In review of Ephesians 3:10 it says, “[God’s] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known.”
Bottom Line:
It was God’s intention to use the church to communicate and display his wisdom to all.
What this means to me:
God’s purpose in communicating his his wisdom is to use the church to display it in its rich variety to all.
When I think I’ve heard God tell me something, I may ask, “How do I know if this impression is really from God?” One way to know if my impression is from God, is to ask, “Do those mature believers from my church family confirm this?”
The key is to get wisdom and advice of godly people in my life to help me stay on track. God never meant for me to go through life on my own. That’s why he created the church!
I need others, as nobody has all the answers, has it all together, and knows the right decision every time. That’s why I need to be part of a church family. I need spiritually mature friends to bounce ideas off of and get feedback from.
Ephesians 3:10 says, “[God’s] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known” (NIV).
If God has genuinely spoken to me, I will be able to confirm it through other mature believers. If they don’t confirm it, I may have every reason to doubt whether it was really from God.
If I feel resistant to even sharing the impression, that resistance could be coming from the enemy. It means it’s likely not from God, because God would not have a problem with me sharing an idea from him. He wants us to learn from each other, to share with each other, to get the wise counsel of each other.
Rick Warren comments that the two biggest reasons people mess up in life are that first, they have no spiritually mature friends, and secondly, they don’t listen to them even if they do have them.
The Bible says in Proverbs 11:9, “The wisdom of the righteous can save you” (GNT). It doesn’t say the wisdom of your best friends. It says the “wisdom of the righteous”, in other words, people who have been walking with God longer than myself. They’re not perfect, but they are making an effort to grow, and they’re sincere. Consulting with them will save me time, money, energy, and they save me from mistakes, failure, and danger. This is why I need other, mature believers to help me know if an impression is from God.
As I think about this concept this morning, I have to admit, that I made a fairly large life impacting decision recently without really getting counsel of other mature Christians. This may have been because I may not have wanted to hear what they may have said. I ended up playing the conversation in my head of what I thought they would counsel on. I could have been completely off, but now I’ll never really know. I hope to use this situation in the future to remind me to consult with and use those mature believers around me to make big decisions.
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