God's Love and the Church: Day 2

A few months ago, my wife and I attended a class at our church.  The leader began talking about relationships, and asked us which people were toughest to be in relationship with.  I thought for a moment, and blurted out, "church people!"  

I wasn't trying to insult other Christians; I was trying to compliment them.  Christians are suppose to be family to one another, and the hardest relationships in life are found among family members.  That's because family members make us suffer in ways that strangers can't.

Now before you start thinking mean things about your extended cousins, let me explain:

I don't mean that family members are mean to one another, I mean that family members are willing to make painful sacrifices for one another.  Sometimes the sacrifice means working hard so the other person can have a break.  Other times it's means having a tough conversation with someone who is making a mistake.  Maybe it even means waking up at 4 am to bail them out of a jam.  

We only wake up at 4 am for family.

So yes, there are times when Church people should be the hardest people to be around, but other times they should be the most amazing people to be around.  Christians are united as a family during the good times AND the bad times... and don't we want it that way?  

I think the best laughs are shared with those who have remained faithful when we had nothing to laugh about.  And that's why I love laughing with God.

Read about God's gifts to His children in Ephesians 4:7-16 (NLT):

However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. That is why the Scriptures say,

“When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.”

Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Answer the following questions:

1. What does this passage reveal about Christ's ascension?
2. What are the gifts that Christ gave to the Church, and what was His purpose in giving them?
3. What happens to the Church when Christians are mature in the Lord?
4. What are your gifts and how are you using them inside of the Church?

Weekly Challenge:

Jesus gives gifts to the Church in order for believers to grow into maturity. The greatest of these gifts is the Holy Spirit, who lives inside the hearts of believers, and enables them become unified through encouragement and service. Ask God to give you the opportunity to encourage someone this week through a note, a gift, an act of service, or some other source of encouragement.