Becoming the Mature Body of Christ

 

speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Dear Members and Friends of IBC,

As we go through our three-part sermon series on the gifts of the Spirit, allow me to press home in this week’s Word for the Week, in brief, concise fashion, what is essentially at stake in all of this.

The Bible gives us several different images of what the Church is. In 1 Peter 2:5, Peter describes the Church as being like a temple. In Ephesians 2:19, Paul refers to the Church as God’s family. In the verses above, Paul sees the Church as a body, with Christ as the head. Something that these three images have in common, is that each part of the body, each member of the family, and each stone in the temple is dependent upon one another. Take a stone out of the temple and it could start to fall, remove a leg and the body can’t walk very well, and without family members, well, it’s hard to be a family.

There is no such thing as ‘cowboy Christianity’. We are not meant to live this Christian life alone. Being a Christian means growing and building up the other parts of Christ’s body. The gifts of the Spirit help with this. We get to be a part of God growing His church, supernaturally.

God bless you
James