The “Body” of Christ

While cleaning yesterday, I was listening to another sermon. This time it was on Ephesians 4:16 especially and Romans 12:4-8. When I was first listening to this passage, it reminded me of a really dear friend of mine who is going through SUCH a tough time right now. I had to tell her about the Romans passage because God kept putting it on my heart and because He is using her in ways she probably never imagined. And now I need to blog about the Ephesians passage 🙂

Romans 12:4-8 says:

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, 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 contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

AND….

Ephesians 4:16 says:

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

One thing that made me think is that in the body of Christ, we ALL have a part we need to play. Think of a physical body. Say I was an arm, Dan was an arm, and various other people were other body parts, to make a whole. What if I neglected to do my “part” in making up this body? What if I was or do stuck in my old ways, in my old self, and don’t contribute to the body of Christ? Do I sit back and wait for others to do my part instead? Do I support or bring down the body of Christ? Do I help support the other ligaments or body “parts” in the body of Christ? In other words, how do I contribute? I think for ME, that’s where the Roman’s passage comes in.

We are all gifted uniquely by God. It really made me think about how I use my gifts to glorify God and to build up the body of Christ. When I was going through some tough times in November, someone suggested to me to list goals or gifts that I thought I did well. It was tough. But I did it. It really put life in perspective for me. Yes, obstacles come where we may not be able to give 100% to something because we need to care for the burdens in our own heart. I don’t see anything wrong with that. If we do it for a short time that is. But, I needed to pick myself back up, figure out WHAT I enjoyed doing, and utilize my gifts in those areas. And I realized many of them were related to being a part of the body of Christ.

I love the part in the Romans passage that says: we have different gifts, according to the GRACE give us. GRACE. These gifts are not something we crafted ourselves. They were given to us by the GRACE of God. That is humbling to think about. God gave ME, Kristin, certain gifts to use in His kingdom and he specifically chose them for ME. And He did the same for YOU. He gave YOU specific gifts to administer in His Kingdom, by His grace. It’s nothing we did. To be honest, I felt kinda guilty because I know I have not fully accepted or utilized the gifts God has given me. I think sometimes I’m fearful. But as the passage says, these memebers do not all have the same function. That is why it is KEY that I use MY gifts to help make this “whole” body move.

After reading these passages, I kind of had this feeling of wanting to conquer the world :). Obviously that will be accomplished by Christ :). What I mean by that is that it gave me a sense of worth. It gave me a sense of “wow, God created ME with purpose and as a member of the “body” I have the PRIVILEGE of using the gifts given to me by the GRACE of God.”

So, how has God called YOU to contribute to the “body” of Christ? What ligament or body part are you? What are YOUR gifts? If you get a chance, read the full chapter of Romans 12. Not only verses 4-8, but all of them. In the next section, I think it gives a lot of instruction on how to act out on those gifts. I love the Bible! What would we do without it :)?