The Church: The Fullness of Christ
Delivered 07/12/2009 on Ephesians 1:15-23 by Nathan Carico
In his novel, Jayber Crow, Wendell Berry says that the human soul is like the surface of a quieted river whose ripples hide and yet reveal the beauty of another world…a world like this one but a world that is eternal and calm. And yet the river (soul) is easily disturbed making it difficult to see this beauty. The church is much the same. Paul says that the church is the fullness of Christ, a new humanity, and that to have Jesus you must also take his bride (the church). To have Jesus, you must also take his body (the church). But while the church is beautiful it is also messy. Sometimes like the river stream, it is hard to see the new humanity below the disturbed surface. And yet as she continues to find her identity rooted in Jesus, the true King, which compels her to rule righteously on the earth, the church will see who she was, is, and forever will be - the fullness of Christ.
