It is the privilege of Jesus’ church to pursue excellence: excellence in holiness1; excellence in stewardship2; excellence in fruitfulness3; excellence in labor4; excellence in endurance5, and so much more. Why is this our privilege? It’s our privilege because we, the church, are the bride of Jesus Christ6, and Proverbs 12:4a says, “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband…” (NASB). We pursue excellence not to become Christ’s bride, but rather because we’re already irrevocably betrothed to him, and God has equipped us by the Holy Spirit to live with excellence.
What does it look like for the church to be excellent?
It looks like Psalm 45:9b-11, 13-14b (NASB): “At Your right hand [oh divine King] stands the queen in gold from Ophir. Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house; Then the King will desire your beauty…The King’s daughter is all glorious within; Her clothing is interwoven with gold. She will be led to the King in embroidered work…”
It looks like Ephesians 2:10 (NASB): “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
It looks like Matthew 28:19-20 (NASB): “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
It looks like Revelation 19:7-8 (NASB): “‘Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.’ It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”
Know that in the church’s pursuit of excellence, our head, Jesus himself, leads and helps us. Jesus is not aloof from his bride in her pursuit, but instead intimately involved. Though he is the groom, Jesus is also the firstborn among many brethren and will not leave his siblings to labor alone.7 It is the covering of his blood, spilled at the cross, that makes us excellent before God, and thus able to pursue excellence. Indeed, Jesus has taken on himself the final responsibility for our excellence.8 In this we can rejoice because Jesus will not fail to finish what he’s begun.9 Our final excellence has already been secured in Christ.
It is the privilege of the church to pursue excellence for the glory of her bridegroom in all she does. Why would we settle for anything less? Why would we ever be content with mediocrity?
- Rom. 12:1, Eph. 4:24, Heb. 12:14, 1 Pet. 1:15-16
- Matt. 25:19-30
- John 15:8, 16
- 1 Cor. 15:58
- Heb. 12:1-2, Rev. 3:10
- Eph. 5:25, 32; Rev. 19:7-8, 21:1-2
- Rom. 8:29, Col. 1:18
- Eph. 5:25-27
- Phil. 1:6