AAEVS - Putting Together a Christ-centered Community (Part 2)

Edification/Holiness

This is the primary goal of the church. All the other seventeen elements are summarized in this one aspect, which is God's desire for us to be like Him. Because we are bought with a price, we have no right to live for ourselves but for the glory of Christ; which is not a killjoy but a higher pleasure. (Here is an article from Desiring God: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-beauty-of-holiness-and-the-miracle-of-sanctification)

In God's providence, He has brought us together as Grace Covenant Church to be sanctified by the truth so that we would be a testimony to the world of the Trinitarian arrival of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. The Spirit intends for us to build each other up in the word of God, so that we could be used in His service. He moved Paul to express his prayers to the Ephesians about His expectation of churches everywhere of all ages to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let's expound on them and see if we could get some practical applications for our Church Community. (Eph 1:16-23, 3:14-21)

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened;"

Paul here prayed for the Ephesians that the Spirit would enlighten their eyes that they may see more clearly the reality and implications of the Kingdom of God. That they could understand more of the necessity of the blood and righteousness of Christ to heal the brokenness of sin and ascribe glory to the Godhead.

What would this look like in practice? It would look like us praying, private and public, to God for more understanding of the Scriptures. It would look like us reading and listening to good Christian books and lectures about the full potential of the Christian Life. It would look like us discussing (like I said in the second post on the second paragraph of Kingdom of God on this subject) the things of God with one another.

"that ye may know what is the hope of his calling,"

What hope? The eager expectation that God will in His time bring the nations, Christians, and creation to glory: The resurrection of our bodies, being in the presence of Christ, all the nations worshiping the Lord. We must not settle for worldly complacency, "Things will always be as I see them right now" but commit enthusiastically in our calling to glorification.

God says in Romans 15 that His word has been written for our learning that we might have hope through patience and encouragement of the Scriptures. We read in God's word of what He is doing in history and how He is unfolding it. And He states in that passage of Scripture that in believing His promises with all joy and peace, we abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

What does this look like for us to apply this? It looks like brothers and sisters in our congregation talking about examples of men and women in the Bible who have struggled like we are struggling today. It looks like us admonishing those in our church (and ourselves) who are wallowing in self-pity, discouragement and a pessimistic attitude to rejoice in the salvation of our God and His intense interest in those who trust Christ for salvation from their sin.  

"and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,"

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that we must invest our treasures in heaven; for where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. Paul told us in Colossians 4 to us set our affections in heavenly places where Christ dwells at the right hand of God. What is this inheritance? The Eternal Kingdom of Christ which was promised to Him by His Father since the beginning. Christ has inherited it at His resurrection and we being in Him have inherited it as well.

This looks like us talking about the means through which the Triune God has reconciled us to Himself, Justification, Predestination, Adoption, the Atonement, the Regeneration, the Gospel, Sanctification, Resurrection, etc. We remind each other what privileges we have in Christ and how we ought to rejoice in it.

"And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,"

The Spirit intends for us to know God's supreme power towards those believe in Christ, with the example of God the Father raising Jesus Christ His Son from the dead and giving Him the Name that is above every name. So that knowing it more fully, we may trust Him more to do what He promised in His word.

So what would this look like? It would look like our members talking to each other of what God has been able to do in the past and what He can do today and in the future. It looks like us reminding each other that because God is working in them both to will and do of His good pleasure, they can work out their salvation with fear and trembling.

"That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;"

Here in the second prayer, Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they as new creatures in the Spirit may be granted strength according to the abundance of His glory so that they may draw near to God and resist the Devil.

What would it look like to put this into practice? It would look like us praying, private and public, to God to grant us more joy and peace from the Holy Spirit (for the joy of the Lord is our strength). It looks like us keeping each other accountable so that we trust God on His word and do not lean on our own fleshly understanding.

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;"

Paul desired for the Galatians that Christ would be formed in them. In this prayer, he prayed that Christ would be present by resolute confidence in His mighty love so that they may act in joyful imitation of Him to each other and the world.  

What does it look like in social life? It looks like us saying to brothers and sisters when they perform acts of grace that we have seen Christ in them. It looks like us exhorting one another to imitate Christ in what He has said in His word. We emotionally persuade each other to lead their heart to joyful submission to Christ.

"that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."

Paul prayed for them that they may be able to comprehend in their minds, as well as saints everywhere, the full measure of His powerful love. And that they may emotionally experience more of the transforming work of love which Christ performed on the cross, so that the fruit of the Spirit may abound in them.

What would this look like in action? It would look like us talking about the scope of God's love, grace, faithfulness, etc. It would look like us talking about the supremacy of the love of Christ and the fullness of God. It would look like us praising God joyfully for what He has done for us.

(This post took longer to write than I thought. I'll end it here and start another post for the next five elements; hopefully they won't be as long.)

Questions:

1. What does it mean to be holy?

2. What other practical applications can you think of?

3. What kind of questions should we ask to start these conversations?