We are one body. It’s not just you and Christ and no one else. We are connected. If you aren’t serving the Body of Christ, then you aren’t part of the Body of Christ. You are dismembered.

You have a purpose. It’s to love others. God gives you the love to do it by His Spirit poured out, and He will give you your own way of serving.

Don’t remove yourself from the Body. Don’t think you are the important part of the Body. Jesus is the head. He is the one with all preeminence. All glory goes to Him!

No part of the body would function without the head, without the brain. You would be lifeless without Him. We are nothing without Him. We can do nothing without Him.

We don’t rejoice in our place in the Body.

And we don’t consider another part of the Body unnecessary. There are two parts of this.

One, we have the whole Body of Christ, the global Church. We all need each other. The American Church with its money and resources and education, etc. is not more necessary to the global Church than the underground house churches.

Two, we have the local Body of Christ. This is a representation of the Body of Christ.

This local expression of the Body of Christ must remember not to cut itself off from the rest of the Body. They aren’t more important. If another part of the body is in need, you give to them. You don’t hold onto what you have for yourself. We care for each other as one Body.

We also care for those in our local Body. It’s not okay how people just come and go from churches all the time. We’re members of one another. It’s not okay for a part of the Body to go missing. We become part of a local Body of believers and we commit to one another. We’re not there to get for ourselves and then leave if our needs aren’t being met. We’re supposed to be there to serve and love others, not to be served and loved.

We’re in the Body to cherish and nourish it.