The supply of the joints will definitely be more profound than the sharing of every part. But in the wisdom of God, the profound supplies of the joints plus the little contributions of the parts lead to the growth and the upbuilding of the church. Therefore, the supplies of the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers without the sharing of the other members of the church will certainly affect the balanced growth of the church.

   To live a well-balanced body life, the church must acknowledge the function of every member and welcome the contributions of all. The church should not receive one ministry and kick against the other. We must not accept the teaching and pastoral, evangelistic, and apostolic ministry and kick against healing, prophetic, and miracle-working ministry. A short-sighted man will say, “What do healing, miracles, and prophecy adds to my salvation? Did not Lazarus die the second time having been raised from the dead? Whether or not there is healing and miracles, I will one day die.” Oh, how foolish are sayings like this! Will the Lord set something irrelevant in His Body? Though these contributions seem not to make any direct imparts on the growth of the church, they make a great impact that we often overlook. Consider the love of Mary Magdalene from whom Jesus cast out seven demons (Mark 16:1 to 9); consider the services Peter’s mother-in-law rendered to Jesus after her healing (Matthew 8:14); consider the many people who were saved when Dorcas was raised from the dead (Acts 9:40 to 42). The miraculous, prophetic, and healing operations turn many unbelievers to the Lord and so also strengthen the weaker saints to mend their lives and become more resolute in their services to the Lord. Most assuredly, many sinners will be saved and many young saints will be delivered from untimely death and become useful to the church if the church is well-balanced. The church must not underestimate the function and contribution of any member.

Three

Love, Unity, Peace, and Oneness Exist among All the Parts of the Human Body

   Does anyone desire to know the reality of the existence of love, unity, peace, and oneness among the parts of his human body? Let him stand to his feet and walk, then he will know and understand how peaceable, loving, united, and one the parts of his body are. All his various parts stand and walk at his command as they are one and are not divided from each other. They cooperate in the walking exercise because they are united, and they do not fight with each other during the process since they are living together in peaceful coexistence. After this short exercise, he will also realise that all the parts of his body regularly fight every danger that exists as a threat to the safety of one part due to the love they have for one another.

   The existence of love, unity, peace, and oneness among the members of the church leads to the growth, safety, and effectiveness of all the saints, springing into the upbuilding of the church and the success of the Lord’s work. 

   Ephesians 4:31 to 32 reads, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you,” (ESV).

   The existence of LOVE among the members of the church becomes real when each brother is putting away bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and slander from himself toward another. (I would have liked to elaborate on these things one after the other, but time will not permit me to do so. I pray that the Lord will grant us another book that will discuss these things more fully). Putting away these evil natures from ourselves is applying for an immediate replacement of kindness, tender-heartedness, forgiveness, and truth which are the fruits of the Spirit. We bear these fruits to the degree by which we have allowed Christ to deal with those evil natures in us. For as Christ is dealing with the evil natures in us, His life will continue to occupy each ground He has gained in our being. Our recovery enables us to express kindness, tender-heartedness, forgiveness, and truthfulness to one another. In this way, the church will be filled with brotherly love.