Church Series day 3

Belonging To A Body

Church Series day 3

Paul’s life demonstrated a man who was completely changed and placed on a path set forth by God. He grew up as a Pharisee, a Jewish man who persecuted the gentiles. Until one day, unbeknownst to him, he came along the Lord our God while on the road to Damascus. It was at that moment that his desires changed, his passions became those of Christ’s.

This total transformation is something we all should hope to experience. Paul’s life became completely focused on spreading the love of Jesus Christ to the gentiles, to giving the Word of the Lord to the world. Paul’s entire ministry focused on this change and his writings are some of the most profound writings of the New Testament {I believe}.

Paul sketches what a church body should look like in Ephesians 4:11-16. He gives account of the members, their gifts, and their place among by body.

We {BELIEVERS} are the body of Christ.

Our aim in life should be modeling Christ. In our personal lives, our business lives and in our church life; we should conform to His image in every sense of His life. Our bodies need to be edified. We need to be faithful, conforming to His image.

Christians are what make up the body of Christ. We are the members of that body {us} in our sinful state. With that being said; we are fallen, imperfect creatures who should always submit to the authority of Christ. It is not a pastor that we model, it is not the deacons or elders, AND it is not the woman who seems to have it all together on Sunday mornings.

It is Christ.

We have to be careful not to place these humans in the church into a supernatural position that they cannot hold up to. If we give them authority they do not have, when they fall, it will shatter our world and will inevitably shake our faith in the true God.

When He is in authority, when it is He we are modeling our life after, we see an image of pure perfection.

He is not the problem, we are.

We should strive to love each other, edify each other, encourage one another, uplift one another, fellowship together, all while bringing glory to the great I Am.

We need to strengthen one another. He will be there with us, loving us and giving us the means to love our brother or sister. When we fall short, it will be His strength that is sufficient.

Christ was obedient to the cross because He loved His Father enough to obey with His whole heart. Are we pressing forward with the same love? Are we encouraged to love our brothers and sisters with this same love?

As I’ve stated many times throughout the last two posts, the church is a body of believers. If you are a believer, then you are part of His body. Once we accept that Jesus died for our sins, we are placed together and given certain gifts—gifts that we should WANT to use to show His love to this dying and unruly world.

It’s not about the “structure” that you worship in; it’s about whether you are worshipping. It’s not about the “people” you are worshipping with; it’s about whether you are being an encouragement to someone because you want to give the love of Christ to someone. And it’s not about whether you “make” yourself go to church; it’s about whether you want to fellowship with other members of His body.

The most important thing we can do is truly a simple one: love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our minds.

Deut. 6:5, Matt. 22:37

We need to fall forward at the throne, gaining strength from He who gives strength.

Blessings