Let’s jump right in today with…
Genesis 1:26a ESV
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
and…
Psalm 139:14 ESV
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
So, God said He made us in His image and likeness and that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
I’ve got that! And I love it.
Especially if you’re a woman…we know that God hand fashioned Eve from the rib of Adam.
Genesis 2:22 NASB says,
22 And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
I like that…Eve was fashioned by God.
God made man and woman intentionally. We’re excited about that right?
Now it’s time to get it together.
Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 12:15 NLT.
If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body.
Wait!
We just agreed that we’re all made in the image and likeness of God and that we’re fearfully and wonderfully made,
BUT ugh…
So when we look at 1 Corinthians 12:15, it sounds silly. Of course, I need my little toe.
Did you know that the little toe is the smallest and weakest of all five, yet it still assists the foot in walking, jogging, and standing.
Without the little toe you’ll experience some unsteadiness, the bones of the foot may begin to shift causing other problems.
You say, “I know someone without a little toe. They’re all right.”
Okay. Let’s talk about losing your big toe. That’s more serious. It carries about 40% of the body’s weight. This takes longer to recover from and it’s more painful.
I can keep going, but here’s the point.
- Each part has a specific purpose in the body.
- Each part carries a specific load in the body.
- Each part has a specific function in the body.
- Each part assists the other parts of the body.
Now let’s talk about the body of Christ?
It’s human to want to belong to a group.
But we sometimes separate ourselves by denomination, by race, by doctrine, by the clothes we wear, or by the side of town we’re located. Or maybe you no longer go to church at all. Do you know Christ!?
Uh oh!!!
What about the “us versus them” attitude?
Allow me to help.
You don’t want your mouth to function like your foot. That’s why we’re called the body of Christ.
Just because they don’t look like us doesn’t mean they’re not part of us.
Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV says,
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— [listen carefully] 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Did you hear that?
We should be joined and knit tightly together.
Every part should do it’s share.
This will cause us all to grow.
And the body of Christ will be edified in love—to be instructed and built up in love.
Who’s love? God is love. So, we’ll be instructed in Him and built up in Him.
The whole body of Christ knit and joined together in God…now that’s the Point of Purpose. See you next time.
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