What would it be like to feel at peace with God and one another every moment? What would it be like to feel hopeful about the future every moment? What would it be like to feel content with what you have every moment? Obviously, we don't know! We just know that there are moments when we do feel these things and it is because of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We're not in heaven yet but we are "seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus" (Eph 2:6). This reality, not just the awareness of it or the belief in it but the reality of it, is absolutely world-shaking and life-changing. We are now seated (securely at rest) in the heavenlies in Christ. This means that we are so secure that we cannot adequately describe or explain it. It is true and we know it is true but we cannot adequately explain it. We learn it by listening to God in His word and experiencing our life under the rule of Christ. In fact the Christian life is not only a long obedience in the same direction, as Pederson put it, but it is a long and joyful time of discovery of what is true now and what will be fully experienced in the ages to come (literally: "as the ages role in over us" Eph 2:7). It helps to be patient with ourselves as we slowly come to the realization through the Word that this salvation we have received is far, far greater than we had ever imagined. But the other side of that is that we are far, far more sinful and flawed than we ever allowed ourselves to notice. Even people who are "down on themselves" don't realize just how far down they really are. They feel sorry for themselves and are full of self-pity but they are really not aware of just how serious their problem is. Outside of Christ we were "God-haters" (ekthroi Romans 5:10). This is not a complement, but it is the truth and without truth we will never escape the damage and destiny of our brokenness and sin.

Brokenness is not just the results of "being dealt a bad hand." It is the result of our rebelliousness and alienation from the God who made us for His glory and satisfaction. We are broken because we have rebelled against the One who formed us and fashioned us in His image and for His glory and against whom we have snubbed our nose and resisted so stubbornly. But now that we have believed the gospel ("The Story of His Glory") we have been reconciled and forgiven and set free and made whole. But it can only come through the Deliverer: His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. And by His work as Prophet, Priest and King we have become "A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that (we) may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called (us) out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). We (the church) are in the world to express the reality of the gospel.

Tommy Givens, a church planter in Spain, says it so well:

"Our mission is primarily about forming a worldwide body of people that overcomes by means of the Spirit the powers that divide humanity outside Christ (according to e.g. blood/race, territory/nationality, mammon; see e.g. Col 3:8-17). The body of Christ does this by living/embodying the death and resurrection of Jesus, whereby the members spurn all claims to status and experience with one another Jesus' victory over sin and death (e.g. Php. 2:5-11), culminating in their own resurrection to inhabit the new creation. In short, they love one another with Christ's love. This church proclaims the Gospel that only Jesus is the true Lord of the world and invites others to serve Him as part of His people (e.g. why baptism signified conversion in the NT). It is not an invitation to merely "believe" something theoretical that has eternal consequences for human individuals and then attempt to "live" it practically the best one can with the help of the church. To serve Jesus as Lord is to abandon all loyalties which fragment humanity and creation (Acts 17:22-31) and become an integral part of His body with its place/role in God's plan to save the world. Jesus has subdued the powers which corrupt God's world; He is Lord over them (e.g. Mt. 28:18; Col 2:15). The body of Christ then is the Spirit-endowed realm where Jesus' reign is uniquely manifest. Serving Jesus in and through His body is how people experience the Kingdom of God and come to share in the Lord Jesus' mission to bring His reign to bear upon the nations still living under sin and Satan (e.g. Mt. 18:18:19; 28:19-20). Therefore, the church is not secondary in Gospel mission. It is the instrument and locus of salvation (i.e. salvation in Jesus Christ). Therefore, the cause of Christ grows only as the church grows, not merely in number but in power, specifically the power to incarnate collectively a humanity stronger than sin." (from a paper entitled: The Role of the Church In Salvation).

— Frank G.