Together in Christ!
Remember the TV show “Peanuts”, Lucy demanded that Linus change the channel on the TV, threatening him with her fist if he didn’t comply. “What makes you think you can walk in here and take over?” asks Linus. “These five fingers,” says Lucy. “Individually they’re nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold”. “Which channel would you like?” asks Linus. Turning away he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?”
1 Corinthians 12:12 says “The body is a unit made up of many parts; and though its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.”
Paul writes to the Corinthian church reminding them that the body is made up of many individual, different, unique, diverse parts, and that each one is important. Look at the person who sits next to you Sunday morning. That person is not the same as you. They do not look the same, they do not talk the same, they do not smell the same, and they do not do all the same things as you. They are not the same as you. Even so called identical twins are not completely the same, they are individuals.
Each one of us is unique. We are unique in our appearance, unique in our character, unique in our gifts, unique in our maturity, unique in our abilities, and unique in so many other ways. And what’s even better is that God wants you to be you. He does not want anyone else to be you. He chose you to be you, no-one else. Psalm 139 tells us: “God knitted us together in our mother’s womb.” We are all members of the body of Christ as individuals. Not because we belong to a local church but because we individually make a decision to follow Christ. The body of Christ is made up of individuals, you and me. And each of us has a different role to play in the body of Christ, and for most of us, that will be in our local congregation.
Our roles are different, yet equally important. Each person doing a job in this church is just as important as the next person. Do not think of yourself as inferior to someone else in this congregation because you only do this job, or that job, and they do a more important job. Do not think you are any less important than someone else in the body of Christ. What you do does not define who you are. And also, don’t think you’re any more important than everyone else in the body of Christ.
Mini-camps are opening up for football season and they are trying to build team chemistry. There may be one or two stars on the team, but it is not going to be an individual that wins the trophy, it will be the team. The quarterback cannot do his job if his center does not hike the ball to him properly or if the offensive line does not block properly. And the wide receivers cannot do their job if the quarterback does not throw the ball properly. They all rely on each other and are just as important as the other. They do not kid themselves that they can do it all. Could you imagine the mess there would be if the kicker came into the offensive line? Each member of the team is just as important as the others. Each piece of the jigsaw is important for the big picture.
When a member of the body hurts, the rest of the body feels it too. When a part of our body is hurting, it affects the rest of us. If I have a headache, I cannot do anything! It paralyzes me and all I am fit for is lying down. When we know of a member of the body of Christ who is suffering, we should be suffering along with him. We should be feeling his pain. We should want to do something about it.
However different we are, however unique we may be, however diverse our characters, gifts and abilities may be, we are united under one banner with one cause and one head of the body, and that is Christ. It is Christ Jesus who is the head of the body and it is to Him and Him alone that we all bow down and worship. It is under the cross of Christ that we all find our forgiveness and salvation. It is He that unites believers world-wide.
Too often we focus on our differences and forget what it is that unites us! Jesus Christ Crucified!
Serving His Kingdom Together,
Travis F. Mowell