Continued thoughts on getting involved in ministry in local church and beyond!
1 Cor 12:27 “Now you are
the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
You make a difference...
A. For
others...the body
needs you
1 Cor 12:21 “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I
don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’”
1 Cor 12:15-16 “Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do
not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And
if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’
it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.”
Not having the function of a part matters. It
goes both ways too. It may be trendy to go it alone, but God has designed
Christian life to be lived as a community.
B. For
you...you
need the body
1 Cor 12:17-20 If the whole
body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were
an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has
placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to
be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is,
there are many parts, but one body.
If you’re just
a severed eye laying on the ground, or an Van Gogh’s ear in a box – the
function is severely limited.
Ministry partners are the some of the best
lifetime friends and great sources of encouragement. Paul takes whole chapters
of His letters sometimes remembering with affection His fellow-workers for the
Gospel.
C. For God...He wants you in the body
Using your
gifts gives Him joy (John 15:8)
It’s
like if a father restored a car and gifts it to his kid. It sits in the garage
until it has trouble running. Does the dad get much joy out of that? Seeing His
hard work going to waste?
But
think about how much joy the father gets when his kid doesn’t just say “Thank
you, dad” but takes it cruising every weekend with his friends and drives it
everywhere - to work, to school, to the gym, and to church!
God
has restored our life and gifted it to us and given us spiritual gifts on top
of that, but then He says, “Now go use it”
The
Bible says God made us to...and saved us to...do good and serve (Eph 2:8-10). That’s ministry. Whatever
your role, lives are changed in part because of you.
