According to the early Christians, the church doesn’t exist in order to provide a place where people can pursue their private spiritual agendas and develop their own spiritual potential. Nor does it exist in order to provide a safe haven in which people can hide from the wicked world and ensure that they themselves arrive safely at an otherworldly destination. Private spiritual growth and ultimate salvation come rather as the byproducts of the main, central, overarching purpose for which God has called and is calling us. The purpose is clearly stated in various places in the New Testament: that through the church God will announce to the wider world that he is indeed its wise, loving, and just creator: that through Jesus he has defeated the powers that corrupt and enslave it; and that by his Spirit he is at work to heal and renew it.How excellent is that!?!
I am really getting a hold of this concept that we the Church are the seed that God is sowing into the world. That through us, His Kingdom is revealed and we, together, represent His glory. Because of this we must live lives of unity and love. We must reach out into the world with the Gospel. We must be righteous and set apart from worldliness - lust, greed, slander, immorality, drunkenness, fear, worry, etc.. We must demonstrate the miracle of His overthrow of spiritual darkness through healing physical, emotional, and psychological needs.
We are to continue Jesus' work.
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