~The Purpose of Creation - by Donald H. O' Keefe

*NOTE!  The following was our first Blog post.  Due to the Blog being new not many people read this article.  It was written by our Western District Foreign Mission's Director, Bro. Donald Hugh O' Keefe, Pastor of Bay Point UPC and I felt the need to republish it for all to read and enjoy.

Jerry E. Powell


THE PURPOSE OF CREATION

Why did God make the heavens and the earth, and all the plants and creatures, and mankind? Creation was not an experiment or a frivolous game. He had a clear cut, definite purpose in mind. God had a plan.

Creation, as we know it, was the stage where his ultimate purpose, i.e., his plan would be acted out and fulfilled.

Before there were oceans or before there was a sun , moon, or stars; before there were birds, fish, or animals; and especially before there was Adam and Eve; before any of these things, there was the plan of God. Yes, before there was an Adam and Eve that could fall into sin, there was, already in the plan of God a redeemer to save man from the sin that was not yet committed. That is why the Bible refers to “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”.


The apostle John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” Of course, the term translated here as “Word” is in the Greek “Logos”, which can be equally correct to translate as “Plan” or “the expression of thought.” Then John wrote that “the Word was made flesh.” He could have written that “the Plan was instituted” or that “the thought was expressed”. The “Plan” or “the thought that was expressed “was of a Lamb”, a redeemer to purchase mercy and grace for fallen man.

The Bible refers to Christ and says that he “was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

The first part of God’s plan was “the Lamb slain." Why? Because God’s ultimate purpose in all of creation was to gain a body of people redeemed from sin that would be eternally grateful for a salvation founded on his grace and mercy. Since that was his purpose, we must conclude that the death, burial, and resurrection was the central part of the plan. When Jesus went to the cross, the entire plan of creation, God’s purpose from the beginning, depended upon him enduring the suffering and giving his life. Jesus gave everything that God’s plan be fulfilled. He gave everything for the cause that meant everything to him. Nothing meant more. Nothing could mean more. If he had not gone to Calvary the purpose for creation would not have been fulfilled. If he had not gone to Calvary there would have been no hope of salvation for any man.

If the central purpose of creation was the plan of redemption, and if Christ submitted himself to the cross that the purpose of creation be fulfilled, if that purpose meant everything to Christ, then the purpose of creation, the cause for which Christ died should mean everything to the church today.  It is not enough that God planned creation to obtain a redeemed people. Neither is it enough that Christ was crucified and resurrected to purchase salvation. The world must hear the gospel. The church must do its part in God’s plan and tell every nation of the salvation available in Jesus Christ.

Is it not intolerable to know that there are millions of people that will be lost and go to hell, people for whom Christ died, people that would have accepted the gospel if they had ever heard it? Yet, millions that Jesus gave everything to save will go unsaved into eternity, because we do not reach them. Forgive us Jesus!

If we do not fulfill the command of Christ to carry the gospel to every nation, tongue, and people, the sacrifice of Calvary will be in vain for every soul that does not hear of it...

It is clear that the command to the church to take this gospel to all the world, to every nation, to the uttermost part of the earth, is part of God’s purpose in creation. In fact, it is a critical part. If the church fails in this assigned task then the purpose of creation will have failed.

The original apostolic church accepted this task as the imperative command of Christ. All of the apostles, except Judas, the betrayer; James, who died early in his ministry; and James, the Lord’s half brother, who pastored in Jerusalem; died on a foreign field doing foreign missions work.

Consider the role call of the New Testament saints that worked as foreign missionaries:
Peter, Matthias, Timothy, Titus, Andrew, Paul, Silas, Philip,(the deacon), John, Mark, Luke, Epaphroditus, Philip, Apollos, Gaius, Demas, Bartholomew, Aquilla, Priscilla, Tychicus, Thomas, Barnabas, Aristarchus, Fortunatus, Matthew, Stephanus Epaphrus, Archaicus, Jude, James(the less), Simon of Cyrene, Urbane, Junia, Alexander, Simon Zealotes, Andronicus.

This list is far from complete, but it is long enough to show that reaching the world was a major thrust of the early church.

Consider the makeup of the New Testament. The four gospels were written by foreign missionaries. The Book of Acts was written by a foreign missionary, and nearly half of it is a story of foreign missions; all of the epistles, with the exception of the Book of James, were written by foreign missionaries; Romans through Thessalonians were written to churches founded on a foreign field by a foreign missionary; Timothy through Philemon were written to converts of a foreign missionary; I Peter, II Peter, I John, II John, and III John were all written by foreign missionaries. Finally, the Revelation was written by a foreign missionary to seven churches founded on a foreign field.

Consider this, if it had not been for missionaries, America would not have the gospel and you would not be saved. You owe your salvation to foreign missionaries.

The early church knew that it had been commissioned to reach every nation, kindred, and tongue, and they gave themselves to that task. They knew that the fulfillment of this assignment was critical if the purpose of creation and Calvary was to ever be achieved. They were constrained by the love of Christ to lift up their eyes and look on the fields. They were constrained to go and they were constrained to give.

It takes more than Acts 2:38, One God, and holiness to be apostolic; it takes being involved in reaching our world for Christ. It is giving ourselves to the cause for which Jesus gave himself. It is being obedient to the charge and the commission given to us by the Captain of our Salvation. It is following the example of the early apostolic church by making the reaching of our world a priority.

God will have a church, a people that will go and that will give. “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.”