Building Up the Body of Christ
Many Christians today feel that their walk with God is private and independent. They see no need for joining a church or making themselves accountable to other believers. Some view the church in terms of how it can help them accomplish the ministry God has given them personally, rather than seeking how their lives fit into the larger work the Lord is doing in the congregation.
For building up the body of Christ, until we all attain … to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (Ep 4:12-13, ESV)
Many Christians today feel that their walk with God is private and independent. They see no need for joining a church or making themselves accountable to other believers. Some view the church in terms of how it can help them accomplish the ministry God has given them personally, rather than seeking how their lives fit into the larger work the Lord is doing in the congregation. The Bible teaches that our walk with God is personal, but it is not private. Sin makes people independent. Salvation makes us interdependent on one another. Scripture teaches that the church is a body in which each member is vitally important to the others.
While Christians have personal access to God through Christ as their one Mediator (see 1Ti 2:5), God created the church as His redemptive agent in the world. He is at work accomplishing His purposes, and He places every member in a church to accomplish His purpose through each congregation. Members are enabled and equipped by the Holy Spirit to function where the Father has placed them in the body. Then the body functions as Christ leads, until every member becomes spiritually mature.
What God is doing in and through the body is essential to my knowing how to respond to Him. Where I see Him working in the body, I make the necessary adjustments and put my life there too. In the church, I let God use me in any way He chooses to complete His work. This was Paul's goal when he said, “We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28, HCSB). Paul constantly urged believers to become vitally involved with his life and ministry. The effectiveness of Paul's ministry rested on them (see Colossians 4:3; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2; Ephesians 6:19).
HENRY BLACKABY AND RICHARD BLACKABY, IN EXPERIENCING GOD
