Do We Really Need One Another?

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 12 For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. As believers, we are called to worship and serve God. Where and how we serve is based upon our talents, skills, and calling. But we are all expected to give of ourselves in the local church. When you were saved, God baptized you by the Holy Spirit into His church. You then chose, in accordance with the Lord’s will, to become part of a group of believers. He placed you there because He knows that you are needed ( But now God has arranged the parts, each one of them in the body, just as He desired. 1 Cor. 12:18). You are significant to your home church. The church is more than a community. It’s an interdependent body with individual members who were created by God to function in communion with one another. Christians, like the world at large, are a diverse group, so we won’t always agree with each other. That means we have to pursue unity. But our differences are actually something to be celebrated, because each person uniquely contributes to God’s purpose. A church that is truly operating as a unit—with all its varied gifts, talents, personalities, and intellects aimed toward kingdom goals—must be a beautiful sight from the Lord’s perspective. Christianity isn’t a spectator religion. We all have jobs to do in God’s kingdom. The body of Christ functions best and most beautifully when all members serve God and each other to the best of their ability ( so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same care for one another. 1 Cor. 12:25). How are you serving your church?

Sing to One Another

Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Ephesians 5:19  Paul wrote two parallel verses about the use of songs and hymns for the edification of believers: Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. In Ephesians, Paul wrote, “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” But in Colossians, he used the stronger word “admonish”—“admonishing one another.” “Speaking” in Ephesians, but “admonishing” in Colossians. One thing is the same in both: “one another.” There is great power in spiritual hymns and songs that contain biblical truth. When we sing (speak) together and give attention to the words, they can instruct and admonish us just as they can when we read them in the Bible or biblically-based books.

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This is yet another reason to be a singer of spiritual songs, especially when worshiping with others. Let your heart follow the words and be shaped by them. A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing. Augustus M. Toplady David Jeremiah

Strength to Comfort

by Don Merritt

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

These two little verses actually come from the greeting Paul is bringing to the Corinthian church at the beginning of the letter he is sending them. Back in those days, this kind of a flattering and, if I may say so, flowery greeting was customary. Today we might say that it checks a box in the stylebook of that day for a proper letter, and as readers we might just tear through the greeting to get to the meat of the letter. Yet, if we were to simply zip through these verses to get to the good part, we would be doing ourselves a great disservice.

Please, take a minute and read through them again, more slowly this time.

Wow!

Paul is giving praise to the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. Don’t we all need compassion and comfort at times? I think we all do, even if we don’t like to talk about such things. He continues with this little gem: who comforts us in all our troubles. Do you have any troubles that God cannot bring comfort to help you through? Do you have anything troubling you right now as you read this? If so, the God of all comfort is there with you… pretty amazing if you think about it.

 

Read more: https://lifeprojectblog.com/2022/05/02/strength-to-comfort-2/

Joseph – Impacting Others

by Claude Mariottini

Joseph’s experience in the house of Potiphar was both rewarding and disappointing. His experience was rewarding because he was able to make an impact on the life of Potiphar, to such an extent, that Potiphar put Joseph in charge of all he had. In addition, Potiphar could see that Joseph was a man dedicated to […]

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The Grammar of Love

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:11  Sometimes Greek grammar can illuminate our responsibilities as Christians—as in 1 John 4:11. When the Greek word “if” is followed by a certain kind of verb form (in this case, “loved us”), the “if” condition is assumed to be true. So we could translate the verse, “If God so loved us”—and indeed, He did—then we also ought to love one another in the same way. “So loved us” forces the question, How did God love us? The answer is found in the preceding verse 10: He sent His Son into the world to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Putting verses 10-11 together, we see our responsibility. God loved us sacrificially. If God loved us sacrificially—and indeed, He did—then we also ought to love one another sacrificially. Our responsibility, then, is to love one another the same way God has loved us. God sacrificed His Son to love us—what have we sacrificed to love others? Have we sacrificed anger, pride, resentment, material goods, time, self-interest? Greek grammar makes our responsibility clear. Since God sacrificed for us—and indeed He did—we ought to sacrificially love others as well. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.  Isaac Watts, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”   David Jeremiah

10 Reasons Why We Must Love Unlovable Church Members

No matter how unloving church members can be, I can’t avoid Jesus’ telling us to love God and neighbor (Matt. 22:34-40). Nor can I run from New Testaments commands that we love one another (1 Thess. 4:9, 1 Pet. 1:22, 1 John 3:23).  Here are ten reasons why we must love even unlovable church members.

1. God loves them. He loves the arrogant church member, the person caught in sin, and the follower who denies Him. That’s the point: He who loves all of us with an amazing love expects us to love others similarly.
2. We show the power of the gospel by loving all people.  Jesus said our love for one another would be one way to show the world His love (John 13:34-35). Being family means we must love even those who occasionally drive the family crazy.
3. We live in Christian obedience when we show love toward all. Christian love is an active love, a doing love – evidenced by how we act toward others. Christian love means we act as a Christian toward all people, even when our feelings aren’t there.
4. Some unlovable church members need Jesus. Among a church family are likely to be those who believe they’re Christian, but who never truly repented and believed. They need to see genuine Christian love so they might recognize their need for Christ.
5. Some unlovable church members are undiscipled believers acting like undiscipled people. Some church members are really still babies in Christ, despite their years in the church. They need someone to help them see how much they need to grow – but it needs to be someone who truly loves them.

Read therest of Chuck’s blog: http://chucklawless.com/2021/05/10-reasons-why-we-must-love-unlovable-church-members/

Open Up to Others

2 Corinthians 6:11-13 ¹¹ We have spoken to you who are in the city of Corinth with plain words. Our hearts are wide open. ¹² Our hearts are not closed to you. But you have closed your hearts to us. ¹³ I am speaking to you now as if you were my own children. Open your hearts wide to us! That will pay us back for what we have done for you.

The popularity of social networking reveals our hunger to connect with one another, yet many people still feel lonely. In fact, even at home, work, or church, people sometimes feel they’re in a gathering of strangers. The degree to which we are known is, in part, our own responsibility. Instead of building a wall of self-protection, we must risk opening up and letting others into our life.

The fall of Adam and Eve usually brings to mind the disconnection that sin created between God and mankind, but it also affected all human relationships from that time on. As a result, fear and pride threaten to keep us in bondage due to isolation and self-protection.

Paul urged the Corinthians to open up to him as he had to them. But because they thought he’d been too harsh on them in the past, the congregation had built walls of distrust and animosity, which were hindering the apostle’s ministry to them and the effectiveness of the church.

Relational walls can be difficult to recognize, but sometimes self-protection comes in the form of unforgiveness, gossip, distrust, and resentment. Ask God to reveal ways that you may be shutting someone out. He’ll help you demolish hindrances in your relationship with Him and others.

10 Reasons Why We Must Love Unlovable Church Members

http://chucklawless.com/2021/05/10-reasons-why-we-must-love-unlovable-church-members/

How to love your brothers and sisters

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/2019/04/24/how-to-love-your-brothers-and-sisters/

Paul misses his friends.

by Don Merrit

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and […]

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