The Charter of the Church (2)
Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, exhort you to walk worthily of the calling in which you were called, with all humility and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love; being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3
Therefore – We don’t pay much attention to the connecting words in a language. We look for the nouns and the verbs and skip over the “and”, “but”, “of” and “for” words. After all, we want to get right to the point. But the point is often found in these tiny connectors. That’s the case in this sentence. Paul has a reason for giving us the charter of the church and that reason is found in the word “therefore” (in Greek it is oun). It is the second most important word in this Greek sentence (and it comes second in the verse). If I don’t know why the church has a charter, I rob myself of understanding what God is doing. So Paul first exhorts (parakalo) and then he provides the foundation. “Therefore” connects me with all that comes before, and what comes before is incredibly powerful stuff.
Take a look at the passage from Ephesians 3:14 to 21. This is the foundation that Paul wants us to know. This is the reason that the church has a charter. What do we find? We find a God Who claims me as His own with His name, Who gives His riches because of His glory and power (not mine), Who provides the Spirit to dwell in my heart, Who grounds me in love so that I may know just how wonderful and magnificent He is, Who wants me to realize the full capacity of Christ’s redemption. And then we find this amazing statement: “Now to Him being able to do exceedingly above all that we ask and think.” Did you get that? More than you can ever ask (the word means “request”) and more than you can ever think (the word means “comprehend”), more than all that, God is able and willing to provide. That is the reason for the charter of the church. All of this is included in Paul’s tiny word, oun (therefore).
Oun is a cause and effect word. Paul is telling us that the cause behind the great glory of the church is God’s desire to release His compassionate heart in the world. The effect is the church’s charter – the characteristics that embody and exhibit this cause. If the organization that calls itself a church does not exhibit the natural effect of this divine cause, then it is not the real church, the body of Jesus. It is only an assembly. The real church is the church that comes to the world with all the power and presence of God; all of those characteristics that are summarized in this tiny Greek word oun. The real church is the family of God, filled with His glory and power, saturated with His love and compassion, exuberant in His holiness, realizing in action more than the members ever imagined possible. Then, and only then, will the church become the force it was intended to be.
