One Body, Many Parts

This Wednesday, we spent some time at the deacon ordination studying Scriptures about church structure and watching an ordination ceremony. Although that is probably about as interesting as road pavement to you, the idea of ordaining deacons in a church brings out the concept of church as a unified whole.

When you go to school, you wear clothes that you choose to wear (unless you have uniforms). You get to choose your own notebooks, pens & pencils, backpack, and classes. You get to choose what people you will interact with, and you choose what you get to eat at lunch. When you get home, you choose when or if to do your homework, and you choose how much effort and excellence to put into your studies. You get to choose your cell phone and who you will connect with, and you choose what after-school activities you want to do. Despite all of these choices, you are categorized as a "student" and your life revolves around school.

In Jesus' church, we are categorized by who we follow. If we serve Jesus Christ and work with His servants, we are considered Christ-followers. If we basically live our lives selfishly and include religion as just another part of our obligations, then we are considered idolaters, because our god is the worldly things we worship rather than the King of Heaven.

In 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, God talks about the inner workings of His church. He calls it, "One Body, Many Parts." Sometimes in churches, people are all working in different ministries with different strategies to the point that they are very busy without actually accomplishing much for Christ or His Kingdom. Paul writes in verse 19, "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you!' and the head cannot say to the feet, 'I don't need you'!"

One of Satan's strategies to tear Christians apart and make them ineffective in reaching their communities is tempting them work separately. "You have your ministry and I have my ministry." We do this in the home as well. "You do those chores and I'll do my chores." Or, you will be rude to your parents, mean to your siblings, and make friends only with people that you like. The danger is that we prove nothing to others when we care only about ourselves. God wants more. He wants our obedience, our trust, and He desires you and me to work toward unity.

My challenge to you this week is to consider how you are contributing to the unity of your home, your church, and your school. How are you standing up for people who are often rejected by their school peers? How are you intentionally being nice to mean people? How are you working towards team-work rather than doing your own thing? Do you have a pray and a plan to reach a lost friend for faith in Jesus Christ? Think about it.