What’s the Big Deal About Church?
I. One VERSE that SHOULD blow your MIND. (Eph. 3:10)
A. God’s INTENTION for the CHURCH. (v.10)
B. To DEMONSTRATE the “Manifold WISDOM of God.” (v.10)
C. To the heavenly RULERS and AUTHORITIES. (v.10; Eph. 6:12; Col. 2:15)
One of the greatest problems is that we walk through life often unaware of the realities that are going on around us. We think church is a building that we go to, or a group of people we gather with. Our vision of what God is doing through the church is small and stunted. Ephesians 3:10 blows that all apart.
1. Kid’s Question: What do you like about church? What don’t you like about church?
2. Does God’s intention for the church inspire you or overwhelm you? Why?
II. A SHORT SUMMARY of God’s “Manifold Wisdom”? (Eph. 3:11-12; Eph. 1-2)
A. God makes DEAD humans ALIVE. (Eph. 2:1-10)
B. God RECONCILES divided HUMANITY in CHRIST. (Eph. 1:9-10; Eph. 2:11-20)
C. This new “PERSON” houses God’s PRESENCE. (Eph. 2:21-22; 3:19)
What is this “manifold wisdom” that God wants us to make know to all the spiritual powers and authorities in heavenly places? It’s the plan He has been enacting even before creation. The fall and the entrance of sin into the world was not a surprise to God, it was something that He had planned for from before any of this ever happened.
3. Of the three sub-points above, which is the one that speaks to you the most and why?
4. Are their areas in your own life where you need to pursue reconciliation with someone else? What are the next steps that you should take to do that?
5. How would a greater understanding and awareness of God’s presence in you all the time change the way you live day to day? How can you begin to cultivate that greater understanding and awareness?
III. God’s INTENT is that we “MAKE KNOWN”. (Eph. 3:10)
A. The Church MODELS RESURRECTION. (Rom. 6:3-8)
B. The Church EMBODIES RECONCILIATION. (Matt. 5:21-24)
C. The Church ROOTS itself in God’s LOVE. (Eph. 3:17-18; I Jn 4:19; Jn 13:35)
D. The Church LIVES as Jesus WOULD. (Eph. 3:19; 1 Cor. 12:27)
So what does it look like when we are living into the intention of God for the church? How do we grow into what He wants us to be and what will the world see as that begins to happen? It’s something tremendous, something powerful, something that the world is longing for, even if at this moment it doesn’t realize it.
6. Where have you seen examples of the church doing the things listed above?
7. Which of these things do you find the most challenging to live out in your own life?
IV. The big QUESTION is HOW? (Next week, 2 Peter 1:3-11)
This is a tall order. God’s intention for the church is a beautiful vision, but it seems so far beyond our ability to live it out. It is. But the good news of the gospel is that we aren’t limited to our ability. The Holy Spirit in us can help us to surrender to what God is doing. And as we surrender, amazing things begin to happen. That’s what we will talk about next week.
8. If you could ask God to help you grow in one area in order to better “make known His manifold wisdom to the spiritual powers”, what would that be?
“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offence, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.” (Annie Dillard)