WHY BE PART OF THE CHURCH

To Play My Part in God’s Plan “His intent was that now, through the church……according to his eternal purpose…”

The church is not just an afterthought. It didn’t just happen by accident. It wasn’t the creation of Peter or Paul or any of the apostles. From before the beginning of time, the church was part of God’s plan to redeem His people and to bring all of them together as one. Paul has already described some aspects of the eternal purposes of God:

“And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment - to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.”  Ephesians 1:9, 10 (NIV)

God had a plan to restore His creation to the perfection that existed before man’s sin. And that restoration will be accomplished by bringing all things together under the headship of Christ.

I know this isn’t glamorous stuff, but Paul tells us that God’s plan is now entering a stage where God is going to use the church as His primary means of carrying out this plan that is leading to the time when God will restore His creation to its original glory through the headship of Jesus. That happens when Jesus comes back for the church, we are the church.

Matthew 24:30-31 "Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

That’s when we get the resurrection body…that’s when the plan will for will come to fruition; the time when God will restore His creation to its original glory through the headship of Jesus.

God has created each one of us to be part of the body of the church and given each one of us a unique ministry to carry out in within that body. Do you realize what that means? It means that all of us who are God’s children have a role to play in carrying out God’s eternal plans. Isn’t that amazing?

When I was in elementary school, in a public school nonetheless, our school held a Christmas pageant every year. And every student in the school was part of that pageant. But there were a few special, coveted roles that only the 6th graders were allowed to try out for – the three wise men, the shepherds, the speaking angel, and of course, Mary and Joseph. Certainly the highlight of my entire elementary school experience had to have been being selected to play Joseph when I was a 6th grader. Only reason I got the part was because I was the tallest guy and looked like a little man. Not only that, the girl selected to play Mary with me was the girl I had a crush on. Doesn’t get much better than that!

But the great thing about the church, in contrast to the Christmas pageant, is that there is no starring role. We are all big shots in God’s kingdom. But within the body, there is no role that is more important or less important than any of the others.

Paul makes that crystal clear in his other letters, especially in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12.

So our reason to be part of the church is to play my part in God’s eternal plan... You are loved!