“In him we live and move and exist.”1 — Paul, to philosophers in the Areopagus
We have been focusing on Christian unity over the past four weeks, for it is God’s desire and design that we be one with Him and with each other, and His Word has much to say about it. In our March 12 post, we saw that, we who were once separated from God, now exist as “a people.” Our March 19 post centered around our Biblical depiction as “living stones . . . built into a spiritual house,”2 as the dwelling place of God. So today let’s consider a third portrait of the united church: “we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”3 For though we are a people, we do more than exist as a people, and though we are living stones, each strengthening the whole, we do more than hold together in perpetuity. We act; we go. We move as one body.
To the church in Corinth, Paul wrote, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”4 Note the paradox: the plural “you” forms our collective identity in Christ, in whom each singular “you” is included. Then each of us brings something useful to the whole of us, and each of us has our own “function”5 as we move together in unison. Paul wakens us to the truth of our oneness with each other and exhorts us to act upon it: “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”6
You see, I cannot go and shine in your place of business, but you can, for Jesus lives in you. Are you a prayer warrior? The body — indeed, the world — needs your intercession. Perhaps leadership is not our thing, but service is. Praise God, for our gift of service multiplies into gifts for those we serve. And maybe you can reach a populace that for whatever reason cannot hear my heart.
The call is clear: go in your gifting, shine in your station, be who you are — an inextricably integral part of the body of Christ, uniquely gifted for your function and your call. For we exist as a people, we hold together as living stones, and we move as one body with Christ as our head.
Father, thank You for including us in Christ as one body of believers in Him. Be glorified as we in our giftings step into our individual calls today. In Christ we pray. Amen.
1 Acts 17:28 NLT
2 1 Peter 2:5 NIV
3 Romans 12:5 ESV
4 1 Corinthians 12:17 ESV
5 Romans 12:4 ESV
6 Romans 12:6-8 ESV
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Paul Nordman—Author 