New Members to the Body
by Abiding Love
1 Corinthians 12:12, 26-27 — Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ… If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
What an incredible body we have!
I am not talking about our physical bodies, but rather the Church in general and Abiding Love Lutheran specifically — the body of Christ.
The Lord has knit the body of Christ, the Church, this congregation, together by his grace. He breathed into us new life through the Holy Spirit. We are now living stones with our faith built upon Jesus Christ the Cornerstone and the foundation of the Scriptures. We, the body of Christ, exist to love and serve our head Jesus Christ. And Jesus rules over all things for the good of his church. Every moment Jesus cares for us, his body, as his very own.
The body of Christ suffers when one of its members suffer. I have seen that as we have had two funerals in the last few weeks. I have seen that as members learn of other’s physical needs or other’s painful trials. When one member has been suffering, I have seen others suffer with them. I have seen other members carry each other’s burdens by assisting financially, by praying for others, by hugging, by crying with others. In this, the body is united in love.
The body of Christ also rejoices when one of its members is honored. We will have the opportunity to rejoice on May 13 when eleven adults, three children, and one teen will profess their unity of faith with us. These people have been committed to studying God’s Word. They rejoice that they know their Savior. They rejoice that they hear the Word of God here and that they can join in our mission. It is so appropriate that all of us rejoice with them today and on May 13th.
The church gets beat up pretty good at times. Kind of like when we look into the mirror and we have negative thoughts about our physical bodies, we can so easily look at the body of Christ and have negative thoughts about what we wish this body looked like.
Christ has no negative thoughts about his body. He loves us as his own. He died to remove all sin. He takes pride in calling us His. He would want us to have the same view. When we look at the church and this congregation through Christ’s eyes, we see something beautiful. We see a bunch of sinners bought by Christ’s blood, joined by the power of the Holy Spirit working faith, united in a common dependence on God and a common desire to serve him.
What an incredible body we have!
Peace in Jesus,
Pastor John Gensmer
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