Lessons From the Death of a Friend

Two days before he passed away I visited with a friend of mine and his family. Due to medication he was unconscious. The family told me that except for his liver, which was failing due to cancer, his health was pretty good. His heart was functioning well. His blood pressure was normal. When he was able to be awake his mind was good. In almost every way he was healthy...except for that liver.


I thought later about how just one part not functioning correctly can affect the whole body. Each part of the body has a role and an important function. There are very few parts that can be sick or stop providing their function and us be able to live or function normally.


This all reminds me of two passages in the Scriptures. In 1 Corinthians 12 the apostle Paul addresses the problem of division in the church at Corinth. He compares the church, with its many members, to a body with its different members (parts). "If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased." (15-20) and "the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.'" (21).


Paul's point is twofold. First, if I am a Christian and think I have no need of other church members, either because I don't want to be a part of a church, feel I have no need of fellowship with other ChrIstians or I think I am some how better or superior to the other members, I lack proper appreciation and concern for other Christians. Second, if I feel inferior because I cannot contribute to a church as well as others, perhaps because of lack of knowledge or ability that others possess, I fail to understand that it takes Christians at various levels of knowledge and ability for a church to be properly composed as God arranged.


In Ephesians 4:16 Paul again uses the analogy of the church to the body and says, "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."


Note: "every part does its share." The problem my friend Don had was that one of his parts stopped doing its share. What are the Lord's people, his church, missing because you are not doing your share by being an active, involved, dedicated part of the body of Christ?


Lessons to Consider


The church is important and if I am to be a faithful Christian I must be part of a local church (Paul was writing to Corinth, a local church). The Bible doesn't okay the "christian at large" concept or somehow substituting "TV church" for being an responsible member (in person) of a local church. 

1. The Lord's teaching doesn't condone pew warming when it says that "every part does its share." You can greet others, encourage others, visit others, help sick folks, etc.
2. Members who are struggling or still weak in their faith are not disposable. We can't act like the little toe can be thrown out because it is unimportant to me. Romans 15:1-2 says, "We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification."

Do you need to learn the value of the church? Do you need to better understand the value of your role within the Lord's church? We are ready to help. Just send an email and we'll be glad to talk with you. Lets all learn to appreciate our role in the Lord's plan for our life on this earth.