By Apostle Aje Pelser
In orbital thinking we seek the center which is Christ.
When an ice skater pulls her arms closer in towards her body, she speeds up and twirls with centripetal forces. During this time we have had an opportunity to go deep and seeking the center of all we believe and hold dear. This is true especially with regards to the church. We looked at the dynamic operations and functions of the human cell and realized that God in His infinite wisdom and complexity decides our DNA form the central nucleus of life and that is what we seek: Christ within the hope of glory in every believer, every function, every church.
Keys to functioning in a Body of Believers
1. Christ in you
Col 1:24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
Col 1:25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God,
Col 1:26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
Your measure of faith determines your level of function.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
Rom 12:4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,
Rom 12:5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
Rom 12:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;
Rom 12:7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;
Rom 12:8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
If we are saved by grace through faith, why do we often forget to operate by grace through faith in our functions? Some suggested answers could include: selfish ambition; a need for fulfilment, status, vanity and a religious sense of duty that keeps you busy labouring to a point of exhaustion without results. That is one of the definitions of insubordination in our submission Couse.
Your value that you add to the Body
Something Apostle André kept reminding us: only do what only you can do!
I realize that in most churches the same old workers do everything and the rest of the people are spectators. There are also times when we call “all hands on deck” and you help where help is needed regardless of your orbit.
However, the orbit to which you gravitate is determined by the weight you are willing to carry for that orbit. Gravity pulls a planet into a ball, and also helps to clear out the debris in the orbit. But the most important thing about a planet is that it orbits the sun and seeks the center!
2. Christ in others
Eph 5:21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
Eph 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
Eph 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
Eph 4:13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
Regarding others higher than self:
Php 2:1 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,
Php 2:2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
Php 2:4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
Php 2:6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
Php 2:7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
Php 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
3. Christ in the concept of Church
Eph 2:18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
Eph 2:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
Eph 2:20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
Eph 2:21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
Eph 2:22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Eph 3:10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,
Eph 4:16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Heb 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,
Heb 10:21 and having a High Priest over the house of God,
Heb 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
Heb 10:25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.