Paul has been talking about the four ministries given to the church to equip, build and mature God's people.
Today's verses amplify the benefits of being "part of the body"...
1. We grow up in our faith. When we are Christians on our own we tend to become self-referencing and self-informing. Proverbs tells us that "as iron sharpens iron, one person sharpens another" (Prov27:17)
2. We don't get "blown and tossed back and forth." While the gospel is simple enough for a child to understand, we will spend the rest of our lives (and eternity!) soaking up the grandeur and glory of God's dealings with us. Being part of a faith community (that has the apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor-teachers) safeguards us from being side-tracked.
3. We learn to speak the truth in love and discover that Jesus is the head of the Church. People can be hard to love and they can drive us crazy. Many people love God, but struggle to love people. But God gives us no alternative: loving Him means loving others. The church is a workshop where we learn to love others. In church we discover that Jesus died for those who are not like us. When we learn REALationship (speaking the truth in love) we discover the power of God's love working in us and we see past people's imperfections to Christ who is the Head.
4. We discover our purpose as part of the body. A finger by itself is useless, an ear by itself is useless, a nose by itself is useless - but when they are part of the body they have value and purpose. As we realise our part in the body we discover that teamwork is much more fun than going solo.
These are solid reasons to go to church and get stuck in!
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
