Have you ever wondered why Grace Life Baptist Church exists. Here are some very important answers: 1) to make disciples who follow Christ, 2) to make disciples who make more disciples who follow Christ and 3) to evangelize with and to commission for the gospel. Undoubedly, each of these reasons are of paramount importance. However, they all must be built on one bedrock truth: we exist for the glory of God! So, what is the glory of God? God’s glory are his unique excellencies: holiness, justice, love, mercy, compassion, etc. For a born-again believer, to live for God’s glory is to live in a way that displays God’s glory to others. Specifically, this means that God alone is the center and the motivation for our lives and He alone gets the credit for any and all success or blessings that we may gain.
By looking at the following verses from Ephesians, we will see that God’s glory is revealed both through an individual’s salvation and through the church:
- Ephesians 1:3-6: “to the praise of his glorious grace”, verse 6.
- Ephesians 1:11-12: “to the praise of his glory”, verse 12
- Ephesians 1:13-14: “to the praise of his glory.” verse 14
- Ephesians 2:1-2, 4-7: God’s mercy and love will be on display in the coming ages (theme).
- Ephesians 2:10, 13-17: God is bringing together Jew and Gentile into one new body (theme).
The big idea is this: As each individual believer and Grace Life collectively proclaims and lives out the gospel, we display God’s glory! Futhermore, as we read today’s passage, Ephesians 3:1-13, we see that scripture provides three reasons why we should plant a church that will also display God’s glory. The first reason is….
Plant a church so that God’s mystery is revealed
In English a mystery is a secret, not to be revealed. In Greek, a mystery is a secret intended to be revealed. So,what was this secret? It was and still is this: Christianity is not an esoteric spirituality for an enlightened few, but a message intended to be broadcast for all to believe (Ephesians 3:3-6). This mystery not solely based on birth ethnicity and exclusively for Jews; rather it is multi-ethnic (Jew and Gentile) based upon the new birth through faith in Jesus Christ. This concept was a shock to Jewish society as it had not been revealed to the previous generations. Yes, the Old Testament mentioned that Jews were to be a light to the Gentiles. Likewise, Jesus, while on Earth, did speak of a commissioning to Gentiles. However, what was not yet realized at that time was both Jews and Gentiles are fellow heirs of the same promise and are members of the same body. Now, because we presently live in Harris County which is a multi-ethnic melting pot, this seems to be a foregone conclusion for us. But this was mind-blowing for both Jew and Gentile during the first century because of their extreme ethnic hostility towards each other. The one and only thing that brought them together was Christ! And this same Christ continues to bring Jew and Gentile together today. Brothers and sisters, because of the multi-ethnic, multi-generational and socio-economic levels within the great Houston community, we have an enormous opportunity to display God’s glory in a unique way through a church plant as we live out this divine mystery for all to see!