The pastor of my church encouraged us to reflect on and share what the Lord has been teaching us recently through Redeemer. For the past two months, I've been thinking a lot about how I've seen the body of Christ in action.
If you had asked me two and a half years ago, I would have confidently said I knew what the body of Christ looked like. I had studied it and could even recite some of the “one another” verses. I knew all about the wonderful things we could do to support, love, serve, and encourage each other. But if there’s one thing that stands out about my time at Redeemer, it is that I had not really experienced the other side of the body of Christ before: the hard stuff. I hadn’t ever seen that:
The body of Christ faces conflict, and a lot of it.
The body of Christ is an exhausting thing to be a part of sometimes.
The body of Christ is a community with hurting and heartbroken members.
The body of Christ requires more sacrificed time and energy than we really want to give.
The body of Christ is hit with trials from every direction.
The body of Christ shares its vulnerable and scary truths.
The body of Christ reveals and calls out what you’re desperately trying to hide.
In two years, all of that? Wah, wah.
But praise the Lord that the other side - the good stuff - is also true!
But praise the Lord that the other side - the good stuff - is also true!
The body of Christ faces conflict, but has been given grace that allows it to confront conflict in a gracious and forgiving way (John 1:16, Eph. 4:32, Col. 3:13).
The body of Christ is an exhausting thing to be a part of sometimes, but it pushes forward and it strengthened by the grace of Christ (2 Tim. 2:1).
The body of Christ is a community with hurting and heartbroken members, so it hurts with them, carries their burdens, and then encourages its members with the truth of the gospel (Rom. 12:15, Gal. 6:2, 1 Th. 5:9-11)
The body of Christ requires more sacrificed time and energy than we really want to give, but drops everything in a brother’s or sister’s time of need to serve (Gal. 6:2, 1 Pet. 4:9).
The body of Christ is hit with trials from every direction, but has the other members to share in the suffering and push one another to persevere, knowing that dependence on Christ leads to completeness (2 Tim. 2:3, Jam. 1:2-4).
The body of Christ shares its vulnerable and scary truths, but responds in the least expected way, by pressing in and loving one another through their hurt and shame (John 13:35).
The body of Christ reveals and calls out what you’re desperately trying to hide, but confesses sin and rejoices that there’s no condemnation in Christ (Jam. 5:16, Rom. 8:1).
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19-22
