Do Christian’s really need to “go to church”? Is a “church” even a place where people can “go”? What if, instead of a building, the church was a people who defined themselves in relationship with God and in community with Christ and one another?
Observations & Conclusions:
- Growth in discipleship requires participation in a local church – a Christian community
- Humility in discipleship affirms that no one gift is greater than another
- Maturity (health) in discipleship means everyone has a role to play – diversity is essential to maturity
- Unity in discipleship says “what happens to one of us, happens to all of us”
- Order in discipleship requires that Jesus is in charge of the organization of the body
Application:
- Stay connected to the Head – Stay close to Jesus
- Serve and speak with the same attitude as Jesus
- Homework: ____________ reports that the Spirit gifting in my life is _____________.
1 Peter 4:10-11
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 4:7
“But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”
Ephesians 4:15
“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”
Colossians 1:18a
“And he is the head of the body, the church;”
Philippians 2:3-5
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”
Romans 12:3-8
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”