Jesus is my all in all. He is the focus of my everything. That is the goal anyway–for every thought to be captive to Christ. I exist for Christ.

The church exists for Christ. The church is the saved and reaches out to the lost, but the church is of and for Christ.

See what God inspired the New Testamdent authors to write.

1. 1 Corinthians 15:28,
2. Ephesians 1:21-23 the church is the fulness of Christ
3. Ephesians 3:21
4. Ephesians 4:6
5. Colossians 1:17
6. Colossians 3:11

There is not one blade of grass which does not exist for God’s glory. There should not be one church which does not exist for his glory.

Doesn’t the church exist for the church?

The church does serve itself. Look at all the one another passages in the New Testament. See how the early church cared for itself. See how they sacrificed so that their needs would be met.

Doesn’t the church exist for the lost?

The church does serve the lost. It serves them by reaching out to them with the Gospel–Romans 10:14-17. It practices the Great Commission so that the list may be saved and Christ may be glorified.

So what is the ultimate purpose of the church??

Is our ultimate purpose to grow? Is our ultimate purpose to baptize? Is our ultimate purpose to care for the dying? Is our ultimate purpose to feed the hungry?

Those are all functions of the church. But they are not the ultimate purpose of the church. The ultimate purpose of the church is the same as the purpose of everything else in creation–to glorify God.

There will always be hungry and suffering people. There will always be dying people. There will always be lost people. There will always be God to glorify. Glorifying God is the only mission which the church can complete. Glorifying God is the only mission which the church can continue in eternity.

So who should be the focus of our church?

Should we focus on reaching the lost? Should we focus on edifying the saved? Keep your eyes on Jesus. When we focus on Him, we will edify the saved, preach to the lost, and most importantly the main thing remains the main thing–God is glorified.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21).