start thinking about white blood cells and antibodies and the like. we’ll get there in a minute.
sunday, my pastor preached from philippians 4, where Paul thanks the Thessalonians for supporting him while he’s stuck in jail.
anyway, my pastor made the point that the body’s resources are meant to be shared. when a part of the body is fighting off an infection, white blood cells come rushing to the infected area from all over the body. they come from other limbs, other areas of the blood stream, from all over. we are the Body of Christ, and we are to circulate our resources in much the same way.
1 Corinthians 12:25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
what i’ve been given isn’t necessarily for MY benefit, alone. it might be that i am supposed to share it with others in the Body that might have need. in fact, doesn’t Ephesians say that gifts are given to the benefit of the Body?
Ephesians 4:11-13 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
alright, that’s his sermon, and here’s where my brain trailed off:
i started really thinking through that analogy. and began to wonder: can we live without being connected to the Body? can we survive without having fresh live blood that flows through the ENTIRE Body also flowing to us? if we are disconnected – if we are out of regular fellowship – if we are out of true Christian community, are we dying?
and, are we dying faster than we realize?
so, i’m wondering, just how long can an organ (yeah, like a heart or kidney or something) survive on its own? how long can it remain “disconnected” before cells begin to deteriorate? how long before “resuscitation” is no longer possible?
and how does this apply to us? how long can we survive outside of the Body – the church?
Romans 12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
thoughts???
I always think about Proverbs 27:17 in relation to this:
“Iron sharpens iron,
So one man sharpens another.”
We don’t get sharpened up if we’re not rubbing up against one another.
Good point! we also can’t experience all the gifts of the spirit if we aren’t connected. if we all had all the gifts we wouldn’t need each other. kinda just repeated what u said
You can probably get along without me, but I sure need you! I would be lost without my Christian community – and we need to handle it with care!
I think your title tells it all. Man! I’m glad we have each other!!
Indian Lake Papa: i like “handle it with care”… amen to that! you know, if we thought of each other as members of the same BODY, we wouldn’t hurt each other so much… the hand doesn’t hurt the leg, etc.
if our body is turning on itself, then something is HORRIBLY wrong. the human body takes care of itself, not neglecting itself.
we should do the same.
handle with care!
Ah yes. One of the longest sentences in the Bible (verses 11 to 16). LOVE IT! Some of are called to the offices of Christ but it is up to us to equip the saints (i.e. all Christians) to do the work of ministry. If we (apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors and teachers) don’t equip you, then we are not doing our jobs.
Love it. Love it. Love it.
I digress.
Check out verse 16:
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
That answers your question.
I know that missionaries are not connected to a Christian community where God has them at but I look at them as “the hands and feet of Christ”. You ever held your hands up so long that you start to get shake-arm and you got to pull them back in. Even missionaries have to get pulled back in, get refreshed and let the blood come back into the hands and feet just to stretch out once again.
“according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
EXACTLY!!!
Well, I can miss about two weeks of fellowship (being with other believers and talking about how good God is, not always necessarily corporate meetings, although two weeks is about all I can stand to miss of that too. I guess I need both) before I feel like I am dying! Now that I have discovered blogging world, I may never have to be disconnect again!
Mandy this post is SO good. Truly, it resonates.