“...so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 3:10 ESV
Have you ever wondered what happens when a local church is making known the “manifold wisdom of God?” C.S. Lewis gives us some insight in his book, The Screwtape Letters. Listen to what Uncle Screwtape says to his understudy demon and nephew Wormwood about the church. He said,
"One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy."
As you look out across our community, do you see the furtherance of the gospel or the furtherance of a social and political agenda? Or, let me ask it a different way, do you see our community looking more like Jesus or more like the world?
I believe if we are honest with ourselves we would have to concede that the answer is that our community looks less like Jesus than it did last year.
So now that we agree that our community does not look more like Jesus, we have to ask the simple question, “Why?” Why does our community not look like Jesus?
The answer is found when we look into a mirror and evaluate our love for Jesus and our neighbor. Instead of being the church that “makes our boldest tempters uneasy,” we are, as Uncle Screwtape said of the modern church, one of Satan’s greatest allies.
You see the church, when functioning under the banner of Jesus and His authority, as revealed in His Word, is a “terrible army” that wreaks havoc upon the unseen world and thwarts the Enemy’s plan to silence the Great Commission.
Therefore, what do we do? How do we become that “army” that makes Satan uneasy? Simple, we know God, and we make Him known!
Fellowship Church, the time is NOW to get back on mission! Let’s go and make disciples.
Who is with me?
Here are two actions to immediately start, if you truly care about knowing God and making Him known:
1.Make sharing the gospel the mission of your life: Ephesians 3:10 teaches that God’s plan for making known His wisdom is the local church. A New Testament church will be a soul-winning church.
2.Make discipling the saved the vision of the church: Jesus spent three years investing in His disciples and after He ascended to Heaven, they were described as having turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). Our church too can be described in that way. God wants to empower our church to turn the world upside down by staking the banner of Christ in the hearts of your neighbor and the nations.
This article was written by the Lead Pastor of Fellowship Church, Timothy Pigg.
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