The church structure at Grace Point includes Elders, Pastors, Deacons, and ministry team leaders. While we may have different roles and responsibilities—some more visible than others—we are all called to be ministers of the Gospel. We are all part of the royal priesthood (see 1 Peter 3:9).
The church is called to be the Body of Christ, his ambassadors and light in this troubled world. The apostle Paul was well aware of his responsibility as a messenger of the Gospel as we read in Ephesians 3:7-9,“Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things.”
Paul knew that the message he had was a gift, and it was his privilege to declare “the unsearchable riches of Christ”. Paul was overcome with gratitude for his responsibility to share the most powerful story ever told. Do we realize the privilege we have to share the Gospel?
Through the Church
When reading the Bible, we can be guilty of glossing over a verse and not waiting for a while to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us through it. Verse 10 can be one of those verses that we quickly skip over, “So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
God’s intent all along has been for the church to play a cosmic role in His eternal plan. We live in the church age—we are part of that eternal plan.
There are three keys in this verse:
The Audience:
“Rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.”
Theologians agree that this refers to all spiritual beings outside of our visible realm: angels, demons, both good and bad heavenly beings. Though unseen to us, there are billions of created beings that are either carrying out the plans of God or are serving Satan.
The angels look on and marvel at the grace and wisdom of God. 1 Peter 1:12 declares that the angels long to look into these amazing things.
Demons look at the church and know that their own rule on the earth is coming to an end once and for all.
The Message:
The proclamation is the manifold wisdom of God. Wisdom is more than knowledge; it is the ability to rightly use knowledge. God knows all things and He is all wise; wisdom is found in God. God is teaching the universe by taking people from all the ethnic groups of the world and bringing them together into one body, the Church, the Body of Christ.
Only God could take people so vastly different and bring them together in unity and love in the Church universal. The Church is preaching a cosmic sermon to the universe.
Kent Hughes writes, “The inescapable conclusion is that the angels watch us because we are part of the mystery!… We have a far bigger and more observant audience than any of us realize!”
We frequently teach and discuss the purpose of the church including missions, evangelism, worship, compassion, and discipleship. But there seems to be an even bigger purpose: God is pointing to the church and schooling the angels, demons, principalities, and powers in the heavenlies about His wisdom.
Doesn’t that fill you with wonder and awe? We, as broken and weak vessels, stumbling from different walks of life, come together under the banner of God’s grace. And as we do, we testify of the wisdom of God to the heavenly beings. Never underestimate the glory of God in the church!
The Teacher:
At first glance, we might believe that we are the teacher of this wisdom, but that simply displays our tendency towards humanism.
The church is not the teacher; God is the revealer of His wisdom. God is the teacher; we are the whiteboard. God uses the church to reveal his wisdom and glory.
The key to our usefulness for God is found in verse 11, “…according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The church is God’s plan from eternity past, in and through Jesus Christ. We, as the Church, are God’s whiteboard to teach His wisdom to all created beings. What we do here on Sunday mornings and throughout the week isn’t just arbitrary, and it isn’t about us: we’re playing a part in revealing God’s glory on a cosmic scale. We are only able to be used by God because we are in Christ. We are only able to reveal God’s wisdom because we are in Christ.
Do you marvel at God’s wisdom and His inclusion of you in revealing His wisdom to the heavenly beings?