Good morning Church family,
For those of you who attended our Praise & Pie night, I hope that you enjoyed the fellowship, the entertainment, the worship, the relationships, and especially the pie! I praise God for that pie (& yes, I refused to eat cake or anything shaped like a square). That pie table must have been one of the most beautiful things that I’ve seen recently (second to my wife, of course!).
It was slightly ironic and funny how our Church indulged in pie the evening after I preached on the importance of being a healthy Church Body of Christ. We may not have pursued good body health last night, but as Marcia Heigel said, “we’re a happy Church and that’s all that counts 😉” And yes, she winked.
In all seriousness, I do believe we have a healthy Body of Christ as the WOL Chapel family. Of course, we can always grow in Church health too and I hope that Ephesians 4:11-16 had that effect on us.
I hope that you were inspired and encouraged from Ephesians 4:11-16 with understanding just how important each one of you are within the Body of Christ. The pastors-teachers/elders (vv11-12) are to equip all the members for the work of ministry for building up the Body of Christ. The simple design of our Body is that each and every one of us are doing great work by using our skills, gifts, time, abilities, and personalities to help serve one-another in a way that helps us know Jesus better and grow into His likeness (vv12-13).
I know that Word of Life Chapel has a high proportion of you saints who serve. And I could list a myriad of people by name who work in a variety of ways, but I’ll spare you the details.
The wonderful part of your service is how God says that He (Jesus) actually makes His Church Body grow through your service (vv15-16). You are a vital contributing factor to the growth of this Church, in knowledge of Jesus, in Christlikeness, and in truth & love. Literally, we would not grow without your work, without ALL OF OUR WORK, together!
And here’s the neat part: even I as the pastor/equipper of all of this saintly service benefit from your works of service as you all help me to grow as a part of this Body! Like a boomerang that comes back to me, as I teach the Bible and love you and encourage you in the Lord, your service actually helps me grow. Ephesians 4 is saying, even the pastor/teachers grow as a result of every member in the Church serving in Christ fueled ways (because I’m a part of the Body too!).
I can’t tell you how encouraged I’ve been through the service of the WOL Chapel saints. As Jesus uses you to build up this Body, you are building up the pastor, your elders, your leaders. There is no person in this Body of Christ who is not touched and affected by your service, including me. That should give you all the more motivation to serve!
So with Thanksgiving on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to end by saying, thank you WOL Chapel for helping me grow in the Lord by contributing to making this Church grow in love. I feel that love & benefit from that love. Glory to Jesus as the Creator and Head of this Body, but nevertheless, credit and thanks should go to all of you who are a part of the “when each part is working properly” (v16) “makes the Body grow so that it grows up in love.”
I’m thankful for you, WOL Chapel, and I praise God for you (even more than pie!).
With a thankful heart in Christ,
Love Aaron
