Our Theological Vision
The Glory of God
“In the beginning, God...” In order to fully understand and succeed in our vision, we must understand God’s vision for the world. God created all things, and chiefly humans in His image, for His glory and to image forth His glory by multiplying and filling the earth so that the earth would be filled with the knowledge of his glory (Genesis 1:26-28; Isaiah 43:7; Habakkuk 2:14; Revelation 4:11). The glory of God is described as the display of His infinite worth as seen in His attributes.
Jonathan Edwards wrote, “It appears that all that is ever spoken of in the Scripture as an ultimate end of God’s works is included in that one phrase, the glory of God.” John Piper writes, “That is why we exist—to see, and rejoice in, and reflect the value of the glory of God....Therefore the final goal in our hearts is the enjoyment of the glory of God...And the final goal in the universe is the fullest possible display of the glory of God.”
Edwards has described the vision of God’s glory this way: “God glorifies Himself toward the creature in two ways; by appearing to their understanding, and in communicating Himself to their hearts and their rejoicing in and delighting in Him, and enjoying manifestations He makes of Himself. God is Glorified not only by His glories being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. God made the world that he might communicate and the creature receive His glory, and that it might be received both by the mind and the heart.“
Because the glory of God is central to God’s vision for the universe, it is central to our vision for CityLights Church.
The Local Church
The creation of the Church is both planned and accomplished because God has designed His Church to be the primary means in which He would display His glory and receive glory (Ephesians 1:3-14; 3:8-11).
Jesus Himself preached about the role of the Church in displaying God’s glory (Matthew 5:16; John 17:20-26), as did Peter (1 Peter 2:9) and Paul (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Jesus Christ founded the church (Matthew 16:18) and purchased it with His blood (Acts 20:28). The church is the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:23, 4:12 ; 5:23-32; Colossians 1:18, 24; 3:15; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27) and the dwelling place of His Spirit (Romans 8:9, 11, 16; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:11, 15-17). The church is God's instrument for bringing both the Gospel to the nations and a host of redeemed humanity to Himself (Revelation 5:9).
The church, central to God’s purpose, is manifested in local expressions, or local churches as God’s ordained means of imaging His glory. These local churches are made of of redeemed people called out of darkness (1 Peter 2:9-10). The glory of God is displayed in the local church through the celebration of Communion (1 Corinthians 11:26), baptism (Matthew 28:19), corporate worship (Colossians 3:16-17), the preached Word of God (1 Corinthians 2:1-8) in church discipline (Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5:1-5), in biblically qualified leadership (1 Peter 5:1-5), and the exercise of spiritual gifts for the edification of God’s people (1 Corinthians 12:7).
Mark Dever writes, “When the church is marked off from the world through the faithful practice of church membership and discipline, and led by godly, qualified men who teach the Word and equip all the saints for works of service, the church's corporate character proclaims the glory of God through the power of the Gospel. But when a church fails to draw a bright line between itself and the world, its members live just like the world, its leaders fail to meet biblical qualifications, and that church will broadcast lies about God and His Gospel to the world.”
Gospel Centered
The local church is both formed and shaped by the gospel — the good news that Jesus Christ came to save sinners through His perfect life, substitutionary death, and bodily resurrection, providing justification, sanctification, and glorification for His Church and for His glory (Ephesians 1:3-11). The gospel of Jesus Christ reveals the greatest expression of God’s glory (2 Corinthians 4:4-6). Dr. John MacArthur writes, “The gospel reveals God’s glory, that is, the perfections of His person or attributes, including His holiness (hatred of sin) and justice (demand of punishment for violations of His Law) and grace (forgiveness of sin)” Matthew Henry writes, “Much of the glory of God appears in the works of creation and providence, but much more in the gospel, where it shines in the face of Jesus Christ.”
The gospel is means in which we are justified and conformed continually to Christ image, which enables us to display the glory of Christ to the world. The consummation of His purpose for all creation is the reconciliation of His people to Himself for His glory.
The heart of the Christian Faith is to display God’s character as image bearers through our knowledge and obedience to Him. This can only be accomplished by being made “new” - which is granted to us by grace through faith in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14-18). As a result, everything we do in word or in action is meant to be done in glory to God in order to proclaim and display God’s glory (Colossians 3:17; 1 Peter 2:9). God is glorified through our continued life marked by faith in Him (Romans 4:19-20; Hebrews 11:6), our worship (Philippians 2:9-11), and our conduct. This is why our marriages (Ephesians 5:31-32), our work (Colossians 3:23-24), our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), and even everything we eat or drink (1 Corinthians 10:31) is meant to done to give God glory as we image forth the glory of God we behold in Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Making disciple makers
As our human ancestors were commanded to be fruitful and multiply other image-bearers, we are commanded as gospel centered believers to multiple image bearers of Christ called “disciples” (Matthew 28:18-20).
God has ordained and destined each believer to be conformed to the image of Christ and reflect the glory of that image (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18). Disciples then are defined as image bearing followers of Christ (Luke 6:40). Therefore, to grow as a disciple, we must grow into Christ’s image. We refer to this process as discipleship. Discipleship is the lifelong process to grow in the knowledge of, love for, and obedience to God for our joy and His glory. Discipleship isn’t merely about seeing minds informed, hearts feel warm, or behavior conformed - but seeing lives transformed- into the image of Christ.
Because of this understanding of discipleship and making disciples, our mission as a church is to make disciple making disciples.