Who Are You? Week 4

Father,
Thank you that you have knit us and are knitting us into one body, the body of Christ. Help us to remember this when we are tempted to shred another member of the Body. Help us to grow in maturity rather than dependence on our pastors and teachers. Help us to love you better, today.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Who are you? You are part of one body, and have one spirit, the Holy Spirit. That is who you are. Why do we not see this in most gatherings of believers? Why have we allowed incorrect emphases to dominate our minds and hearts and destroy t hat reality? We have a shared divine calling and a high rank, thus we need to live and operate differently than we have in the past. Wake up. We have slumbered, lulled to sleep by fluffy, happy motivational speeches disguised as sermons, many of us for years. This passage reminds me of a few others in Paul’s letters; in the Pastorals, we see him advising Timothy and others to put out those who are stuck on genealogies and other controversial things, in Galatians, he bashes the Galatian gatherings for adopting the ways of the judaizers. Where have we missed the memo? When did the Body of Christ become Bodies of Christ?
On Wednesday, we learned that the helpers in the Body, meant to raise it up to full maturity, fall into 5 primary groups: apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, and pastors. It is not who you are, but these are things that many of us have been called to participate in and do. These offices are still very vital and active (not just the last 3). We are to experience the fullness of knowing Jesus, oneness in the faith of Christ, and fully spiritually mature people. I do not see that in many corners of the Body of Christ, I do not claim to have attained to this, yet, either. However, I want to get there, so cutting myself off from some of these offices, which are all meant to help me in that maturing process, does not make sense.
On Friday, we were reminded that we are holy. That is, called to act differently from the world around us. We do not walk in spiritual apathy because we know the Truth, and He has set us free. We have purer logic than the world, as it has been adjusted by being in Christ. Our consciences are actually functional to help us be different. That is who we are, we are a holy people. We are each holy as individuals as well. This holiness is meant to be a relational, love-based response to the love of God. Think about how you find yourself responding to people who genuinely love you vs those who just put up with you for the most part. Do you find yourself wanting to be with, much less focus effort on pleasing people who just put up with you? What about those who really love you? You want to do what you can to encourage those people to stick around, don’t you? That is the foundation of holiness which is in view here, not simply following rules just to follow rules. If you really look at the Old Testament, though, that is the core of it there, as well, just most people couldn’t see that, so it became rote repetition of Torah in order to be blessed by YHWH, because like so many now, the people of Israel could not see through to the reality that God would or could even want to have a relationship with them.
So, what did we learn about ourselves from Ephesians 4 this week? There is one Body of Christ, and if we are in Him, we are it. Maturity comes through the faithful operation of the 5-fold ministry: apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher, and pastor. These 5 roles will stay with the Body until all members are fully mature in the Lord, and as far as I can tell, we are nowhere near that place. I certainly am not. We are holy because God says we are, and we are called to grow into a holiness that is based on love, not obligation or rule-keeping, just for the sake of keeping rules.