What do you want Calvary Baptist Church to be like in the future, 10, 20, 50 years from now if the Lord hasn’t returned yet? the responses were: united, on fire for Christ, outgrowing our building, known for loving others..

Then, in the same setting, I asked similar questions but from God’s perspective: What does God want you to be like spiritually in the future? What does God want Calvary Baptist Church to be like in the future, 10, 20, 50 years from now if the Lord hasn’t returned yet?

I shared my answers to these two latter questions, in brief, at a recent business meeting. I believe there are two key Bible passages that help answer these two related questions.

The first key passage, I believe points to God’s top spiritual purpose for individual Christians; Rom. 8:28-30 NKJV..29For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image (NIV likeness) of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren… From the NLT .. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son,

The goal of God’s predestined purpose for His own saved individual people is that they become more like Jesus Christ; conformed to His image, conformed to His likeness. I believe this is the goal that Paul wrote about in Phili. 3:14. I believe the top goal for Christians on this side of eternity is to become as much like Christ as possible according to His Word.

The second key passage about God’s top goal for His people, I believe is found in Eph. 4:11-16, which is in the context of individual Christians and the church as a whole. .. for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

These two passages are rich with truth about what God says are the top spiritual goals for His people and His church. Have you ever asked yourself how important these two passages, in particular, are to you and Calvary Baptist Church and how committed and passionate we are collectively about this God-ordained spiritual process? God calls us to Himself and is the source of spiritual growth, however He also expects us to respond to Him and His Ways with increased faith and obedience.

The practical how-to for this spiritual process of becoming more like Christ is brought out in multiple Bible passages; for example, the remainder of Eph. 4 gives us some exhortation about putting off the old sinful nature and putting on godliness as part of this priority spiritual growth process God calls us to. The more we understand Rom. 8 and Eph. 4 and live accordingly, the more we will be in the will of God for pursuing His top spiritual goals for us as His people.

It is my prayer that we as a church family will think and pray about, study, and discuss these things more often to help us be and stay on the right track individually and collectively when it comes to God’s top spiritual purposes for us as His people.

Keeping the main thing the main thing should include these types of passages, and the Great Commission & Great Commandment passages, our church vision/purpose statement, and some future goals related to growing in Christ. We can read and talk about spiritual priorities and goals, but we need to move ‘from here to there;’ we need to be doers of the Word of God; we need leadership, involvement, focus, discipline, and some strategies to help us. Let’s become more and more like Christ and be the church God calls us to be. Amen!

Pastor Mike