Good
morning boys and girls!
How many of you like to do things for yourselves,
such as tying your shoe laces or getting dressed or brushing your teeth? Do you
like it when people try to help you when you don’t need their help?
Boys and girls, there are some things that we can’t
do by ourselves. For example, could you run a relay race by yourself? Could you
play basketball or football if you were the only person on the team?
The church is the same. Jesus tells us that all of
us are members of the Body of Christ, also known as the church. We don’t come
to church as individual people and then leave. Jesus tells us that we are to be
a team of people who work together for Jesus. Each of us is an important part
of that body, and all of the things we do are just as important.
Our church body is just like our human body. All of
the parts have to work together, and all of the parts have to be there. Suppose
we were missing an eye or an ear or a hand or an arm or a foot or a leg. What
would happen?
Let me tell you a story about how important it is
for people to work together for Jesus. It’s a story of a little girl named
Shelly.
I
like being on our youth group planning committee, thought Shelly as the members
shared ideas for making their meetings more interesting. But she frowned when
Cole offered his suggestion. "How about planning a mission program that
reaches out to kids in our community?" he asked. "And let's give
everyone in the youth group something to do. You know--get everyone
involved."
Mr.
Gray, the youth leader, liked the idea. "That sounds good," he said,
"and it will fit in nicely with the Bible study I'm planning for the next
several weeks."
"But
some of the kids never want to do anything," objected Shelly. "I
don't see how we can we get them involved if they're not really interested, so
what would we do about them? Or doesn't it matter? Do we really need
them?"
"Nah."
Zoe, another committee member, shook her head.
Cole
disagreed. "We want them all to have a part," he insisted.
"Let's
think about that, kids," said Mr. Gray. "Let me ask you
something." He turned to Shelly. "You broke your thumb a few days
ago. Does it matter?" he asked. "How important is your thumb?"
"My
thumb?" asked Shelly in surprise. She laughed as she looked down at her
bandaged thumb. "I didn't think I used it much . . . until I couldn't use
it at all," she said. "Now that it's broken, I see how much I really
need it. It's way more important than I ever knew!"
"Yes,
I thought it might be." Mr. Gray smiled. "And God says that's exactly
how it is with the body of believers. All who believe in Jesus are referred to
as the Body of Christ, and every single member is important--just like every
part of our physical bodies is important. Each person has a job to do for the
Body of Christ to function properly."
"That
makes sense," said Shelly, "but . . ." She frowned. "I
still don't see how we'll get kids to help if they don't want to." She
looked at her thumb again. "Or do you think they will want to if we show
them that we need them?"
Cole
nodded. "Yeah, and I think we should be careful to not complain about
anything we're assigned to do, but act like we're enjoying it ourselves,"
he said.
Zoe
grinned. "That part should be easy. I think we will enjoy it," she
said.
"Good,"
Mr. Gray approved. "Let's put those ideas into action."
Let’s close our eyes and bow our heads for a moment
of prayer. Dear God, thank you for the chance to come together and work
together to do what you want us to do. Help us to remember that what each one
of us does is important to you. In Jesus’ name we pray, AMEN.
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