Purposes of the Church: An Intentional People

Why do we have “The Church?”  Is it just religion, or is there more to it than that? 

 

 

If we understand that The Church is nothing more, and nothing less, than God’s people, then we can gain a good understanding of why we have The Church, and what the purpose of The Church really is.

 

 

Even though The Church is a New Testament concept, established in the time of Jesus, the Old Testament stories can help us gain a sense of God’s purposes for His People.

 

 

Our Bible Passage comes from Jeremiah 29:4-14 which shares some great truths:

 

• We are a part of God’s plan for eternity

 

• God’s plans are best discovered and experienced within the Church

 

 

 

We are a part of God’s plan for eternity

 

 

God is eternal; He has always existed, there has never been a time when God did not exist.  The very definition of God rejects the notion that someone created Him – by definition, God “is.”  He always has been, is now, and will forever be!  And, at some point before time as we know it began, God decided to create that which is our universe, and us.

 

 

In the passage we read, we see that God is speaking through the prophet Jeremiah about his plans for the people of Judah.  Some background will help:

 

 

• The Southern Kingdom, called Judah, was all that existed of the nation of Israel

 

• The Northern Kingdom, Israel, had been destroyed in 722 b.c.

 

• The passage we read was written about 590 b.c. 

 

• Assyria was in a many-years long conquest against Judah, which fell in 586 b.c.  as part of God’s judgment against them.  

 

• The Babylonian leader, Nebuchadnezzar, had deported the leaders and academics, and would eventually bring others to Babylon to captivity.  

 

 

Jeremiah’s letter was written to them, in captivity.

 

 

 

In these verses Jeremiah spoke for God; The message was simple, and contained “The Plan”

 

 

  

The key verse in v.11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, they are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

 

 

 

This was God’s Plan for them - “Make the best of where you are now.  Live your life, establish relationships, build your homes.  My plan is to bless you, and give you hope in the future.  Trust me.”* God was reminding them of who they were, and that He had given them a purpose in life – They were to be God’s people, representing Him to everyone they encountered!  They were to be obedient to His teachings, worship Him and Him alone, and bring other nations into the true faith, given by God.  The future was going to bring challenges, but God would be with them!

 

 

 

This is not only a passage out of history:  This can also serve as a sort of “parable” of God’s plan for all of His people!  The simple truth is, God had a plan for His people in history – as worked out in Israel’s history; but the greater truth is that God has a plan for His People into all eternity!  God’s plan for the Hebrew people, is God’s plan for His people in all ages and eras, into eternity!

 

 

 

This is where our lives are given meaning and purpose! Our lives are given meaning and purpose as we live out our lives in the mundane routines of life – our discoveries and experiences, and our relationships with both man and God.  There is a purpose to all we experience – to experience the joys of relationships with others, and with God!  What we do now in this life, affects us into eternity.

 

 

 

Our lives of faith, lived out in The Church, have an eternal purpose and meaning, because the experiences and relationships that are “our life” are a part of God’s grand plan for us!

 

 

 

Your task as a Christ-follower is to discern God’s plan for your life, and live out that plan.  More than a simple “map,” though, God’s plan is revealed and experienced as we live our lives in relationship with others, and with God!

 

 

 

God’s plans are best discovered and experienced within the Church

 

 

 

Don’t think this is just a trick to get you to go to a certain building on a certain day. The Church is best understood as people who have received Christ as Savior, and made him Lord and Master of their lives.  They follow Him with their lives, they study the Word of God together, they worship together, and they live their lives, nurturing the relationships that are part of “the Plan.”

 

 

 

In our passage in Jeremiah, the people were separated from each other – their relationships with each other had been broken by their captivity, and their relationships with God had been broken because of their sin.  Jeremiah was calling them to get back into “the Plan,” by telling them to get on with their lives, where they were – nurturing their relationships with each other:  v.6, “marry, and have children.  Then find spouses for them, and have many grandchildren.” They were to multiply, and nurture their relationship with God.  vv.13-14a, “If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me.  I will be found by you, says the Lord.”

 

 

 

This is no obscure teaching that you’ve never heard!  Real life – life that has meaning and purpose, and gives us hope for the future – is best founded upon a relationship with God, and worked out in relationships with others. There is nothing easy to it!  It comes as you live each day with faith, struggling against sin and apathy, and loving and serving others.  God’s Plan for you and for The Church may not include a life of ease, or a “cure” for every problem, but it is worth it!

 

 

 

One day, centuries after Jeremiah gave this message to his people, Jesus was questioned by one in the crowd, a lawyer: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”  Jesus looked him in the eye and said these words, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as Yourself.”  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”  (Matthew 22:34-40)

 

 

 

Jesus made a sincere religious faith simple, and showed us how to be in tune with “the Plan.”  Live in good relationship with others; and live in good relationship with God!

 

 

 

 

God’s Plan for The Church is profound, and life-changing, but very simple:  Love God and follow His will, and love others as you serve them every way you can.  When we follow God’s plan our lives are changed and blessed by Him, and His name is glorified!

 

 

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If you would like more information about our church, please email us at FBCIndep@gmail.com

 

Worship in person with us every Sunday morning at 10:30AM at 500 West Truman Road in Historic Independence, Missouri. We are one block East of the Harry Truman Home.