On the Move: From Lone Ranger to Fellow Members

Romans 12:5

So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually parts of one another.

1 Corinthians 12:27

Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.”

Over the last few weeks we have seen how God moves us from being in Adam to being in Christ and with that move, we experience other spiritual changes. When God saved us we became heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ. We became friends of God and part of His forever family.

But God’s work didn’t just create a spiritual change, it also created a relational change. God didn’t just save us and bring us into a right relationship with Himself. He also created a change that impacts the way we relate to others.

Before Christ, we could be called “lone rangers.” (Remember that old western TV show?) We were loners experiencing life without any real connection and sometimes any consideration of others. We lived an isolated life which caused us to be self-focused. We see evidence of this in the “me-ism” culture of today. But when God saved us, He not only moved us from being in Adam to being in Christ, He also moved us from a life of isolation and self-focus to a life connected to others, part of a family called the Body of Christ!

After Christ’s resurrection and before he ascended to heaven He gave His disciples a wealth of promises. One of those promises was the personal indwelling of The Holy Spirit. So on the Day of Pentecost, as those disciples waited for God’s promise, they experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit in a new and different way from how God worked in the Old Testament. And one of the great works of the Holy Spirit was the birth of the Church, the Body of Christ.

On that day, the Day of Pentecost, those believers in Christ Jesus were made one in the Body of Christ. They moved from isolation to a life of belonging.

Christ placed us in His family and made us a “one another” people. And because of that, we share something called fellowship.

Do you know what real fellowship is? Real fellowship has two dimensions.

Intimate communion with God through Jesus

“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” - I Corinthians 1:9

A shared life with other believers because of Jesus

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” - I John 1:7

We now have a deep abiding intimacy with God which brings a shared life with other believers in Christ. We share life with “one another.” Have you ever stopped to consider the number of times and ways Scripture refers to the “one anothers?” Here are just a few.

Love One Another - John 13:34

Be Kindly Affectionate to One Another – Romans 12:10

Honor One Another – Romans 12:10

Receive (Accept) One Another – Romans 15:7

Edify One Another – Romans 14:19

Serve One Another - Galatians 5:13

Bear One Another’s Burdens – Galatians 6:2

Bear with One Another – Ephesians 4:2

Be Kind to One Another – Ephesians 4:32

Submit to One Another – Ephesians 5:21

Forgive One Another – Colossians 3:13

Admonish One Another – Colossians 3:16

Comfort One Another – I Thessalonians 4:18

Exhort One Another – Hebrews 3:13

Pray for One Another – James 5:16

Confess our Sins to One Another – James 5:16

Be Hospitable to One Another – I Peter 4:9

I think you get the point. God created a relational change for us. We became part of His Body, fellow members with one another in the Body of Christ. There are no “lone ranger Christians.”

I encourage you this week to put into practice the “one anothers” listed above. And I encourage you as a member of Christ's Body, to get up on Sunday morning, joyfully go to church to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, and to share in the sweet fellowship of all the saints.