Timeless Truths: Body Building - The Reward, Part 4a

The Body of Christ is the church.

• Not just your local church.
• Not only the denomination of which your local church is a part.
• The Body of Christ is made of all Christians around the world.

Christians function best in groups—local churches, but one local church or denomination is not the whole body by any definition.

Most churches hover between the 25% and 30% mark at members/attendees involved in ministry. For a church to really be serious about the mission of reaching people with the message of the gospel, the employment rate needs to be over 60%.

God has a place and a plan for each of us to be investing in the Kingdom through the ministry of the local church. In this blog series, we’ve looked at ways to build the Body of Christ.

Series Theme Verse:

…we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love,

as each part does its work.

Ephesians 4:15-16

Don’t miss those last few words, “as each part does its work.”

Anything short of full employment is a waste.

Something important is missing from the church if someone is hiding or holding on to their spiritual gift.

Definition Of A Spiritual Gift

A Spiritual Gift is Given by God, Discovered and Used by me,

for the good of the Body of Christ.

Your local church has everything it needs to be doing what it needs to be doing at this particular time in her history!

• You might disagree.
• You might even be able to compile a grocery list of things that you think your church needs that it doesn’t have.

Reality: 

God has equipped His church with the people and the gifts that are needed for this particular time.

Your job is to

• help people discover their gifts,
• get people employed in ministry—get them engaged,
• and then cheer them on.

Two Wrong Assumptions about Spiritual Gifts:

1.  Only the VISIBLE are VITAL

If your idea of the importance of a spiritual gift is unless you can be seen doing something, your gift isn’t vital . . . nothing could be further from the truth.

All will be rewarded for what they have done whether in public or in private.

God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them.

Hebrews 6:10

• God sees.
• God knows.
• God rewards.

We all need to be involved in ministries that no one else sees.

2.  Only the PUBLIC gifts will be REWARDED

The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.

1 Corinthians 3:8

• Each one has a part to do.
• But we have one purpose and each of us will be rewarded according to what we have done.

It doesn’t matter what your gift is… all will be rewarded.

As the Body of Christ, we share at least four things in common.

We investigate the commonalities next week in Body Building - The Reward - Part 4b

Special thanks to Dr. Keith Newman for the primary teachings used in this post. I invite you to his blog, which he's titled, Curious Sojourner.

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