Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 1 Peter 1:10-11
One of my favorite activities as a kid (one which I still like, so perhaps I am still a bit of a kid?) was working connect-the-dots puzzles. I am happy to see our daughter loves them as much as I did. The purpose of these puzzles is to follow the sequence of dots in numerical order until the image of the puzzle becomes clear. Little by little it takes shape until you have this “aha” moment where you can see what was always there but needed to be fleshed out. I always enjoyed trying to figure out what the image was before I began connecting the dots. I must admit, I cannot remember a single time when I guessed correctly. What, one may ask, does this have to do with Christianity? That is a good question, and I am glad you asked.
Just as the connect-the-dots puzzle progresses from seemingly disconnected, unrelated dots on a page to a easily recognizable image, so the revelation of God’s scheme of redemption becomes progressively clearer. In the early stages, we can see there is a big picture in view, but we can barely make out what that picture is, much like the prophets Peter mentioned in 1 Peter 1:10-11. As we move through the narrative, bit by bit we come to know God and ourselves better with each dot we connect. As we begin a new series of sermons this morning on the New Testament church, recognizing this principle is tremendously important.
This is so because the church finds its origin, meaning, and mission in the eternal purpose of God that was revealed little by little over thousands of years (Ephesians 3:8-11). If we are to appreciate, build up, and guard the church as we should, we must first appreciate her for the precious entity she is. Her remarkable place in God’s eternal purpose remained a mystery until Christ came, died, resurrected, ascended back to heaven, sent the Holy Spirit back to earth, and established the church some 2000 years ago. Her story does not begin in the book of Acts though the record of her beginning does. Her story begins in the book of beginnings we call Genesis and progresses incrementally through the entirety of the Bible.
Back to our connect-the-dots metaphor, each portion of the Scriptures represents another dot in the most remarkable puzzle of them all. We stand to benefit greatly from studying how the many “dots” of the progressive revelation of this mystery connect one-by-one to form this amazing picture we have in the fully formed church of our Lord. As we connect these dots, we will discuss a host of powerful events and principles such as: 1) God’s benevolent intentions in creation, 2) the terrible consequences of our rebellion, 3) God’s unswerving love for His beloved creation displayed first in His promise of salvation for fallen humanity, 4) the foreshadowing of His means of providing said salvation, 5) the fulfillment of that promise in history culminating with the events of the gospel of Christ, 6) the church as the community of the saved, 7) her overarching purpose as God’s covenant people, and 8) the Lord’s expectations for His body, the church.
No one can or will fulfill his/her purpose without knowing what that purpose is. Neither will we strive for the sake of an entity we do not deem worthy of the effort. The aim of this series is to mine out the biblical doctrine of the glorious body of Christ in hopes that we will better know and desire to fulfill our role in that body as we see her majesty grow clearer and clearer one dot at a time.