As the old year was finishing and new one was starting me and my wife set our goal for this year: To give ourselves to the reading of the Word of God, grow in the knowledge of Him and teach the Word out of that place of revelation. We both felt led to start with the book of Ephesians and we set apart the first month and a half of this year to read and meditate on one chapter each day. In addition to that during our personal time with God we were not just reading the Word but praying the Word and we would come together afterwards and we would sing every single verse allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us even in those moments. Our small experiment was/is live changing. Our hearts has been transformed and changed, the way we view the church has changed and this blog post is just short expression of the revelation of the beauty and the glory of the church of Jesus Christ.
I love my wife's introduction to this book as a book of God's emotions for His church, book in which God shows to us how He sees and feels about His church. This is very important because one of the greatest needs today for each one of us is to see and have a deeper appreciation of the mystery and holiness of the church.
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus is giving us insight into what is His purpose and commitment and that is building His church. When the Lord appeared to Saul, He said; Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me? (Acts 9:4) Paul didn’t had revelation of the church so he was confused and asked who are you, what are you meaning? So Lord replayed: I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. With other words Jesus was saying; if you are persecuting my church you are persecuting me. Jesus didn’t asked Paul why is he persecuting His church but why is he persecuting Him. When someone touches the body, the church, he is touching God himself. Jesus identifies Himself with His church. The church is expression of Jesus Christ here on the earth. In that moment Paul’s revelation and view of the church changed so he gave some amazing views of the church in his writings. And it is very important for us to have the same revelation that Paul had and get God’s view on the church because Jesus gave his life for this topic, the church, the body of Christ.
Ephesians 1:22-23 The Church is the the fulness of Jesus Christ... The revelation of Jesus Christ continues to unfold to the world through the church, the church is the fulness of Jesus' expression of Jesus, expression of who He is, of His heart, His character, expression of all the fulness of Jesus.
Ephesians 2:21-22 The Church is a Holy Temple, we all are joined and built together into a dwelling place where God lives through His Spirit. God in all of His splendor and majesty has decided to make His dwelling among brothers and sisters who are joined and build together.
Ephesians 3:10 Through the Church the manifold wisdom of God is being made known. God displays His wisdom through His church and this wisdom or mystery Paul explains that it was God bringing all man into one new man through the blood and redeeming power of Jesus Christ. The Church is testimony of God's glory, power and name before the powers in this world. This wisdom is to be manifested through all of us in every area of life.
Ephesians 3:14-19 Out of that place of revelation of the love of Jesus Christ the church is filled to the measure of the fulness of God. This fulness of life and power comes as we gain understanding of the love of Christ together with all saints.
Ephesians 3:20-21 The Church is the glory of God through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 4:1-13 The Church is one body and we are all called to walk in unity towards one another. The work of the Holy Spirit is build up the Church so that we all reach unity in faith and knowledge of the Son so that we all will become mature in Christ.
Ephesians 4:15-16 The Church is the body and Jesus Christ is the head. We can not have a healthy and growing Church without loving the whole body of Christ. The church is called to love the church.
Every time we love the church we express our love for Jesus Christ. Every time we look towards the church with laughter and disrespect we bring shame to Jesus Christ. We want to see the church as Jesus sees His church. We want to know how God feels about His church, what He thinks, what are His emotions towards the church....we want to have revelation of all of these things so that out of that place of revelation we can align our feelings, views, emotions and attitudes with God’s so that we will follow His example and do what He did, laying down our life for the church, building each other up... This was the dream of God to bring forth in unity the church to display Christ in all wisdom...You are visible expression of the invisible God, you are the wisdom, you are the glory of the Father, you are His bride, His temple...and this was His desire before the beginning of time to have visible expression of Himself through His people. Christ has joined Himself to us, His church, His body, expression of all that He is. God has washed us with His blood, He has sanctified us and He wants to use us to glorify His name through us. He is not ashamed of His family. Do we see the church in the city and in the country the way He sees it?
And if all of this wasn't enough Paul gives His last insight into how God sees His church.
Ephesians 5:25-28 The Church is the bride of Christ, holy, washed through His word, presented before Jesus as glorious, radiant church without stain, wrinkle or blemish but holy and blameless.
This is why Jesus came, this was His ministry, this is why he bled, why He died, why He rose, why He is interceding, why He is coming...He is longing for His bride, He did everything else and there is one more thing left, to present her before himself....
In 1Timothy 3:15 the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth....
In Revelation 2:1 Jesus is portrait as the One who walks among the seven lamp stands (the churches)...
Do we see the church the way God sees it? Do we walk in love towards the Church? God takes His church seriously and His warning is given to us in 1Corintians 3:16-17 where Paul says that we are the temple of God and His spirit lives in us and then continues by saying that everyone who destroys (speaks badly, gossips, put down, condemn, blame or put shame and so on...) God's temple, God will destroy that person because God's temple is holy and we are that temple.
May God give us grace, wisdom and revelation to see and know the truth about His church so that we will follow His example and love the Church as He loves it.
I love my wife's introduction to this book as a book of God's emotions for His church, book in which God shows to us how He sees and feels about His church. This is very important because one of the greatest needs today for each one of us is to see and have a deeper appreciation of the mystery and holiness of the church.
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus is giving us insight into what is His purpose and commitment and that is building His church. When the Lord appeared to Saul, He said; Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me? (Acts 9:4) Paul didn’t had revelation of the church so he was confused and asked who are you, what are you meaning? So Lord replayed: I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. With other words Jesus was saying; if you are persecuting my church you are persecuting me. Jesus didn’t asked Paul why is he persecuting His church but why is he persecuting Him. When someone touches the body, the church, he is touching God himself. Jesus identifies Himself with His church. The church is expression of Jesus Christ here on the earth. In that moment Paul’s revelation and view of the church changed so he gave some amazing views of the church in his writings. And it is very important for us to have the same revelation that Paul had and get God’s view on the church because Jesus gave his life for this topic, the church, the body of Christ.
Ephesians 1:22-23 The Church is the the fulness of Jesus Christ... The revelation of Jesus Christ continues to unfold to the world through the church, the church is the fulness of Jesus' expression of Jesus, expression of who He is, of His heart, His character, expression of all the fulness of Jesus.
Ephesians 2:21-22 The Church is a Holy Temple, we all are joined and built together into a dwelling place where God lives through His Spirit. God in all of His splendor and majesty has decided to make His dwelling among brothers and sisters who are joined and build together.
Ephesians 3:10 Through the Church the manifold wisdom of God is being made known. God displays His wisdom through His church and this wisdom or mystery Paul explains that it was God bringing all man into one new man through the blood and redeeming power of Jesus Christ. The Church is testimony of God's glory, power and name before the powers in this world. This wisdom is to be manifested through all of us in every area of life.
Ephesians 3:14-19 Out of that place of revelation of the love of Jesus Christ the church is filled to the measure of the fulness of God. This fulness of life and power comes as we gain understanding of the love of Christ together with all saints.
Ephesians 3:20-21 The Church is the glory of God through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 4:1-13 The Church is one body and we are all called to walk in unity towards one another. The work of the Holy Spirit is build up the Church so that we all reach unity in faith and knowledge of the Son so that we all will become mature in Christ.
Ephesians 4:15-16 The Church is the body and Jesus Christ is the head. We can not have a healthy and growing Church without loving the whole body of Christ. The church is called to love the church.
Every time we love the church we express our love for Jesus Christ. Every time we look towards the church with laughter and disrespect we bring shame to Jesus Christ. We want to see the church as Jesus sees His church. We want to know how God feels about His church, what He thinks, what are His emotions towards the church....we want to have revelation of all of these things so that out of that place of revelation we can align our feelings, views, emotions and attitudes with God’s so that we will follow His example and do what He did, laying down our life for the church, building each other up... This was the dream of God to bring forth in unity the church to display Christ in all wisdom...You are visible expression of the invisible God, you are the wisdom, you are the glory of the Father, you are His bride, His temple...and this was His desire before the beginning of time to have visible expression of Himself through His people. Christ has joined Himself to us, His church, His body, expression of all that He is. God has washed us with His blood, He has sanctified us and He wants to use us to glorify His name through us. He is not ashamed of His family. Do we see the church in the city and in the country the way He sees it?
And if all of this wasn't enough Paul gives His last insight into how God sees His church.
Ephesians 5:25-28 The Church is the bride of Christ, holy, washed through His word, presented before Jesus as glorious, radiant church without stain, wrinkle or blemish but holy and blameless.
This is why Jesus came, this was His ministry, this is why he bled, why He died, why He rose, why He is interceding, why He is coming...He is longing for His bride, He did everything else and there is one more thing left, to present her before himself....
In 1Timothy 3:15 the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth....
In Revelation 2:1 Jesus is portrait as the One who walks among the seven lamp stands (the churches)...
Do we see the church the way God sees it? Do we walk in love towards the Church? God takes His church seriously and His warning is given to us in 1Corintians 3:16-17 where Paul says that we are the temple of God and His spirit lives in us and then continues by saying that everyone who destroys (speaks badly, gossips, put down, condemn, blame or put shame and so on...) God's temple, God will destroy that person because God's temple is holy and we are that temple.
May God give us grace, wisdom and revelation to see and know the truth about His church so that we will follow His example and love the Church as He loves it.
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