“But now there are many members, but one
body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; or again the
head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’.” (I Cor. 12:20-21)
As
we have seen in the previous articles, the Lord has called us individually to
be parts of a whole, His body, the Church. As the Apostle Paul states it in the
above passage, “there are many members,
but one body” (vs. 20). For so long, especially within the evangelical branch
of the American Church, we have over-focused on the individuality of the
believer in Christ. We have talked about our respective “personal walk with
Jesus” to the point that each of us affirms that we live this life as singular
“islands” unto ourselves, not needing or wanting connections with other
believers. We perceive that we are self-sufficient spiritually. We have the
mindset that if we have our own Bibles, devotional works, access to
commentaries and other Bible study materials as well as television ministers,
we need no other assistance as to our spiritual growth. We can go it alone,
“just me and God”.
However,
that is not how God designed the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ to function.
As Paul states, “the eye cannot say to
the hand (as part of the whole body), ‘I
have no need of you’”. Yet, for many believers in their brazen
self-sufficiency, that is exactly what they are communicating to the rest of
His Church—“I have no need of you”.
That is, until they actually do. These individual professing believers will
neglect the attending of services, or as the writer of Hebrews puts it, “the forsaking (of the) assembling together” (Heb.
10:25), with the idea that such faithfulness to worship and
fellowship with other Christians is not for them. However, if a great need,
tragedy, or health issue comes their way, they are quick to make contact with
the church office or pastor, expecting a prompt response from the people of God
to their situation. It seems the problem of professing Christians expecting
from the Church without giving to the Church in terms of their time, talents,
gifts or resources is a longstanding one.
Yet,
this does not excuse the sin. Using the analogy of the Apostle Paul, it would
be like having your hand deciding one day that it did not like where your head
decided to take the rest of your body. So, your hand resolved to go on strike.
It refused to work anymore, no longer participating in the operations of the
rest of the body. What an impact would it have on you for your hand to simply
stop functioning. Depending on which hand it was, the effect could be
devastating. The same is true for the body of Christ. The Church of Jesus needs
all of its members involved for it to operate properly and efficiently.
There
are some of you reading this letter this month who have been church members,
maybe of Evergreen or of another church, who have not attended a church service
in a very long time. You think no one misses you. You think that no one cares
about you. You believe that you do not or cannot make a difference and, thus,
you continue to absent yourself from the rest of God’s people. All the while
your own spiritual fire dwindles toward extinction and you wonder why.
Television ministries help, but they do not take away the loneliness and the
disconnect that you continue to feel. What can you do?
I
will give you the answer in one simple word: return. Return to the spiritual
home that God has provided for His people—the local church. It is in this
fellowship where you will find the love of Christ, connection with fellow
travelers on their spiritual journeys, and the nourishment needed to make the
journey a success. One thing you will not find in this local church, though you
might expect it, is perfection. There are only saved sinners in attendance in
any local fellowship who truly seek to follow the Lord.
So,
rather than taking the “I have no need of anyone” approach to church
attendance, as believers in Christ, we should always be diligent to be in God’s
house to worship, serve and have fellowship with one another. Whether or not we
really want to admit it, we need each other in Jesus. He wants us to be “one body”. After all, for all eternity
we will be together as such. We might as well start practicing now while
rubbing shoulders here on earth.
