Sermon26-41Summary Eph1 "Church of Christ"

Ephesians 1:15-23 theme verse Ephesians 1:23

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

On this thirty sixth Sunday of 2026, I pray that the grace of all the benefits Jesus earned for our salvation, and the ministry of proclaiming His kingdom by the Holy Spirit, may be full in our life. Last two weeks we meditated on the Christian family; this week we look at the church through which we may bear our mission.

1) First, to summarize today’s text. Paul prays that God may give the Ephesians the spirit of wisdom and revelation to know God, enlighten the eyes of their hearts to know the hope in His calling and the riches of His inheritance in the saints, and realize the immeasurable greatness of His power toward those who believe. And this power worked in Christ to raise Him from the dead, seat Him at His righthand far above all rule and authority, and make Christ the head of the church and the church His body, to fill all things through her.

2) Here the Greek word translated as “church” is ecclesia (ἐκκλησία), from the Hebrew ‘kahal’ (קָהָל), meaning “to call.” It combines ‘Ek’ (ἐκ, from) and ‘Kaleo’ (καλέω, to call), so ‘Ecclesia’ means ‘a community which belongs to God who called them out of the world.’ So the Ecclesia is not a church building, and as its owner God establishes and operates it. And the Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 54 calls this a ‘holy catholic church,’ in which the Son of God, through the Holy Spirit and the Word, gathers and preserves for Himself a community chosen from all mankind.

3) And here the Holy Catholic Church does not refer to the Roman Catholic Church, but to the universal church: there is only one church of Jesus Christ, not limited to a specific nation or region, but open to all the people in the world. Although there are various denominations and local churches, the church of Christ is united as one with Christ as its head.

4) And the meaning of Christ as the Head of church is that a) He is the highest authority, so all decisions and actions of the church must follow His will (Eph 1:22-23); b) He is the shepherd whose guidance, teachings and example the church must follow (John 10:3); c) He is the source of life, so the church grows in His grace and power (Eph 4:16); d) the church is His body, so all the saints receive gifts and roles and must unite in Christ (Eph 4:3, 13); and e) the church must follow His example, serving one another (Eph 4:11-12).

5) And regarding this church, Belgic Confession article 27 confesses that “We believe and confess one single catholic or universal church - a holy congregation and gathering of true Christian believers, awaiting their entire salvation in Jesus Christ… And so this holy church is not confined, bound, or limited to a certain place or certain people. But it is spread and dispersed throughout the entire world, though still joined and united in heart and will, in one and the same Spirit.”

6) Several distinctions also come into consideration. First, the Church in the present dispensation is a militant church, engaged in a holy warfare against the hostile world; she may not rest on her oars, but must be engaged with all her might in the battles of her Lord. And the Church in heaven is the triumphant Church, where the sword is exchanged for the palm of victory and the cross is replaced by the crown. Secondly, the Church is invisible, because she is essentially spiritual and cannot be discerned by the physical eye, yet visible in Christian profession and conduct and in the ministry of the Word and the sacraments. And thirdly, she is an organism, the communion of believers united in the bond of the Spirit, and also an institution, the mother of believers and a means of salvation.

7) Regarding this, the Christian Reformed Church of the North America stated in the church order that the church mission are worship, faith formation, pastoral care, evangelism and mercy ministry. a) To worship God is to love God, as Jesus summarized the first to fourth commandment as the great commandment. b) For faith formation, church has to prepare and implement a plan of education for adults as well as children, to help them grow in the knowledge of God. c) For pastoral care, as Calvin likened the church to the ‘mother’ of believers, church gives birth to and raises believers. d) And evangelism carries out the Lord’s great commission, while mercy ministry serves God’s creation as the cultural mandate.

8) By the way, in verse 23, it says that “The church is the body of Christ, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” This means that the church fills all things with the fullness of God after being filled with God’s fullness first. In other words, the fullness of God fills internally into the church and then outwardly toward the world.

9) Therefore, we as His church have to be filled with the fullness of God first to fill the whole earth with it. That’s why God gave humanity the cultural mandate to fill the earth and subdue it; why Paul prayed, “I pray that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19); why Habakkuk sang that “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14); and why Ezekiel saw the temple water filling the whole earth with new life (Eze 47:1-12). Therefore, I pray that this year we will all be filled with the love, life, and grace of Christ, and flow out that fullness throughout the earth for God’s glory.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 Through today’s text, we became to know that the church of Christ is the one who is filled with the fullness of God through Christ. So, meditating on His grace of fullness and thinking who much we are filled with God’s fullness, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 And, also we became to know that the reason why God fills us with His fullness is to fill all in all with His fullness through His church. So after reviewing if we fill the world with God’s fullness, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.