Bible Reading Plan (Thursday 1-10-19)
Day 4 – Engage with His church
The church is not an organization of wood, metal, or mortar, but an organization of souls. The Holy Spirit places each believer into Christ, making each of us members of His body, the Church. By His work, we are eternally connected to one another through – and in – the Holy Spirit.
Even though every believer is therefore in God’s church, that doesn’t mean that every believer is actively engaged in God’s church. God spiritually connects us to one another, but what we do with that connection is up to us. We can choose to be active in our faith and develop our connections with other believers, or we can choose to disengage and live as if the Holy Spirit hasn’t brought us into this union.
In God’s design we are to strengthen our connections to one another in the church: developing meaningful relationships and using the gifts God has given us so that we can bring benefit to the rest of His church. We can benefit the church by engaging with one another, or we can stifle it through neglect.
We may be tempted to think that we are not that important, and that the church can get along without us. but the fullest potential of the local church is not reached unless each part of the body is engaged, doing what God has enabled it to do. Being a part of the body of Christ is a marvelous act of God’s grace, which means that being engaged with other believers is both a privilege and a responsibility. Look for ways to engage with one another and bring out the best in your local church!
1 Corinthians 12:12-26
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Ephesians 4:11-16
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Hebrews 10:24-25
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
The church is not an organization of wood, metal, or mortar, but an organization of souls. The Holy Spirit places each believer into Christ, making each of us members of His body, the Church. By His work, we are eternally connected to one another through – and in – the Holy Spirit.
Even though every believer is therefore in God’s church, that doesn’t mean that every believer is actively engaged in God’s church. God spiritually connects us to one another, but what we do with that connection is up to us. We can choose to be active in our faith and develop our connections with other believers, or we can choose to disengage and live as if the Holy Spirit hasn’t brought us into this union.
In God’s design we are to strengthen our connections to one another in the church: developing meaningful relationships and using the gifts God has given us so that we can bring benefit to the rest of His church. We can benefit the church by engaging with one another, or we can stifle it through neglect.
We may be tempted to think that we are not that important, and that the church can get along without us. but the fullest potential of the local church is not reached unless each part of the body is engaged, doing what God has enabled it to do. Being a part of the body of Christ is a marvelous act of God’s grace, which means that being engaged with other believers is both a privilege and a responsibility. Look for ways to engage with one another and bring out the best in your local church!
1 Corinthians 12:12-26
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Ephesians 4:11-16
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Hebrews 10:24-25
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
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