The Great Commission.

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:16-20). 

The Body of Christ. 

“You know that when you were pagans, somehow or another you were influence and led astray to dumb idols” (1 Corinthians 12:2), but “to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7) in all of them and in every one it is the same God at work” (1 Corinthians 12:6).  

God gives gifts by the Spirit to build the body of Christ, to increase our faith and to bless us. Some are given wisdom, others knowledge, others gift of healing, others miraculous powers, others prophecy, others distinguishing between spirits, to others speaking in tongues and to others the interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:7-10). 

These gifts work to make the body of Christ mature and work to support the body of Christ in different ways. It is the power of God, his Spirit, at work in us to teach us, to give us wisdom, to heal us and to perform miracles. It is not our own work or so that we can be known as righteous, but so that God’s power can be revealed through us to believers and his power become real to unbelievers so that they can have faith. 

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12). All parts of the body help to build a mature body of Christ that can perform these works through the Spirit. No part is more valuable over another, “but in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. As it is, there are many parts, but one body” (1 Corinthians 12:18-19). 

“Now if the foot should say, ‘because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be” (1 Corinthians 12:15-17)?

“The eye cannot say to the hand. ‘I don’t need you!’ and the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ on the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. The parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Corinthians 12:21-26). 

It is God’s will for people to operate in their gifts that build up the body of Christ. If we remain immature God will still make a way for his will to be done on earth, but how much more blessed can we be to be honored to do his will as an act of gratitude for the gift of connection to himself that he has given to us through Jesus.

We have served our own ambitions and received the rewards from the work we did in the world. It is more rewarding to have the Spirit of God our Father, the Creator at work in our lives through spiritual gifts giving us the ability to function in these gifts to build what he is building, the body of Christ, to maturity and through allowing God to work in our lives becoming witnesses of God’s power able to testify of his ability to do greater things than we can do on earth. 

The greatest gift is not wisdom or ability to perform miracles but to have the gift of God through Jesus, connection to God at work in our life, “eagerly desire this greater gift” (1 Corinthians 12:31). 

Unity and maturity in the Body of Christ. 

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 

Make every effort to keep unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “when he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people” (Psalms 68:18). What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. 

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:1-16).