Day 2: Your Role

“From Him the whole body, joined together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph. 4:16)

I love that verse. It paints a beautiful picture of what the church should look like today. Everyone is joined together. Everyone is supporting each other. Everyone is growing building themselves up in love. How is all this possible? In some churches this can scarcely be said. I’ve attended churches where the congregation is divided. Each member supports their own opinion of what is true. The Body seems to shrink and deconstructs itself in hatred, bitterness, and unforgiveness. Why does the Body that Paul talks about seem so untrue to reality in so many local churches?
In many cases you can find two Christians who can’t even live at peace with each other. If two people can’t even achieve unity than how on earth will the whole Body of Christ ever be what Paul describes it as? It seems impossible. Is it? I thank God that I have seen the Body as Paul describes it, in several places. But what makes it or breaks it?
The key is in the last part of the verse. “From Him the whole body, joined together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph. 4:16 emphasis mine). Imagine a track and field athlete. He’s at the blocks waiting for the gun. Bang! Microseconds after the gun goes off, the runner’s brain says “Go!” He takes a couple steps and then the unthinkable happens. One of his arms decides that the ears aren’t helping very much in this race so it reaches up and pulls his left ear off. The runner’s left eye is offended by the arm so he decides to leave the body and rolls out like a Ferrari getaway car. When the right knee sees that the eye has left the body, he decides that he’s only going to bend in the opposite direction from now on. The vocal chords don’t know what’s going on because they can’t see anything, so they shake with fear causing the man to bellow as he stumbles down the track. Next the runner’s feet start to feel tired because they are bearing most of the weight while the other muscles slack off. Lastly, the lower half of the runner’s body decides to go right while the upper half decides to go left and the result is the ugliest thing you have ever seen. Can you imagine what this runner would look like running down the track? Do you think that he has a hope of winning the race?
In reality, we, the Body of Christ, are like that runner. The only way that we can succeed and achieve the purposes that God has for us is if each part does its work. This doesn’t just mean do what you want or do what you can do. The principle we need to grasp from this is that each part has a purpose. Each person has a function or role in the Body of Christ, not so they can function by themselves, but so they can function together. When each part of the body does what it’s created to do and works together with the other parts, the body can move and work and grow. Similarly, when each follower of Christ acts/speaks/thinks in the way he or she is created to act/think/speak and works together with the other followers of Christ, the Body of Christ can move and work and grow.
What part of the body are you? What purpose do you serve in the body? Briefly, there are three purposes and functions to every part of the body:

1. We were created for the purpose of functioning in relationship with Jesus (Jn. 17:3).
2. We were created for the purpose of functioning in witness of Jesus (Acts 1:8, Mk. 16:15)
3. We were created for the purpose of functioning in ministry to the Body (Eph. 4)

No matter what part of the body you are, you were created for these three purposes which all fall under one big purpose of bringing glory to God. “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen” (Ro. 11:36). If every Christian remained steadfast in their relationship with Jesus walking and talking with Him every step of the way, if every Christian was a witness of Jesus to the world testifying to His power in both word and deed, if every Christian was a minister to the Body looking for the needs of brothers and sisters and meeting them, what would the church look like today? If every Christian served the Lord with the strength that He provides “…so that the Body of Christ would be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13) what would the church look like? Let me show you:

“From Him the whole body, joined together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph. 4:16)

It all comes back to you (the reader) and I. Each of us in our own lives has to pull our weight. Each of us has to be pursuing relationship with Jesus. Each of us has to be serving and supporting our brothers and sisters in Christ. Each one of us has to be sensitive to the needs of others and sensitive to God’s leading in how we can meet them. It all comes back to the individual you and I.
I originally planned this post to be a nothing more than a discussion and a chance to open up and share how God’s been working in your life. Why? Because, through fellowship God can use someone’s comment to meet someone else’s need. In fact God can meet your own need through your own comment as you try and understand what God has been doing in your life.
I’d like to try something different. As a Body can we all take a chance to examine ourselves to see if we are living in Christ? Maybe you are or maybe you need to come back to God in this moment and begin to live in Him again. When you have come to peace with God I would like you to ask God to show you what your needs are. God is always the one who meets our needs, and often He will use others to do it. Finally, I would like you to comment on this post and share your need with the Body so we can pray for each other. I’m hoping that we can all catch a glimpse of the way that the Body was created to function. Maybe you struggle with sin, maybe you struggle with pride, maybe you struggle with being self-centered, maybe you struggle with surrendering, maybe you struggle with loving others or forgiving others, having bitterness, anger, joy or peace. It doesn’t have to be a struggle. Maybe you need to truly feel that God loves you or that He has accepted you or that He will not punish you. Maybe you need to feel free. Maybe you need to laugh. Maybe you need healing or equipping. There are so many needs that we can have that only God can fill, and if we don’t share our needs or seek our brothers’ and sisters’ needs, we miss out on opportunities to be used by God and to have our own needs met. Whether you share it anonymously or by name, please comment on what the Lord reveals to you.