How is God Carrying Out His Purposes? (Repurpose Your Life, Part 4)
Series: Repurpose Your Life (Part 4)
Author: Dr. Steven L. Childers
Title: How is God Carrying Out His Purposes?
Article 4: Question 4: How is God Carrying Out His Purpose for the World?
Last time we learned more about God’s purpose for the world through Jesus’ teaching on prayer. In this article our focus is on how God chooses to carry out his kingdom purposes in the world.
In the beginning, God carried out his purposes on earth primarily through individuals like Adam, and Enoch, and Noah.
Later, God worked through one family, Abraham, and through them, the nation Israel.
In the New Testament we learn the primary means that God uses to carry out his purposes on earth today is his church.
After Jesus revealed himself as the promised king to his disciples, he said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
The church is the only institution on earth that Jesus promises to build and to bless for the sake of the world.
This is why the Apostle Paul’s ministry was not merely to proclaim the gospel in evangelism, and strengthen Christians in discipleship, and care for the poor.
His ministry also included planting churches that would continue to do evangelism, and discipleship, and ministry to the poor for generations after he was gone.
Paul saw the churches he planted as kingdom outposts in the domain of darkness that embodied Jesus' ascended rule today carrying out God's will on the earth.
Paul writes, “God’s intent is that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm.”
This is why church planting is the most effective evangelistic, discipleship, and mercy methodology under heaven.
History has proven that when churches flourish, people and societies flourish.
When followers of Jesus gather every week for worship, preaching, prayer, and fellowship, they are renewed as they experience a foretaste of the kingdom to come.
And when they leave, they scatter like salt and light into all their individual spheres of public life, where they evangelize the lost, they serve the poor, they stand against all forms of injustice, bearing witness to the glory of their future home.
This is why his church is the hope of the world. Because Jesus, the head of his church, is the hope of the world.
So how is the church doing in the world today?
In the next article, we'll learn about a new challenge threatening the transforming influence of the church on the world at large, and how you can help make a difference.