You are NOT the Body of Christ

YOU are not the body of Christ. WE are! I'm sure that I am not the only one that hears statements like these flowing out of the mouths of (supposed) Christ followers fairly often:

• My "spirituality" is between me and God.
• My "religion" is a personal thing that is no one else's business.
• My walk with God is MY walk with God.

I understand that we are required to make a personal commitment to follow Jesus and that we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, etc. I get that. But, it is my strong sense that the strongly individual and personal faith that most of us live out, is one of the factors that is hindering our impact as the church....not to mention that it isn't Biblical.

I read this statement this morning while reading the book, "Pagan Christianity" by Frank Viola:

The goal of many churches is to bring individual sinners to an individual decision for an individualistic faith. As a a result, the goal of the early church- mutual edification and every-member functioning to corporately manifest Jesus Christ before principalities and powers- is altogether lost.

The size of the mission of God and the depth of love that the Lord has for the lost world, requires an army of believers joining together as the BODY of Christ to accomplish His will. We will not do it alone. But in many ways, we are doing it alone. Which is why we are, by and large, NOT DOING IT!

Walking with Jesus is not a passive spectator sport where you come watch one game a week. No! It's more. So much more.