Simple Church Minute 97--God's Eternal Purpose

97--God’s Eternal Purpose

THIS BLIP IS NOT ON FIRST RECORDING

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            What is God’s eternal purpose?  It isn’t the Great Commission. It didn’t exist before history, in the Old Covenant, and Jesus didn’t deliver it to us until just before he went back to heaven.  At his return and the final judgment, it will again cease to be relevant.  It isn’t doing good, although, again, we should.  That doesn’t make sense as a purpose before creation, and we cannot grasp what that is after God defeats sin finally at the end.  So what is God’s eternal purpose?

            Four things, in no particular order.  Ephesians 2 verse 13 tells us Jesus made peace and broke down the division between Jew and Gentile  so both can be one humanity, one body—the Body of Christ, the church.

            Ephesians chapter 5 verses 25 to 31 tell us that, as a man is joined to a woman in marriage, so Jesus is to be joined to his Bride, the church.

            First Corintians 6 verse 19 tells us God wanted a place to dwell that was greater, more extreme than the Old Covenant tabernacle and temple. We, the Body and Bride of Christ, are that temple of the Holy Spirit.  We believers, as a group, are the dwelling place of God.

Ephesians 3 verse 15 and First Peter 4 verse 17 tell us God wanted a family.  Once again, that is those adopted by faith into the New Covenant family of God, the church.

            In the Old Testament, God directed the building of the tabernacle and the temple. When Israel was in exile, they made the synagogue, but God did not direct its building.  In the Gospels, we find that Jesus taught the disciples, who, after Jesus left and sent the Holy Spirit, taught the New Covenant believers to be the church, the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the family of God.  Church buildings and not for profit corporations, like the Old Covenant synagogue, are well meaning but once again man-made.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com. For more info on simple forms of worship, visit http://www.simplechurch.com/ or (local website).