We are the Body…Week Eight

Welcome to our last week of We Are the Body. We are thrilled you are joining us. This Bible study will be slightly different than our last one in that we won’t have video or a study guide. However, we will a time of Deeper Refinement that will allow you to spend the week digging a little further into each week’s lesson. Please make sure to leave your link, or let us know through the comment section, if you have been participating so that we can pray for everyone involved!

A Servant Is…

We were sitting in church one Sunday morning and our new Pastor was teaching about our role as the body of Christ. He began the sermon with this quote, “Imagine what it would be like to go to church once or twice a week and, other than that, have no fellowship with those you go to church with! I can’t even imagine that!” I looked at my husband and he looked at me. We COULD imagine it. Not only could we imagine it, we had lived it for years. For 14 years we went to church on Sunday mornings and most Wed. nights, and had very little, if any, fellowship outside of those two meetings.

It wasn’t that we didn’t try or want to. We tried and tried and tried. We reached out. We tried to do our part…but to no avail. We were consistently met with answers like: “We’re too busy.” “Sunday is our family day.” “I don’t need friends, I’m a loner.” “I don’t have time to nurture friendships.” “I’m too busy with my family.” Other than a few special events each year, we had no fellowship at all.

I remember asking an older lady if she and I could get together and pray occasionally. I had been going through a hard time and felt like needed someone to help carry my burden. I was on the verge of tears. Her answer was, “Well, I am really busy with my kids and grand kids. You could e-mail me.”

We originally began going to the church when our children were very small. We were drawn to the thought of “family worship” and “commitment to family.” It sounded right.

The people were well meaning.
They were sincere.
But they were sincerely missing out on true Biblical fellowship.

My husband and I walked through 14 years with almost no one coming along side of us. In our marriage, our parenting, our victories and our trials. We felt alone. As our children grew they began to feel like something was lacking. They needed fellowship. It was affecting them now.

We became weary.

And then there were the questions:

“Why don’t they want to fellowship with us?”
“Is there something wrong with us?”
“Are we doing something wrong?”

We felt alone!

The answer we would get was: “Just do your part.” So we would continue to do our part. We would invite people over. I would reach out to women. I made cards and gave gifts. I tried to encourage. I tried to come up with ideas to promote fellowship.

Nothing.
No interest.

We finally crashed. You can only go so long without people coming along side you and encouraging you. You can only pour out for so long with very little encouragement. We became tired. We couldn’t do it any more. We decided it was time to look for another church.

After persevering for 14 years we left a church that we had desperately wanted to fellowship with, and where no one seemed to have the time or interest in doing so. It has taken me a year to even get to the point where I can write about this. There have been so many things that we have been working through as a family after being in that atmosphere for so long. I have had to let go of a lot of feelings, although I am still working through some things.

You know what is sad? After being in a church for 14 years, where my husband was in leadership, led the service and my daughter played the piano…after 14 years of trying and trying and trying….We have hardly heard from ANYONE. Very few people even inquired as to where we were after we left. Sadly, we have not missed going there for even a second. God has led us to an incredible church that actively teaches and lives out what it means to be the body of Christ and we have more connections after one year than we did after 14 years at the other church. I believe that was due to the lack of fellowship.

God has brought good out of this, though. It has not been time wasted! Over the years as I questioned, cried, and asked God to show me exactly what was missing and what we are called to do, He led me to write this series! He has been teaching me what was missing, and then, led us to a church where we are able to see this lived out on a daily basis. What an incredible difference it has made in our lives!

If we are striving to model our lives after Christ our Savior, then we will be growing in our desire to serve His people. We will be characterized as those who love and serve and want to fellowship with our sisters and brothers in Christ.

What does a servant look like? Here are some suggestions:

One who seeks to bring glory to the one who sent him.

One who does unto others as he would have them do unto him, but does not expect others to do unto him as he has done to them!

One who is willing to be taken advantage of, inconvenienced, and misunderstood, but never takes advantage of or inconveniences another.

One who serves others the way they NEED to be served, not the way I want to serve them.

One who has no expectations or ulterior motives in serving.

One who lives a life of self denial.

One who prays that he would be others oriented.

One who is a cheerleader…seeking to encourage and cheer others on in this race we are all in.

One who seeks to love others with a fervent love, a love that is stretched out and strained to the maximum.

One who leaves others better than they found them.

One who has as her life motto “others, others, others!”

One who does not make a joke at the expense of another!

One who thinks before he speaks!

My prayer is that this study has given you a clearer picture of what we are called to as a member of the the body of Christ, and what a privilege it is to be able to live life TOGETHER for HIS GLORY!

What have you learned over these last several weeks about being a part of the body of Christ? Has there been one thing that has affected you the most or that you’ve taken away from this time of study?

Continue to use your notebook that you’ve filled during these last few weeks of study. Go back through it often. Prayer over the people and things you’ve written down. Continue to ask the Lord to mold you and shape you and show you how to continually be a part of the Body!You can come back anytime this week and add your link below, or share in the comments, if you choose to share what the Lord has shown you through this.

If you have been doing this study with us, please take a moment and add your link so we can pray for you.

NOTE: This list will show pictures for each link entered. So, link to your post, write your name and blog in the title space, and then choose a picture to represent you!

About The Author

Gina has written 12 articles on this blog.

Gina has been married 22 years and is the mother of 2 children. She lives on a college campus where she and her husband live to serve the students that show up at their door. You can find Gina at her blog Chats with An "Old Lady".

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