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The Church's Collective Purpose: Oneness with Jesus, Ephesians 4:11-16

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What is the purpose of our lives, together as the entire church? Yes, we are to “love God and people” (Matt 22:37-39) and to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19), but these are commands for Christians, not purpose statements. These are the actions by which we live out our purpose on earth but are not the same as our eternal purpose in itself (directly). The end goal of all Christians is to be “one with God”, or to have “union with Christ.” This is a major motif throughout Paul’s writing and is made the “clearest” in Ephesians. While reading the whole of Ephesians is the best way to grasp God’s vision of “oneness” with him, Ephesians 4:11-16 is one of the clearest passages on this as applied to the church, "[Jesus gave] [church leaders] towards the fitness of the saints for the work of ministry for the building of the body of Christ, until we all may arrive at unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of God, into mature manhood [and] to the measure of the statu