"One Body in Christ"
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, In one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
—Ephesians 4:1-6
Charles Spurgeon called the church "The dearest place on earth" and he encouraged all to “Give yourself to the Church. You that are members of the Church, have not found it perfect and I hope that you feel almost glad that you have not. If I had never joined a Church till I had found one that was perfect, I would never have joined one at all! And the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect Church after I had become a member of it. Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us … All who have first given themselves to the Lord, should, as speedily as possible, also give themselves to the Lord’s people. How else is there to be a Church on the earth? If it is right for anyone to refrain from membership in the Church, it is right for everyone, and then the testimony for God would be lost to the world!”
He goes on to say that the church’s imperfections are “no excuse for not joining it ... nor need your own faults keep you back, for the Church is not an institution for perfect people, but a sanctuary for sinners saved by Grace, who, though they are saved, are still sinners and need all the help they can derive from the sympathy and guidance of their fellow Believers. The Church is the nursery for God’s weak children where they are nourished and grow strong. It is the fold for Christ’s sheep—the home for Christ’s family.”
The covenant we make in the waters of baptism binds us to God and to each other. As a favorite Southern Gospel song of mine says we are “A fellowship of sinners bound by love.” The church is the place where the imperfect can come and be part of the perfect work of God. The beauty (and perhaps the mystery) of the Gospel and the work of God is that out of our imperfectness he intends to build up a perfect and righteous and holy kingdom here on earth.
Paul thought himself to be a prime example, a pattern, of how God can and does use sinners saved by Grace for His work and glory. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." (1 Timothy 1:15-16)
Our covenantal relationship with each other and the church is similar to the vows that are made in marriage. Vows do not say IF you are rich and healthy, I'm in. That would be more contractual and conditional. If you make money, if you stay healthy, then I'll stay with you – that again is conditional language. Rather, wedding vows say, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and in health, I give myself to you -- that's covenantal language. And that is also God's relationship to his people and His Church - He gives himself to us, even when we are not at our best and therefore, we should give ourselves wholly to Him and His church. Paul calls doing so “the vocation wherewith we are called.”
The nature and basis of our relationship to each other ought to be similar. Our fellowship should not be based on “you or the church better do these things for me.” But rather our fellowship should be: Let me become this for us. Let me work on my imperfections so that we all become better. Let me magnify my gifts and talents for the benefit of all. As JFK once said of our nation so we should say concerning the fellowship of the Saints. We should not ask what the church and others can do for us, but what can we do for others and the church.
The heart of the gospel is about laying down our own selfish desires and considering others. Being part of the fold of God means mourning with those who mourn and comforting those that stand in need of comfort. (Mosiah 9:40) It means forgetting what we want or what we think someone else should do for me or on my behalf. We should show up every Sunday, not demanding, but wanting to be or become something for someone else. Too often we hear stories about someone changing their place of worship because their current place did not do “such and such” or “so and so” for them. That is a selfish view of what the church is meant to be. That is a consumer view. The fellowship of believers is a place of giving.
There are many wonderful "one another" passages in scripture. Here is just a sampling of some of them:
Love …. One another
Prefer … One another
Kindly affectioned … One another
Do not Judge …. One another
Receive … One another
Salute … One another
Greet … One another
Do not provoke or envy … One another
Bear the burdens of …. One another
Forgive … One another
Comfort … One another
Edify … One another
Labor and serve … One another
Impart to …. One another
Cease to find fault with … One another
When we embrace “one another” then the church becomes the dearest place on earth. That doesn’t mean that we are perfect. We will have imperfections. There is no perfect place. But we do have one thing in common that binds us together in this fellowship of love and that is that God through the person of His son saved wretches like us. And as Spurgeon said, “All who have first given themselves to the Lord, should, as speedily as possible, also give themselves to the Lord’s people.”
In our covenantal experience with God as it relates to the church there is one thing that demonstrates that relationship and that is not that we just "go to church” but that to it we are fully committed. It is after all His church and not ours. Christ founded the church, He died for the church, and He even calls the church His own bride or His body.
The church derives its life from the sweet fellowship of the Father, Son, and Spirit, creating a people of worship, fellowship, and mission who are animated by the gospel and empowered by the Word of God. Our affections for Christ’s bride, the body of Christ, should drive us to prepare ourselves to serve her all the days of our life in order to finally present her to Christ “without spot or wrinkle” (Eph. 5:27). Until then, let us cry forth “she is, indeed, the dearest place on earth.”
We began in April and will continue through May to consider what it means to be “One Body in Christ” in our preaching ministry and Wednesday evening fellowship. We see much of this portrayed in Luke’s Acts of the Apostles which we are studying together on Sunday evenings. So, we’ve accompanied this with a challenge to each to invest more of themselves in the life of the church in its various worship, services and fellowship activities during the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost -- because it is the dearest place on earth.