Thursday, January 05, 2012

The purpose of the Church

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path (Psalm 119:105).

Two thousand years ago, the Son of God came to live among us for a brief time. He was put to death by those who hated Him, but shortly thereafter He rose from the dead and returned to heaven. But before Jesus departed, He founded the Christian Church, a legacy that remains with us to this day. Why did Christ train a small group of men to establish the Church? What is the church supposed to do?

Some people think that the purpose of the Church is to make sure that a nation is governed in righteousness. Certainly we want God’s law to be respected by the courts and the leaders who are in power, but steering national policy is not the chief purpose of the Church. If the Church does its job, every citizen will know who God is and what He says to us, but Jesus did not establish Christianity to run this country or any other.

Many people think that the purpose of the Church is to care for the poor and free the oppressed. These are good objectives, but they are not the chief purpose of the Church. If the Church does its job, the poor will be blessed and the oppressed will experience freedom, but this is a happy consequence, not the main objective.

Most people think that the purpose of the Church is to shape children into good adults, members of society who are productive, respectful, caring and generous. But while such a goal is worth pursuing, it is not the chief purpose of the Church. If the Church does its job, many people will become wiser, more polite, faster to offer help. But change in personal behavior only happens in response to the work that Christ gave the Church to do.

Jesus established the Church for one main purpose—to share the light of God’s message with a world that is lost in darkness. The message is this. You have broken God’s laws. You are guilty of sin and deserve punishment in hell. But God sent His Son to suffer that punishment for you. He died so you can live in paradise with God forever. Lay yourself at Jesus’ feet, sorry for doing wrong and trusting in His love. That’s it—that’s the purpose of the Church. If the Church shares this message, people will change, society will change, the world will change. But the Church does not make this happen; it is the Word of God that changes lives for the better.

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