People seek to fill this need with lots of stuff. People
join organizations, health clubs, and country clubs. People spend up to
thousands of dollars to watch the Super Bowl in person when they could watch it
from the comfort of their living room. Why? We as a culture have decided the
Super Bowl is a big deal, and people want to be a part of it, to witness it
firsthand and to be a part of the energy and roar of the crowd.
Lots of people show up at Church for similar reasons. You
can read your Bible at home or watch church services on TV, but there is
something about learning and worshipping elbow to elbow, shoulder to shoulder
with like-minded others. The book of Hebrews cautions us not to forsake
gathering together for a reason. God created us social beings. We need one
another in ways we don’t usually even recognize.
In the twelfth Chapter of his letter to the Romans, Paul
points to God’s reason for giving people this need to be a part of something
bigger. Often quoted out of context, when read together, these verses actually
build his case:
“12 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. 2 Do not
conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind. Paul is talking about being
committed to something greater than yourself. Presenting our bodies as living
sacrifices runs in direct conflict with the pattern of this world which is competition
and self-promotion. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s
will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (What is God’s will? Paul is about to tell us…)
3 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. 4 For just as each of us has one
body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so
in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the
others. Our minds are transformed as we
embrace the upside-down Kingdom where the first become last and the shared goal
is service for the benefit of others. In this context, to think more highly of
ourselves than we should is to imagine ourselves to be self-sufficient. The
truth Paul teaches us here is that no individual gets all the gifts. We are
interdependent by design. We need each other. 6 We have different gifts,
according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then
prophesy in accordance with your[a] faith; 7 if
it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if
it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give
generously; if it is to lead,[b] do it diligently; if it is
to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” (Bold text is my commentary.)
Not thinking more highly of ourselves than we should in this
context just means knowing who God wants you to be in the Body of Christ (i.e.,
how he wants you to serve others). Conversely it means accepting who you are
not, and not judging others because they lack your particular gift (when God
has another plan for them entirely).
Here’s the take-away. None of us is all that on our own. But
together, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are the Body of Christ, and that’s
pretty great!
For the Body of Christ to function as it should, each part is
needed to join the others for the Glory of Jesus. As we press on to the finish
line, picking one another up when we stumble, pushing and pulling one another
along when we hesitate, cheering one another on when we grow weary, let’s fix
our eyes on Him who called us to be a part of something—something greater than
ourselves.
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