The NATIONAL PRAYER ALTAR

MARATHON PRAYERS
Monday 23rd - Sunday 29th September 2024

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH?

”When purpose is not known, abuse becomes inevitable” Myles Munroe.

In the prayer call for last week’s Marathon Prayers, we asked, “Where did the prosperity message come from?” Not surprisingly, some pastors expressed contrary views as they sought to prove that prosperity, as a doctrine, is part of the assignment of the Church. Such views provide us with an opportunity to delve further into a salient question that few Christians ponder about: What is the purpose of the New Testament Church?

Understanding the purpose of any institution, object, or individual, is a prerequisite to the careful and profitable handling of it. Whenever purpose is not known, abuse of the object becomes inevitable. For example, a screwdriver was made to loosen or tighten screws. However, in the hands of a one-year-old child, it can become a drumstick. The same treatment will befall a TV remote controller, and the latest iPhone 16 Pro. They can all be drumsticks in the hand of a one-year-old baby. Is the baby mischievous? No. Unfortunately, the baby does not understand the purpose of those items.

To avoid putting the Church of Jesus Christ into improper use, it is good to look at the purpose of the Church. After that brief discourse, we can consider whether God instituted the Church merely to make people wealthy.

Our study shall commence from Daniel 9:22–24 which says,” Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”

The “seventy weeks” are prophetic weeks in which a day represents a year; hence, the prophetic duration is referred to as “seventy-week-years.” The total number of years for the program of God for Israel, starting from the end of the Babylonian captivity, is 490 years. Verse 24 lists what would be accomplished by God at the end of the 490-year period. Verse 26 prophesied that ”after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off”. That refers to the crucifixion of Christ at the 483th year of God’s program for Israel, or in the 69th week. That leaves one week (seven years) as Dan. 9:27 prophesied that ”he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Most Christians are familiar with the seven-year reign of the Antichrist.

Looking back, there has been a space of about 2,000 years between the resurrection of Christ and today. After the Resurrection, the disciples of Jesus, knowing the prophecy, were certain that it remained only seven years for Israel to be out of all bondage and for God’s Kingdom to be established. That was why, in Acts 1:6, the disciples asked Jesus, ”…Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” The answer of Jesus introduced a new dispensation that none of the prophets of old had foreseen. Apostle Paul, by revelation, explained it in Ephesians 3:3–6 thus,

”How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:”

In Ephesians 3:9, Paul describes the Church as a ”…mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God." 

The mystery is that Jews and Gentiles shall be fellow heirs of the promises that God made to Abraham and to the partakers of divine inheritance. Till date, conservative Jews refuse to accept that purpose of God. They were mad at Paul when, in Acts 22:21, he narrated how God said to him, ”Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.”

The purpose of the Church is to bring in both Jews and Gentiles into the Kingdom of God. When Jesus was leaving, He handed the Great Commission to His disciples. The global harvest of souls into the Kingdom is the purpose of the Church. The Church is the divine Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to gather souls from all over the world into the Kingdom of God. The prosperity services, breakthrough services, grandiose construction projects, and all the paraphernalia of the modern-day Church are the distractions from Satan. Any pastor that wishes to fulfill the purpose of God in life and ministry must identify and comply with the Great Commission. 

The Great Commission in Matt. 28:19 is the mandate of God to every Christian. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The Great Commission involves soul-winning, discipleship, and the deployment of saints into the harvest field. The harvest field might be in the neighborhood, within the city, or in unreached cross-cultural locations. The most important thing is that, every Christian must be involved in fulfilling the purpose of the Church.

We are at present living in the Church Age. The Church was born on the day of Pentecost, and it will depart on the day of the Rapture. It is after the rapture of the Church that the remaining one-week, in the program of God for Israel, shall resume. It is currently suspended. That is why the Antichrist will reign for seven years after which Jesus shall return to establish the Kingdom of God on earth.

One of Satan’s responses to the purpose of God is the 'prosperity message.' Saints of God who are supposed to be in the harvest field are preoccupied with how they will 'breakthrough' into earthly wealth. The resources of heaven for the global harvest of souls are hoarded and squandered prodigally on projects that do not advance the Kingdom of God. The worship of mammon has eclipsed most believers’ commitment to Christ. Consequently, all manners of abominations and misconducts take place in the Church as many Christians jostle to acquire earthly wealth.

If a global harvest of souls is the purpose of the Church, how can that be consistent with the doctrine of earthly wealth and comfort? Would Jesus command, “go ye into all the earth” and at the same time, ordain pastors who would keep the people locked up behind invisible church walls? Would Jesus command “lay not up for yourselves treasurers upon the earth” and at the same time encourage the hoarding of church funds to the exclusion of missions, soul winning, and unreached people groups? Should souls be perishing while some churches are swimming in worldly affluence and luxury? Should the pursuit of wealth be the goal of any pastor? Several ministries are built upon that doctrine of prosperity. To get pastors to make a turn-around to the purpose of God has become a problem.

Christians should understand that salvation is an individual race. If some pastors are determined that it is prosperity or nothing else, heaven-minded Christians are free to pick their salvation and run on. The only promise Jesus made is eternal life (1 John 2: 25). The purpose of the Church is to bring in the harvest of souls; it is not to make men wealthy. May God help His people to understand. Does this mean that God wants His people poor? No. But making people wealthy to the exclusion of the wealth and health of their soul is not THE Gospel; it is not the Great Commission.

PRAYER POINTS

1).    Luke 19:10 
Repent on behalf of the Church for deviating from the purpose of Christ.

2).    John 20:21 
Pray for grace for Christians to return to the simplicity and obedience of Christ, starting with yourself.

3).    2 Pet. 2:18–21
Intercede for ministers of the gospel who started well, doing the will of the Lord, but have turned after filthy lucre. Pray that they will receive grace to repent before judgment comes.

4).    2 Cor. 11:12–15 
Pray for the swift judgment of God upon people who claim to be servants of Christ but are covenanted to Satan in exchange for wealth and fame.

5).    Eph. 1:17–20 
Pray that every Christian shall receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation to know what Christ has promised, and to shun the worship of mammon in the Church.

6).    John 8:31-32 
Pray that all the doctrines of errors currently plaguing the Church shall die a natural death; that the truth of God in Christ Jesus shall set Christians free from false teachers.

7).    1 Pet. 1:3-4 
Pray that Christians shall set their eyes on their heavenly inheritance and be committed to make heaven.

AMEN