One in Christ

 

^“But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?”

1 Thessalonians 3:6-10 ESV

 

As believers, we will sometimes receive news that causes us great distress. We may have a conversation with our child, in which they tell us that they have left the faith behind. We may receive news that someone we’ve taught or discipled has fallen into unrepentant sin. We may hear that a well-known or well-respected pastor has abandoned the faith or been seduced by his sinful nature. Or we may hear of a scandal that has been uncovered in the larger Church and that is being widely reported in the news.

 

Even if we are firm in our faith, and even if we possess a strong assurance of our salvation, this news is very distressing. It’s very upsetting to us. And it may even cause us a great deal of stress.

 

Recognizing that we’re saved through faith in Jesus, and that these events taking place in the lives of others have no bearing on our salvation, we might wonder why this is so. We might wonder why these reports weigh on us so heavy. We might wonder why they bother us so much.

 

We can understand the reason for this as we look at the above passage. Paul had been extremely concerned for the believers at Thessalonica. He feared that they may have fallen from faith in response to the persecution they had suffered. And, for this reason, he had sent Timothy to check on them.

 

Now, Timothy had returned and his report was good. They were firm in their faith. Their love was intact. They remembered Paul kindly and longed to see him again. And this report gave to Paul great comfort.

 

Paul then makes this interesting statement. He says: “For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.” What Paul means is that, before the good news had come to him concerning their faith, there was deadness. His heart was heavy. But now that he’d received this encouraging report, there was life.

 

As believers, our hearts are bound with one another. They are bound as we are the body of Christ. They are bound as we share together in faith as well as the call God has entrusted to us.

 

As a result, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:26, when one part of the body suffers, all suffer together. And if one member is honored, we all rejoice together. We cannot separate or isolate ourselves from the rest of the body.

 

The same reality plays itself out in our life, in our congregation, in our association or denomination, and in the larger Church as a whole. Because we are members of one body, we are affected by the events happening in the life of the church as a whole. We can be filled with great joy or sorrow depending upon the events taking place.

 

And this is not something that we should strive to undo. We shouldn’t seek to become unbound from the body that we might escape this entanglement. It’s a blessing as we seek the edification of the church. And it’s a blessing as we ourselves are built up by the rest of the body.