Last updated on 7/31/2006

Viewpoint Brief Bible Study #88
		JESUS calls US to be members of His church
The Christian religion is the worship and service of Jesus Christ. It’s not Mary we worship, but her Son. We worship neither saints, angels, a law code, nor even God’s Spirit. It’s JESUS who is to be honored. The Bible is our guide.

How Should We Serve God?
  By Curtis Dickinson in The WITNESS for January ’98

God’s Purpose For You -- Is there hope for today? Is society, as some affirm, collapsing? Some evolutionists have declared that the human species is “just a ghastly biological blunder.” Are they right? If God has made us, why did He do so? What does God expect from me?

That is, Is there a purpose in life? If there IS, wouldn’t it be the greatest of follies to live out one’s life only to miss the reason for it, and thus to have lived in vain? It would be hard to conceive of a holy and just God who did things to no purpose. And harder yet to imagine that such a God has a purpose but chooses to not reveal to His creatures what that purpose is!

Yes, God has a purpose for each of us. In Ephesians 3:10,11 (His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his ETERNAL PURPOSE which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.), we read of this purpose. He now has revealed His purpose. Did He also do so in saying (Genesis 1:26), “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”?

Do we see that this was the original purpose in creation, that man should think, feel, and act like his Creator?

Humans were created with the potential for character like that of the Creator God -- righteous, wise, loving, merciful, and pure. So long as men reflected that image, so long as we thought God’s thoughts and acted in harmony with God's design, we fulfilled the purpose for which we were made, and no questions about the purpose of life needed to be asked. It was not until man chose to think and act in opposition to the Creator that he ceased to fulfill that intended purpose. On that day, our troubles began (Genesis 1:26; 2:17; 3:3, 17-19).

Jesus, who is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), gave a demonstration of one who has perfectly fulfilled God’s intended purpose for human life.

This means more than the fact that Jesus literally is the Son of God. It means that Jesus did everything according to the Father’s desire. He could truthfully say, “I do always the things that are pleasing to Him” (John 8:29). This is what God expected of Adam and Eve. Adam was tempted. In order to please himself, he abandoned the purpose of God.By contrast, Jesus, who was “tempted in all points like as we are,” never once chose to follow some course that displeased God. Jesus received the Father’s commendation, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

When it comes to truly and perfectly reflecting the image of God, WE all must admit to failure. Only Jesus succeeded in matching this ideal. However, it is not the total completion of that purpose in this world which God requires of us, but rather that we TRY to do His will.

This is what it means to follow Jesus, to seek to fulfill God’s purpose just as Jesus did. Paul wrote, “Seek the things that are above where Christ is...” (Colossians 3:1). “Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus...” (Philippians 2:5). And Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness...” (Matthew 6:33). We won’t fully be like Him until He comes again (see 1 John 3:2). But notice that John writes, “And every one who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as He is pure” (1 John 3:3).

Since the believer’s hope is to be like Jesus, we make it our daily purpose to attain that goal! No person can accidentally be a Christian. It must be on purpose! Being a true Christian calls for us to purpose (plan our lives in order to accomplish this purpose) to learn of God in order to do His will. God’s saints (which all Christians must be) are mainly concerned with pleasing God. We will measure all trends and concepts for conduct and consideration with the yardstick of God’s word.

Some may have advanced a long way toward reflecting God’s image. Others of us may have a very long way yet to go toward that goal. But what we write about today is concerned with what our purpose, our goal, should be. And that is that we might become like God. Which is done by our becoming like Jesus, who on this earth demonstrated for us the true nature and character of the Eternal God.

Paul writes also of this in Ephesians: “And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he PURPOSED in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment -- to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the PURPOSE of his will...”

God’s purpose will be fulfilled when we all are made like Him. To be like Jesus should be the goal of every child of God.

Here is also the reason for the assembly, the ekklesia, which we call “church.” We who form the church of God have a common purpose. We not only need one another’s help, but we share the desire to encourage and help one another in fulfilling the purpose for which God has called us together. Some churches have turned their assembly into a performer/spectator program rather than one in which members may interrelate with each other for mutual edification. It’s not by great edifices built for the comfort and convenience of the users, but God is glorified in the way His people reflect His image in their daily intercourse with each other and with the world.

The express purpose of God stands directly in the way of the current religious movement which aims to blend all religions into one. The “new age” religion is a religion that excludes the binding commands of Christ. New agers seek unity without Christ rather than IN Him. God’s purpose is not only ignored. It is rejected by their denial of His word as the absolute and final purpose for mankind.

One may follow religious traditions and never come close to the purpose of God. Much of the opposition to Jesus came about because He freely broke the traditions (commandments of men) which had been substituted for God’s will (Mark 7:7-9). He warned, “Because you are not of the world, but I chose you OUT OF the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19). We each must decide whether we want to satisfy GOD’s purpose or man’s. Those who reject the revered idols of mankind must be prepared to face mankind’s bitter opposition.

Not all will pursue the same occupation. But all CAN pursue the same purpose -- that of growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, and being conformed to His likeness. It is our privilege to humble ourselves before God that He may work His purpose in us, which includes the resurrection to immortality and glory in the last day. “We know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to HIS PURPOSE” (Romans 8:26).  --  (somewhat edited by Ray).
  Brief Bible Study #88 from Ray Downen. Click to GO BACK to Viewpoint’s first page.   Or go on to Viewpoint Study #89.          For Ray’s concluding remarks, click HERE.