All for one and one for all!

“If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

-1 Corinthians 12:26

 When you made Jesus Christ Lord, and Savior of your life,  you joined the family of God and every believer is your brother or sister in Christ. Your local body, Grace Harvest, is where you are called to serve God and your brothers and sisters in Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul is instructing the church in Corinth that all of the members make up one body;

For just as the body is one and has many        members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 1 Cor 12:12-13

The sad truth is that in the year 2020 this is not the case for many believers. Church is where they go occasionally if there is nothing else going on in their lives. There was a time in my life where I had all the excuses not to be an active part of the body of Christ. Too many times, I put sports and my entertainment ahead of my love for Christ. You see, we always make time for the things we love.     For far too long I loved the things of the world more    than I loved Jesus and His people. There are so many    distractions in our lives that hinder us from serving God and His Church. You must set a priority for your life to take seriously the call to be part of the body of Christ.        When my children were young, I coached baseball and football, from the varsity level in high school to T- ball and flag football for 6 and 7 year old’s. To be a part of the team I coached, the boys were given the expectation  that they would be at every practice and every game. From 7 year old’s to 18 year old young men took serious  their commitment to be a part of the team.

At the high school level if you missed practice twice   without a legitimate excuse or one game, you were    kicked off the team. The boys I coached at each level   took pride in being a member of their team. In football each team puts 11 players on the field and each player has a specific role. If just one player fails to  perform his role the whole team suffers. Can you imagine that when Friday night came I was wondering who would show up this week to play? The sad truth is that some take their commitment to worldly things more seriously than their commitment to Christ. Why is that Church membership is taken less seriously than our hobbies and entertainment?

Christian, stop and ask yourself, do  you take your       membership at your local church as seriously as you do your membership to secular activities? You cannot hope to understand Paul’s words, “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice    together,” if you don’t take seriously your call to be a    part of the local body.

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark