Team Work

Posted on September 9, 2019 by Mike

When you are feeling defeated, lost, and alone, God is speaking to you. God is letting you know that just as the human body is one organism made up of many parts, so too is the church (the body of Christ) one entity with many members.

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (NIV)

God does not intend for you to live out your faith on your own. We are to connect with other believers to form a complete, fully functional, spirit-filled body.

“Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.” 1 Corinthians 12:15 (NIV)

The idea that any single body part could somehow separate itself from the whole body is absurd. Every member of the body depends on all the other members of the body.

“But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” 1 Corinthians 12:18 (NIV)

Every believer is dependent on every other believer. There is no lost and alone in the body of Christ. If we have become separated, or if we are for whatever reason unconnected, we need to make every effort to once again find our place in the body of Christ. Every member of the body of Christ is indispensable. When all the body parts are working together as they should, extraordinary things can be accomplished.

“The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 1 Corinthians 12:21 (NIV)

There is no body part that is unneeded. Every believer is needed. Every believer has a role to play in the body of Christ. Every believer is therefore obligated to find their place and get connected.

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:27 (NIV)

The most important thing for us to keep in mind in this effort to get connected, is the controlling factor that holds the body together. All of the work we do as a team, joined together for service to others, is totally useless if it does not grow out of genuine love.

“If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:3 (NIV)

Love is the single most important ingredient. Love is the permanent catalyst that activates the body of Christ in a selfless concern for the welfare of others. Indeed, it is love that builds up the church and provides the motivation for every action carried out on its behalf.

When the body of Christ comes together as a team inspired by and fueled by love, we have reached full maturity and our actions will have the impact of that fullness in Christ.

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of 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.” Ephesians 4:14-16 (NIV)

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