The Destiny Of The Church Series

What should be the direction and vision for a local assembly? What is our destiny? Alice in Wonderland came to a fork in the road. Icy panic stung her as she stood frozen by indecision. She lifted her eyes toward heaven, looking for guidance. Her eyes did not find God, only the Cheshire cat leering at her from his perch in the tree above. “Which way should I go?” blurted Alice. “That depends …” said the cat, fixing a sardonic smile on the confused girl. “On what?” Alice managed to reply. “On your destination. Where are you going?” queried the Cheshire fiend. “I don’t know …” stammered Alice. “Then,” said the cat, with grin spreading wider, “it doesn’t matter.” It matters to the Christian. Every Christian has a destiny in the kingdom of God. We are a pilgrim people, a people on the move—our destination matters. Where are we going as a church? It’s important. The primary words of Ephesians 1 are “in Christ.”

The epistle of the Ephesians was delivered by Tychicus to a number of churches (6:21) – the first being Laodicea and the final being Ephesians. This is why some scholars consider this to be the letter Paul refers to as his letter to the Laodiceans, yet the epistle rightly bears the name “to the Ephesians”.

God has his hand on his church. Jesus promised: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18). The church will continue until the end of time. One of the oldest products ever continually manufactured in the world is the Beretta firearm. They began production in 1526. The printing press was barely a decade old. But there is coming a day when Beretta will cease manufacturing. That is the day when Jesus comes. But there is never a day when the church will end. The church of Jesus Christ will last forever.

OUR DESTINY IS ETERNITY (1:1-3)

We have gone from “in Ephesus” to “in Christ.” We have moved our citizenship from a temporary place to an eternal dwelling. It is the apostle Paul who helps the Ephesian believers how to have this eternal, enduring perspective.

Ephesians 1:1-2 ¦ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul was most certainly an apostle of Jesus by the will of God. Originally Saul of Tarsus, he had a dramatic conversion on the Damascus road. Saul, which is Paul’s given name, was born into a Jewish family in Tarsus (Turkey) around the year AD 8; he was also a Roman citizen, a fact that would play a large role later in his life. Schooled as a Pharisee, he was a tent maker by trade, but was most noted for his hatred of Christians. He believed the teachings of Jesus violated the Mosaic Law and zealously harassed, and even jailed, anyone who followed those teachings.

The first scriptural mention of Saul is found in Acts 7:58, as he is a bystander watching his fellow Jews stone Stephen to death. An aggressive persecutor of Christians in Jerusalem, Saul sought and received permission from the high priest to proceed to Damascus for the purpose of imprisoning more followers of Christ. Most Christians know the story of what happened on the Damascus road: the bright light that knocked Saul down, the voice of Jesus, Saul’s blindness and immediate response to the calling of Christ.

Saul’s sudden change confused those around him, because he was known as one who hated Christians, who went about seeking them out to eliminate those individuals he genuinely considered as breaking Jewish law. Suddenly he was transformed from despising the followers of Jesus into fervently espousing the gospel of that same Jesus. No one could have anticipated this conversion; it is one of the great miracles of mankind.

Why would Jesus select the likes of Paul? There were certainly other devoted followers of Jesus available in those early days of the Church — followers ready to give their lives to proclaim Jesus Christ as savior of the world. But Jesus picked and converted this Pharisee, known as Saul, saying, “This man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings and Israelites” (Acts 9:15). God selected this man who had a strong hatred of all Jesus stands for, a man who went into the houses of Christians and “dragging out men and women,” then “handed them over for imprisonment” (Acts 8:3). This man became God’s chosen instrument to spread the message of Jesus across the Middle East and parts of Europe. Why Saul? The answer is simple: grace! God chose to take someone totally undeserving, a “chief of sinners” to expand the kingdom of Jesus. Paul would end up writing thirteen New Testament books and ultimately sacrificing his life for Christ in AD 64 under the reign of Emperor Nero. It was worth it to Paul to give his life for a the message of grace and peace in Jesus.