Since we united with Christ, the purpose of our lives has changed. We did not meet Christ ‘the Benefactor’ while we journeyed through life. We were given an entirely different purpose for life by Christ. He exalted us to be His coworkers, promised to take responsibility for our lives, and entrusted us with precious duties for the work He accomplishes through the church. Completing this duty is the purpose of our existence.
God earlier chose Israel and trusted them with special duties as a plan to save mankind. However, Israel could not understand God’s heart, though He favored them by making them His coworkers and exalting them among nations. Indeed, they had no wish to understand it. Their concern was for themselves. They seemed to believe they could compare with God from the start, and believed all the work God began was a playing field for their self-fulfillment.
As they drifted from God’s plan, He constantly sent prophets to make them return. But they could not give up despising the prophets and rejecting God’s warnings. Consequently, not only were they unable to reveal their Master to the world, but they became disconnected with Him. They could not understand His heart and were busy fulfilling their own pursuits. So they failed to complete their duties and ruined the plan to save many people.
The age when God bestowed His dream on Israel came to an end. In this second age, God provides a final measure so the previous failures will not be repeated. This is the age of the New Israel, involving people who have Jesus Christ in common. While we are in this age, we no longer need to take pains ‘to get the pass mark’ for our faith. We do not need to compete with others to pile up individual achievement, and we do not need to sacrifice our colleagues.
In the past, there was a huge difference between God’s servants and general believers. However, the Lord asks each of us in this second age, “Will you be My servant? Will you give yourself to be My servant?” This does not mean a hired worker who works under a contract of servitude, but a slave who is someone’s property. Servants do not gain something from their Master to fulfill personal dreams. They follow the Master wherever He goes. They are not ambitious for their own accomplishments, but they offer themselves for the work the Lord desires. They do not want the Master to acknowledge their skills, but they always accept His intervention, warnings, and guidance.
Israel continually rejected the prophets whom God sent. When He finally sent His Son, they rejected Him. Yet just as “the stone the builders rejected became the cornerstone”, Jesus became the foundation for all believers. In contrast, Jesus became the stone of judgment which breaks those who do not believe in Him, and grinds them to powder. Let’s trust in Jesus - the cornerstone of salvation. Let’s become a new segment for His building, with Him at the center. Let’s be a church that establishes the Lord as the cornerstone, adjust our lives to it, and accept His intervention and guidance.
(Lord’s Day Service on November 7, 2021)
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