The Church is the Body of Christ, and it is a wonderful creation of God! It is intended to be the
manifestation of Jesus on the earth today, demonstrating His love and power to the world just as Jesus
Himself did when He walked the dusty paths of Galilee. There is, however, a problem I want to address
here. The problem is that far too many Christians fail to demonstrate neither the love nor the power of
Jesus Christ in their personal lives on a day-to-day basis. This is not how God intended for it to be. He
designed His Church to portray the very nature of His Son Jesus. When individual children of God fail in this
regard, the whole of the Church suffers for it.
Recently we witnessed the fall of a prominent Christian leader, which was heralded by the news media as a
failure of the Church, much to the surprise and sadness of us all. One thing became evident as we watched
this tragedy unfold, and that was that the sins of this pastor directly affected each and every born again
believer on the face of the earth. Our testimony was tainted by his personal sins. I do not mention this sad
situation to condemn Ted Haggard in any way; on the contrary, I advocate we forgive him and that we pray
for him and restore this man of God to Kingdom service. My reason for using his sins in this teaching lesson
is to convey this truth:
YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN, YOU ARE THE LORD’S
You and I are each a body part, according to I Corinthians 12:12-26. Just as any particular member of our
physical body is counted by us as important, so it is with the spiritual Body of Christ. Try smashing your
pinky finger and see the affects of how even the pain in our smallest member directly affects our entire
being. Ouch! When joined together by our mutual faith in Christ and our acceptance of his gift of salvation
we form the family of God and comprise the single unit called the Church. The key word in the last
statement is “single.” Ephesians 4:4 builds on this principle of oneness. In fact, oneness is the fundamental
principle of our covenant with God – we are one with Him and one with all who carry His name. What I want
to emphasize in this teaching is the oneness of believers and what that requires of us.
A number of years of ago when I was the pastor of a local church the Spirit of Lord taught me something
about oneness that was new to me. It happened after a Sunday morning worship service. Everyone had left
for the day except me. I was in my office meditating on the wonderful things God had done in our service,
but I was also saddened because so many of our church family were absent that day. I knew that if several
of our people had been there they could have received exactly what they needed in their lives to counter
challenges they were facing. The Lord revealed to me in that hour that our church family was like a jar and
each individual member was like a drop of anointing oil. When everyone that He had called to be a part of
our church family was present, the jar was filled to capacity and the level of anointing was at its peak. But,
with each “drop” that was missing at any given time the level of His anointing was diminished accordingly.
This revelation teaches us that each of us is needed in our church and that means each one is of us is
needed for the sake of the Church.
We must extend this principle of oneness to our lives outside of our church as well. I now speak of sinning.
When you sin against God, the effect of that sin goes beyond just ourselves, it hinders the church of which
we are a member and when our church is weakened it in turn hinders the overall Church from being all that
it can be. When your testimony is compromised because of sin, every Christian suffers for it in a number of
ways. They suffer in their testimony because what you have to say about how Jesus changes our lives
becomes unbelievable to the ears of the sinner who hears the gospel. When your attitudes are not Christ-
like sinners do not desire to know your Jesus because in fact you represent Him to them; therefore, the
Body of Christ is weakened in its capacity to evangelize the world. Simply stated, your individual sins have a
direct bearing on whether or not the will of God is done or whether or not His divine plan is fulfilled in the
earth. That is how important you are!
My encouragement to you is this: live your life above reproach. This is not just for your own benefit but also
for the benefit of the Body of Christ. Be ever mindful of how your actions appear to others and what your
words and attitudes convey. Remember: You are being watched and measured by those who potentially
can find salvation. So, be an asset to God and to His Church by learning to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:
16) so your flesh will not manifest and hurt you, me, and all of our spiritual family.
Now let me take the principle of oneness a bit further by extending it to include your wealth. I realize that
anytime Christians start talking about money some get a little uneasy. But be that as it may, I will tread
forward anyway. Please understand that any money that flows into your control belongs to God, it is not
yours. You are merely a steward – one who is entrusted with managing His wealth. With that being said, let
us be reminded that Jesus Himself went about feeding the masses and giving to the poor. (II Corinthians 9:
9) As you know, being a disciple is a matter of imitating our Lord; therefore, you must emulate Him in this
regard as well. Be generous. Be a giver. Be a sower, and realize that because you are you will receive
much back in return. (Luke 6:38) When those harvests happen, don’t consume them all on you. Consider
the oneness of the Body of Christ. If she is to prosper and grow and expand, she must have your help
financially. Your wealth is the means by which God harvests the souls of the earth. Money is the lubricant of
the gospel. It enables us to print and distribute Bibles. It gives us the ability to send missionaries and build
churches, schools, orphanages, and medical clinics. It provides well for God’s chosen servants and their
families so they can concentrate on Kingdom matters. Be the conduit through which God can bless His
Church with abundance as consider your part in His Church.
Your salvation may be a personal thing, but your life in the Church is not a personal thing – it is a family
matter. You are a member of the family of God. What you can receive from God is really not the central
issue. Whether you are blessed or fulfilled or even happy must not occupy the focus of your prayers. As
you develop in your understanding of being a part of the whole, your life will be far richer and in fact you will
prosper and be blessed at an even higher level. So, my admonition to you my friend is this:
DO IT FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHURCH.
FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHURCH
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