Purpose of the Church, the Body of Christ

Hey Guys!

Earlier today I shared about the Purpose of the Church, the Body of Christ. For those who were there this morning, can I request that you donít throw the paper (lyrics of the song) away so quickly? The song truly has much meaning to it, and it reflects on how some of us have been treating others we donít exactly like. We should love them, accept them for who they are, whether they are our brothers and sisters in Christ, or non-believers seeking to know the God we put our faith in.

For those who could not come down for todayís sharing and worship, I shared about how we as the Body of Christ should be a living testimony for our God, the mighty and awesome living God.

¹⁴ ìYou are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heavenî
-Matthew 5:14-16

Indeed we have to look at ourselves, and check if we are setting a good example to our friends. We have to constantly ensure that we are glorifying Godís name in everything we do. As Godís people, we should be shining for God that everyone around us would know that we are His people, and through us, how awesome our God is.

Secondly, I shared about how we should treat our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Thought we are many parts, we are only ONE body, where Christ is the head. We can have our differences and similarities, we may agree with each other and also disagree with each other, but ultimately, we are called into unity to point people heavenward toward to our Father. Since all of us are special in Godís sight and all of us have our purpose to play in His Body, who are we to feel superior, or even inferior to each other. For it says in 1 Corinthians 12:22
ì²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. ²⁷Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.î

Truly we are to, as brothers and sisters in Christ, help each other, pick each other up whenever he/she is down. Most importantly, we are to glorify God as ONE body. As I said earlier today, many of us may know what we should do and have faithfully been applying it to our lives, but I am sure that all of us have at least one person we disliked in our lives. I shared that a few years back, there was a new guy in church. We all found him extremely annoying because he had this squeaky voice and was always just too high and random. So week after week for three whole years we teased him, laughed at him, and mimicked him, so much so that he chose to leave our church. He didnít blame any of us, just plainly stated that this wasnít the right place for him. This served as a reminder to all of us on how we are to treat Godís people. It was a wakeup call and since then, we have been trying our best to love everyone with the love our God first gave us.

Lastly, I gave all of you a challenge, one that I truly hope you will constantly challenge yourself with. Be a shining example for our God, glorifying God in all that we do that men will see us and know that our God is real. I also want to challenge all of you to love each other with the love our God first gave us, to strengthen each other spiritually and to help each other focus on God.

But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the Body of Christ


In His Mercy and Love,
Thaddaeus Tan