Prof Zebulon No E11

C) The Church (Unity of the Body)

The human body is an absolute marvel; the masterpiece of our loving heavenly Father and its main characteristic is that none of its members can function alone. If a surgeon says, "my hand is so gifted, I will cut it off and send it to Third World countries so they can use it for healing". No, the hand will die, of course. Paul knew what he was doing when he compared the human body to the Church; that example is so simple even the most skeptical person can understand. If the human body is not one, it dies.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12:12 "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ."

The Body of Christ (the Church) is one; let me ask you a question: Is the Church one, today? No way!! So God made a mistake or what? God didn't make a mistake ; He knew exactly what the Church would do and that there would be disputes amongst its members.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Are there disputes? Is there strife? Are there divisions? No problem, God will build His Church in spite of the non-functioning members. One day, the true believers will be in heaven to be with Him for eternity!! Praise the Lord!!

K) Christian virtues (Love)

The whole Bible is a love story between the Creator of the universe and the inhabitants of the planet Earth. How can we understand so great and so perfect a love? God gave us His Word (the Bible) so that it will help us to understand, at least partially the length, the depth, the height and the breadth of this love (Eph 3:18).

A simple verse such as John 3:16, that we all know by heart, sums it up perfectly. Love is a divine and a human virtue; humans can love also, but, of course, you knew that already, didn't you?

There are literally hundreds of verses in the Bible that speak of love directly and just as many that speak of it indirectly. Directly John 3:16 Indirectly Matthew 9:36

The 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians is often read before church meetings to help set the pace in love and to avoid disputes; it works, too!

But at the end of that chapter, we read the following verse: "And now abideth faith, hope, charity (love), these three; but the greatest of these is charity." Paul used that phrase (but the greatest of these is charity) to explain a very important concept.

You see, in heaven we won't need faith or hope any more simply because we've arrived at our eternal destination and they are no longer needed, but.............Love will be there eternally; pretty cool, huh?