Our Service as One Body
When considering the diversity of the body, it is sure that we have been lavished by the Lord with different functions for the purpose of glorifying Him through our service with one another. Scripture states in Romans 12:4-5, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Rom. 12:4). Being described as one body, believers can legitimately ask, how is it possible to serve the Lord in that way? We are able to be successful in serving as one body only through the union we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our union in Christ is a necessary prerequisite to our spiritual communion with one another. This reveals a reality that such a communion is not produced merely by man’s effort such as which is seen from superficial social clubs or group memberships but is a God’s established communion. In this, God established communion, there is a recognized relationship that is formed between individual Christians that is significant and intimate, marked by love toward one another and ultimately toward God Himself. So how do we as God’s people demonstrate this kind of love? We are to love one another with tender affection, believe and bearing all things with one another, seek to forgive and show honor through our service with one another.
Loving with Tender Affection
Through our union with Christ, God bestows on us His bountiful love. 1 John 4:16 states, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” Through this passage, we are provided with such a clear reference of the relationship between our union with God and what it means to abide in Him. As believers abiding in God, we must also be abiding in God’s love. Furthermore, in John 15:12, we as believers are given a command to love one another as God Himself has loved us. This love can be demonstrated through our own acts of service to one another and how we treat one another within the body of Christ. In Ephesians 4:32 we are shown how this love is demonstrated, by being “kind to one another, compassionate, tenderhearted, humble, being able to bear with one another, and forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven us.” With the word tenderhearted, it encapsulates a nature that is both kind, and gentle. As believers within the body of Christ, there should be a sense of affection and warmness in our conduct with one another and an ability to be compassionate and sympathetic toward one another’s needs. 1 John 4:11-12 reads, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.” As the body of Christ, let us learn to love the brethren tenderheartedly so that God’s love can be made perfected in us. In doing so, all people will know that we are God’s disciples, if we have love for one another (Jhn. 13:35).
Believing and Bearing all Things Through Love
When we as Christians are faced with challenges in our relationship with the brethren, it provides us an opportunity to put our trust in God and what He is doing in our lives to conform us more into His image (Rom. 8:29). We who profess to be Christians should imitate the character of Christ in all things. As we face challenges within the body, we must remember what God has done for us in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 5:1-11, Paul explains to believers that we now have peace with God through faith. This peace that we have with God is due to our justification in Christ. Jesus Christ at the right time died for us, this was God’s love shown to us (Rom.5:6). When this view of the gospel takes place deep in our hearts, even in the midst of challenges, we can overcome our own sinful responses that do not please God. When we look to the gospel and remember what God has done for us in Christ, we are able to trust God and not ourselves in all of our challenges. We will be able to believe all things about God and His promises abounding in hope with all joy and peace in believing (Romans 15:13). We will also be able to bear with one another through difficult challenges and think right thoughts about one another through our union in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through our remembrance of what God has done for us in the gospel, we will be empowered to obey God and imitate Christ with our actions toward one another (Eph. 5:1).
Loving One Another Through Conflict
In the Peacemaking for Families book, Ken Sande provides a helpful four-point conflict resolution system which includes the points, “glorify God”; “get the log out of your own eye”; “go and show your brother his fault”; and “go and be reconciled” (Sande, 2002). This section will focus on getting the log out of one’s own eye and showing one’s brother his fault. As we face conflicts of any kind, we ought to look to ourselves by seeking to get the log out of our own eye (Matt 7:5). We must truly examine ourselves in the conflict and confess our sins as well. We are commanded by Jesus in Matthew 7:5 to “first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye”. This response might be challenging but with God’s help, He will graciously grant us the ability to depend solely on Him as we put our trust in Him. In first looking at ourselves by seeking to “get the log out of our own eye”, we then have the opportunity to confess our sins faithfully and also be able to successfully address the conflict. We will more easily be able to deal with our own sins which contributed to the problem and be able to confess them with the hope of forgiveness from the offended party. Taking responsibility for what one does within a conflict helps the other party to also take responsibility for their contribution to the conflict. This brings an atmosphere of ease and transparency. As a person confesses their sins before God, they must also ask for new thoughts and new desires so that God can help them to change their behavior. This change will affect us in greater ways and provide us an opportunity to have restored relationships allowing for peace with one another.
As we face conflicts of any kind, we also must go and show our brother his fault (Matt 18:15). This step is done only after one has sought to take out the log from his own eye. Confronting someone about their sin for biblical reasons in a loving manner allows for the party to serve the other in constructive ways. When another person confronts us in a loving manner, God can be using that situation to grow us more into His image and to strengthen our faith in Him. If a matter cannot be first overlooked where it could be a detriment to the individual and possibly to the body as a whole, confronting someone lovingly can demonstrate a Christ-centered trust and obedience to God’s ways, bringing honor and glory to His name toward a watching world. Confronting someone lovingly can also bring awareness of wrongs to the person being confronted such as an acknowledgement of their sin and a desire to clear themselves through repentance and continued faith in Christ which would be the ultimate aim we should have for one another when sin is involved. This form of grief is shown in the second letter to the Corinthian church when Paul continues to write to address the importance of purity and unity within the church. The effects of Paul’s letter on the Corinthian church members was significant since an earnestness was produced in them from godly grief, also an eagerness to clear themselves, indignation, fear, longing, zeal and even punishment (2 Cor. 7:11). When times of conflict arise within the body, let us be sober-minded and responsive to follow Christ in our obedience to His commands (Matthew 18:15-17).
Loving One Another Through Forgiveness
In the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:12, Jesus gives us an example of prayer and tells us that we should ask God in our prayers to “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt. 6:12). Here we see a great connection with God’s forgiveness of us and of our forgiveness toward others. Through this passage and others, we see that God is intent on having us ready to forgive others when someone sins against us (ex. Matt. 18:23-35, Col. 3:13). As God has graciously forgiven us of our debt, choosing not to count our sins against us (2 Cor. 5:19), we are to do the same and graciously forgive others their trespasses against us. This opportunity of forgiveness provides a renewed relationship which brings back together separated parties and unites again in them a bond of peace and love. Through salvation, such a model of forgiveness is given to us from God and should be imitated by us, His children.
Loving One Another Through Service
In our service with one another, our love must be genuine (Rom. 12:9). This is possible only as we seek to have the Word of Christ dwelling richly in us so that we can be enabled by the Holy Spirit to serve the Lord (Col. 3:16). In our service, we must aim to outdo one another in showing honor and be fervent in our service to the Lord (Rom. 12:11). This is done when we recognize each other’s individual gifts and function and provide support to one another in our completion of them. As we serve with one another, we should also consider our contribution to the needs of one another and seek to show hospitality as well (v. 13). In our service, we are to continue to seek to understand what the will of the Lord is, being filled with the Spirit, and giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ while submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph. 5:15-21). Above all, in our service, we are to keep loving one another earnestly as the day draws near (1 Pet. 4:8). Let us direct our hearts in this way so that as Paul states in 2 Corinthians 13:11-14, our aim will be for restoration, comfort for one another, agreement with one another, and living in peace with one another that the God of love and peace will be with us.
Written by Rebecca Onagoruwa
Serenity & Grace Counseling
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Reference: Sande, Ken, Raabe, Tom. Peacemaking for Families. Carole Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 2002.
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