.

And it’s a collective group. It’s not, you know, I’m Jesus’s wife or bride. It’s collectively we are, but that’s significant, Because that means as a local church, we’re a part of getting each other ready as a bride to be married to the king, to be married to our husband, to our groomsman, Jesus Christ. And that’s something, obviously, that goes on for eternity. So as the love gift from the father to the son, the arranged marriage, so to speak, between the bride and the groom, That’s who we are, and our job then is to grow in blamelessness, in Christlikeness, in unity with one another. Because who wants a bride that’s schizophrenic and all over the place?

And who wants one that is continuing to be soiled by other lovers? The point is that we’re getting ready for that relationship, consummation in heaven with Christ as His church. So the goal of a particular local body has to include some of those large goals. So that leads me to a second question, your opportunity to give some answers again. How does a church that is a local body reach those kind of goals? What does she do? And let me throw in, it recognizes that only God can do those kinds of things. It’s only by his spirit, it’s only by his grace, it’s only by his power. And nevertheless, he gives us responsibilities to be busy about while we’re here as we’re filled and moved by his spirit.

So what are we as a local body to do to get ourselves towards some of those lofty, unreachable sounding kind of goals? They would be unreachable were it not for the fact that God promised He was going to get us there. Monday mornings for me, it’s a huge difference whether I wake up thinking about responsibilities or promises, because promises make me realize all of the things that are not yet done.

Responsibilities make me think all the things that are not done, a different kind of exhale more in terms of a panic or crying or something like that. What do we though, that was your opportunity to think, That was your Jeopardy music without the music. What do we as a church, as a local body do to get ourselves ready or to move ourselves toward those goals? Okay, ministering the word to each other. And in fact, there’s a lot of really good terminology like that in the trellis and the vine. Where, that’s where it came from. It was echoing. I heard it reverberating. One of the books that we talked about, The Trellis and the Vine, which, for what it’s worth, the logo for Trinity of Angel Church that Jesse Martin beautified, created beautified.

That’s a vine. This is taking the unspoken and making it spoken. But one of the things that’s supposed to include is the idea of a vine. A lot of that comes from the idea, not necessarily the book, but the ideas presented in the Trellis and the Vine, does a lot of talking in the Trellis and the Vine about speaking to one another with the Word. And significantly, and we’ll come back to it, it’s the one another ministry of the Word, not the pastor or teacher people ministering the Word, but the among the body. Ministering the Word, speaking the Word, a word ministry is not just something that, You know you need a degree to do it’s being a part of the body means you have that responsibility Okay, so it’s got to involve the Bible. We’re talking about the Bible. We’re doing that with each other What else other things we’re doing to get to those goals?

Humility in terms of at least an attitude that’s necessary because If you come trying to think you’re all that You’ll probably be less persuasive in encouraging other people to come along. What else? Discipleship and of course that one, it all depends on who you ask for a definition of discipleship. In my mind discipleship should be defined by what Jesus did with the guys he called his disciples, which involved three years of living with them, like constantly. That’s discipleship proper. And we have opportunities to do that. We all have opportunities to do that in different ways and not always to that degree or to that extent where we’re able to live with people, but it includes then planning lots of life crossing, life path crossing, where we’re interacting regularly with each other as if we were living together.

I mean, Jesus living with those guys, they heard him teach. They got to ask him questions when he was done teaching so that he could explain it more. He saw their sins. He confronted them on their sins. He asked them questions, engaged them in different conversations, let them go out, gave them resources to go out, gave them feedback when they came, and reported on what they had done. I mean, discipleship is big and good and hard and long and… really easy if you just say the discipleship means you stand up and you tell other people things, which that’s a part of it. I’m not convinced that that’s the entirety of it.

What else we got? Accountability. Hey, you part of the body. You falling asleep and you’re making it tough. Hey, you wandering eye. I mean, think about that physically. I mean, you can get some corrective lenses maybe that help out. But if, in fact, we’re a spiritual body, And one of us has gone off the reservation. We better go get him. So accountability is one of the words that totally can apply or be used in that kind of discussion. Yeah, praying. I mean, we acknowledge that God is the one who does it, but one of the instruments God uses through us is us asking him to do it, to cause growth, to give open doors, to do the things that we can’t do, even though he tells us to do them.

So praying is absolutely huge. Ephesians chapter four verse 15, speaking truth. That’s all in a very pregnant paragraph there. Ephesians four, 11 through 16, much of which we talked about last week. But speaking the truth to one another, speaking the truth in love, proclaiming the word, preaching the word, I mean, 2 Timothy 4.2, in season, out of season, imploring men to be reconciled to God through Christ, 2 Corinthians 5.20.

If we want people to be like Christ, that has to start with them having a relationship with Him at all. And I realize we’re talking about the church, but there are people even within the church who have just grown up with it, or that’s all they know, or they heard it was a good thing to do, and they don’t necessarily have a relationship. They’re not reconciled with Christ.

So we implore them to be reconciled, 2 Corinthians chapter five verse 20.

I think connected with a message from a couple weeks ago and even something I said earlier, one of the ways we get to our goal of being ready for Jesus is singing, is worshiping, is worshipping, is giving thanks, that has a transforming effect on us. I think even to say that there’s a part where we suffer and we don’t want to just take any kind of suffering necessarily, definitely not suffering that we deserve. There’s no credit in that, Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 4. But in terms of 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 3 six, we were afflicted and comforted so that we could comfort you. If we want to take care of the needs of the body, one of the ways we’re going to be able to provide comfort is if we ourselves have received that comfort, which means you probably needed that comfort, which meant God took you through a time or a season or a lifetime full of heaviness, trials, difficulties, even 2 Corinthians 4 verses 8 through 12 talking about how he brings us to our breaking point so that that spreads grace.

We don’t keep all the grace to ourselves. We spill out that grace on other people and one of the times when that grace comes out is when our clay pot is bumped into and bashed into and it should if it’s filled with grace If it has been comforted, then it has that to share on other people, and that is healing, that is comforting, that is ministering to the needs of the body. So this should be… this is my last question. So come on, guys. I mean, this is where you need to really get into it, all right? Are you ready? Not ready. I think that this could have some easy answers, though, to it. We’ll see. Not that you guys need easy answers.

I’m just saying that like hand on the buzzer. Okay. So, we’ve talked about some of the broad high goals for a local body. And we’ve talked about some of the ways that we totally have not exhausted the ways, the means to get to our goals. But this is the third and killer question. Who does this work depend on the most, comma, after the three persons of the Trinity? So yes, we depend most of all on God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.

None of it’s gonna happen apart from them. But who does this work? We put out some lofty goals ahead of ourselves. And we’ve already described then some of the ways to get to those goals. So who’s supposed to do those things? Okay, we’ve got us, the who? The person you see in the mirror. The person you see in the mirror. But don’t walk away from that mirror and then forget what you look like, because that’s a person who hears the word and doesn’t obey it. Each other, us, me, you, all. Anything you guys want to add? What about the shepherds? Isn’t it the shepherds’ job? See, because, well, maybe I won’t say that yet.

I don’t know that super persuasive. I’ll think about it. What about the shepherds, the elders, the overseers? Is it up to them? I mean, yes and no. That’s the good shepherd answer, is yes and no. It totally depends on them, and it doesn’t depend on them at all. Last week I talked about, oh, go ahead. Guiding. Helping. Sure, equipping so that the saints are doing the work. Yeah. Say that again. Shepherds don’t produce sheep. Sheep produce sheep. Shepherds just are pulling their hair out, wondering how it’s all happening. Yeah. That’s even biological and stuff. But I mean, that’s a good point.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, there’s place in the Bible for shepherds and overseers and elders. That’s how she gets to eat because the Bible says there’s a place for that. There’s totally a recognizable group of guys that have certain kinds of responsibilities in a local body but most of the things that we’ve talked about are the one and other things. Alleluis is the Greek word one another that occurs over and over and over again in the New Testament. You have to have heard some preacher somewhere give a sermon on all the one and others because that’s easy cross-reference picking and fills up a lot of time. But washing one another’s feet, which I think is a very practical explanation or illustration of serving one another.

Loving one another, outdoing one another in showing honor, not judging one another. In the Romans 14, 13 cents, in that context it’s of the stronger, weaker brother. So the more towards the side of, whether they are or not, more towards the side of law, legalism, and the other group who are more the freedom people, both of them getting along not being the judge of each other, bearing one another’s burdens, forbearing with one another in love, forgiving one another, teaching and admonishing one another with songs and hymns and spiritual songs, comforting one another, edifying one another, exhorting one another, considering one another, how we can provoke one another or stir each other to love and good deeds. Even James chapter 5 verse 16 to confess our sins to one another. Obviously there’s a part where you got leaders and followers.

There are shepherds and sheep, there are elders and youngers, there’s overseers and the overseen, but when it comes to what the purpose of a local church is, all of us have responsibility and by your own verbal testimony, you know that. So that means you should get to work and be busy. Now those who have known me for much time at all know that Colossians 128 and I don’t mind if you accidentally throw in 29 along with it.

Colossians 128 has occupied a central place, a precious place in my heart, the name of a ministry that I loved but not only a name more than a name, not just like the text that explained a diagram on a page, 128 for me is more like the muscles that beat and pulsed and pumped the blood. Colossians 128 is that valuable to me. And in its context, the Apostle Paul is the one who’s writing it. And specifically in that last paragraph starting in chapter 1 verse 24, he’s describing a lot of his apostolic work. And he took his role and his responsibilities as an apostle, which is different. He took those very seriously. He loved suffering for the church. He talked about rejoicing that he could fill up what was lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Not in a salvific way, but at least in an illustrative way, in an example kind of way, in Christ suffered for us and we suffer for each other because of Christ, not instead of Christ in His place.

He was the only one who could do it as a substitute. But Paul loved suffering for the church. He loved stewarding the gospel. He loved fulfilling his preaching of the whole counsel of God. And in that paragraph, he has at least three desires for fulfillment. one, to fill up or complete what was lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Secondly, was to fill up or complete the preaching of God’s Word. If you look at that paragraph, you’ll see there’s this repeated idea of filling up or completing, depending on which translation you’re reading. So, to complete what was lacking in Christ’s afflictions, to complete the preaching of God’s Word, and to complete Christ-likeness in everyone. That’s specifically where we get to in verse 28. In verse 29 he explains he gave all of himself to this work. He labored, he exhausted himself, he let his clay pot be beaten up and worn out. In Acts he described in general his ministry as one being public and from house to house. He exhorted people in the body like a father to his children.

Second, I’m sorry, 1st Thessalonians chapter 2, like a father to his children and he even had gentleness like a nursing mother caring for her babies. That’s also in first Thessalonians chapter 2. And all this was done in the power provided by the one who is all-powerful. To this end I labor and strive according to his mighty power which he mightily works within me. That’s Colossians 1 29. But having clearly defined goals is good. Complete the suffering, complete the preaching, complete Christ-likeness in all those that he ministered to. Having clearly defined goals as good, spending and sacrificing oneself to achieve those goals as good, depending on God and his spirit, for wisdom and energy is good, but it’s not enough. If only one guy is doing it, it’s not enough. It takes all of us, part working properly. To present, meditate, marinate, percolate on this phrase just for a second. Everyone complete in Christ. There is a vision and a standard that are unbelievable.

The vision is everyone or every person. Really? Like just the people in this room, in these walls at this time right now, that’s a lot of people to see complete and like Christ. Reaching the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ. No longer tossed around by any ways of doctrine. So that’s a vision. Everyone, every person and the standard is completeness perfection total likeness to Christ that vision and that standard are beyond any man’s ministry it has to be something done by a church by a body just some bullet points think of the spectrum of spiritual maturity in any given group of believers. From the brand new baby Christians to those who have been believers for twice as long as the other people have been alive, let alone maybe have been Christians. The spectrum of spiritual maturity. Think also of the variety of sin tendencies and struggles.

You know when people say to me, you know what your problem is? I like the line, I only have one. I stole that from another place, but I have some sin tendencies. And they might not be yours. And if you want to help me, then you can’t act like mine are yours. And if I want to help you, I can’t act like mine are yours. Like yours are mine, mine are yours. Like you have yours, I have mine. But we both are headed in the same direction, the same goal. The variety of sin tendencies and struggles. Think of the different backgrounds represented. The family backgrounds, the culture backgrounds, educational backgrounds, Bible knowledge.

Like maybe there was a time, I don’t know because I wasn’t living there, but maybe there was a time 50 years ago in the United States where lots of people went to Sunday school and they knew more of the stories but you can’t really depend on people having the same foundation of Bible knowledge, whether they believe it or not. Think of the unique giftedness. Dave mentioned that earlier. Like, if we’re going to be a whole body, everybody’s got to be using their giftedness. Well, that means we’ve got to help each other identify that and make sure there are opportunities for using the giftedness. It’s not just something where we want everybody to be a teacher.

Let not many of you be teachers, James says in James chapter three. But if everybody has a gift, then that means there’s things to do. We need to consider the various ways we can support those unique gifts, provide opportunities for them. And I mean, the last bullet point here is think of the multiple life context. Single people married people, old people, young people. Married without kids, married with kids, or many kids. The people who work alone or who work from home, the people who have to work closely with a team, or who work on a factory line, or their work is going to school. Think about the people who are up during the day, the people who are up during the night, The people who spend a lot of time, you know, in the same 10 square feet, or the people who are regularly going across the world, blue collar, white collar.

I mean, we are a spiritual buffet. We are a smorgasbord of all kinds of people. But unlike normally, at least in terms of my preferences, unlike a normal smorgasbord, we’re good when we’re running together. Not when you keep all of us compartmentalized and separated. We need to be united. We need to be mixing. We need to be gathered. We need to be with. We need to be serving one another, taking care of one another. It’s part of the reason why Paul extended the word ministry, even, of teaching and admonishing. Because sure, if we want to say in chapter 1, that’s his special apostolic stewardship, teaching and admonishing everyone in all wisdom in order to present everyone complete in Christ?

Sure, say that teaching and admonishing in chapter one is apostolic work or even pastor or teacher kind of work, but in Colossians chapter three, it’s work for everybody who is richly and dwelt by God’s word. The command is be richly and dwelt, let it be at home in your heart, and the participles that come out of that command, the results of being richly and dwelt, will be teaching and admonishing one another. A word ministry, regardless of giftedness and background and culture and context and work schedule, that seeks the good of each other. You know, it’s word ministry, speaking, teaching, sharing, enjoying together the word.

And we could even add onto that in how Jesus commissioned his disciples, not just telling it to one another, but helping each other to obey everything that he’s commanded. That’s Matthew 28 verse 20. So you are necessary, if you’re a Christian, to the body, to the body of Christ at large and to whatever local body you’re a part of. Absolutely necessary. And not for sake of financial stewardship, not for sake of lots of easy things, but for things like showing off the manifold wisdom of God to rulers and authorities in heavenly places, loving each other so much that people start talking about it. Building each other up until we are all like Christ, ready to be married to Him, pure, spotless, blameless, beautiful as His bride.

That’s my job. and everybody’s job. And that’s really exciting. So when you have opportunities to meet with one another, when we don’t have a corporate Sunday night service, just steal those hours and do your ministry. I mean, obviously, it doesn’t have to be limited to that. I’m just saying, like, if you were already planning on taking a couple hours and doing something churchy, then it’s not less churchy to minister to the church in the various ways that you can.

I can take place all week long, that’ll take place once the lights are turned off and the doors are locked. But we all have fantastic opportunity and the promise that God is with us in his spirit with instructions in his word and help from one another until we’re married to him and we enjoy that supper, the marriage supper of the lamb. Father, that’s where we want to be. And in the meantime, we realize you’ve left us here on purpose. So we want to depend on you, and we want to do all that we can, not just Bible reading and praying, though those are important, and those equip us and strengthen us. But we want to work and serve and minister with our giftedness, in humility for your sake, and to build up the body.

Help us as a local church to be a great example of caring for one another, and being a light to those who are still in darkness, whether that’s in Marysville or Monroe or Smoky Point or wherever it might be, as well as when we have opportunity to extend that influence and exposure beyond.

All of this is only possible because your son is our head. And obviously he is the groom that we eagerly await. So come quickly and in the meantime, help us work well. We pray in your son’s name, amen.