the cause of His choosing

Today I want to discuss our mission as a church. We say it many times thoughout the course of a year:

"Council Road Baptist Church exists to love all people to Christ and to help them on their journey with God and others."

This is what defines our cause as a body of Christ.

In order to understand this purpose statement, we have to begin with some theology. Many will protest that ours is an inadequate statement of purpose because after all our ONLY purpose in life really is to glorify God. "Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the Mighty, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; Worship the Lord in holy array." Psalm 29:1-2 is just one among a multitude of versus that tell us to seek first the glory of God.

But while this is literally true, our purpose statement does not seek to be all encompasining in it's scope. To give God the glory and honor and to ascribe Him the glory due His name is an obvious point for us. It is of course our highest aim and greatest passion. Our "chief end" is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. This is a given for every believer- it should be a no-brainer.

Our statement of purpose is not an all encompassing doctrinal statement, it is instead a statement of how by His grace we intend to most effectively bring Him glory and honor on this corner of 30th and Council. It is a statement of what we believe God has called us to do as we together pursue our joy in Him. It is our personality, our temperment- it is what gives us energy.

We are saying that as each of us are called to bring Him glory and honor, that our calling becomes somewhat multi-dimensional.

An illustration from the world of science is helfpul. Physicists are now talking about a fourth dimension that is not yet realized or understood in our environment. It is a dimension that is out there in space, away from earth's gravitational pull. It is related to the forces of magnetism and the magnetic component of electromagnetic energy. In a similar way, we too experience a fourth dimension in our body life together.

“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints”

In the Ephesians passage above, the apostle talks about the “power together with all the saints.” There is power in “together.” There is power in direction. The cause we are called to is the magnetic force and energy that moves us forward. It is our distinct calling and temperment as we work together to accomplish our purpose by His grace and for His glory. We exist as a church for this purpose: to love all people to Christ and to help them in their journey with God and each other.

We have given our lives to this mission and believe this is best accomplished as people experience the dimensions of celebration, connection, community and then ultimately are fully devoted to the cause that Christ has called us to. To understand this biblical concept on an abstract level, observe the cross and notice its spatial qualities. When one observes the cross, he is drawn to the height, the width and the depth of the love of Christ. It is difficult to comprehend the kind of compassion that would go to such a radical extreme. This is the kind of love that is energized by a divine cause- one that captures the heart of the true follower and results in a kind of consuming passion.The height, depth and width of his mission is an ever expanding dimension we have been called to.

The cross teaches us that our love and joy in His not one dimensional- it is horizontal and vertical. It also has depth and length. He challenges us to reach every corner of the world with His message- to fill up every space. The church, fulfilling all of these dimensions of love and purpose, becomes an unstoppable force moving out through time until His return. The cause we are called to is a mission of incomparable proportions!

And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. ( Eph. 1:22-23)