Tags
1 Peter 4:3-4, 1 Peter 4:8-11, Christopher W. Morgan, Display of God, Ephesians 4:1-6, Fellowship of Faith, Francis Schaeffer, images of the church, James W. Thompso, John 13:34-35, love, Love of God, Luke 12:51-53, Mark of a Christian, one-another, Sanctification, The Church According to Paul, The Community of Jesus, The Family of God, Tim Chester, Total Church, Unity
Some rough draft notes on a lecture on the image of the church as a family.
The Church as the Family of God has two elements:
- It displays God visibly – particularly the love of God.
- It effects of the love of God.
1. The Display of the Love of God
The Church is a witnessing community.
The Church exists to display the glory of God.
In The Community of Jesus, “The Church and God’s Glory”, Christopher W. Morgan notes five ways in which the Church displays God’s glory:
- Our salvation glorifies God by displaying the inexhaustible nature of his grace throughout the age to come.
- The very existence as the church glorifies God by displaying his wisdom.
- Our unity glorifies God by displaying his oneness.
- Our love glorifies God by displaying his love.
- Our holiness glorifies God by displaying his holiness. (232-233).
Interestingly it is household of God, the family of God imagery which Scripture uses to underscore and display God’s glory.