The ultimate purpose for which God created mankind is so that we can intimately know Him and be known by Him. The basis by which we are invited into that relationship is His endless love for us revealed through the cross. If His immeasurable love is the entry point of our walk with Him, imagine the richness of His grace and love that abounds for those who will pursue Him above all else in that loving journey.
We were created to be with Him! We will be with Him one day in eternity! We will share in His divine love and glory in a blessed union that our human minds can’t comprehend.
When Adam disobeyed and mankind chose their own way, God still pursued us. He never left communicating with man although the distance became greater by the passing day because of our continual disobedience.
The law was not only given to help us recognize our sinful condition and helplessness and prepare us for Christ in the longer run, but it was also given so that sinful man could reconnect with a Holy God till the coming of Christ. Everything in the Old Testament was centered on man experiencing and walking with a God who is Holy. While the law couldn’t give us the strength to make changes that would have enabled us to be (and walk) with God intimately and consistently, Christ accomplished that for us by keeping and fulfilling the law. Now in and through Christ, we are invited to experience God in all His fulness.
Heaven is a place where we will see and know God without any veils that have hindered us from knowing Him, experiencing Him and walking with Him fully on this earth.
These truths are central and foundational for anyone’s walk with God and service for Him. If they are not, the Christian life and ministry would always be incomplete or futile. Now, bringing it into the context of the body of Christ and the church, those who are overseers have an eternal duty, a primary obligation to build their flock in a way that brings them closer to God by the passing day.
Ephesians 2:19 t0 22 says:
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
In this passage we see that main or fundamental purpose of a body of believers’ growth is so that one day God can inhabit them(us) in His fulness. Paul tells us how it needs to be done. Christ must be central to everything we do! We need to lead people in a way that they will perfectly unite with Christ and with one another. The end purpose of all of this is so that God can dwell amongst us!
These truths must be personalized first. In the context of a body of believers; the important questions that need to be asked to evaluate true fruit and growth is, how much have they grown in their union with Christ? How much have they grown in their union with one another? The evidence of that would be the increasing (manifest) presence of God when we meet.
In John 17:21 to 23, I believe Jesus prayed one of the greatest prayers ever
21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
In union with God and a union with one another is manifest the same glory that God gave Christ. It is that which causes the whole world to know that God sent Christ!
We are living in perilous times where there is so much of division, hurts and confusion in the body of Christ! As terrible as things might seem, there is a glory that shines or arises on His people as deep darkness covers the earth. It is a glory that comes from a place of blessed union with God and with one another.
Today, are we growing in the increasing awareness of God and His presence? Are we growing in our intimacy with Christ and our union with one another? The evidence of that is the increasing manifest presence of God when we gather.
If we are building right ( personally and corporately); if we are progressing in that pathway where one day God is going to inhabit us in His fulness; then the marker for that is the increasing manifest presence of God in our individual lives and in our communion together when we meet with one another. If this is not the primary goal , and experiencing God is rare in our lives and meetings, then we need to seriously question and examine the pathway we are on.
Over the years, in serving as a pastor to a congregation under my brother and ministering in hundreds of different places, have had this one thing primary in my mind; that the presence of God should be manifest during ministry; that people should encounter God whether it be through word or worship or any kind of ministry.
By the grace given to me, I have had the privilege of preparing the way of the Lord for His presence to be manifest in power in many places. Now, when it came to our church, God gave me the understanding that in our regular gatherings that people should become more and more aware of God and there should be an increasing measure of His presence, His glory! A sign that we were building right and towards the fulfillment of Ephesians 2:22
As I strove for this excellence, HIS Spirit began to guide revealing the hinderances for that and later granting me understanding on how that could be done, on which I shared a little bit earlier. In the coming articles we will look into more detail on these truths! May our hearts cry be for More of Him by the passing day! Amen!
