Pastor's Pen
by Pastor Jimmy Sharp
June 2004
I
have just returned from Annual Conference in Macon, Ga. This experience proved
to be an uplifting and positive one. Oh, we don't always agree on everything
and the vote does not always go the way I think it should, but I have learned
that I am part of something that is much larger than I am and it takes all the
pieces to make the whole. In the Scripture Paul teaches us that there is "one
body, one baptism, one faith." He continues with the illustration of the
physical body, there are many parts but one body and no one part is more
important than the other. Some parts affects are more local and others are
felt through out the body, but they are all part of the body by God's design
and they all have a function. We don't have to be a
doctor to know that when a foreign substance or chemical enters the body, the
body responds. This foreign agent affects the normal operation of the body. It
can cause many symptoms and effect the different parts in different ways and
in some cases even the death of the body.
The Church is a
body and for many of us when we heard this we think of our local church. That
is certainly not bad thinking, but when Paul uses these words and this
illustration he is calling our attention to something much larger than our
particular local church. Paul is writing about the "body of Christ." Paul is
teaching us that we are a part of something much bigger than our local church.
Our local church is of much value and importance but it is a part of the
larger "body of Christ." It seems easy to lose sight of the "bigger picture"
when what we are doing is so vital to the particular part that we are called
to be. We can be so focused on being faithful that we discover we are out of
fellowship with the rest of the body. This is why it is very helpful to have
planned times of reflection and evaluation, both of how the individual person,
the church, and the collective local church are fitting into the "body of
Christ," the universal church.
One of the ways I
have begun to see myself is as a "cell." We know that the cell is a small part
of the body, in fact in reference to the body a cell by itself is not even
noticeable. The health of a cell may not seem important at first glance but
the health of the cell can and does affect the health of the whole body. Now,
not being a medical doctor, I don't understand all the medical ramifications
of my illustration, but I am told that infections effect the body through the
cells of the body. This suggest to me that cells and their health is important
to the whole body. So, as I see myself as a cell, my health becomes an issue
of importance not only to me individually, but to the collective local church.
My faith matters! My faithfulness matters! What affects me effects the body. I
am important to me. I am important to the church. I am important to God. I
matter. I matter. I matter.
I don't know how
you see yourself or if you see yourself as valuable or not. I pray that you
will pause, reflect and evaluate your health, physically as well as
spiritually because it does matter. You matter very much to God. The disease
of sin had infected the body of God's creation and the only cure for the
disease was a blood transfusion and so God in Jesus , the Christ, gave his
life that you might have life through the blood of Jesus. God says you matter.
The church says you matter. What do you say?
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