The chosen people of God are chosen from both Jews and Gentiles, and are called for specific purposes. For thus says the Lord: “What if God, wanting to make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who were not beloved. And it shall come to pass in the place where it is said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ there they will be called sons of the living God” (Romans 9:23-26).
The main objective for being called and chosen by God is to obtain the glory of the Lord. For according to the apostle Paul, “We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14).
God's chosen people are regarded as, “Living stones being built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1Peter 2:5).
Most people stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for. The church is destined and has the responsibility to offer to the Lord the food for His offerings. This is made very clear by the apostle Paul who unveiled to us his insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.
He said, “This mystery is that through the gospel (which is Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that, He was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures; and that we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus) the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and shares together in the promise in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:6).
The apostle Paul continued to express his authority with regards to this mystery by saying; “Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration (application) of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.’
The church is consecrated by God, and its members are a chosen people, a holy priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, in order that they may declare the praises of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. This is God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1Peter 2:9; 1 Corinthians 2:7-8).
As a nation of priests the number one responsibility of the church is to strive to obtain the glory of the Lord, until Christ is formed in us, and until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
It is said that; “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
The way the church can attain the glory of the Lord is by walking in unity of the Spirit, and by being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, as alluded to by the apostle Paul who wrote saying; “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.'
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
The apostle Paul also admonished the church saying; “that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1: 1-6; Colossians 1:10-14).
The power of the church, and the means by which it is glorified, is through the redemption which is in the blood of Jesus Christ, and therefore the church is required to carry out its functions as a nation of priests.
https://www.amazon.com/author/luciusjoseph
Copyright © 2012 by Lucius Joseph
All rights reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment