While on my morning commute, I often listen to podcasts, some secular some sacred. I recently listened to Andrew Wilson’s excellent exposition of Ephesians 4:1-16 on TGC podcast. He emphasizes the ascension of Christ in ways that I had not thought of before and does an amazing job of connecting the passage’s Old Testament roots to the current realities of the Church and her gifts. I strongly recommend you take the forty minutes necessary to listen to it.
However, what struck me most was the end of the sermon, in which he talks about how the Body of Christ is the fullness of Christ. According to Andrew, Paul’s first and clearest Christian understanding is that the Church is the Body of Christ on earth, for Jesus revealed to Paul in his vision on the Damascus road that persecuting the Church was persecuting Jesus himself (Ac. 9:4-5; 26:14-15). Andrew then ties this understanding to Ephesians 1:22-23, where it is written “And He [God the Father] put everything under His [Christ’s] feet and appointed Him as head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way” (HCSB). Andrew points out that the Church is the fullness of Christ; and Christ fills the earth using the Church. Everywhere the Church is, Christ is present. In every mundane thing we do, our very presence as Christians—little Christs—represents and reflects our Lord Jesus to the world. During my childhood, my family lived in a decidedly anti-Christian culture. My mother was fond of saying that our simply being there as lights made a difference. This is what Andrew emphasized at the end of his sermon.
However, as I was listening to this amazing revelation, that the Church fills the earth as Christ’s body, reflecting his presence everywhere, I realized another thing: God never gives up his initial purpose, which for humans was to “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it” (Ge. 1:28 – HCSB). Since our forefather Adam abdicated human rule to the Adversary who is now “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2 – ESV), we lost our ability to do this correctly. However, our Lord and Husband, Jesus Christ, is making it possible for us to do this even now, as he builds his Church, his very fullness, in the entire known earth. Therefore, we must stand strong in the place where God plants us so we can continue the witness of his glorious goodness and majesty in places where the Adversary attempts to stamp out that light. As long as the light shines in the darkness, the darkness is helpless (Jn. 1:5). So, as Christmas comes and the new year begins, let us shine brightly where God has planted us and be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Rev. 12:11).