- The Sufferings of Christ. Some of the sufferings of Christ are experienced only within the body of Christ. This is a bit ironic and may seem kind of odd. I think of Jesus and the apostles - those 12 He chose to be with Him. One of them (Judas) betrayed Him. When the betrayer appeared at that crucial hour in the Garden of Gethsemane, His three closest followers fell asleep when they should have been praying. They let their Lord down. They let themselves down. And then when the soldiers came and arrested Jesus, every one of them deserted Him.
On one occasion Paul pleaded with Timothy:
- "Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry." II Timothy 4:9-11 (NIV)
Paul knew what it was to be deserted by friends and fellow laborers. He, too, experienced suffering within the body of Christ.
It saddens me that so many Christians find it easy to leave a church these days because they get hurt or offended. I'm convinced that those who leave a church because the pastor let them down, or the congregation let them down, or somebody offended them or wronged them, will take that hurt with them. Unless they resolve the problem, it will effect them the rest of their Christian lives, and it will make it easier for them to leave the next church.
We must understand that part of the sufferings of Christ are actually experienced within the body of Christ, and God uses this suffering to mature us. At some point we are going to be let down in the body of Christ. The pastor is going to let us down. A home fellowship leader is going to let us down. It may be a ministry leader or a staff member or any number of individuals who will let us down. But we need to realize that somewhere along the way someone is going to disappoint us. So we must choose:
- "...to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:1-3 (NIV)
As I have observed through the years, those who grow the most are those who really get plugged in - those who serve the body. Service in the body of Christ doesn't mean you have to serve on a board or on a committee or even under some particular ministry. It means you are involved somehow in serving the body. It could be something as simple as setting up chairs, passing out bulletins, or even opening up your home to host a home fellowship.
- Edification.
Ephesians 4:15-16 says:
"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 its work."
(NIV)
There are a lot of ligaments in the body. We are those supporting ligaments - that is, if we are willing to get involved, if we are willing to serve, if we are willing to be relational. It is only then that the body grows and is edified (built up) "as each part does its work."
I read a fascinating article entitled "Together Forever" in Life magazine (April 1996) about co-joined twins - a miraculous pairing of two heads on one body with one set of arms and legs:
Abigail and Brittany Hensel are co-joined twins, products of a single egg that for some unknown reason failed to divide fully into identical twins... The paradoxes of the twins' lives are metaphysical as well as medical. They raise far-reaching questions about human nature. What is individuality? How sharp are the boundaries of the self? How essential is privacy to happiness? ...Bound to each other but defiantly independent, these little girls are a living textbook on camaraderie and compromise, on dignity and flexibility, on the subtler varieties of freedom...they have volumes to teach us about love.
The article goes on to describe these two girls that have become one. They have been forced to live together, and now nobody can separate them. They do not want an operation. They do not want to be separated. They each have individual personalities, tastes, likes, and dislikes. But they share one body. And they have chosen to remain as one.
What a beautiful picture of the body of Christ. We are all different. We all have different tastes and different likes and dislikes. Yet God has put us together. And one of the main things He wants to show in a body that has such a multiplicity of parts and personalities is that something is unique about us. We can be so different, and yet we can live as one. Our love for one another is the greatest evidence of our being true disciples of Jesus Christ. "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35 (NIV)
