• The Sufferings of Christ.

Paul said in Philippians 3:10, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death …" Some of the sufferings of Christ are experienced only within the body of Christ. I think of Jesus and the apostles—those 12 He chose to be with Him. One of them, Judas, betrayed Him. When the betrayer appeared at that crucial hour in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus' three closest followers had fallen asleep.

They should have been praying. They let their Lord down, and they let themselves down. When the soldiers came and arrested Jesus, every one of them deserted Him.

On one occasion Paul pleaded with Timothy:

• "Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry."
  (2 Timothy 4:9-11, NIV)

Paul knew what it was to be deserted by friends and fellow laborers. He, too, experienced suffering within the body of Christ.

It saddens me that so many Christians find it easy to leave a church because they get hurt or offended. I'm convinced that those who leave because the pastor let them down, or the congregation let them down, or somebody offended them or wronged them, will take that hurt with them. Unless they resolve the problem, it will affect them the rest of their Christian lives, and it will make it easier for them to leave the next church.

Not only will they cease to mature, they will fail to grow close to Christ through suffering.

We must understand that part of the suffering of Christ is actually experienced within the body of Christ, and God uses this suffering to mature us.

• "...to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."
  (Ephesians 4:1b-3, NIV)

• Maturity and Stability.

Maturity and stability are produced by service in the body of Christ. In 1 Timothy 3:13, it says, "Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus." The term "excellent standing" means a grade or degree. Those who serve well gain a firm foundation in their Christian walk. In other words, when we serve the body, we grow.

I could list name after name of the many servants at Calvary Chapel. Most people attending our fellowship wouldn't even recognize these names, because they are people working behind the scenes serving the body.

I have observed through the years that those who grow and mature the most, are those who really get plugged in and serve somewhere in the church.

• Love.

Ephesians 4:16 says, "From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."

With this concept of an interconnected body of Christ in mind, I'd like to share a portion of a fascinating article I read entitled "Together Forever" in Life magazine (April 1996). It was about co-joined twins—a miraculous pairing of two heads on one body with one set of arms and legs.

Abigail and Brittany Hensel are co-joined twins, products of a single egg that for some unknown reason failed to divide fully into identical twins... The paradoxes of the twins' lives are metaphysical as well as medical. They raise far-reaching questions about human nature. What is individuality? How sharp are the boundaries of the self? How essential is privacy to happiness? ...Bound to each other but defiantly independent, these little girls are a living textbook on camaraderie and compromise, on dignity and flexibility, on the subtler varieties of freedom...they have volumes to teach us about love.

The article went on to describe these two girls that are at the same time one. They have been forced to live together, and now nobody can separate them. They do not want an operation. They do not want to be separated. They each have individual personalities, tastes, likes, and dislikes. But they share one body. And they have chosen to remain as one.

What a beautiful picture of the body of Christ. We are all different. We all have individual tastes, and distinct likes and dislikes. Still, God has put us together. And one of the main things He wants to show in a body that has such a multiplicity of parts and personalities is that something about us is unique. We can be wholly different, and yet we can live as one. Our love for one another is the greatest evidence of our being true disciples of Jesus Christ: "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35).