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All Things for the Edification of the Body of Christ
Posted : 22 Mar, 2014 01:38 PM
I have seen the body of Christ compared to an ocean, and we are all individual drops of water until we join the ocean. Now, when an individual drop of water falls into the ocean, can you find it again? So it is with the body of Christ.
Individuality is a concept of the flesh, not of the Spirit of God. I am convinced that Jehovah God does not see us as individual Christians, but as the one body of Christ, of which he does all things for.
The principle goal of early Christians was the edification (building up) of the body of Christ. There were no individual rights. Everything was done for edification.
Romans 14:19 states, "So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding." - ESV. Get that! Mutual upbuilding or edification. The building up of one another. This is what the early church did, and this is what they were told to do.
Romans 15:1,2 states, "We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up." - ESV. "Build him up," or edify him.
I Corinthians 14:12, "So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church." - ESV. Building up, or edification of the church.
I Corinthians 14:26, "What then, When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up." - ESV. Once again, building up, or edification.
I Thessalonians 5:11, "Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you are doing." - ESV. Again, build up one another.
You can also read Ephesians 4:1-16.
So, scripture teaches, by doctrine and example, that Christians are to have all things in common, and that all things should be done for the building up or the edification of body of Christ.
We have no individual rights in the church. We are a community of believers. How is this established?
Acts 20:28 states, "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood." - ESV. Jesus obtained or purchased the church of God with His blood. That means He has ownership of the church. So, we who are in the church, belong to Him. And, since we are purchased equally, that is, He paid a common price for each of us, we have common value. None of us are more or less important than another. That is how it is established that we have all things in common. For we are commonly owned by Him who purchased us with His blood.
I Corinthians 7.26: "You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men."
Have you ever considered the full ramification of these statements, that the church of God was purchased with His own blood, that you are bought at a price?
Let's say you are in the market for a house. You go look at a house. You like it. You decide to buy it. The purchase price for the house is $100,000. You pay the purchase price with your own money. You buy the house with all its individual parts. Does the house belong to itself? Of course not. You bought it at a price, you purchased it with your own money. It's your property. Do any of the individual parts of the house have the right to do what they want? For example, can the siding say, "I am leaving and going to be a part of another house"? Of course not.
Then why is it different for the church? Why is it that individual members can claim to have rights to do things as they want? We do not belong to ourselves. We belong to He who purchased us. We are His property. Certainly people in America understand property rights. Whether an individual member or not, we are His property. And just as the individual parts of a house work together to benefit the whole house, in the same way the individual members of the church of God must work together for the benefit of the whole church.
If we focus on the needs and liberties of individuals, what happens to the body? And, since so much in the Word focuses on edifying of the body, if we focus on the individual, are we following God's plan? Yet so many in Christianity today do focus on the individual. I have often heard preachers preach sermons based on the concept of individual Christianity. Problem with that is there is no such thing. Jesus didn't die for an individual. He died for a body, a church.
I know that what I have written here is probably unpopular, since so much of Christianity today is based on the individual. However, it is the truth.
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