OUR PURPOSE AS THE CHURCH,

THE BRIDE OF CHRIST

Why does the church exist? What is our primary purpose?
Sing hymns and preach sermons?
Present the Gospel to the lost?
To bring hope to the hurting?
Provide a place for worship and instruction?
Equip the Saints for the work of the ministry?
To prepare children for life?
To provide for the needy?
To stimulate action on social issues?
Teach the scriptures?
Be a model of righteousness? All of these are vital and necessary, but none are the central reason for the Church's existence.
The primary Purpose;
1 Corinthians 10:31 gives the answer; "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD."
   That's it!! Our sole purpose is to glorify the Lord our God. Whatever we could do from our list above, we do it for His Glory! The Corinthian Church wasn't the only one assigned to radiate God's glory. If we would wander over to Romans, Paul instructs them as well in 15:5&6, "Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus; that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
   It doesn't matter if you been an active member in Church since you were a kid or you are brand new in the congregationn, we are all to glorify God in one accord! What did Jesus say about the farmer who hired help in the morning, at noon and again at evening time? When it was time to pay, they all got the same wage!!
Look in Ephesians 1:10-12, "In him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the PRAISE OF HIS GLORY!"
Church, glorify God!! This truth rings through scripture like wedding bells. We could have dynamic preaching or awesome music. We could have the latest in technology in presenting power points, but if God's glory is not the primary focus, all is empty. His glory must be the underlying motive for all we do.
Do you teach? Do it for His glory!
Do you preach? Do it for His glory!
Take care of the treasury? His glory!
Lead in worship? His glory!
Play a musical instrument? His glory!
Operate audio and visual systems? His glory!
Take up the offering? His glory!
Marquee ministry? His glory!!    Can you imagine fueling every action, every word, every Church program with the glory of God?? What would happen? 2 Thessalonians 1:11&12 says, "To this end also we pray for you always that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power; in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
   Amazing fact!!! As we glorify God, we are glorified in Him! Glory leads to more glory! This is why Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven." Not just doing a good deed. It's in how you walk above all the ill issues of life and can still have a smile on your face and clean language coming from your lips! Truth draws people!!   All it takes is one person with a burning desire to glorify God! Then that flame can touch off brush fires of glory that can blaze across any spiritual landscape. I come from Kansas and in the spring they burn off the prairies and fields for new growth. At night time, watching a line of fire dance across a field is a most amazing sight! I can see the blaze of God's glory burning across any city if His people could catch this!
What is this glory?
  First, Exodus 40:34 ~ "Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle."
This isn't a 25 watt light bulb inside the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. This was like an expolding nova! To enter in inappropriately meant sudden death.
   Second, 1 Corinthians 15:39-41 ~ "All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars;for star differs from star in glory."
Glory pulsates from the planets just as it pulsates from earthbound creatures.
God's holy brilliance in the ancient tabernacle nor the glory found in creation is the glory best describes the glory the church is to radiate.

John the Baptist lived the third kind of glory. The kind of glory the churh should demonstrate. John 1:23-27 ~ "He said, "I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said." Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, and said to him, "Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them saying, "I baptize fnin water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. "It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."
   Remember what he said to his disciples who asked him as to why Jesus' ministry was growing and John's was falling apart. "He must increase, but I must decrease." ( John3:30)
   Glory, then, as it relates to us, the Church, means to magnify and elevate the Lord God as we diminish and deny ourselves. It means being occupied with and commited to His ways rather than preoccupied with and determined to go my own way.

   What did Isaiah say? "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8&9)
   We cannot seek personal glory and God's glory at the same time!
   When life gets hard, seek His glory in patiently waiting for His guidance. When it seems as if the stress will over power you, think on Him and His promises! One day, it will be like waking from a bad dream when you enter into His rest!!
   We can't dwell on the questions of will our Chruch will grow or die, just concentrate on His glory! All this is said to remind you, me ,us, that as we focus totally on Him, His glory, His praise, and His Word, His glory will surround us and we will begin to radiate Him! Those who don't know Him will see Him in us, personally and corporately and be drawn in.
   Know what a lunar eclipse is? The moon passes behind the earth directly away from the sun. The moon eases into the earth's shadow. For a short time, the moon is deprived of the sun's light. So, the earth gets in the way of the sun, the moon don't reflect the sun light and it even cools-until it is brought back into the sun's light again. We, as Christians, are just like that moon! Sometimes we bask in the light of our Lord Jesus and sometimes, the earth just gets in the way. We start cooling for Him, live according to the worlds standards and seek our own glory. We dim out and cool down from living for Him. Is it time to get the earth out of the way? Personally as well as corporately? I think yes, it is past time.