Working Together

Chuckle: “While visiting a police station, a kindergartener pointed to a picture and asked if the photo was of a wanted person. “Yes,” answered a policeman. “Well,” asked the child, “why didn’t you keep him when you took his picture?”

Quote: “See the Gospel Church secure And founded on a Rock! All her promises are sure; Her bulwarks who can shock? –Charles Wesley ‘The Church’

WORKING TOGETHER

“From him (Jesus) the whole body (the church), joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16 NIV). “The body (church) is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body” (1 Corinthians 12:12 NIV). (Parentheses Mine)

You probably are familiar with the word “synergy” and “synergism.” Synergy describes this principle, “the function of the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts.’' For example, you can have all the parts of a clock spread out on a table, but just having all the parts does not make a clock. It becomes a functioning clock only when the cooperating parts are assembled and perform their intended functions as they work together. The clock is greater than the sum of its parts. Synergism also describes different medicines working together to produce the desired healing effect.

The word “synergism” is also used in a Theological sense. “It is the doctrine or belief that the human will cooperates with the Holy Spirit and with God’s grace especially in the act of conversion or regeneration” (salvation). God’s grace, the Holy Spirit’s power, and the faith of the individual are all at work together. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith” (Ephesians 2:8 NIV).

Jesus Christ, the head of the church, desires every born again Christian to be an active member of His universal church through local congregations. There is definitely a Spirit empowered and directed synergy when Christians are working together as a fellowship of believers – the church. The church, consisting of many members, has been commissioned by Christ to do His work here on earth until He returns. A church, with all its members working together in the power of the Holy Spirit, creates a powerful synergy to accomplish much more than the same number of individual Christians going it alone without the church. The Holy Spirit empowers church members and uses their spiritual gifts and interdependency on each other to create spiritual synergy within the church.

If you profess to be a Christian but are not affiliated with a local church, I urge you become involved with a Bible believing congregation and put your God-given skills and spiritual gifts to work as a member of the whole. The same is true for church members who do not actively participate in the five functions of the church: worship, evangelism, discipleship, ministry, and fellowship. The Church is called the Body of Christ in Scripture, with Christ as its head. Like the human body, the church cannot function as Christ intended if its many members are not working together and performing their specific functions within the body.

Love, Jerry & Dotse