Life In The Body
The outline:
1) The Body and ourselves.
a) No Lone Rangers.
b) Compared with the best.
c) Humility.
2) The Body and others.
a) Unity.
b) Diversity.
c) Mutuality.
3) The Body and our gifts.
a) We all have gifts.
b) They are not for ourselves.
c) They meet needs in the body.
Some comments:
Firstly, want to see what it looks like when someone offers themselves up as a living sacrifice to God? Go to your local church.
Paul moves seamlessly to addressing how Christians will conduct themselves in relationship with other Christians.
The idea of a churchless Christian is alien to the Bible.
The humility which Paul exhorts is not based on any comparison of ourselves with Christians around us. This is not a matter of measuring how much faith you have been given and being humble in the presence of those who have more. Rather, the measure, or standard, against which we measure ourselves is the one that God has given, the Lord Jesus. Compare yourself to Him. Plenty to be humble about there.
Secondly, Paul again confirms that the churchless Christian is an unbiblical notion. He describes us being gathered in the body.
The analogy of a body allows us to see that Christians are united to one another. We can also see that their is a diversity in our unity. Just as the organs and members of a body all serve differing but vital functions, so do Christians. Mutuality recognises that we serve each other.
Thirdly, each of us has a gift. These gifts vary, but we each have them. The existence of our gifting again confirms our mutuality. The gifts cannot be expressed in singularity. They exist for our relationship with other Christians. We can even understand that our calling and giftedness means that our local church has a need for service that they are being denied if we are with-holding our presence and service.
The various gifts themselves are not the focus here, so I won’t comment on them much, except to say that they call us to rationally, humbly and sacrificially offer ourselves to one another.
So our church needs our presence, humilty and service.
The emphasis is not so much on us having gifts as it is on the fact that needs are met in the body.
There were some other comments about mutuality, service and consideration that involved chairs, but these were particularly for mgpc, so I won’t go into them here.
It’s been a very demanding week, so that’s all for comments on this message, except to say that I’ve personally been overwhelmed to see the way people have been serving each other and instructing and exhorting one another in prayer. As for me, I am provided with encouragement which is the visible experience of God’s love and presence as I carry out the privelege of ministering among the folk at mgpc.
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