The Year of Big News
2020 has been a year of big news. The quest to end racism, noteworthy weather patterns, law enforcement reforms, widespread unemployment and a teetering economy, tensions with China, a presidential election, and, of course, COVID-19. These are the stories that the media brings to us every day. This is the big news.
But, if we could see the world from God’s perspective, what would the big news be? There is a passage of Scripture that tells us. It’s the entire book of Ephesians. Take a break right now from this article and go read that book. Or, if you are in a hurry, go read Ephesians 3:7–12. Go ahead! The article will be here when you get back.
God's Perspective
Did you read it? That is the big news! Let me give you a synopsis of the whole book of Ephesians and specifically those few verses. In these verses, Paul tells us that God is at work today to create in Christ, the second Adam, a new humanity for His own glory, and that this new human race is comprised of both Jews and Gentiles. No longer would the ethnic boundaries of the nation of Israel define the people of God. Now, in Christ Jesus, the Jewish Messiah belongs as much to Gentiles as to Jews. The Gentiles are no longer strangers to all that God promised to Israel in the New Covenant!
But, why would God transition from an Israel-centric policy in the Old Testament to now include the Gentiles in Christ among His people? There are many answers to that question, but Paul’s answer in this passage is this: so that the glory of God displayed in such a body would captivate angelic eyes! The glory of the incomparable God refracts through this multi-ethnic body of Christ—the church—to captivate the wondering gaze of angels who behold the sight with mouths agape. This is God’s plan for the current age, and it is a microcosm of all that God intends to do in the age to come (compare Ephesians 1:11 and 1:22–23). There is no greater cause in which He invests His power, wisdom, and love in this present age. This is the scheme He sent His own Son to transact, and there could be no greater objective than that for which He has given His own Son.
Something Bigger Than Ourselves
In other words, if we were suddenly transported into the heavenly realms, and we looked about to see to what it was that God was constantly drawing the attention of the heavenly intelligences, it would not be not the explosions of super novae, nor the advances of modern science in developing a coronavirus vaccine. It isn't the march to end racial oppression, the rebounding economy, or the political machinations in Washington, Beijing, or Moscow. You could devote your life to any one of those or lesser things, but that would only be the side show. The characters involved in each of those are only walk-ons, and God’s spotlight is not primarily upon them. There are no press releases in heaven about any of those things. Instead, the big thing is the construction of the body of Christ, the gathering of small, ragged groups of people who have covenanted to pursue Christ together. That’s what gets the press in heaven!
There is an insatiable drive in each one of us to join ourselves to a cause that is bigger than we are. We want our lives to count. If you want to be part of something big, give yourself to the Gospel. Give yourself to your local church. This is the biggest thing happening in the world today, and it is the thing that God has put His omnipotence and wisdom behind to ensure the goal is achieved. It’s a mission that will never fail.
How can you do that? Here are eight practical ways:
- Show up. There is nothing going on in your city this week any more important than the gathering of the local church. God is pressing the heads of the angels over the portals of heaven so that they look down upon these gatherings of Christ’s people, and He is pointing! “There! Do you see it? My wisdom! My power! My grace!” Show up and take part in the drama every Sunday morning!
- Join the church. We often think that the drama of God’s kingdom happens overseas on the mission field. It’s only the truly surrendered Christians who want to contribute to the growth of Christ’s kingdom that go overseas to the mission field. The rest are just members of local churches. But that conception is almost entirely backwards. God’s primary interest is in constructing a multi-ethnic people gathered under one head, His Son. That’s what we call the church, and that is where Kingdom action is happening. There is no greater cause to which you could commit yourself than taking responsibility for the health and stability of a local church.
- Study the Gospel. It is the Gospel that creates, shapes, matures, and sustains the body of Christ. Make it your chief ambition in life to know the Gospel in all its fullness and to live worthy of its glorious calling. Praise God if you have a pastor who faithfully preaches the Gospel to you! Listen intently to his preaching. That’s how God carries you and the rest of Christ’s body forward toward His great goal.
- Help others grow. There is no cause more exciting than seeing a fellow believer grow in Christ. Read the Bible and pray together. Read a good book together and discuss what it means for your life specifically. Confess your sins one to another, pray for one another, and you will be healed.
- Share your faith. God creates the body of Christ for His glory through the Gospel. But the Gospel is only effective when it is proclaimed.
- Strive for unity. Sacrifice whatever you must to preserve the unity of the body of Christ. Nothing is worth disrupting the unity of the body of Christ in the Gospel except an attack upon the Gospel itself.
- Give to your local church. You could not invest your earthly wealth in any enterprise more likely to succeed than healthy local churches.
- Pray for your church. You can contribute to the biggest thing that is happening in the universe today from your bedroom floor on your knees. Any prayer you pray for the success of your local church is a prayer that God will delight to answer.
Today, God is creating the church by His indomitable power, His inscrutable wisdom, His sovereign love, and His glorious grace. This is why the church is a display of the glory of God. God’s mission is to glorify Himself through the church. This mission—your local church—is a guaranteed investment. It’s the big deal!