This morning I am reflecting on these famous verses from Paul's letter to the Ephesians 4:11-16 NIV:
[11] "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, [12] to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up [13] until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."
[14] "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. [15] 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. [16] 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."
I have loved these verses for many years, as they seem to me to lay out part of the strategy for healthy growth and maturity for the Body of Christ. As I was reading through these verses this morning, I started working through the descriptions and thinking about how they apply to the human body. In both paragraphs Paul speaks of the body being built up, and for this I imagine someone who is body-building, working to increase there strength, and thus their ability, as well as their size. Professional body builders work on building up every specific muscle group, focusing intently on each part to make sure they are each seeing increase. When I looked at what Paul said, he defined works of service (v12) as that which help us build ourselves up in love (v16).
If I take that back to the body-building analogy, there is a difference between those who exercise, doing similar movements as body builders, and those who focus solely on building the body up. It has to do with the amount of weight being moved, the number of times it is moved and the food that is being consumed. The body builder knows that they need to work the muscle to the point of failure, then eat the right food so that when the muscle restores itself, it does so stronger and larger than it was previously. The saying is "no pain, no gain" and this is very accurate. I find it amazing that Paul is using this type of language to talk about the Body of Christ, and when applied to the Body of Christ, maturity and building up the body looks different than what we commonly experience, at least in the American church.
Going back to Paul's examples, of works of service done in love, we find our definition of how to train to build ourselves us, essentially what our weights are and what our motivation should be. Love is the motivation, love is supposed to be the drive of our works of service. Love like Jesus loved. Looking back at Jesus' most famous statements about love we find our definition and motivation described. Jesus commanded us to love in John 13:34-35 NIV: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. [35] By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Jesus reiterated this statement a few chapters later in John 15:12-13 NIV: "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. [13] Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends."
Looking closely at Jesus' statements, He defines the love we are called to as being the way He loved. He then goes on to say that the greatest love is laying down one's life for another. This is no emotional, feel good love, but the love of personal sacrifice, the love of looking past sin to the heart, the love of commitment, of sharing everything and anything. Paul in his famous description of love found in his first letter to the church in Corinth, give us a equally challenging list. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [5] It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [6] Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [7] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." We could replace each word 'love' with Jesus and we would get a fair description of Jesus' love for His followers, and for us. If we equally replaced each word 'love', with the word 'I', we would have an excellent definition of how we should be in our love for one another. The one thing Paul doesn't add to this list is laying down one's life, and this is really the ultimate expression of love, the heaviest weight if we go back to the body building example.
Jesus said that it would be by our love for one another that everyone would know we are His followers, and this statement should cause us to consider our actions. If we apply Paul's description of what builds the body up, then our works of service, done in love, ought to be what people see and that which allows them to recognize that we are followers of Christ. Going back to the Body Building analogy, there must be a a challenging of capacity, a cost or pain for real growth. This building up must be fueled by solid food. Applying this analogy back to the Body of Christ, especially the early church, we see examples of people sharing life and resources with each other, regularly meeting together, opening their homes to one another (Acts 2:44-46; Acts 4:32-35). We see them ministering the Word of God, proclaiming the Gospel fearlessly in spite of threats to stop, and rather than cowering in fear when threatened, they rejoiced (Acts 4:23-31). They embraced the words of Jesus in very real ways. We know that other of the early churches did not embrace the exact same methods, but their communal life was similar.
My questions today are whether my life is an example of this type of love? Am I engaged in building up the body? Am I living my life in such a way that I am willing to lay down my life for my friends, my family, my brothers and sisters? Is the church I am attending embracing and encouraging this type of Christian life? Am I doing what I can to build myself up in Christ? Am I eating the Word of God, feeding on His truth? Am I diligently looking for ways I can serve others? Am I willing to lay down my time, my agenda, my opinions, my resources to invest in others, to meet needs, to serve?
Oh Lord help me! I know that my personal and self-focused idea is to minimize my pain, minimize my costs, live my life with as little effort and self-sacrifice as possible, but that is not Your call. Lord, help us, as Your Body, to see the invitation and opportunity before us to really grow in strength and power. Move in our hearts, that we might be desirous of real maturity, and the process it takes to get there!
Amen!
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