By the spiritual authority that God has vested in me, I challenge every person among you, not to think more highly of yourself than you should. We all need to receive "reality checks." God has given to all of us a sphere of life and ministry in which to function for which we also have been given the corresponding necessary amount of faith. Our physical body is one and yet it has many members, each having a different function. So the body of Christ is one and we, each of us, are one of its many members. But even though we have various roles to play, we are organically joined both to him and to one another.
And since we have different gifts, let us excel in using what we specifically have been given: if prophecy, then prophesy within the boundaries of genuine faith; if service, then serve in a way that you can do it graciously; if teaching, then teach in the areas in which you have true authority; if exhortation, then exhort according to your spiritual passion; if giving, then give from your heart without second guessing; if leadership, then lead with excellence; if showing mercy, then do it with the joy of the Lord.
Comments:
The second "reformational" point that I am positing for us as believers and our groups out of this chapter is about moving toward...A More Healthy Community. This involves creating a different kind of relational culture than what has been generally modeled to us in our histories within our societies at large and...usually...within our families and churches as well. Unhealthy relational styles and patterns have been stamped deeply upon our souls to the point where it is often difficult and threatening for us to even be made aware of them. In the NT, the apostles of Jesus hold out to us some high ideals of what it looks like to glorify God in our inter-personal relationships...to genuinely walk in the love of God. Their basic model revolves around gracefully navigating the tensions of individuality and interdependence...honoring diversity while maintaining an essential unity in the community of faith. In his epistles Paul utilized the image of the human body to help us intuit and picture this dynamic.
Some years ago, I was privileged to become a friend, though separated by time and space, with Dr. Larry Crabb. Still...we significantly touched hearts. His books had already been making a deep impact on my life when we met and his writings have continued to help me greatly through the years. I believe the whole Body of Christ is indebted to him for his wonderful contributions (forged in the fires of his own vulnerable journey and musings) toward understanding both the sanctification process and healthy relationships. He has helped to identify the "radical middle" between the traditional "moralistic" (You must try harder!) and "therapy" (You are a victim!) approaches to these two vital issues by gleaning truths from each polar opposite and integrating them into a more biblical context for understanding and engaging our personal human life and our relationships with others. I will write more about some critical points from his book "Connecting" in the next blog.
