Message 4: The Church is the Body of Christ
The deepest relationship you will ever have is that as a fellow member of the body of Christ. Paul in Romans says “we are members one of another.” Other relationships you may have are unions with body and soul (personality). This would make a great football team. The relationship in the body of Christ is body and soul AND spirit. This makes them deeper than any other connection. In the body we have gifts that are extremely common but extremely powerful. These are prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading and showing mercy. These are according to the grace given us. If we exercise these we will see how surpassingly awesome the body is. As an introduction to this, Paul begs people to present their bodies to God as one living sacrifice. This way they are not conformed to the world but transformed to live for the will of God. We will know it when we test it.
Ephesians 4:16 - "From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part."
Romans 12:1-8 - "Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function, so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another. We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith; if it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is giving, let him give generously; if it is leading, let him lead with diligence; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully."
Be the first to reply