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The Ephesian Connection
In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention (lit., good pleasure) which He purposed in Him.
Today we are experiencing the working out of God’s good pleasure, an objective that He purposed in His Son. His designed strategy involved the incarnation, the death, and the resurrection of Christ. Not only that, all of Church history also testifies to His glorious plan. From the outpouring of His Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), to His ongoing dealings with the nations, and then specifically with His people throughout the past centuries, we see Him extending His rule among men. In our own day, we recognize that He is gathering the nation of Israel to her land, He is constructing a glorious house made up of living stones, and as He is preparing His people as a Bride for His return. All this Heaven-designed activity reveals the working out of His good pleasure, the desire of His heart from eternity. Today when we study both Church history as well as this present season, we must see His strategy, His intent lying behind the facts.
To begin to unravel the mystery of His will, we must first consider God’s objective in calling us. It was not primarily to a ministry – whether to unbelievers or to those in the Church. Our primary call was to Him.
God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
If we respond properly to Him, we will gain insight into His present activities. If we do not, we may participate in what He is doing without understanding what is in His heart. If we do not draw close to Him, how will we know what pleases Him? Some will say His greatest joy is to see His house built correctly. Others might say that it is for us to win the lost. Still others might point to worship. While all of these are excellent, each is incomplete. Even when considered together, these answers are insufficient. There is one unique delight of God’s heart – it is His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us briefly consider the above three responses.
Correct building. It is possible to develop a seemingly biblical approach to building God’s house without necessarily drawing our spiritual life from intimate communion with the Lord Jesus. One example would be if we were to be overly focused on information derived from reading books or from regularly attending high-powered conferences. Our tendency then would be to apply methods that seem to have worked for others in other locales. This can then lead to being more activity centered, finding our fulfillment more in busyness than in fellowship with the Lord.
Witnessing. While sharing our faith with unbelievers is obviously important, yet it must be rooted in firsthand relationship with the Lord Jesus. It is possible to share with others based on an insecurity concerning His love for us coupled with attempts to then earn it through our own efforts. On the other hand, it is quite fulfilling to share the gospel with others as a joyful expression of knowing and having received His love for us.
Worship. Our Christian worship may have excellent music and expert singers of harmony while at the same time come from hearts that are empty. True worship is not about knowing the latest Christian song or singing expressive harmonies. We simply must keep it from becoming primarily about the music. We must gather to Him with hearts filled with gratitude and reverence.
Our worship services and our ministry to others by themselves bring no enjoyment to God. But when we do them through the life of His Son, it is a different matter. When Christ Himself is revealed in and through us, then our Father is pleased. After all, He has purposed to corporately reveal His Son among the nations. Anything less will not satisfy Him.
When we look at the present condition of the Church, we see many divisions, many Christian groups and leaders who too often find identity in their various doctrines, and then seek recognition of their ministries. And at the root of it all, we see simply too much pride in all of us. The Body of Christ today comes so far short of God’s intent when compared with her glorious Head, the Lord Jesus. He is perfect in all His ways; He is holy in character and glorious in function; and from eternity’s perspective, there is no need for Him to improve. What then is His intent for us?
but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ.
A human body is deformed when it does not respond to the thoughts of the mind. So also, Christ’s Church must become a normal functioning spiritual body that accurately expresses His mind. The Church must not remain in her present condition. Together we must grow up into Christ, our Head. We must mature into a visible expression of head and body, an integrated mature corporate man.
until we all attain to...a mature man.
If Jesus were to return for the Body of Christ in its present condition, the nations would see a well-formed Head with a dysfunctional body. This would certainly fall short of God’s eternal purpose. Scripture teaches that His body is the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 1:23). Not only that, there is a measured stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ, and we must not settle for anything less (Ephesians 4:13). If we fail to understand this truth, the Book of Ephesians will not make sense. One of Paul’s major emphases in this epistle is the Church in all her glory (Ephesians 5:27). Because many have not understood this truth, they have misinterpreted God’s activities among His people. But He is indeed preparing a bride for His Son. He is building a house in which to dwell forever. And He is bringing to maturity a corporate integrated body that is made up of many members in order to reveal the mind of Christ to this generation.
Since God’s good pleasure is His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased (Matthew 3:17), His command to us is indisputable. We must live and abide in the Son, even as He lived in union with His Father. As Jesus found His life in the Father, so we are to find our life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because God is looking for the fruit of His own life on earth, true spiritual fruitfulness among us will come only from abiding in Him (John 15:5). He is not looking for our best attempts at righteousness, ministry, winning the lost, or building successful churches. He is simply looking for the life of His Son and for the fruit springing from that life. All other results testify of the strength and the ingenuity of man. Of these God takes no delight.
To conclude, we simply must recognize that apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5), even as Jesus recognized that apart from His Father He could do nothing (John 5:19). Then the Father will be pleased in us like He was in His Son. The Father saw Himself revealed on earth through the Lord Jesus (John 14:9) and He was well pleased. Today He looks for no less than Christ to be expressed through His people. If we would bring pleasure to the heart of God, then we must learn to rely completely on the Holy Spirit who has been sent to reveal Jesus in our midst.
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