For the Sake of His Body

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:24-29 ESV).

Do you know that all of us who are of genuine faith in Jesus Christ are called of God to be ministers to the body of Christ, his church? This is why we are all given spiritual gifts, that we might use them to minister to the body of Christ for our mutual edification and spiritual growth in the Spirit of God. And we are all necessary to the proper working of the body in order that we might all grow up to maturity in Christ, as each part does its work. And God has a body part assigned to each one of us of genuine faith in Christ Jesus.

And we are to be those who are speaking the truth in love to one another so that we are not led astray by humans in their cunning and craftiness and deceitful scheming who are teaching the Scriptures out of context, and who are twisting the Scriptures to say what they do not say in context, and for the full purpose to deceive and to lead people away from genuine God-honoring faith in Jesus Christ to follow the lies. And we are to speak truth so we can all grow up spiritually in our relationships with Jesus Christ.

And we are to be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. And we are to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. And we are to exhort one another EVERY DAY so that none of us are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And we are to consider how we may stir one another up (provoke one another) to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together wherever God provides a meeting place for us.

[Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]

So, it isn’t just people who are called “pastor” or “elder” who are supposed to be the ministers to the church. All of us who believe in Jesus with God-persuaded faith are to be using our spiritual gifts to minister to the body of Christ, and we all have a part if we are walking in obedience to our Lord in living holy lives pleasing to him, and if we are not walking in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord and against our fellow humans. And we will face suffering, too, when we minister to the church in righteousness.

And all of us should be sharing the Scriptures with one another as an encouragement to one another toward our maturity in our walks of faith in Jesus Christ. And we should be sharing with one another what the Lord is teaching us through his word and how he is working in our lives. And we should be praying for one another, especially that we might all walk in obedience to our Lord, and not in sin, and that we might all serve the Lord Jesus with our lives, and not live for ourselves.

But we must be walking in that truth, not necessarily in absolute perfection, but in practice. And we must be students of the Scriptures who are diligent to read them in their context and to make certain that we are listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit as he speaks to us through the word of the Lord. We must not be followers of man (flesh) but of the Spirit of God in what he has to say to us through the Scriptures so that we are following after the truth and not the lies that so many are spewing forth these days.

And we need to be people of God who do not shy away from sharing the hard lessons and the hard truths of the Scriptures, but who teach the full counsel of God and not just the stuff that makes people feel good. We also must not be afraid to share the many warnings that there are in the Scriptures written to the body of Christ, for there are many warnings and cautions which we must all heed. For the whole goal of our ministry should be that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

And we, too, should be those who toil, struggling with all the energy we have in Christ Jesus, to make certain that what we are presenting is the truth, as best we understand it, and that we are not people who dilute and alter the truth so as not to offend people. For a deliberate half-truth is a lie, if it is truth that must be shared in order to speak the real truth of the gospel of our salvation. For far too many people are altering the truth of the gospel or they are cutting it short in order to not offend the ungodly.

So, we must be people of integrity who are seekers of truth, who follow the truth of the Lord with our own lives and who do not shy away from sharing the whole truth with others. For the gospel message is that we must die with Christ to sin and be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And sin should no longer have mastery over our lives to where we obey its desires, for if sin is what we obey, it leads to death, not to life eternal with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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