Paul writes beautifully about us as the body of Christ in his letter to the Ephesians.  When you think about church membership, you probably think, “I am a member of First Baptist, you are a member of First Pentecostal, and Bob is a member of First Nazarene.”

But listen to these beautiful words of Paul in Ephesians 4:25.  It’s not that we are members of this church or that church, but it says, “We are members of one another.”

There is “one body,” Paul said, “and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”  God’s Spirit is coursing through us, like blood through veins – through me, through you, and through every saint of the living God.  Ephesians 5:30 says “…we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.”

And just like we as humans take care of our bodies – feeding, cleaning, etc. – Jesus cares for His body, the church.  Ephesians 5 says that Christ “loved the church and gave Himself for her.”  He cleanses the body and eliminates all spots and wrinkles and blemishes.  Verse 29 says He nourishes and cherishes the body.

That’s the kind of TLC we get as the body of Christ!  So does that mean we just sit back and soak it all in, like a permanent spa day?  No.  A body is subject to the head.  A body carries out the will and the desires of the head, and Christ, our head, has some goals for His body.  They include growth, maturity and unity, and we don’t just sit back and wait for them to happen.  We get involved and do our part to make them happen.

Ephesians 4:15 has two powerful words, “grow up.”  We are to “grow up in all things into Him who is the head…Christ…”  This is not a pretty picture, but imagine a man’s head on a boy’s body.  The body needs to grow up to fit the head.  We, the body, need to grow up to fit our head, which is Christ.   Verse 13 offers this goal, “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”  

Yes that means we as individuals will mature, and it also means that we together will mature.  We are members of one another.  Imagine a weightlifter with a huge right arm and a skinny-minny left arm.  It would just be weird, wouldn’t it?  So the whole body of Christ needs to be working and growing, not just one part here and there.

Verse 16 says “…the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies…”

Are there any lone wolf joints in your body?  They just do their own thing and are disconnected from the rest of the body?  That would be ridiculous, and it’s ridiculous in the body of Christ.

The body of Christ is “joined and knit together by what every joint supplies.”  


It’s a beautiful thing, this body of Christ, and if you are a Christian, you are a part of it.  

There’s no such thing as a lone wolf Christian, and there aren’t separate bodies here, there and everywhere.

We are all members of one another, and the Spirit of God is coursing through us all.


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