Tag: Body of Christ

Winning the World for Jesus Christ

1 Thessalonians 3:12
And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, the word increase means to become or make greater in size, amount, intensity or degree. It can be assumed that Paul was speaking to all these nuances held in the definition of the word increase when He was writing to the Thessalonians.

It is certain that Paul was encouraging the Thessalonians to continue to increase in numbers just as all the other early Christian churches were doing. It was his prayer that the Lord would cause them to increase through the abounding love that they would have for one another and for the world around them.

It is just as certain that Paul was also teaching that as the Lord provided for their increase in numbers that He would necessarily provide them with an increase in the intensity and fullness of His love. Thus these early Christians would have the increase in the amount of love that they would need to win the world for Jesus Christ. It would, in fact, be their cup spilling over with His perfect love that would draw others to their church and to Christ Himself.

And it would also be in accordance with all of Paul’s other teachings for him to be praying that the Lord would increase the Thessalonians in one other area. Paul was surely praying that there would be an increase in the degree of holiness, humility, knowledge and spiritual joy that would be poured out upon the Thessalonians in the form of the grace of God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Their increase as individuals was critical to the growth of the Body of Christ.

And so it is with us. God calls us to serve Him. He calls each of us to pour out His perfect love to the world around us so that the Body of Christ may increase. Subsequent to our obedience, He adds to us and grows us according to His good and perfect will and purpose for our lives. This process of individual and corporate increase is continuous throughout our lifetimes.

Let us abound in love for one another. Let us share our love for Christ so that others may be drawn to Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the good and perfect purposes that You have for our lives. We rejoice in knowing that we will be able to continually serve You, not only on this earth, but also on into eternity. We pray that You will show us where You are calling us to pour out Your perfect love. Father, we ask that we never tire of the service that is at hand. May we always increase in our service to Your kingdom. We pray, Lord, that we may also increase in our holiness as we serve You. We ask all these things in the name of our holy and awesome Savior, Jesus Christ.

Called to Live the Gospel

1 Corinthians 9:16
For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

Not everyone is called in the same manner that Paul was called. It is certain, in fact, that most of us were not called to stand in the pulpit to preach the gospel. It is just as certain, however, that every one of us has been called to live the gospel and to serve our Master by being good stewards of His presence in our lives.

There will be no peace in our hearts if we take a direction other than the one the Lord set aside for us. Just as Paul was compelled to preach, we are compelled to proclaim the gospel through our obedient response to Our Lord’s calling on our lives. To neglect the calling of God on our lives shows contempt for the divine will of the Father and opens us up to the torment of a wounded conscience.

If we are gifted with a beautiful singing voice, we should be considering how to use it for God’s glory. If we are gifted with organizational skills, we should be considering how to use those skills to help with the administration of the church or perhaps a ministry. If we have been given teaching skills, we should consider leading bible studies or other studies needed in the community. The list goes on and on. There are no skills that cannot be used by God for the advance of His kingdom. We should search for guidance from the Holy Spirit to find out the skill or skills that God has planned uniquely for each of us. If we neglect the calling that God has placed on our lives, we may not face His wrath, but we are likely to lose the gifts that He has blessed us with.

Let us make certain that we are not neglecting the skills that we have been given. Yet, let us lean not on our own perception of our skills when we seek to serve God. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us discover the unique skills that God has prepared for each of us. Let us be surprised by our new abilities and improved capabilities when we enter into a covenant relationship with Our Savior.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us unique skills so that we can be vital parts of the Body of Christ. We pray that You will help us discover and develop our identity in Christ. May Your Holy Spirit guide us and train us in our calling. May we find peace of mind and great satisfaction in our service to Your Kingdom. May we be good stewards of Your presence in our lives. We ask these things in the name of the Head over all things, Jesus Christ.

We Never Stand Alone

Ephesians 4:13
This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Paul teaches that Jesus gave His church these gifts: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers. He provided these gifts so that the Body of Christ could be prepared to be His perfect bride. We are all called to learn from the gifted ministers that are placed in our lives. At some level, we are also called to express the gifts given to us so that we may fulfill our responsibilities in the Body of Christ.

God in His sovereign rule placed each of us exactly where He wants us. He did not place us where we are to stand alone. He placed each of us in a place that is linked perfectly with the world around us for the good of the Body of Christ.

Each one of us is called to be both a receptor of light and a beacon of light. It is our individual responsibility to let God work in us by seeking out and receiving the ministerial gifts offered by the Body of Christ. It then becomes our responsibility to let God work through us as we become active vessels of His perfect gifts to build up the Body of Christ.

We must continually ask ourselves, “Am I building myself up in Christ? Am I also building up the Body of Christ? We will be meeting the complete and full standard of Our Savior when we are maturing in Christ as both a student and as a teacher.

Let us be alert to whom God has placed in our lives. Let us seek out those who can build us up for Christ. Let us stand ready to use our gifts to build up those around us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for placing us among family, friends, neighbors and co-workers who, through Your handiwork, will help perfect us in Christ. We thank You for giving us the opportunity to help perfect them by following the urgings of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We praise Your name for giving us this magnificent Body of Christ here on earth so that we can learn to measure up to the full and complete standard of Our Savior. May we live our lives for Your glory and for the good of Your kingdom. We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord, Our King and Our Master, Jesus Christ.

Being Poured Out for Christ

Romans 14:7
For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.

To live for ourselves alone is evidence that we are strangers to Jesus Christ. If it is our main purpose to gratify our flesh, to gain material things and to become the center of our social activities, it is evidence that we are not living according to the Good News of the Gospel.

The church is called the Body of Christ because we are all one in Christ. Each one of us is inseparable from the other. Each one of us is inseparable from Our Savior. We are all different in our strengths, our capabilities and our practices. Yet we all are one in union with the Lord. We should all be looking to serve and prove ourselves as witnesses to Him. The spiritual health of others should be as important to us as our own spiritual health. The Body of Christ depends on our acceptance of our responsibility to be poured out for Christ.

No one who has given his or her life to Christ is a self-seeker. The true purpose of our lives is to please God not ourselves. Through the grace of God, we are able to identify fully with both the life and the death of Jesus Christ, Our Savior.

Let us search our own lives to insure that we are approving ourselves to Christ in service to all mankind. Let our lives be living testimonies to our thanks for all that Jesus has done for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the grace that You provide that we may not live for ourselves but that we may live for Our Savior, Jesus Christ. We bless the name of Jesus who died for us so that we may live for Him and serve Him in the Body of Christ. Lord, we pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us how to be responsible members of the Body of Christ. We ask, dear Jesus, that You help us to understand that our sufficiency is in You and not in ourselves. Guide us to the strengths, the capacities and the processes that You have set aside for us to serve You. Allow our lives as Your servants to be our proclamation of thanksgiving for all that You have provided. We ask all these things in the Righteous and Holy Name of Jesus Christ.

The Preparation of the Saints

1 Corinthians 1:2
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

When Paul addressed the Corinthians, he emphasized their sanctification through Jesus Christ. He confirmed that they would be among all the saints in heaven who had also called on the name of Our Lord as their Savior. He stressed that they would all be part of the Body of Christ.

By the grace of God, we are all called to be heirs to His kingdom. Our Heavenly Father’s hand never leaves us as He prepares us to be His saints. It is for His good pleasure and for His glory that He provides His Holy Spirit to prepare us to be His saints. But God also brings commonplace people and commonplace events into our lives to teach us, to encourage us and to confirm the plans that He has for us. He may at times use extraordinary people and extremely uncommon events when He needs to drive a message home.

Let us take careful consideration of the people that God places in our lives. Let us be aware of the challengers who are there to test us on an ongoing basis in order to stimulate our spiritual growth. Let us also be aware of the challenged who are there for us to encourage, build up and serve.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfect plan to have us join You in heaven for all eternity. We bless the name of Jesus for His shed blood that washes us clean and makes it possible for us to enter into Your presence. We pray, Lord, that You will release many teachers, encouragers and confirmers into our lives. We ask for ears to hear them and the wisdom to follow their counsel. We pray that we may also become teachers, encouragers and confirmers in the lives of others on their journeys to sainthood. We ask all these things in the name of Our Holy and Awesome Lord, Jesus Christ.