Doing Life Together

Recently when visiting with a friend, he used the expression "doing life together".  We were discussing the difference in being connected with the Body of Christ versus floating on the periphery of it.  I know many believers who float from church to church never making the commitment to invest their time and talents into one specific group of believers.  I am not questioning when we are in a season of waiting on the Lord for specific instructions, but rather referencing the continuation of that limbo status when the time has long passed to make that commitment.  Once I was asked where I found the scriptural truths that indicate we need to be planted in a "church" of believers in order to see our gifts flourish and grow fostering a greater contribution to the kingdom and the harvest.   When I heard the expression in the title from our friend, it became crystal clear to me why we are to be committed to a single body of believers.

Have you ever been in that place in life in which you feel disconnected from everyone around you?  Can you identify with the feeling that you are not part of any group, just an outsider that "visits"?   I sent my life feeling as if I was not "part" of anything.  I can remember in my early childhood years yearning to be part of "that" group.  Even as a young adult in high school, it was an ongoing effort to be in as many organizations as I could manage hoping that in one of them, I would feel as if I belonged.  Later in life as a young married, I would see groups around me living life together, yet I never felt as if I was living life with anyone outside my immediate family.  It seemed as if everyone around me had someplace to go and someone with whom to do things except me.

When I accepted Christ and surrendered my life to Him, those things seemed much less important than they once did, yet the sense of still being an outsider lingered.  I chalked that up to being "in this world and not of this world".  It was OK with me that I was different because I understood why I was different.  However God had something more to teach me about this and that was the most precious gift that He gave me this Christmas.  

This Christmas was different in several aspects and those differences wove together to create a tapestry for me that illustrated what God wants from me in "doing life" with fellow believers.  Life is a process and if we are surrendered to the Lord, we are constantly moving forward in that process.  Since I surrendered my life to Him in 1989, I have belonged to several churches.  Each move brought me closer in my understanding of who He is and who I am in Him.  I know that each move was orchestrated by my Lord as I sought His desire each time.  I can now see that if I had not walked through the process I would not be matured to the place in which I function now.  Yet to not acknowledge that each place had its rocky paths would be lying to myself and everyone else.  I was growing and I was learning, but I had yet to feel truly connected to the Body.  I was not being fed through the body, but rather intravenously from the Source of Life Himself.

What is different about where I am today is simply that I am "doing life" with others in an intimate and complete way that I have never done before.  "Doing Life" together means more than ministering to the world together or worshipping together twice a week.  "Doing Life" means that we are covering one another, helping one another, encouraging one another, supporting one another.  This specifically is in reference to fellow believers; they are adopted as we are into God's family and hence are our brothers (and sisters).  Begin your study with the word brother in your concordance and focus on the New Testament readings that discuss how we treat our brothers.  For example, Romans 14:15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.  Question: If you are not walking connected to others (doing life together) how will anyone know what your lifestyle is?  If you are living in isolation then you are at a distance from other believers and your life and choices will not have any impact - positive or negative.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. The reverse of this statement is that we are to be industrious and encourage each other to do the same.  Once again, I pose the same question: If we are not doing life together, how will anyone know whether we are idle or not?  They won't.  The chosen isolation of being disconnected protects the exposure of our true nature.  However let's consider the very positive aspect of being connected.  We are the body of Christ which has many individual parts, all of which are required for a fully functional body.  Once we are connected, we understand what "part" we are and how we contribute to the whole.  1 Corinthians 12:12-14 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.  Only when we are connected to the rest of the body can we understand what our gifts are, what our role is and indeed how we impact the rest of the body in its quest for the advancement of the Kingdom.

So back to my Christmas tapestry of 2010.  In my participation in the Christmas Outreach at our church, I realized that while I was not indispensable (after all amputees function without all of their parts), I was needed and useful. I also experienced the individual connection between fellow members outside of the church building as our brothers and sisters surprised us with spontaneous visits and touches of love.  I realized that these surprises had nothing to do with my performance or with their sense of obligation, but rather were simply acts of love.  God's love was shining through them and does so not just during this Christmas season, but throughout the whole year.  I am learning to receive as well as give.  As brothers (and sisters) in the body of Christ we are called to treat each other differently than the rest of the world.  This Body we belong to is the most inclusive, exclusive "club" in the world.  How cool is that???  Do you want to experience belonging?  Get connected with a local, real, grounded body of Christ and start doing life together.  You must connect in order to feel the powerful flow of the life giving blood and water of Life to flow through you.  Once the nourishment has started flowing, just watch your gifts grow and the fruit that will result will amaze you and delight God.  Happy New Year!  Make it the best one ever.  Get connected!