I Need To Act

Action in the body of Christ

There’s a few keys to what action really looks like in the church.

The first key to action is humility

Romans 12:3–5 NIV

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 shouldn’t think more of ourselves

We WILL have people who do different things - and see things different ways

We all form one body - where we belong to each other. Not just tolerate, or like - but belong.

The second key to action is ownership

Ephesians 4:16 NIV

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

We need to own our personal faith, and our personal contribution to the body. And nobody can do this for you.

Ephesians 4:11–13 NIV

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

The role of pastors, prophets, apostles, etc is to equip the body, so the body can do the work.

That’s actually a metric of success. Not that the pastor or the apostle or the evangelist is the only one ever doing the work (In fact - that’s actually a mark of failure!)

We know we have succeeded as pastors when other people take up the mantle.

And what are the twin ‘results’ of this kind of approach?

Unity in faith and knowledge

This doesn’t mean we all see things the same - but that we are all working together, we’re all on the same page

Maturity and fullness in Christ

Paul next describes what immaturity looks like. He describes it like being an infant - or like being tossed back and forth in a storm on the sea. That people in their deceitfulness can easil lead us astray.

The Third Key to action is sacrifice

Ephesians 4:22–24 NIV

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Paul says, we shouldn’t live any longer like the gentiles

Their focus is sensuality (what feels good here and now), and their vehicle is impurity.

The ‘lost’ way of life says, find what you want! How ou want to feel, what you want to do. And go for it!

Our focus is maturity (who do I need to be down the road), and our vehicle is sacrifice

Where sensuality says, do whatever your ‘self’ wants. God says - I have a new one of those for you.

Sensuality says, ‘it’s all about you!’ and Jesus says ‘This isn’t about you. It’s about me and others.’

The real key to unlocking powerful action in Christ is sacrifice.

I read in an article once, ‘You can tell your church is maturing when it values sacrifice more than comfort’.

None of these keys are skill based

That’s how amazing God is. That the some of big tenets of what he wants from us, some of the big things he looks for in terms of successful members of his church - Humility, personal ownership, and sacrifice - it’s not like only those of us with bachelor degrees can do it. Or only people with lots of work experience in the church can grasp it.

God does not look for your ability, he looks for your availability.

STORY - My kids love when I join them on stuff they want to do. Like play a board game or play a sport. But when I do with one, they get really arrogant towards the others. “I’m able to do this with daddy(to sibling) YOU CAN’T YOU’RE JUST NOT OLD / SMART / GOOD ENOUGH”. They don’t know just how easy we’re taking it on them. Kid, you’re not here because you’re skilled - you’re here because i’m kind.