Introduction
We conclude this series with Part VII from the booklet Spending Time With God, written by Pastor Danny Hodges of Calvary Chapel St. Petersburg in Florida. His down-to-earth style and practical, every day applications are certain to encourage you in your Christian walk, especially in developing a devotional life.Read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V or Part VI.
We conclude this series, continuing our look at The Results of spending time with God:
We Will Become More Relational in the Body of Christ
The body of Christ is not a building. It's a people. We are the church, the ecclesia, the Greek term meaning "the called out ones." I wish we could get away from using the term "church" for the building where we meet, because the church is a people, not a place.
Recently I saw an interview with Evangelist Tony Evans, and he gave an interesting response to a question about the Mafia. He said that we know the Mafia exists, but where are their headquarters? Where do they meet? They have infiltrated almost every area of society. They are all over the place. But where do they meet? They are a tremendous force. They are a tremendous power in the world. But where do they meet? And it occurred to me, if the church family didn't have a place to meet corporately from week to week, would we have an impact on the world? In some ways we might have more of an impact.
In America we sometimes have the mentality that the church is the building. The church is not the building. The church is the body of Christ. The church is you and me. Yet we end up saying to one other, "Where do you go to church?" I know it's an innocent question. But the point is, we can perceive the church as a place that we attend instead of what we are. As a result, I think our relationships in "the church" at times tend to be superficial.
Chuck Colson makes this profound statement in his book, The Body: "Our involvement in the body of Christ is indistinguishable from our relationship to Him." I find that very interesting. Ephesians 1:22-23 is a powerful passage concerning the body of Christ. Speaking about Christ, it says, "And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church (the ecclesia, i.e. "the called out ones," not the building - the people), which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." (NIV)
Christ is the head, and mysteriously enough, we as a people are His body here on this earth. His body is "the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." That tells me, among other things, that we will never be full, in the sense of our growth as Christians, unless we are rightly related to the body of Christ, because that's where His fullness is. We will never experience all that God wants us to experience in terms of maturity and godliness in the Christian life unless we are part of the body. And the body is more than a place that we attend.
The body is a people, and a people suggests relationship. A people suggests we have to forgive because we have seen (and are seeing) one another's imperfections. Some people are not willing to be relational in the body because they are afraid that others are going to find out what they are really like. Surprisingly enough, when you get relational in the body of Christ you are going to find out that other people have weaknesses and problems just like you have.
Because I'm a pastor, some people get the wrong idea that I have somehow arrived at the height of spiritual maturity and don't have faults or weaknesses. But anyone who hangs around for me for very long will find out that I have faults and weaknesses like everybody else. Just ask my wife, or the people I work with. They can tell you the truth. And the truth is, I haven't arrived yet. None of us have. We are all imperfect. That's the reality of being relational.
