The leaders of the church are called to equip the entire
body – to equip the body for service.
What is the goal of this service?
The goal is to build up the church body so that it reaches unity in
faith and knowledge. Oh, dear! We have a long way to go yet. Hmm…
Let’s chew on that awhile.
Service leads to unity in faith and knowledge... I wonder what other components there are to
unity in faith and knowledge. Let’s read
from Galatians chapter four:
So Christ himself gave the apostles,
the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to
equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built
up until we reach unity in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and
become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants,
tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of
teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful
scheming. Instead, speaking
the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into 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 it work. (Verses 11-16)
Service together builds up the body of Christ. Building the body of Christ pushes the people
to a unity in faith and knowledge. That
is remarkable. Let us try it diligently
and see what happens. Equipping is the
key to this process so that each member of the body might do its God-given function.
I have seen a unity in faith in the context of serving,
but I have not seen a true unity in knowledge.
Ah, but, maturity has not been reached.
And a vast part of maturity in Christ Jesus is knowing that we have not
attainted the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. We have not arrived. I have not arrived. I do not know all the answers. In fact, I do not know all the right
questions to ask – which is more important than knowing the answers to some
seemingly arbitrary questions that the majority of people are asking.
If I think that I know it all already, it is far too
easy to be blown around by the latest fad in theology. It is too easy to be deceived. All a false teacher needs to do is connect
somehow to what we think we know for certain.
I do know neither all the right questions to ask nor all
the right answers. It is important to
look ourselves in the mirror and say repeatedly, “I don’t know.” This recognition is the fuel to speaking the truth
in love…
I am not the head of the church. You are not the head of the church. Jesus Christ alone is the head of the
church. Jesus guides and teaches us
through his Holy Spirit. Jesus holds us
together. Jesus holds us together – as we
each do our part in the work of the church.
So let us equip all parts of the body of Christ. Let us serve together. Let us depend on the love of Christ to bring
us to unity in faith and knowledge. There
is no better path to take in maturing in Christ Jesus.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
No comments:
Post a Comment