"His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Ephesians 3:10-11

The above passage is one of the most thought provoking and awe-inspiring passages that I have encountered up to this point in my journey of faith.  I have taught on it (see message titled "Mystery" in the media content of this site), but obviously I can only scratch the surface of what could be said about this passage.

One of the incredibly intriguing things about this passage is the idea that God uses the Church to teach a lesson to the "rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms."  To be quite honest, I am still not completely sure that I understand that fully - check that - I'm positive that I don't understand that fully.  At least, though, I think a plain understanding of the text leads me to believe that somehow, someway, God is teaching something to the angels and demons (real, created heavenly beings that exist in a realm that is unseen but of equal reality to our own).

I have always envied the idea of the communication of God with angels....with a "fly on the wall" kind of envy.  The Scripture communicates a number of ways in which God instructs angels to do certain things, though it seems that God's primary purpose is that they are created to carry out the desires of the heart of the Father.  What is of equal interest is that it seems that they are free beings as well (evidenced by the rebellion of some who were initially loyal to the Father).  But it would certainly seem to be pretty cool to have God give you some face to face instructions about stuff, or talk to you about what He wants you to do and why ("Hey Angel, Jerry is about to do something stupid again. Go and stall his car in the 20 degree Buffalo winter so he is held up long enough to avoid the wreck he would probably get in by falling asleep at the wheel since he has no business being out until 1am watching the March Madness Championship Game" - as an example...that is probably not a good one).

It's not shocking to anyone that you and I might envy the conversations that the angels are privy to.  What would be shocking is if they were envious of the conversations we were having with God.  Now, when I use the term "envious" I am using it loosely - not in the sense of vice.  But, that said, imagine the angels scratching their heads at us...wondering about the things we talk about. 

Things like grace.  Forgiveness.  Redemption.  Transformation.  Things that angels really don't understand.

As God's image bearers (humans) and new creations (believers in Jesus), we are confounding to the angels.  They just can't understand us when we sing songs of redemption in Jesus because it is a song only we can sing.  And the demons?  Well, they can't seem to believe that God would use such imperfect and less-than-noble characters like me and you to accomplish His purposes in the earth. 

But he does.  And He does it to demonstrate that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was an incredible statement of (curiously and miraculously) His wisdom.  The cross and resurrection of Jesus birthed a new kind of humanity that was neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, but was an altogether new creation through belief in Jesus Christ.  And this new creation - the Church - was, and is, a marvel to this world and the unseen world.  It's very cool to think that God takes the angels and demons to graduate school in His wisdom by pointing to us - the Church.

Here's hoping that we remain a usable object lesson.

"Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.  How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!"  Psalm 47:1-2

A lot of things would get fixed in our version of "Christianity" if we could really grab hold of the vastness of God.

God is the God over every nation, every government, every people group, and every culture on the face of the earth.  We forget that to our detriment.  Unfortunately, the American church can sometimes plunge into that sea of forgetfulness with reckless abandon.  A brief glimpse of the Global God and His Global Church could fix some of that though - if we would let Him.

For every person that has ever complained about music styles or the length of a message in the American church, I would recommend going to Cuba and worshipping with the Church there.

For everyone who has ever argued over the color of the carpet in their church building or on the placement of flags or flowers, I would recommend going to China and worshipping with the Church there.

For everyone that has never even engaged in any aspect of ministry in their local body because they are so busy, I would love for them to spend some time in the sugar cane villages of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

For those who have ever complained about the hot/cold temperature in their church building, I would love for them to worship for 3 hours in the church buildings of Ukraine or India (pick your temperature).

For those who have ever bellyached about the way people ought to dress in church, I wish they would be able to worship in Sierra Leone, Africa with the Church there.

I say all of these things not as a 'slam', but as a reminder.  There is too much about the Americanized version of Christianity that really is meaningless.  Some of the things that people actually discuss and debate in the American church would simply go away when brought into the light of the Global God and His Global Church.  Sure, the gospel must be contextualized - the Incarnation of Jesus is proof enough of that point - but the gospel should never be trivialized in light of our all of our cultural conveniences and whims.

Sometimes, I wish Jesus would have just given us a prerequisite before we could actually be His followers - one that required that we see different expressions of God's Global Church.  He didn't do that of course, but I can assure you it would benefit you to see His activity in a culture/people that are not like you and I.

Maybe He will call you to experience that, huh?  Maybe He already has.  Either way, if/when God does call you to that - it will benefit you....and ultimately benefit everyone around you because you will have a broader, more real, less trite idea of the Global God.