The church is to reveal God by revealing his glory, most wonderfully displayed in the excellencies of the gospel (1 Pet. 2:9). Put in a memorable way, the church is to reveal God’s glory, goodness, and gospel—both in word and action. This is what she’s all about!
Now, that’s a lofty and weighty purpose! How could any community—let alone any individual, no matter how “gifted”—ever be able to effectively reveal God?
This is where Jesus comes in—the key to this whole conversation. In fact, he’s the key to our purpose.
Jesus perfectly revealed and reflected God in God’s glory and goodness, and was himself the main character and hero of God’s gospel. It’s a profound New Testament truth that Jesus perfectly revealed God (Jn. 1:1, 14, 18; 14:9; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3).
Therefore, Jesus sufficiently and perfectly accomplished the church’s purpose!
And how did he do this? What did it look like?
He fulfilled God the Father’s will for him, which can be summarized in Jesus’ own words when he read from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth.
In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus said,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
Jesus’ entire public ministry can be described from this passage. In the empowerment of the Spirit of God, Jesus gave himself to the ministry of declaring God’s kingdom (in his preaching, teaching, and conversations) and demonstrating God’s kingdom (in his healing of the sick and deliverance of the demonically oppressed).
But he went even further. In order to both inaugurate God’s kingdom purposes (i.e., make real the liberty he preached and gave to others) and extend it to the whole world, Jesus underwent the grit and glory of his death, resurrection, and ascension. This was his unique part to play in God’s gospel, paving the way for sinners to become united with him.
This is where we see how Jesus is the key to the church’s purpose—to my purpose and yours! When a sinner experiences the call of God on them in their hearing of the gospel, and they respond to this call in repentance and faith (which continues on a daily basis by the way!), they become united to Jesus Christ. And it’s within this union with Christ that that sinner is thus forgiven of their sins, counted righteous in God’s sight, given a new heart and spirit, blessed with the Holy Spirit, and so much more (e.g., Eph. 1:3-14).
What this union with Jesus does, is fully redeems a sinner from their rebellion against God, enslavement to sin and Satan, and consequential death of judgment. The redemption in Christ that a sinner experiences is so immense that it literally brings about a death to their old life, followed by a new life in Christ. This death and life occurs because in repenting and believing in Jesus, followed by baptism into his name, a sinner is united to Jesus in his death and resurrection, and will soon be united with him in his glorification.
Paul thus wrote to the churches of Galatia,
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
And again, to the Corinthian Christians, Paul wrote,
“…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17).
We can now see how you and I, as part of the church, can fulfill the purpose of revealing God’s glory, goodness, and gospel: in Christ!
It’s only in your union with Christ that you can effectively display and reveal the majesty and power of God and the gospel.