God knows what he is doing. Sometimes, I forget that and think everything is out of control. Well, the things happening in my world are beyond my control. That’s for sure. In fact, James was certainly right when he said that I don’t “even know what will happen tomorrow (Js 4:14). But, God does. God knows.

And, God has not kept his plan hidden from us.  In the Book of Ephesians, God inspired the Apostle Paul to write about what had previously been “the mystery of God’s will (1:9).” The mystery that God has now revealed is that he is at work “to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ (1:10).”

Think about it: God says that he will take all hostility in this universe and bring about reconciliation. He will take all that is broken in this world and bring about healing. He will take all that is divided and bring about unity. And, he will accomplish it through the life, death and resurrection power of Jesus. When God is done, he promises that people “from every tribe and language and people and nation” will sing with one unified voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain (Rev 5:9-13; 7:9-10).”

But, how will God do it? How will he take us from the deep dividedness that characterizes our world to the unity in all things that he promises? God has also revealed his strategy to us in the Book of Ephesians, i.e., God’s eternal plan has been to plant local gatherings of his household, his “unexpected family”, in local neighborhoods throughout the world. God promises to work in and among these local churches to heal our divisions and bring about unity. Then, God sends his people out to call others to join us in his beautiful household of faith.

That is what a church is supposed to be: God’s people who are being made right with him and with one another through the presence of God’s Spirit and then planted incarnationally in the world as witnesses to the reconciling power of God that comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

This vision of what a church is supposed to be has moved me deeply. At the same time, the realities of lovelessness and division that still have not been eradicated in our churches make me weep. They dishonor the name of Jesus. They undermine the promise of the gospel. But, they do not lead me to give up hope – because God will complete what he has started. I am confident that God has the power to make us become who he says we are.

This is what we will be dealing with throughout this coming series in the Book of Ephesians.  We will find strength from hearing that God loves us and will not give up on us. We will find guidance as the Apostle Paul addresses the same issues in his world that war against God’s plan as we deal with in our own world: ingratitude, pride, racial divides, marriage problems, etc. And, we will hold on to God’s declaration of who we are until we become who we are. We, the church, are the household of God who will make known to the entire broken universe the manifold wisdom of God (3:10). We are the people placed in this world to show the glory of God (3:21).”

May this fall 2018 be a time of God furthering his reconciling work here at LAC and in our personal lives. May we become who we are – to His glory.