1 The church is called out of the world into “covenant relation” with God.
2 The church is a “fortress,” a “city on a hill,” a divine “inclosure in the world,” an alternative “government” that is to operate by “higher laws” than the world can enforce and a “greater power than kings can command.”
3 The church is “the theater” of God’s “grace.” It is a kind of laboratory in which God is performing “experiments of mercy.” What happens to human beings when they are loved unconditionally by God and by one another? The church is the community in which that experiment is to be conducted.
4 The church exists for the purpose of giving to the world “the final and full display of the love of God.”
What an astounding mission!
What a high calling!
What a wonderful privilege it is to be God’s church in the world!
The Intimate Inner Circle
Our baptism into the three-fold name of God not only defines our calling and mission here and now, it also points to our eternal destiny.
A beautiful communal love lies at the center of reality, and we are invited in. In fact, one of us is already there, awaiting our arrival. An actual member of the human race has been grafted into the Trinity. Our Brother in the flesh is presently there, as one of us, within the intimate inner circle of God.
Here is one of the great wonders of the gospel: in the person of Christ we have before us the hypostatic union. Divinity and humanity are married in one individual.
After Jesus had been crucified and was raised from the dead, He appeared to His disciples as much human as He was before His death, and as much divine as He was before His incarnation. They thought He must be a disembodied spirit and were terrified. To convince them of His fleshly nature, He said, “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 24:39). Still, they were having a hard time believing that He was standing right there with them in the flesh. So “He said to them, ‘Have you any food here?’ So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence” (verses 41-43).
The apostle Paul would later inform us that the risen Christ has “a glorious body” of the same kind we will have in the new heavens and new earth (Philippians 3:21). Jesus is still our brother in the flesh, even after His resurrection and ascension. “He is not ashamed to call [us] brethren” (Hebrews 2:11). But He isn’t merely one of us, He is the representative head of the corporate human race. He is our new Adam. So when we think of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, we are to understand that the whole human race is represented in Him. Looking at the death of Christ, Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). Speaking of His resurrection and ascension, the apostle says, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6-7, NIV).
Right now, one of us—a member of the human race—is fellowshipping within the intimate inner circle of the triune God. His human name is Jesus, the Adamic Son of God, and He is our eternal brother in the flesh. He just happens to also be one of the members of the Trinity. Divinity is forever enshrined within humanity, and humanity is forever enthroned within divinity. God and man are forever one corporate union in Christ.
Should we not hurry up and run to Him, where He is, in the heavenly realm, awaiting our arrival? Jesus is already there on the other side of this dark night of suffering and shame. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to be there with Him.
Imagine the scene.
We’re all seated at His table, the redeemed of all ages.
There’s rebellious Adam and deceived Eve. They look a little reluctant to interact, and yet so humbly happy to be there.
Over there is the cowardly Abraham who said his wife was his sister to save his hide, the one called “the friend of God” against all odds.
There’s the doubting Sarah, too, who laughed at God’s promise and then named her son “Funny” as a nod to the hilarity of giving birth as an elderly woman.
And there’s Funny himself, the recipient of the dysfunctional dad award, Isaac, along with the ingeniously manipulative Rebecca.
Deceptive Jacob is there, too, looking like he can’t believe it, and looking for Leah and Rachel to sort some things out.
And there’s the dastardly David, called “a man after God’s own heart” in some sense that only grace can understand and justify.
Believe it or not, the megalomaniac Nebuchadnezzar is there, too, seated next to those Jewish boys he tried to incinerate in his fiery furnace, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
There’s loudmouth Peter and the hotheaded brothers, James and John.
Mary the prostitute is there, too, because nobody could stop her, not even Simon, the judgmental Pharisee, who is also there, astoundingly.
The self-righteous Paul looks a bit nervous sitting across from Stephen, but there they are.
You’re there, too, believe it or not, and so am I, which is equally unbelievable.There we are, a vast assembly of sinners saved by grace.
Smiles are on all faces as we sit there dumbfounded by the fact that any of us made it. A sense of anticipation fills the air. We’re about to have the feast of our lives, and everybody’s hungry in a whole new way.
“Here comes the food,” Isaac exclaims with excitement. “Calm down, Isaac,” Rebecca says, “it’s going to be a vegetarian meal.”
We all turn our heads to see the servers approaching, girded with aprons, platters covered with delectable delights balanced neck-high on their palms.
“This is gonna be great,” Peter yells, as the crowd responds with laughter and shouts of joy.
But then, as the servers come closer, suddenly, to our utter amazement, we see that the lead server is the LORD Jesus Christ Himself. A hush of silence overtakes us. Tears begin to flood our eyes. It just doesn’t seem right that He is the server and we are the served. And yet we sense that this is the most right thing we’ve ever known.
He stops in response to our silence, His smiling eyes passing over us as if to ask, “Is something wrong?”
“Well, what kind of party is this? It’s time to eat, everybody,” He announces with a grin as He begins placing plates of delicious food before each of us.
The truth washes over us with a beauty so glorious it nearly defies belief.
This is our king, in an apron, serving us.
This, to our eternal astonishment, is God.