Why Does the Church Exist?

Intro

About 10 years ago, I was a 27-year-old seminary student looking for my next steps into ministry. I set up a meeting with a prominent regional church planting director in the Washington DC area to see if he knew of any internships or residencies that I could pursue. But these were not the opportunities he had in mind.

“I have $50,000 right now for you to go plant a church. Will you take it?”

“I don’t think that is wise,” I told him. “I still have three years left in seminary, I’ve only been a Christian for about four years, I have little ministry experience, I think I still need to grow and be mentored before I become a pastor.”

“We need more churches to be planted as a gospel witness,” he insisted. Then he hit me with this: “If you will not take this money from me right now, then you’re too scared and timid, and you’re unfit for ministry.”

I have no doubt this man loved Jesus. But for him, the mission of the church was a numbers game. We’ve got to get as many people saved as quickly as possible, even if we run over some people in the process.

I some of you may be familiar with the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast from a couple of years ago, which covered the Mars Hill churches, Mark Driscoll, and their church planting movement. This was a movement my wife Neva and I were caught up in for several years. This movement often had good intentions mixed with an unhealthy desire to expand a certain brand and culture. Once again, by any means necessary. I can still remember going to conferences and being cursed at by pastors on stage for not being manly enough, bold enough, for the sake of the church. It seems crazy now, but at the time, that just seemed like what you had to be a part of to plant churches.

When the mission of the church becomes all about a brand or culture, its all about power.

Or, sometimes, we think the purpose of the church is merely to make a certain kind of social impact in the world. It is inevitable that such a vision becomes small, narrow, and exclusive. I once met with a religious leader who was trying to get a new congregation started. He said to me, “My critics accuse me of preaching the democratic party platform. They’re not wrong.” This leader couldn’t understand why people wouldn’t get with his program, and he struggled at the thought that a political conservative might join his congregation.

When the mission of the church is tied to political influence, the church becomes punditry and loses its prophetic witness in the world.

Here’s the thing: many of these ideas are not wrong, in fact they’re quite good. It is a good thing to want to see more people know Jesus. It is a good thing to want to make a social impact as a church. Often, our church cultures do have elements that are worth multiplying into other congregations. But when these ideas are reduced to the only thing, the main thing, we can get ourselves into all kinds of trouble, and we can hurt a lot of people. I have no doubt that some of you in this room carry wounds in your heart that were inflicted in the name of Jesus and the church.

It is so important for us to take seriously the mission and purpose of the church. But not just so that we minimize harm or so that we can be good stewards of our resources; we also must care about the purpose of the church so that we can get ourselves caught up in the beauty of what God is doing in the world.

This morning we’re digging into Ephesians 3 to explore the question, “Why does the church exist?” Three reasons I want us to consider this morning.

The Church exists to proclaim the mystery of God.

The Church exists to demonstrate God’s wisdom.

The Church exists so that we would overflow with Gods glory.

The Church exists to Proclaim the Mystery of God

Paul references a “mystery” that has been made known four times. There is a “mystery” that has been made known by God’s revelation, Paul had been given “insight” in this mystery, and it was his job to make plain this “mystery” to the churches.

The way Paul used mystery and the way we think about a mystery are very different. The first thing that comes to mind when I hear mystery is the mystery machine in Scooby Doo, or a mystery like the universe is so vast and unknowable, it’s mysterious. We hear mystery and think a problem we need to solve, or information that is unknowable.

That’s not how Paul used the word. A mystery, for Paul, was a counterintuitive idea that could not have been known by human effort, but it is an idea that has now been made known by God’s revelation. You never would have guessed it on your own. It’s not an idea we ascent to but an idea that God had to make known to us.

And in fact, now, he has.

So what is the mystery? Paul tells us plainly in verse 6, but hold that thought for a minute. Because Paul used “mystery” at different times to refer to seemingly different things.

In Romans 16:25, Paul referred to mystery as the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Colossians 1:25-27 the mystery is the fullness of God’s Word made known in Christ. In Colossians 2:2 the mystery of God is Christ himself. In 1 Corinthians 15:51 the mystery is our future resurrection. In Ephesians 5:32, the mystery is the love that Christ has for his church.

In other words, this mystery revealed to Paul is the core content of the gospel upon which everything else in the Christian religion rests. And to this core content of the gospel, Paul adds in Ephesians 3:6 - That the divisions in this world are failing, that all people are heirs of Christ together, that we are members of one body, and we share together in the promises of Jesus.

Here’s the mystery. The eternal Son of God became a man and triumphed over sin and death not through might but through weakness and suffering. Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, is making one new people not out of domineering force but out of meekness and humility.

In this mystery we have a treasure of beauty and freedom to offer people. I know that here in Richmond, just like anywhere else, there are countless people who are trapped in their shame and guilt. They are in bondage to the divisive, destructive ideologies of this world. They are, as Paul said, in chapter 2, without hope and as good as dead. What breaks my heart is how many people who are so crushed by their guilt and shame that they think they deserve to die.

We have the tremendous privilege of making the mystery of forgiveness, grace, and the new humanity known to people who are hopeless without it. We do this through our words, we do this through the church going out in its life together, we do this by calling people into this new body that Jesus is creating.

Remember what Jesus said in John 17? The world will know we’re his disciples if we love one another. Some have referred to the life of the church as “the final apologetic.” Little can refute the life of God’s people when the church is being the church.

One of my heroes is a dear older woman Ms. Sherry. Sherry joined the Bible study our church plant started at an affordable apartment complex in our neighborhood. Sherry, now retired, is a courageous, bold, godly woman who has stirred my faith and been instrumental in building our church.

Several months ago during one of our Bible studies, another one of our attenders was going through a really hard time in the home, with addictions, many things. In the middle of our study, she had a panic attack. She rose up, starting crying, and through her tears said, I shouldn’t be here, I’m just going to go, I’m a waste of your alls time.

Immediately, Sherry got up out of her chair, grabbed this other woman’s hands, sat her down and said, “You should stay here because you’re safe with us. Now, just breathe.” We proceeded to have one of the best conversations I’ve ever been in about the safety and security offered to us by Jesus in the gospel.

What happened in that moment? Because of Jesus, Sherry crossed racial, generational, and socioeconomic boundaries to minister grace to someone trapped in bondage.

Why does the church exist? The church exists to proclaim the mystery of God so that more and more people will discover there really is new life in Jesus, and that they really can be safe and loved among God’s people.

The church exists to demonstrate God’s wisdom.

The second point really builds on the first here. Look at verse 10. This is one of the most important verses about the church in the New Testament.

Paul says that it is God’s intent to display his manifold wisdom through the church, verse 11, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ. What is his eternal purpose? Paul already told us back in Ephesians 1. Look with me at Chapter 1 verses 8 through 10 real quick.

Paul said,

English Standard Version Chapter 1

which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

What is God’s eternal purpose in Christ? To bring unity to all things, all things!

Here is the truest thing about life that you don’t need to be a Christian to agree on. Everything falls apart. Everything dies. Everything breaks down. Nothing lasts forever. Herman Bavinck, an early 20th Century Reformed theologian, he described sin as a disorganizing force. What does sin do? It tears everything apart. Death, disease, war, violence, discrimination. It unravels everything.

What is God doing about it? In Christ he’s bring unity back to everything that sin has disorganized. Everything that falls apart is being put back together. Everything that dies is coming back to life. Every relationship that has been subjected to hostility is finding peace.

That’s God’s purpose in Christ.

And Paul tells us here in verse 10 that it is God’s wisdom to make known this eternal purpose through the church.

F.F. Bruce, another 20th century scholar, he said on this verse that “The church thus appears to be God’s pilot scheme for the reconciled universe of the future.” I just want you to take this in for a moment.

Do you want to know what God’s mystery is? Do you want to know where his wisdom can be found? Do you want a glimpse of the future? You don’t need to look long. Just look around this room. You’re already in it.

Paul described this wisdom as being manifold. It’s many-sided, many-colored, many-splendoured. Like a diamond, it refracts beautiful light in all directions, in all dimensions. And God’s manifold wisdom is in such a contrast to the way the rulers and authorities Paul mentions here construct things. The rulers and authorities of this world tend to create communities that aren’t always bad they’re just boring, flat, uniform, one-dimensional. At their worst, of course, they will bring violence and oppression on those who don’t fit their image.

So who are these rulers and authorities? Paul seems to have dark and sinister realities in mind here. If you look at how he uses this language in Ephesians 6. Any earthly authority or a shadowy demonic counterpart that is opposed to God’s intention to unite all things in Christ are in view here.

So, follow my logic here. What Paul seems to be telling us is, 1) That these rulers and authorities are responsible for the divisions and hostilities that exist between us, 2) That God’s intent isn’t merely to display his wisdom in us but also to confront these authorities with his wisdom in us, 3) That these powers are in fact powerless to stop the progress of the gospel.

Which means, stay with me here, that when the church becomes a vehicle for separation, discrimination, division, or hostility, we have not yet fully grasped the gospel and are still under the sway of godless rulers and authorities.

If we are going to live into the purpose for which we exist, then we are going to need to acknowledge and repent of all the ways our churches and traditions have not displayed God’s wisdom but have surrendered ourselves to the rulers and authorities.

I am fully aware that these are sensitive, often charged subjects in our congregations and communities. I don’t know Richmond, and I don’t know this church. I’m not going to pretend to know. So let me just try to draw out this point in a way that I constantly come up against as a church planter in our tradition.

For the last several decades, one of the most dominant expressions of White evangelicalism has been the church growth movement. It’s goal is what it sounds like. How do we get churches to grow as quickly as possible?

One of the key tenets of this movement has been something called the homogenous unit principle. This idea says that people are more likely to become Christians and join a church if they do not have to cross any racial or class barriers in the process. So, if you want to grow quickly and reach as many people as possible, you should only plant churches for people who are just like you.

This movement has not only helped maintain racial segregation but also class segregation. Middle-upper class resources have primarily retained within middle-upper class church and ministry systems.

This was the dominant strategy for church growth in US evangelicalism from about the 70s through the early 2000s. And while most now would renounce this principle as unbiblical, there is no denying that our churches are still living it.

Our cities, too, live this principle out on their own.

Indianapolis remains one of the most segregated cities in the country. The dissimilarity index is a metric which measures segregation in our cities. Indianapolis ranks in the top 15% or so of that list, and you can feel it in our neighborhoods, our schools, and the availability or absence of resources in our communities. You also see it in our churches.

When we first moved to Indianapolis nearly four years ago to plant a church, we had our hearts set on planting a church where we now live, in the Haughville neighborhood on the Near Westside of the city. Haughville is the city’s most historically neglected and under-resourced neighborhood. It began in the 19th century as a community for eastern european immigrants working in the factories. It became an African American neighborhood when their community was destroyed through eminent domain and they were displaced. It is now increasingly made up of Latino, middle eastern, and African American immigrants.

It has always been ignored, overlooked, and undervalued. Pick any measurable disparity and we rank the highest in the city.

Here’s where things collide: So many Christians told us not to go to Haughville. It will never work, they said. Presbyterians can’t do urban churches, they said. You’re better off going to Carmel with people like you. One Christian city planner said, “You don’t want to go to Haughville, Haughville is where good intentions go to die.”

Just a few weeks ago a Christian from the suburbs said to me, “The difference between your neighborhood and mine is like the difference between heaven and hell.”

What frustrates me about these attitudes isn’t just the sin or disbelief in the wisdom and purpose of God for the church. What frustrates me is the earthly minded thinking of it all! Plant a church for people just like you. Maintain the boundaries of separation and division. Stick to the status quo. There’s nothing anyone can do.

What Ephesians 3 is teaching us ought to radically upend how we think about the church, church planting, even how we think about being Christians.

If the way we think about church growth, evangelism, or ministry is defined by earthly principles that maintain separation, then we have opened up the back gate and let the monsters in to God’s house. If the way we think about healing racial and class boundaries is more defined by our politics or group agendas than it is God’s wisdom, then we have capitulated to the rulers and authorities. If we are comfortable with the status quo of this world then we have lost the wisdom of God.

If we assure people that they can be united to Jesus but not this new humanity, if we’re telling people you don’t need to cross any barrier or division to come and be a part of what God is doing, Ephesians 3 would call into question whether we are really inviting people to Jesus or our own cultural imprint of him.

I’m terrified of saying that out loud. I’m not trying to be critical friends, and I’m not trying to anyone feel guilty. Guilt is not the path to change. The beauty of the gospel is. That’s what I want us to step into this morning.

What in my heart and your heart needs to shift so that this beautiful wisdom of God can shine even brighter? Are you willing to ask that with me?

Ecuadorian theologian C. René Padilla once said that the church ought not to be a quotation of society but an embodied question mark that challenges the values of the world.

What does it look like for a church in Richmond to be an embodied question mark to the worldly values of this community?

Why does the church exist? The church exists to confront the world’s values system and display the beautiful wisdom of God to unite all things in Christ, beginning with us.

The church exists so that God would be glorified in us.

Many commentators agree that verses 1-13 seem to be an interrupted thought in the flow of his thoughts, and that verses 14 to 21 Paul now gets caught up in praise for what God can and will do.

And his prayer for the church is that we, together would grasp just how wide and deep is the love of Christ. The prayer is that we would be filled with the fullness of God!

Here’s something crazy. Paul said in Ephesians 1 that the church, us, me, and you, we are already the fullness of Him who fills every thing in every way.

Don’t you see?

God’s plan is not only to unify every single thing in heaven and on earth in Christ, but to fill every single thing in heaven and on earth with Christ, and he’s already done it in us. Praise God. I know that makes someone excited in here!

What a privilege we have then, in our life together, in our love, in our gospel witness, what a privilege it is to show the rest of the world their future. A future of love, safety, security, peace.

If you’re excited about that vision for the church, then here’s my ask of you this morning. Would you commit to praying for us on the Near Westside of Indianapolis, that we would proclaim and display the mystery and wisdom of God to our community?

As one of the churches in our presbytery, my commitment is to pray the same for you all.

Pray that we, together, would get swept up in God’s plan to make his fullness known through us.

The New International Version Chapter 3

to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen