The Church is a Body

1Cor 12:12,14 12For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 14For the body is not one member, but many.

Col 1:18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

1Cor 12:18 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.

1Pet 4:10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Rom 11:29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

1Cor 12:7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Eph 4:1,4,7,12-13,15-16 1Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 7But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 15but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

I love how these scriptures come together; one really doesn't need to say anything. But I would like to contribute some thoughts that have borne fruit in my life and meant the most to me.

In God's wisdom He has gifted every one of us, and He has placed a unique calling on each of our lives that our gifts coincide with. Now on top of that, He has put a special path before us all, a path of good works, that we “would walk in”. It's hard to say where that path leads and what our Lord's will and purposes are for each of us. But we can be sure of one thing, we were meant at the very least to minister to one another, in our place of meeting, for the growth and building up of each other in love.

Note that our growth and maturity which is associated with the fullness of our Lord Jesus and our ability to attain to the unity of the faith, which is God's desire and purpose for us, is dependent on the proper working of each individual part. I can't emphasize enough how important it is for each of us to grow into our calling, gifting and find our place and function in the assembly. As described in our Lord's parable of the talents, we will be held accountable to Him on our judgment for how we made use of our gifts, calling and whether we were faithful and obedient to walk down that road that He has prepared beforehand that we would walk…

Having understood these things, how important it is to meet with other believers who also understand these truths, and meet in a scriptural manner that facilitates the function of the body of Christ in its need to minister to itself under the headship and authority of our Lord Jesus in our midst, allowing the freedom of the Holy Spirit to reign and guide us into all truth, in a scriptural order that is established from above and judged by all.