Ephesians 4:16-17

"For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love." Ephesians 4:16

We need only to remember who Jesus Christ is, whenever it doesn't seem like we look anything like this picture of the body here in verse 16. I know it gets pretty hard at times... I've been in one of those huge church split-ups in my past. But, I've also been blessed to see "the body" working exactly like this description. Men and women directing hundreds of visitors to park... Greeters at every entrance of the church... escorts, ushers, plenty of Nursery workers, all working so that people outside the church can come in and watch a beautiful Christmas performance with wonderfully talented actors, stage-hands, and singers (from inside the body). Followed by an alter-call and many decisions to accept Christ. We even had plenty of pastors on hand to counsel those saved afterwords. It's an amazing thing to observe and be a part of. But, Christ has this kind of power to move so many toward one purpose, and when He is moving... His whole body moves with Him. (This is also why we don't hold "things - buildings, ministries, pastors, evangelists, etc. sacred, even when they are/were led by God, because when God moves on to something new, people tend to stay there because they worship what He has done and not Him.)

I have only described an event at one church, on one occasion, but Paul is talking about the whole body... people all over the world, many who don't even have a church building... many who serve God in the least likely place... ALL of His people, working together with Christ (whom is not bound by space and time), even though these parts of His body never even meet each other, here. This body is continually growing in number, in spiritual maturity... growing in Love! The Kingdom of God is at hand!

17. "So this I say and solemnly testify in [the name of] the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the heathen (the Gentiles) do [in the folly, vanity, and their perverseness, and emptiness of their souls and the futility] of their minds."

Paul has not changed audiences here, and it may come to surprise some people, but Christians still struggle with the same issues that the world lives by, yet we have far more power over these things and great reason to resist them! Still in the context of the body, we find a mix of those who struggle against old habits from young and weak, to others who have developed a stronger prayer life and daily reading of His Word, to others whom are even more mature, whom walk far away from temptations, stay in a constant state of prayer and a spirit of love and truth. At each level of spiritual maturity, Christ uses the next level to minister to the other, and that level is being ministered by the next, and so on. All with Christ at the head.

Paul is not telling us, "in our own strength, not to act like heathens", but that, "When all of what he has said Christ does within us happens, then we shouldn't keep acting and living like that". That means then, that the question is not, "will Christ's work in us fail" but rather, "is Christ really in us?" Amen.

Let's pick up with Ephesians verse 4:18 next time.

I love you.