Read the following passages.
Romans 12:1-5: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For 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, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Ephesians 1:22-23: And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Ephesians 4:14-16: Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 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
What are these passages saying? What do they teach us about Jesus? What does it mean that we are members of one another?
In Romans, Paul exhorts us to offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. In Christ, we offer ourselves to Him daily as living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice for Him to use as he sees fit. Paul states how believers relate to one another in the body of Christ. We can offer ourselves to one another for an offering to God.
As a member of God’s family, we need to relate to one another – the church. Every believer is connected to every other believer by the fact that we are apart of the body of Christ. The body of Christ has many parts. Not every part does the same thing or functions the same. However, all parts are important. All members are important.
What one members does effect all the others. Look at when someone leaves the church for whatever reason, it effects the church. Members left behind are hurt by those that have left. On the most part people leave the church because they are hurt by the church. Memebers of the church do have to be careful with one another. Yes we do need to exhort, confront, and teach truth. We as believers need to be continuously connected with God, so when this happens we know where it is coming from. We also need to make sure what our motive behind the exhortation is. Is it God or our flesh? This also goes the other way. We can’t be offended when a member is confronting us one these things, but to then soul search with God on the issues. The way we treat one another reflect how we represent God and who he is.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for having us be apart of one another. I pray that we will work together for your purpose. I pray that we will represent you to the best of our ability. I pray that we will not be offend by one another and be careful of who drives our feelings.
In Jesus Name
Amen
