Eph 4:11-16 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. NKJV

Later this month we will be able to participate once again in the area wide progressive meeting, traveling from congregation to congregation to listen to a gospel preacher preach the message of Christ. This year, at the request of all the elders from the various congregations, Dale Jenkins will preach on the theme “Building Up The Body of Christ.”

As I heard that theme, I rejoiced, because it seems that Satan has had a heyday in trying to tear the body of Christ apart. He has been successful over the years, and I believe it is because we, as individual members of the body of Christ, have not grown personally in our faith. We are unable to know his deceitful ways, or we are not strong enough to bear the onslaughts of this worthy adversary. We have been deceived into thinking he is looking out for us, or if “everybody does it” then it must be right! We starve ourselves to death by not feasting upon his word, and we have not exercised our faith by putting the word into action in our lives.

To build the body individual members have to build themselves up. This comes by feasting on the right food. As junk food is not good for our physical bodies, so the philosophies of man are not good for our spiritual bodies. Just listening to a preacher two or three times a week will not build someone up. This will barely keep them alive, and that is all. Brethren, let me encourage you in the strongest way that I can to feast upon the Word of God daily. Just as our physical bodies tell us they are hungry when we miss a meal, in like manner our spiritual bodies should tell us the same thing, if we are healthy! Could it be that we miss a meal, a feast of God’s word, because we have gone so long without eating that we aren’t even hungry, and fail to realize that we are starving to death??

To build the body the individual member must exercise. If we don’t exercise physically, our muscles atrophy, and we put on excess weight. This then cause tiredness, lethargy, and affects our emotional moods. We become depressed. In like manner, if we don’t exercise our faith by becoming active in the work of the Lord, we become tired of worship, we become lethargic and apathetic about whether the church succeeds in her mission and work, we put on excess weight (those who draw from the body, but never give back to it in a constructive way) and the church becomes depressed, dwindles and fails. Our faith must be exercised just as our physical bodies must be exercised. This means simply that we take God at his word and do what he says, leaving the results up to him. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes there is pain (but no pain, no gain). But the body is better because we exercise and stretch our faith!

Are you individually building up your spiritual body so you can build the corporate body of Christ? EAT RIGHT AND GET PLENTY OF EXERCISE!

More next week.