Our Goal for the Church
The Church's goal/aim... what should that be? As a whole? As an individual? What should we, as the body of Christ, keep on the forefront of our prayers as we do our best to glorify Christ and to lead others to Him? I believe that we can find a huge answer to this question in the first chapters of Colossians where Paul is writing to the people in Colossae.
As I read through Paul's letters and stories, I see his labors and goals that were given to Him for the Church! His heart is full of passion toward moving the church closer to Christ and to each other and away from their own belief systems, traditions, disunity and bad habits. In our church, our pastor recently preached on the idea that if we are not moving toward God, then we are drifting away from Him. Paul is a great example of someone who drifted far from Christ. He persecuted God's own people before Christ got a hold of his heart for goodness sake! But, once he was saved and even in the midst of failure, he grew closer and closer to his Savior and preached zealously the truth of who Christ is.
What were some things that Paul labored toward and prayed relentlessly for? Let's turn to Colossians chapters 1 & 2 and see just a small part of Paul's heart for the Church:
↠ to JOYFULLY receive suffering for the sake of Christ & for the sake of changing others' lives (Chapter 1: Verse 24)
↠ to present God's Word in its FULLNESS (1:25)
↠ to present everyone FULLY MATURE in Christ (1:28)
↠ to encourage & unify IN LOVE and to give more understanding of our God to those who were being taught falsely and to show them TRUTH so they would no longer be deceived (2:1)
↠ discipline with love and FIRMNESS at the same time (2:5)
↠ to have people take their focus OFF of their philosophical/worldly ideas that would credit HUMANITY rather than CHRIST (2:8)
↠ to be directly connected with God and His WORD, rather than just the angels and practices (2:19)
↠ to BUILD UP IN THE REAL BODY OF CHRIST, not in a worldly body that is separate and has no head...
↠ to recognize Christ as SUPREME over everything
There is so much written in The Bible, especially as you go through Paul's letters to the Church that give us the words to pray over our church body, as a whole and as individuals. My challenge for myself and for you, fellow believer, is to pray these things over the church! Make it personal and from your heart. Does your heart long for growth in the church? Does it zeal for the knowledge of Christ to grow more and more in your brothers' and sisters' hearts? Pray that we would be aware of God's concern for unity in the body and hold onto the hope of what He can do powerfully through His people!
"And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. (Colossians 1:9-12)"
As I read through Paul's letters and stories, I see his labors and goals that were given to Him for the Church! His heart is full of passion toward moving the church closer to Christ and to each other and away from their own belief systems, traditions, disunity and bad habits. In our church, our pastor recently preached on the idea that if we are not moving toward God, then we are drifting away from Him. Paul is a great example of someone who drifted far from Christ. He persecuted God's own people before Christ got a hold of his heart for goodness sake! But, once he was saved and even in the midst of failure, he grew closer and closer to his Savior and preached zealously the truth of who Christ is.
What were some things that Paul labored toward and prayed relentlessly for? Let's turn to Colossians chapters 1 & 2 and see just a small part of Paul's heart for the Church:
↠ to JOYFULLY receive suffering for the sake of Christ & for the sake of changing others' lives (Chapter 1: Verse 24)
↠ to present God's Word in its FULLNESS (1:25)
↠ to present everyone FULLY MATURE in Christ (1:28)
↠ to encourage & unify IN LOVE and to give more understanding of our God to those who were being taught falsely and to show them TRUTH so they would no longer be deceived (2:1)
↠ discipline with love and FIRMNESS at the same time (2:5)
↠ to have people take their focus OFF of their philosophical/worldly ideas that would credit HUMANITY rather than CHRIST (2:8)
↠ to be directly connected with God and His WORD, rather than just the angels and practices (2:19)
↠ to BUILD UP IN THE REAL BODY OF CHRIST, not in a worldly body that is separate and has no head...
↠ to recognize Christ as SUPREME over everything
There is so much written in The Bible, especially as you go through Paul's letters to the Church that give us the words to pray over our church body, as a whole and as individuals. My challenge for myself and for you, fellow believer, is to pray these things over the church! Make it personal and from your heart. Does your heart long for growth in the church? Does it zeal for the knowledge of Christ to grow more and more in your brothers' and sisters' hearts? Pray that we would be aware of God's concern for unity in the body and hold onto the hope of what He can do powerfully through His people!
"And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. (Colossians 1:9-12)"
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