“To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of

Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”                                       Ephesians 4:12–14

Christ loves His church, and so must all those who profess to follow Him (Eph. 5:25). That is why the doctrine of the church was not a secondary concern for the Protestant Reformers. Understanding the nature, marks, offices, and purpose of the church according to Scripture was one of their chief goals.

Today we will begin looking at the purpose of the church. The purpose of the church for the Lord is easy enough to discern—its purpose in relation to the Lord is to bring Him glory. But God also established the church for the good of His people, and understanding our Creator’s purpose for the church in relation to His children will help us seek the good He has for us and help maintain His intent for His body.

The first purpose God has for the church that we will consider is for the church to be the arena of spiritual growth. In today’s passage, Paul explains why God gave His church Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers: so that we would be equipped for ministry, understand true doctrine, and grow to spiritual maturity (Eph. 4:12–14). Our Lord does not redeem us from sin and then stop working in us. No, His intent is that we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). And He brings us to maturity primarily through the instruction provided by the officers in the local church and the fellowship we enjoy with one another as we study God’s Word together. Personal, individual study is well and good, even necessary for our spiritual growth. However, we will attain maturity in the faith only through our participation in the local church. In the context of the covenant community, the Lord works through the faithful preaching and teaching of His Word by His appointed officers.

In our individualistic age, when too many Christians think church membership is optional and that they can grow spiritually just fine on their own, the comments of John Calvin on today’s passage must be heard: 

“The church is the common mother of all the godly, which bears, nourishes, and brings up children to God, kings and peasants alike; and this is done by the ministry. Those who neglect or despise this order choose to be wiser than Christ. Woe to the pride of such men!” Our Saviour has established the church as the arena for Christian growth. If we neglect its ministry, we will remain immature and undiscerning.

Coram Deo – before the face of God

God has designed us as individuals and His church as a corporate body such that we grow to maturity within the context of the local church’s ministry. No amount of study that we do on our own, however helpful it may be, can substitute for the benefit we receive by participating in the educational ministry of our local church. Let us not fail to participate in the church, which is God’s primary arena for our spiritual growth.

Devotional first published in Tabletalk Magazine, an outreach of Ligonier. 

Website: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk. © Tabletalk magazine. Used with permission

Daniel Hyde

Paul describes the unity and diversity of gifts in the body of Christ by saying: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:4–7). All of us are gifted from the same Spirit; all of us are called to serve in the power of the same Lord; all of us are called to be active by the same God; all of us have gifts to serve the common good. As Paul goes on to say to the Corinthians, “all were made to drink of one Spirit” (v. 13).

What is this “common good” of which Paul speaks? It is that God is glorified in the midst of the congregation; for example, in singing. What are you doing to bring that about? The common good is that the lost come to hear the gospel and be saved. What are you doing to serve that glorious purpose, to spread the seed of the Word? The common good is that those in the church who are hurting find healing, the broken find restoration, and the weak find strength. What are you doing to serve others who seem to be hurting, broken, and weak?

     Because of cultural influences on the church in America in our time, we tend to treat the church like a drive-through restaurant. We think to ourselves, “It will always be there and it will always have what I want, when I want it.” So, some of us attend worship once a week, some twice a month, and, sadly, some of us only occasionally. We come to get something and to leave. If it is not there, we go somewhere else. Others of us treat the church like any ordinary social club, a PTA meeting, a family reunion, or a gathering of friends. We come expecting to talk about work, football, and the latest gossip. We do all of this because we are sinners to be sure, but also because we are products of the world around us.

We need to stop treating the church this way. The church is a body, not a drive-through. It is a group of living people. The church is a spiritual place, not a social club. When we come on the Lord’s Day, we need to expect that God is going to meet with us in the power of His Holy Spirit. Further, we need to expect that there will be others there who need our spiritual gifts. The Holy Spirit gives each of us gifts for the common good, so we need to shift our focus from ourselves and use our gifts to serve and edify others. If each of us thinks of ways to serve others—and not how we need to be served—the entire body will function healthily.

Rev. Daniel R. Hyde is senior minister of Oceanside Reformed Church in Oceanside, Calif. 

This excerpt, from God in Our Midst by Daniel Hyde, was first published in the 21 October 2015 Tabletalk magazine, an outreach of Ligonier. Website: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk. © Tabletalk magazine. Used with permission

Terry Johnson

One of the great insitghts of the Reformation was the recovery of the biblical concept of “convenant”. This recovery was fuelled by the “new learning” of the Renaissance humanism, the return ad fontes, “to the sources,” of theology in the original texts of the New and Old Testaments and in the writings of the church fathers. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Muslim Turks brought a flood of Greek and Hebrew scholars with their manuscripts into Western Europe. For the first time in a thousand years in the West the Bible was being studied in the original languages, and in particular, the Old Testament was being given close attention. The expression, “Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched,” is well known and refers to his publication in 1516 of the first critical edition of the Greek New Testament, barely a year before the posting of the 95 Theses. Less well known is the fact that Luther was one of a handful of tri-linguists (Greek, Hebrew, Latin) on the whole continent of Europe. No longer would the church’s theologians be content to study the Bible in the Latin of the Vulgate.

     The biblical covenants were given careful study by Zwingli, Bucer, Calvin, and Bullinger, often in relation to sacramental theology. What they came to understand was that the Lord’s Supper is a supper, that is, a covenantal meal. It should not be understood as a sacrifice offered upon an altar by a priest, but a supper offered upon a table by a pastor. The Lord’s Supper is the Christian Passover in which, as with many covenantal meals before it, the agreement between the two participating parties is ratified or confirmed (Exodus 12:24; see also Genesis 14:17–20; 18:1–13; 27; Proverbs. 9:1–6). Jesus announced, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25; see Matthew 26:28). By participating in the meal, the covenant with Christ is ratified and confirmed, the Reformers argued. God confirms His promise to redeem those who come to Him through the cross of Christ. Communicants in turn promise to be faithful servants of the Christ whom they trust.

     The practical implications of a covenantal understanding of the Eucharist were soon obvious: the communion service was to look like a meal. The language of sacrifice, as well as gestures and furnishings that implied sacrifice, were removed from the service: “Let us, therefore, repudiate everything that smacks of sacrifice,” Luther wrote in 1523 in his Formula Missae.

The pastoral implications were enormous as well. The communion table became the point at which commitment to Christ was either refused or ratified, and the people came to understand that if they were to do business with God it would be at the table. If you were a non-believer, Christ was was beckoning you to His table. The Supper was a poignant reminder that one was outside of God’s covenant family and thus not a recipient of His saving provisions. If you were a baptized but non-communing child of the church, confirmation would take place at the table. The table for you was a reminder that though a covenant child, you had unfinished business with God. If you were a back-sliding Christian, rededication would take place at the table. The fenced table, excluding the unrepentant, was like a divine cannon-shot over the bow, warning you to get right with God. If you were a faithful believer, reaffirmation of the covenant with Christ would take place at the table. The table for you was a blessed spiritual meal, a reminder of the gifts of grace, and communion with the risen Christ Himself. The table was the Reformed altar-call. At the table, one was to deal with Christ, for there He was present, there He was most clearly seen, and there He issued His invitation to “take, eat,” “take, drink,” and enjoy His benefits.      The implications for koinonia soon became clear as well. By baptism one was initiated into the covenant. By participation in the Lord’s Supper one identified oneself as a member of the covenant community, in fellowship with Christ, and in fellowship with those in fellowship with Christ. Thus the apostle Paul writes: “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:16–17 NASB). The unity of the church, mutual accountability, the mutual responsibility, the mutual caring and “sharing” (koinonia) are all implications of participation in one bread, one cup, and one table of the covenantal meal.      We have perhaps made too little of the practical importance of the table. Perhaps this is especially true of first communion. I wonder if more ought to be made of this crucial step in a young person’s life of ratifying the covenant with Christ. I am not sure of what shape making more of first communion would take. But I do think we need to think and pray about what that might mean. Regularly observed, properly understood,and covenantaly interpreted,the Lord’s Supper becomes the focal point of both one’s relationship with Christ, and one’s relationship with fellow believers.

Rev.Terry Johnson is senior minister of Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, GA First Published 01 November 2006 in Tabltalk Magazine, an outrech of Legonier. Website: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk. Tabletalk magazine.Used with permission

Mack Tomlinson

I remember group projects in high school and college. They normally did not go well. Either a brainiac, an egomaniac, or a sluggard usually messed things up. Too many people contributing to one common project caused things to just not be as good as if one person is doing a project.

The reality is, most people think that becoming a Christian is a joint project — they contribute all they can and Jesus finishes the job. They have to contribute something since Jesus died for their salvation. They must do their part and Jesus then does his part. Yes, his part may be bigger and more, but still I’ve got to contribute at least something to make it sufficient.

But let’s be fully clear about what salvation is not.

• Salvation is not a group project
• Salvation is not a joint effort
• Salvation is not a 50/50 deal
• Salvation is not 2 colleagues both contributing something
• Salvation is not a team effort
• Salvation is not a partnership
• Salvation is not a shared labour
• Salvation is not like a doubles team in tennis
• Salvation is not me trying hard to get better                            and Jesus helping me improve

Salvation is all of grace with no self-contribution that to some degree, helps, adds to, secures, or improves our acceptability with God.

The only thing that merits anything is Christ’s worth and righteousness, and not anything about us. We indeed must come to him, but that faith is not meritorious, but rather is simply the means of receiving forgiveness and acceptance. Our faith doesn’t earn anything; it is just how we come emptyhanded to receive freely from Christ.

There is absolutely nothing whatsoever we can contribute to help Christ save us. All we give is our sin and our sinful hearts. We only receive, we don’t contribute.

I wonder when people will finally get it. Salvation is all of the Lord or t is not anything. This adds new meaning to Jesus’ words: ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’

Mack Tomlinson is a pastor at Providence Chapel, Denton TX He was ordained to the gospel ministry in 1977 in his home church of First Baptist Church of Clarendon TX. He conducts an itinerant preaching ministry around the U. S., overseas in Eastern Europe, the South Pacific, and other areas of the world.  

taken from the Banner of Truth magazine 05 November 2018  www.banneroftruth.org and used with permission

GloriaFurman

Kiss, hug, monkey blanket, book, pray. That’s the summation of my preschool-age son’s bedtime routine. His simple bedtime routine must mean the world to him because if I miss a beat or shake up the order, he lets me know that the universe is falling apart. If you want accountability for keeping a disciplined routine, just let preschoolers know of your intentions, and they will tirelessly remind you to stay the course.

Order and predictability go a long way to reassure young children that their world is stable. Routines work the same way in reassuring us big kids, too. Consider how disconcerting your morning would be if the coffeemaker suddenly sputtered sparks onto the countertop and broke.

When Life Seems Boring

Although we can all appreciate the stability that routines bring (Thank you, God, for causing the sun to rise this morning), a life of “all things ordinary” may sound, well … boring. We live in the mundane, and life-altering, dramatic moments are, by definition, extraordinary. Whatever your “normal” is, I think we can all agree that that’s where we live. Even so, we long for significant work, unique callings, and uncommon opportunities. It’s tempting to view everyday life as a monotonous cycle of making your bed only to lie in it again. Our perspective on the everyday business of our lives is important because when we forget about God’s activity in the world, we become functionally hopeless. What’s the point of anything if “all is vanity”? Often our view of the ordinary is ruled by the “have-to’s”: I have to take out the trash; I have to go to work; I have to change another diaper; and so on. We hear Paul’s instruction of “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31) and we wonder how that squares with the “have-to’s” of our everyday lives. Grace sheds light on our mundane. Grace can transform the “have-to’s” into “get-to’s” as we live for His glory.

Here are just three of the ways the grace of God governs the areas of our lives that seem ordinary and unimportant:

1. We get to live outside of the garden. Live. We get to live. Let your heart soar with thankfulness as you consider that God continues to give us life even though we have all sinned against His holiness. Let your mind be blown by the reality that Jesus is currently, intentionally holding our very lives together by the word of His power. The gracious gift of life in spite of our sin is overwhelming. Surely this mercy is cause for unceasing praise to our Creator. Job teaches us that whatever condition our lives are in, God is to be praised. As recipients of such astonishing grace, far be it from us to lament that life is boring. Instead, let us spill over with praise to the Author of Life with our every breath.

2. We get to live forever in Christ. Each of us is just a breath away from meeting the Lord face-to-face. Because of Jesus’ atoning death on the cross, we will behold our God and live, and we will live forever in His presence where there is fullness of joy. In the meantime, we are comforted by the indwelling Holy Spirit and we can have fellowship with God even now. God uses ordinary means to conform us to the image of His beloved Son. This is just one way the gospel of grace gives new meaning to the seemingly unimportant routines.

3. We get to participate in God’s cosmic plan. The penal substitutionary death of Jesus Christ, His resurrection from the dead, and His subsequent exaltation above every name change how we view our ordinary lives because, indeed, they change everything. In order to experience joy in the work that God has for us, we must seek to understand

• the mystery of God’s will that He purposes “to unite all things in [Christ]” (Ephesians 1:9– 10). While we’re tempted to fret over arranging our schedules perfectly, Jesus is infallibly putting the cosmos back in order. This big-picture theology of God’s cosmic plan sees through the morning commute and the dishes piled up in the sink to scan the horizon of the new heavens and the new earth. What remarkable grace we’ve been given to participate in God’s plan to reconcile all things to Himself (1 Corinthians 15:27–28).

Stamp Eternity on Our Eyeballs

An eternal perspective is something you carry around in your heart. With the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know the hope to which God has called you. Look through this lens of eternity when you’re tempted to walk by sight. Watch how the grace of God transforms the way you see another business trip, another potty training accident, another afternoon in gridlock traffic, another meeting, another bill, or another load of laundry. Enduring joy can be had in the ordinary stuff of life today because everything you’ve been given was ordained by Jesus, exists for Jesus, and will testify forever in eternity as a tribute to His glorious grace.

Gloria Furman lives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with her husband, Dave, a pastor at Redeemer Church of Dubai.             

First published in Tabletalk Magazine 01 March 2014, an outreach of Ligonier.  Website: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk. © Tabletalk magazine. Used with permission