The Church- God's Delight
When we think about what makes God happy and what gives him the greatest pleasure, what do we think of? What is it that God loves and has so determined to make his wonderful and passionate heart to be set upon?
When we know this, it not only re-directs our minds and our gazes to be clearer and more in tune with the divine order of things, but we begin to find that it increases our own ability to enjoy things that might have at once been taken for granted or cheapened in some way. God’s desire is to see us see his Son. This sight gives sight. It enables us to view everything else through lenses that appropriate his way of seeing the world and the things that he has made. We, in coming from a sinful existence, have to have our minds re-trained in order to grasp this and it is not an easy task. We are in a journey of learning and all the while going through a sort of “detoxification of the mind” so that we can be set free in all the goodness of life by the truth that we discover. The riches of Christ are not far away, we just can’t see them for we are blinded by the scales on our eyes that the world has set on us so that we will not behold that for which we were created to see.
When God fashioned us we were fitted to be a part of a design that is so beautiful, that only from heaven’s perspective can we truly appreciate it. God calls it the Church. It is his passion because it was created for him and for his glory and desire. The Church is to be the earthly mirror that he can look in and see a reflection of himself and that uncorrupted. We see his work in it. In a way, we see Christ.
The scriptures tell us that we were created in God’s image and that after the Fall we lost that image as it was at one time. The reflection of God is now distorted and in some respects destroyed. God has chosen to fix it. A false image is one that is not needed and is repulsive to the one that beholds it. It is worse than no image at all because it actually projects itself as the thing it is supposed to represent and it does so falsely. It would be better to be absent and then allow the image of God to be viewed only in a Trinitarian environment and remain unaffected.
God does seek to fix this image and do so perfectly and in that way his beloved Son, the second member of the Trinity, is worshipped. The Father gets the glory and this is his means by which this comes to pass. So, this is his passion: the Church. It is his pleasure because of the purpose for which it exists. It is to glorify the Father by being the earthly representation of his beloved Son Jesus Christ and to one day be presented to him for a spotless Bride and for eternity to be relished; not as a thing in itself, but for what it reflects. It is the passion of God to be glorified through his Son and his Son’s passion to accomplish this by creating a fellowship on earth that shows forth the holy attributes and divine nature of the whole Godhead, all by the power of the same.
This is not the passion of man. It is evident that what we sow is that of a fleshly church; one that seeks our evil desires and pleasures and in doing so we strip the Church of its true meaning and purpose for existence. It is plain to see that as this thought and viewpoint is maintained the idea of the “Church of God” gradually and more increasingly loses its savor and sweetness in the minds of the very ones that belong to it. The postmodern world has turned truth against its own true home. The Church becomes a hobby or a sport that we find exists to meet our needs and to make us feel more accommodated and secure. With this definition as our foundation in ministry we realize that just the opposite takes effect. We are less secure and are stranded in a world that hates us and no matter how hard we beat on the door for its fellowship; it refuses to let us take refuge. We end up orphans. Pleasure is the very opposite of what we feel when we strive for the approval of the world and we abandon God’s design.
When we make the Church our passion we can better understand God, for he is explicit in his priorities. We begin to not only understand him more, but everything else lines up because of this. We are first of all “God-centered” and then the priorities of him belong now to our souls and are infused into our educational agendas and our families. This is our heaven on earth. Not always in our lack of trial or suffering, but in our knowing that what we have come to understand by the Holy Spirit is that we are apart of the effort of God in being primarily glorified by our being engrafted into the model and means of his glory, that is Christ’s work on earth – the Church.
It isn’t perfect, but is seen that way by God because of Christ’s work. An imputed righteousness has been placed on the scene so that the wrath of God can be turned away and the reality of righteousness is complete. Until then we are continuously purified and God loves his work. He gleefully chisels away, polishing here and scrubbing there knowing that his skills are unmatched and perfect. He will finish. He is not working against the clock, but the clock is actually one of the tools that He uses to get the job done. He is patient and he is meticulous; the perfect craftsman. There is no one that can give advice to Him because he is his own counsel.
We are a part of the grand sculpture. We get to see the work continue and only the works of God are visible, while the Maker remains unseen. By faith we relinquish all of our cares and our futile pleasures to him and submit to something we by faith agree to. We tell him we want to be a part of this design and he then promises to finish us and the whole thing itself with us in it. The Church is the delight of God. The angels don’t understand it completely, but only look in amazement as the art is continuously demonstrated more and more before their eyes.
What is most amazing to them is not so much the skill of the God who makes it, but the work itself. Of course God can do it! What is amazing is to see what is being done. Creatures who hate God are bowing the knee to the God they once hated. They are willfully laying themselves under the sacrificing knife and saying what at one time seemed unimaginable, “Though the Lord may slay me, yet I will hope in him”. This is not the work of man. Only a fool would believe this could come from a rotten soul. Only the ignorant would strive to explain a psychological explanation for such submission. This is the work of God. Once these creatures submit to God and to his work, they persevere no matter what! Trials and tribulations continue to bash themselves against them like waves on the rocks and the Church only gives thanks. There are of course some deliverances and healings about, but this praise seems warranted and less astounding, though it is genuine. The true miracles take place almost unnoticed by man, but not from heaven. Everything there is seen in detail and there is nothing else so baffling.
God chooses to use men for his instruments. To be a part of the Church is to be instrumental for the cause. To be idle is to be presumptuous of your place in an organism that rejects that sort of cancerous sloth. It cannot contain it. You must be moving and never cease trusting, repenting, praising or loving. This is your task as part of the Church. To not do these things is to call yourself into question and also your pleasure’s place of origin.
But to find true pleasure is to find it almost without looking. We look to Christ and that is our pleasure and our fondness. We look to him for everything. Not so much the work being done, but on the worker and we find ourselves used for the work. We find God’s pleasure is to make us satisfied only in him and the more we do the more he receives glory. He is making the Church what he wants it to be and we are here, on earth, loving him.
It is a great and awesome thing to be a part of this work of God. It is an awesome thing to be found in the most desirable creation on earth. It is also a great responsibility. We must take care not to be side-tracked and run after earthly things. We must strive to be the best “member” we can be in the Body. We must seek to exhort and edify others that are in this work with us. We must love till it hurts. This is where we find true pleasure. This is where our souls find peace. Seek peace and you will find nothing but pain. Seek God and peace you will find indeed.
One day we will stand side by side one another and get to see the curtain go up and the whole thing as it is displayed. There will be no words spoken, only wonder as the true "mega-church" is revealed. We will glorify the Maker and the Son and the Spirit all at once. We will feel untainted pleasure like nothing we have ever experienced and we will never again know the sufferings that we once had while here on earth. The stains will be removed from our minds and the past will vanish. All that will remain is the radiant and gorgeous beauty of God and his glory for all eternity.
Let’s pray we see more of this now. Let’s pray to see as much as we can. God remove the scales and let us see your greatest pleasure and desire; that is your glory seen in your Church.
