The glorious truth is that God wants a people — it’s all he wants. He wants us, and the whole cosmos, restored to him. How is he doing that? By sending Christ to retake the throne, inviting us to pledge allegiance to him in repentance and obedient faith, and sending his Holy Spirit to transform us into the likeness of his Son and enable us to minister as his Royal Priesthood and Holy Nation, so that we may know ‘Christ in us, the hope of glory’.
That paragraph there is the message God is crystallising in my heart and mind. I believe the fullness of that is what the church needs to know. It’s the big picture of the plan of God that must begin to shape our everyday lives. And it’s that big message that must shape how we live as the church, making it possible for people to come and be part of that, rather than merely a man-made institution.
God’s people are his living temple, and he intends to dwell in us now and for eternity in the new heaven and new earth.
But we need to get practical — though only once we can see the big story.
I’m called to be an under-shepherd of the Great Shepherd here on Arran. I cast my eye over the whole place and can see that many of those God intends to be in his pen, his flock, his fold, are still out there. They are not yet gathered to him. People are in despair because they have no larger framework within which to understand their lives, and so they struggle on in darkness, loneliness, and fear in the midst of a world gone mad.
The example Jesus gives is that he leaves the ninety-nine safe ones and goes out to find the one. That pattern is given to us as well. There is such safety, care, and security in the gathered people of God that we can afford always to be going out, seeking those whom God intends to draw to himself.
Practically, that doesn’t mean dragging everyone to Brodick on a Sunday morning. No — it means creating “feeding stations”: wee gathering points all over the island, so that it becomes obvious how people can belong among those God is gathering.
Or, to shift the metaphor, think of outposts — wee Kingdom outposts everywhere. Gatherings of Jesus followers for worship, Word, prayer, and community. No razzmatazz, no daft budgets, no fancy lights or smoke machines — just people gathering around Jesus. Making disciples who make disciples and helping us all to find our fullness in Jesus the Christ.
And to shift back again: think of wee bundles of hay and drinking water that sheep can gather around day by day for sustenance in the field. You get the idea.
There is nothing more important than the news that God is inviting people to himself through Christ. Nothing. And nothing should shape the life of the believer more deeply than that. This news is true at home, at work, at school, and in our leisure — in everything. It all fits within his bigger picture.
What an adventure!
Andrew S M Clark 