One Body, Many Members

Have you played a team sport? Have you been a member of a band? Have you worked on a team project? What did you learn from your experience? Did you discover there were different personalities and different skills coming together for a common goal?

Being part of a team, if the team is going to be successful, each member must put their skills to work for the betterment of the team. Personalities may not always fit, but selfishness has no place in a successful team. Egos must get set aside. Focusing on the goal must be top priority.

We have seen successful teams and wonder how they can sustain it. In baseball, the Yankees have experienced periods of extended success, winning multiple World Series championships in just a few years. The Patriots did the same in football, just has the Chiefs have done over the past few years. These teams have one thing in common. When they step onto the field, they are a cohesive team of individuals, all striving for the same goal.

We can say the same for successful bands. Whether it is the New York Philharmonic or the President’s Own, each member is individually talented yet can only be successful by playing their part in the larger group. The best trumpet player cannot perform every part of a song. It requires the clarinet, trombone, tuba, saxophone, percussion, and a conductor to make the music beautiful.

The same is true of the body of Christ. Each of us have talents and skills to contribute to the work God has prepared for the church. It is only when everyone comes together as a cohesive unit, setting aside personal ambition, and using our individual skills that we can be successful. Each of us have been given gifts by the Holy Spirit. God has placed each of us where we are for a purpose. Working together, we can accomplish the mission he has given us.

I pray we all set aside our ego to work together. I pray we know we have gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit. I pray each one of us seek to be part of the team, or body of Christ, to accomplish the mission God has given the local church. Set aside your ego. Know your gifts. Be part of the team. Be part of the body. Put your skills to work to accomplish God’s mission. 

1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

One Cohesive Unit

Have you seen dissension? Have you noticed the finger pointing and shouting at one another? Have you witnessed family feuds? Are you aware of grudges being held like they were gold? Have you played a part in any of these situations? Have you seen them in the church?

We see dissension, finger pointing, shouting, and grudges. It may start as a small disagreement but grow into hatred. Someone feels slighted and allows it to fester. Someone slights another but refuses to apologize. Forgiveness never occurs to anyone. It becomes a downward spiral.

The Apostle Paul tells the church in Corinth they are all members of one body. He uses the example of our human body to make the point. He states that when one member hurts, every member hurts with it. Therefore, when one member of the church is hurt or not doing well, it has a negative impact on the rest of the body.

It makes sense. Think about it. If you are hammering a nail and accidently hit your finger, a shock of pain runs all the way up your arm. The nerves carry the pain signal to the brain. Our whole body has a reaction. The same is true if we burn ourselves on the stove or by reaching in the oven. It becomes even more pronounced when a bone is broken. It affects what we can do and how we must do things.

When the church has dissension, grudges, or hatred going on within it, we cannot be as effective in ministry. We are not attractive to the people we are trying to reach. Our ability to reach others is diminished. We cannot carry the mission Jesus has given us. We should keep Paul’s analogy of the body of Christ in mind and seek healing of relationships throughout the church.

I pray we all realize we are members of one body. I pray we work for healing among the members. I pray each one of us do what we can to make the body of Christ one cohesive unit. You are part of the body of Christ. Seek healing of the body. Work to make the body a cohesive unit.

1 Corinthians 12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

Meditations of the Heart

Do you speak your mind? Does that get you into trouble? Have you attempted to control what you say? What is in your heart? Have you spent time meditating? What do you meditate on? What occupies your thoughts, other than work, most of the day?

We all know people who speak whatever comes to their mind. Often, they blurt something out before thinking about it. They may say hurtful things without first considering their impact. Whether they want to admit it or not, they don’t have a good foundation within their heart.

How do we correct our impulse to speak whatever comes to our mind? It starts within our heart. It starts with what we are feeding our minds. We can meditate on all the wrong in the world and the wrong being done to us. Or we can meditate on the good in the world and good God is providing for us.

Just as we have heard that we are what we eat, we are what we are feeding our hearts and minds. If we are feasting on revenge, hatred, and compulsion, we will act and speak the same. But if we are feeding our hearts and minds God’s Word, we will act and speak as he wants us to.

As the Psalmist states, we are to desire that what we speak and meditate on is acceptable to God. Focus on his blessings. Meditate on his instruction. Digest God’s Word and apply it to what we say and what we ponder throughout the day. By changing our focus, we can change our speech and behavior.

I pray we all seek a positive change in our speech and behavior. I pray we meditate on God’s Word. I pray each one of us will seek to make our thoughts, speech, and actions acceptable to God. Seek positive change. Meditate on God’s Word. Speak and act acceptably. Focus on God.

Psalm 19:14

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart 

be acceptable to you, 

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Be Amazed

Have you noticed some people becoming emotional in worship services? Do some hymns cause you to be teary eyed or choke you up? Are there passages in the Bible that you find to be too good to be true? Or too harsh for you to believe it? Have you wrestled with why?

Worship services can be emotional experiences for some of us. It may be the singing of certain hymns. The words of them simply hit home. It may be the reading of Scripture. The passage hits a nerve. It may be something in the sermon that causes shock, relief, joy, or exhilaration.

Personally, I know some hymns will choke me up and tears will come to my eyes. The words have a deep meaning and remind me how gracious and merciful God has been and continues to be to me. Amazing Grace is one of them. Perhaps it has an emotional effect on you, too. Music can have that type of effect on many of us.

But what about Scripture? There are some passages that still amaze me, even though I dig into study them and understand them in context and understand the original language meaning. The fact that God would come into his creation as Jesus Christ, give himself up for me, and offer me forgiveness is still awe inspiriting.

When Nehemiah and Ezra got the book of law out to read it to the Israelites, they had an emotional response. They were hungry for God’s Word because they had been in exile. They had been allowed to return to Jerusalem, rebuild the wall, and worship God. They knew in part what God had instructed their forebearers, but hearing God’s instruction directly and fully caused a visceral reaction.  We would do well to be moved by God’s Word.

I pray we all are moved in worship services. I pray the hymns we sing cause us to praise God. I pray each one of us are amazed at what we read in God’s Word, especially his love demonstrated for us. Be moved in worship. Praise God in song. Be amazed at God’s love.

Nehemiah 8:9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.

Hear God’s Word

How long do you prefer worship services to be? Do you get antsy if they last more than an hour? How long do you think the sermon should be? Do you lose focus if it goes longer than fifteen minutes? How long can you sit to read the Bible?

Our attention spans have become short. Though we can sit down to watch television for hours, it is only because there is continual action, or we are changing the channel regularly. For some, we are doing something on our phone while the television is on. Continual brain activity.

I can remember a Saturday morning in the Spring of 2003. I woke up with an urge to read the entire book of Job in one sitting. Job is broken down into forty-two chapters and contains 12,674 original Hebrew words. As you might imagine, it took a while to read the entire book, roughly three hours.

Nehemiah records the prophet Ezra was instructed to bring the book of the law of Moses and read it before the people of Israel. This likely would have been the book of Deuteronomy, which contains more than 23,000 Hebrew words. It is estimated, based on Nehemiah’s recording, the reading lasted between four and six hours. Yet, the people were attentive.

Why would the people be willing to listen to someone reading Scripture for so long? They had just returned from exile in Babylon. They knew their ancestors had offended God and had been punished for it. They wanted to part of going back into exile. They wanted their freedom and their own country.

Today, Scripture still sets us free. When we take time to read God’s Word, study it, and understand it, we find that we are set free from the shackles of this world. It is not until we spend time with God that we will know that we have been set free. So, read and study God’s Word. Discover that you are set free.

I pray we all spend time reading God’s Word. I pray we take time to study Scripture. I pray each one of us come to know that God has set us free, that he has removed the shackles of this world. Read God’s Word. Study Scripture. Know you are free. You no longer wear the shackles of this world.

Nehemiah 8:3 He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

God’s Restoration

Are you seeking to be restored to a right relationship with God? How do you envision that restoration? What do you believe the right relationship with God will look like? How are you going about seeking a right relationship with God?

Having a right relationship with God is critical to living a life for him. If our relationship with God is not good, we cannot fulfill his plan for our lives. A right relationship is not about checking off a list of tasks, but is communal in nature.

When Jesus is speaking to the church in Ephesus, He commends them for testing and exposing false prophets. He also commends them for enduring hardship on account of their faith in Him. You can imagine the challenges they faced living in a city that housed one of the wonders in the world, that being the temple of Diana, and living in a large port city spilling over with sailors.

Yet, they abandoned their first love. They had forgotten that Jesus had given the two greatest commands–love God and love neighbor. Without loving God and loving their neighbor, the church in Ephesus had become nothing more than a social club.

The lesson for us is to hold onto our love for God and for our neighbor. In doing so, we must remember Jesus’ teaching of the Good Samaritan, which points out that every person, even our enemies, are our neighbor. We are commanded to show Jesus’ love for all of them.

I pray we all remember the two greatest commandments Jesus gave us. I pray we remember the teaching of the Good Samaritan story. I pray each one of us will love God and love our neighbor, thereby being restored to a right relationship with God. Love God. Love neighbor. Be restored to God.

Revelation 2:7 “Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.”

The Hour Came

Yesterday, we read that Mary had involuntarily volunteered Jesus to do something about a newlywed couple who were about to face shame for running out of wine. It was not Jesus’ responsibility to provide more wine and ward off the shame that would surely come.

Yet, Jesus did something anyway. He had the servants fill six stone jars with water. The water became wine before the servants could bring it to the master of ceremonies. The servants knew more about what had happened than the master of ceremonies, who did not know where it came from.

Let’s take a look at the irony in this scene. Jesus is at a wedding as a guest. Yet, Jesus is the focus of the story. The stone jars were used for ceremonial washing to be clean, but Jesus uses them to provide wine. He used wine at the last supper to represent His blood He would shed for us for our forgiveness, for our cleansing before God.

The bridegroom in the story remains silent when the master of ceremonies commends him on saving the best wine until last. Jesus remained silent during His false trial. Jesus is the bridegroom of the church. He attends a wedding feast but will host the biggest and best wedding feast when He returns.

Jesus performs the first of His signs at the wedding in Cana. He performs the last of His signs roughly three years later when He goes to the cross and rises again three days later, when His hour had come. His greatest sign of all will come when He returns to call all of us home, to be with Him for eternity in the New Jerusalem and the new earth.

I pray we all see Jesus’ signs and believe in Him. I pray we look forward to the ultimate wedding. I pray each one of us remember Jesus each time we take a drink of wine or grape juice. Believe in Jesus. Look forward to the ultimate wedding. Remember Jesus.

John 2:13 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Involuntarily Volunteered

Have you ever been volunteered for something you had no intention of doing? Who volunteered you? Did it turn out to be good that you were volunteered? How did you handle taking care of what you were volunteered for? What would have happened had you not been volunteered?

We all get volunteered for something sooner or later. Some of us get volunteered multiple times. Sometimes, we volunteer ourselves out of a feeling of compulsion, even when we do not want to. Sometimes things work out well and sometimes they do not.

Jesus was implicitly volunteered by His mother. They are at a wedding. Jewish wedding celebrations traditionally lasted for seven days. They were about to run out of wine. In fact, it may be that the only wine left was what was in the glasses of the guests. The situation was dire. The bride and groom would experience shame.

Mary states the obvious to Jesus. She may have pulled Him aside to be discreet in telling Him. Jesus had no responsibility for acquiring more wine for the party. Yet, Mary was implying He should do something. Perhaps she already knew He would perform miracles and assumed it would be a small thing for Him to provide more wine.

Jesus does not do anything immediately. In fact, He asks her what the lack of wine has anything to do with Him or His mother. He also makes a profound statement. He says His hour has not yet come. With that statement, He was saying it was not His appointed time to provide for the world. However, that statement was over the heads of His mother and disciples.

We will dive deeper into His hour and the symbology of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding tomorrow.

John 2:1-3 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”

Wisdom and Knowledge

Do you consider yourself to be smart? Do you think you have accumulated a lot of knowledge? Do you continue to read and study to learn even more? Do you believe you are wise? Do you equate knowledge and wisdom? Do you think they are the same?

We put a lot of emphasis on education in our culture. Education is certainly good. We need to know most of the subjects we learn in school, even if we don’t think so at the time. The basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic are needed just to get through daily life.

The emphasis comes from our employers as well. Some require a bachelor’s degree. Others require a master’s degree. And some even require a doctorates degree. Not only do these employers require degrees but they require people to continue their education through certification processes and other continuing education classes.

But knowledge is not the same as wisdom. Whereas knowledge is the knowing of facts, wisdom is knowing how to apply them. To be wise we must think. Spouting facts and figures is not wisdom. Wisdom is knowing the facts, determining how to use them, and putting them to use for the good of our community.

Proverbs 9:10 states “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” This means that by following God’s principles we can appropriately apply the knowledge we have gained to further his plan. God’s wisdom includes applying his principles, guidance, and commands along with knowledge. To be wise, we must rely on God, not just our knowledge.

I pray we all choose to be wise. I pray we follow God’s principles, guidance, and commands. I pray each one of us will continue our education with God’s plan in mind as we apply knowledge. Continue to learn. Abide by God’s principles. Follow God’s guidance. Obey God’s commands. Be wise.

1 Corinthians 12:8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,

Purpose of Gifts

What special talents do you have? What physical or mental gifts have you been given? How are you using those talents or gifts? Do you think having them makes you better than those who don’t? Do you believe you are favored? Have you thought about who gave you those gifts?

Each of us have been given a variety of talents or gifts. Some are physical abilities while others are mental abilities. Each of them was given for a specific reason. We would do well to use them wisely. We would do well to seek a way to use our gifts for the good of all.

The Apostle Paul tells the Corinthian church there are many different gifts. Each gift is given by the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit giving us the gifts, we would not have them. The same Holy Spirit has given every gift to every human being. Think about that for just a moment. There is one Spirit who grants every gift to each person individually.

Every gift we have been given is given so we can serve God. We can use our abilities to bring praise and honor to God. As we are recognized by others for our abilities, we are to redirect the praise to the giver of the gift. For it is only by the blessing of God that we can do what we do. It does not matter if it is a physical ability or mental ability.

Not all of us have the gift of teaching or preaching. Yet, we can use our athletic gift to bring praise to God. We can use our mathematical and scientific gift to praise God. We can use our musical gift to help others worship and praise God. Whatever our gift, it was given to us by God to be used for his purposes.

I pray we all know our gifts come from the Holy Spirit. I pray we know each of us have different gifts. I pray each one of us will use our gifts to bring praise and honor to God. Many gifts. One Spirit. Praise God. Honor God. Give God the glory. God is the purpose for our gifts.

1 Corinthians 12:4-6 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.