The Life of the Church

How many ways to God are there in the world?

Modern Everything (backseat)

Here the church is a refueling station, a place to hear inspirational and practical pep talks for the week to come. Church then is only one of many possible means to God.

But what if… but what if there is no Christian life without the church. At the end of Romans, I want to argue that the church is the end, the telos, the aim and ultimate object of God. The church is not a means toward Christian living, The church is the Christian life.

This ending is doxology… There is even a liturgical tone, an order to this worship, which is found in a repeated threefold structure of: “gospel,” “preaching,” and “revelation” in v25. There are three modifiers of this revelation: “kept secret,” “manifested,” and “made known.” Worship is the preaching… This worship is powerful. Its our life. We were created for worship. We are created by worship. The Christian life is worship .

Mystical (work up)

This strength is therefore gracious. It is also an old strength, “according to the mystery that was kept secret for long ages.” There are actually three long ages in this text v25 “for long ages;” v26 “eternal God;” and v27 “forevermore.”

Same Forever Strength

It is therefore biblical… therefore…

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you

This strength is spiritual, “not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord.”

so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

This strength is holy, “he made him sin… so that we might be the righteousness of God.”

comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Lastly, it is physical, “for we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.”

This strength is mystical: its from God, biblical, spiritual, and holy. What kind of strength is this? It’s gospel strength .

God Wish (My)

It has to do with the church .

Proclamation: Preaching Christ crucified strengthens the church.

The preaching of the gospel is powerful stuff. Its the business of the church. Paul begins and ends this letter with gospel. If the Christian life is worship, than The life of Christian worship is gospel.

Paul began this letter saying that , “the gospel… is the power of God for salvation.”

“the law… is the power of God… ”

No power . Sinners .

We need another power… Savior .

Christ has kept the law for us. We receive his obedience by imputation .

In Christ we are made righteous, this is our justification. In Christ, we have peace . In Christ we are thankful . Christ in us, we are sanctified, becoming… The Christian life is strengthened by the gospel. Where is the church in all this? Here in . The life of the Christian is the gospel ministry “the preaching of Jesus Christ.”

JSV reads, “who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel, which is the preaching of Jesus Christ.”

Good news, God justifies the wicked.

Good news, Christ died for sinners.

Preaching is what we call in the biz “the means of grace.” It has a double benefit… This means… This means… end of the Christian life.

This is the truth of Scripture . According to some mysterious secret from long ago, preaching Christ and him crucified is God’s means of strengthening the Christian. What secret is this? Its the gospel in the OT.

But I thought… Romans said, “Abraham believed… ”

King David, believed that “God counts us righteous apart from works.”

the gospel” and was justified. King David, believed that “God counts us righteous apart from works.” The gospel is ancient. It is the will of an eternal God . The Chruch through the ministry of Paul and the NT is receiving the gospel. This gospel however is not new . Paul was revealing God’s eternal plan through the OT . The eternal plan of God, Covenant of Redemption, is salvation through Christ. Eternity is about Jesus Christ. The OT is therefore about Jesus Christ and we need the NT to see all this. We need the canon.

The gospel is ancient. It is the will of an eternal God . The Chruch through the ministry of Paul and the NT is receiving the gospel. This gospel however is not new . Paul was revealing God’s eternal plan through the OT . The eternal plan of God, Covenant of Redemption, is salvation through Christ. Eternity is about Jesus Christ. The OT is therefore… need the NT to see all this. We need the canon.

Reading canonically what do we see? A worship service, where God the Father first preached Christ and him crucified in Paradise . The Holy Spirit worked through… After this glorious sermon in paradise God proclaimed Christ to the Holy… The Bible from beginning… Why? Because he is the power of God unto salvation. Its particularly the preaching of the Word. There are many OT passages that speak of the power of the Word of God.

, God’s Word always accomplishes its intended purposes; , the Word of God is like a fire and a hammer that breaks rocks;

What is this power. What does the Word accomplish? The NT shows us.

, it pleased God that we be saved by the foolishness of preaching;

, we are born again through the living and abiding Word; which Peter proclaimed

, faith comes by hearing, through ministers sent to preach;

, may God sanctify through the truth; your word is truth;

God’s means of grace, that is God’s strengthening comes by preaching, which he commands the church to do. The result of the ministry of the Word is faith .

Obedience... is faith. The preaching of the gospel creates trust in Christ. God wills the salvation of the world so we must make “known [the gospel] to all nations.” The eternal will of God is missional. Missions is liturgical. Making disciples is the mission of the church.

What about sacraments? Yes, sacraments are liturgical, but God’s eternal will is missions through the ordinary ministry of the Word.

Back seat. Here the Word is the only means of producing faith. Sacraments presuppose… The Word is operative without the Sacraments, but the Sacraments cannot be operative before the Word. Even in the implementation of the Sacraments… Without the Word there is no Sacrament. The Sacraments are the Word made visible.

What about my devos? Good for you… quantitative significance… It alone is the power of God unto salvation (cf. ). God in his wisdom has given us only one means of grace, the ministry of the Word . God’s “wisdom,” here as in , has to do with his “wise” plan for salvation history. This plan, of course, culminated in a person and his work Jesus Christ. The gospel is the glory of God. The Father who loved us the unworthy… God the Holy Spirit who… God the Son who “demonstrated his own love for us in this, that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” The glory of God is the salvation of sinners (). Christ has not only rescued us but now leads us through the gateway to everlasting glory. Our final resting place… We have this glory now for Christ has brought us inside at such a cost. We will forever has this glory because Christ will keep us… In Christ our salvation extends beyond death for we have an eternal inheritance.

The church is the Christian life because the life of the church is the gospel. Now to the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, be glory now and forevermore. Amen.