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TITLES OF BELIEVERS SERIES

MEMBERS OF THE BODY

In this message, we want to look at the title members of the body of Christ.

Lets look at Rom. 6:13 And do not present your members as instruments ofunrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the deadand your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Another passage is I Cor. 12:18 But now God has set the members each oneof them in the body just as He pleased.

God called the different people in the body of Christ as members of thebody of Christ. Of course, the word member is not used as we use it in the Englishwhere we refer to membership in an organization. That is more of the physicalstructure. Here Paul speaks about spiritual titles and attributes.

One more scripture in the book of Eph. 5:30 For we are members of Hisbody, of His flesh and of His bones. That is the title that Paul gives to all of usbelievers. It is a title especially used by the apostle Paul. Apostle Paul wrote theletters to the Romans, Corinthians and Ephesians. The word members come fromthe Greek word melos which means a limb or a part of a body. And the word

body is the word soma in Greek, which speaks about the physical body. So, Paulhere is calling the church as limb or organ, parts of the body of Christ.

I have always thought that if Paul knew that there was such a thing as cells,he might consider us all cells in the body of Christ. But as I looked further intothe Word, I recognized that is not what he is saying. He is calling us members andthe word melos means a functional member, not just a cell in the body of Christ.See in our physical body our cells cannot exist by themselves. They need to linkup to other cells to form an organ or a limb in order to function with their ownuniqueness. For example, our eyes consist of many cells formed together tofunction in seeing. But Paul calls us members or melos or limbs or organs in ourbodies meaning that by ourselves we have some unique function. We are not justcells in the body of Christ. We are organs and limbs in the body of Christ. Inother words, we derive our nutrition and life from Jesus Christ our head.

We all have an ability to function in some particular role. Not everyonewould be an eye in the body of Christ. But one of us may be an eye, another maybe a hand, another a mouth, still another an ear. Each of us has a unique giftingand an ability to function in a sense disassociated from the others. And that iswhere the danger is. If we have the ability to function singularly as an eye, as alimb, as a hand, as a foot in the body of Christ, we may also have the tendency todisassociate ourselves from others and see only our own function. That’s thedanger.

Now in regard to members of the body of Christ there are three areas thatwe want to look at.

Members As Slaves

Rom. 6: 18-19 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves ofrighteousness, I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For

just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness, sonow present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

Bearing this in mind, let us see I Cor. 15:44 It is sown a natural body, it israised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. Heis talking about us being part of what he considers natural body of Jesus on thisearth. Our eyes become His eyes. Our hands become His hands.

Turn to Rom. 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present ourselvesslaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading todeath, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that thoughyou were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form a doctrine towhich you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves ofrighteousness.

Now contrast Romans 6: 13 and Romans 6: 18.

Romans 6: 13 And do not present your members as instruments ofunrighteousness to sin

Romans 6: 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves ofrighteousness.

In verse 13 Paul uses the phrase instruments of righteousness whereas inverse 18, he uses the phrase slaves of righteousness. In verse 13, Paul exhorted theRomans not to present their members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin.This implies that our members could be used as instruments of unrighteousnessto sin. But if our members are not to be presented as instruments ofunrighteousness, then how they supposed to be presented? Paul gives the answerin verse 18 that you became slaves of righteousness. In other words, our members

are to be presented as slaves of righteousness.

Thus, the first element in the title members of the body of Christ is that weare God’s slaves and servants of righteousness. Although Jesus did say in thegospel of John, “No more do I call you servant but I call you friends,” but whenwe consider the title, melos of the soma or melos of the body of Christ, Godmeans that we are His servants or slaves. The word doulos is strongly translatedas slaves.

There must be a sense of being slaves to God in our union with God. Theeye or the hand cannot live by itself. In the same passage in the gospel of Jn. 15where Jesus says, “You are now My friend,” Jesus also says, “Without Me you cando nothing.” So the first truth of being called members of the body of Christ isthat we need to know that we are slaves. I choose to use the word slave ratherthan servant for the Greek doulos means slave. That is a strong term that we mayknow that we have no more rights when we submit ourselves to God as slaves..

On one side we saw all the beautiful other titles. We have our rights, ourprivileges, and position in Christ. But on the other hand, we balance with the factthat being part of a member of the body of Christ means that we give up ourindividual rights. The eye cannot say, “I want to be by myself.” The hand cannotsay, “I want to be by myself.” The moment they do so, they die. There is adependence that we have on Him.

And there are two points that we consider. I Cor. 15 says that there is anatural body and there is a spiritual body. That means that there is a realizationthat we are still imperfect. That is why we need to constantly draw life from Him.When He calls us members of the body of Christ He is recognizing that we arehuman. We do not have the spiritual body yet. Paul says in I Cor. 15 there is anatural body there is a spiritual body. I Cor. 15:50 Now this I say, brethren thatflesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inheritincorruption. Verse 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and thismortal has put on immortally then shall be brought to pass the saying that is

written: Death is swallowed up in victory.

When God calls us members of His body, He is calling us slaves. WhenGod calls us His slaves, He is saying that we are mortal. We cannot exist withoutHim. And because of that, we need to realize that there is a human part of us thatwe must keep watch all the time.

Let me give another scripture to make it stronger. Rom. 7:23 But I seeanother law in my members. There is something working in our members andverse 18 For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) nothing good dwells.

We need to recognize that the moment you are separated from thefellowship in the body of Christ, isolated by yourself, you may have a tendencyto move into the flesh and into a danger zone. When he calls us members of thebody of Christ He wants us to recognize that we are slaves. Slaves must alwayslink up to the master in order to know what to do. And under the term slaves, Heis saying we are mortal.

One of the secrets of a Christian life is to recognize where our weaknessesare. If we don’t recognize where our weaknesses are, we are liable to fall. Weneed to both recognize our strength and our weaknesses. There is a song tellingthe Lord to remind us. “Remind me dear Lord.” In the chorus, the song goes, “toroll back the curtains of time.” I quite like that song because it reminds me thatwe are nothing. I am sure you know that the Christian life is a life of faith andconfession in line with the Word. Although we can confess that we are kings andpriests in Christ Jesus and confess all our new covenant blessings and prosperity,we still need to balance that confession with the realization that our bodies arestill mortal. We can confess that we don’t have to be sick, that we can be healthyand strong in God to serve Him and that we are temple of the Holy Spirit. But weneed to recognize that we are still mortal. We still have inside us an ability to sinbecause of our body. No matter how holy you have grown and no matter howmany years you have walked with God, even if you have the John Wesley kindof sanctification that he yearned for, as long as you are in the physical body we

need to recognize we have to keep a check on our body. It’s the part of us calledthe flesh. The only possibility of that disappearing is when we receive a newbody.

But somehow this natural body is in rebellion against God and it needs tobe treated like a slave. That is why on one hand God calls us kings and priestsand on the other hand, He calls us slaves. Why should God do it? We got nochoice. The flesh must always be treated as a slave. If we don’t treat the flesh as aslave and instead treat the flesh as a king, sooner or later, we will reach thedanger zone of falling into temptation. The flesh is always a slave. So, don’tpamper your flesh with much leisure and pleasures. Don’t seek the best clothingfor your flesh. Don’t seek the best house for your flesh. Don’t seek the besttransportation for your flesh. We need to understand that the purpose of the fleshis to pursue the ends of our spirit man and therefore we should take care of theflesh in a wise and practical manner. Let all things of the flesh be done inmoderation.

Without this kind of teaching, we can go to extremes with “We are kingsand priests” teaching. Instead of spending money on expensive clothes, I’d ratherinvest in a good sound system and connect speakers in every room in my houseto play the Word of God non-stop 24 hours a day. I have that in mind when Imove into my own premises so that I could hear the Word of God 24 hours. See,that is pampering the spirit. It looks ridiculous to the world. If I have a limitedsource of fund, I would spend my money there rather than spend my money on abetter car or better clothes or better shoes, which are all only for the flesh.

All our life we need to always treat our flesh as a slave (or servant, if youwant a more polite term) and not give too much to the flesh. Otherwise, the fleshwill think that he has been crowned king and want to reign in your life. And thatis why some men and women of God fall. Every man or woman of God who hasfallen has fallen because they made their flesh king. And all the days of our lifewe must treat our flesh like a slave until Jesus comes again and gives us a newbody. We have to subdue the flesh as if it were a slave. Mortality must be treatedas mortality. Immortality must be treated as immortality. Our spirits are immortal.Our souls are immortal. But our flesh is mortal. So, treat it accordingly. That is

why Paul exhorts us to present our members as slaves of righteousness to remindus that our bodies are to be considered as slaves.

So, we have explained why God calls us slave and why we have to acceptwhat God calls us as slave although sometimes we find it hard to accept. It’s nicerto have God calling us kings and priests. You ask God, “Lord, why do You callme a slave?” It is because He wants us to keep our flesh under.

II Cor.4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence ofthe power may be of God and not of us. The second area is to recognize that onlywhen we regard ourselves as slaves or servants are we able to recognize that itwas God who did the job through us. It is also to know who to give the glory toso that we never always accept the glory. We are like the donkey that Jesus rideson. Jesus in His final entrance into Jerusalem sat on a little donkey. As He rodeon the donkey towards Jerusalem, the people were crying, “Hosanna to the Sonof David.” They were putting their robes and garments in front of Him to letJesus and His donkey step on it and enter Jerusalem. The people adored Jesus.And that donkey was thinking, “My, all these people sure like me. Look at themcheering. They even put their clothing for me to step on. O how much honor Imust have received.” But if the donkey only knew that the people were notcheering it but the person it carried. So it is because we carry Jesus there is a sortof a channel that we carry through Him. And Paul recognized that we are earthenvessels of His. But inside us are gold, silver, precious stones, the most preciouselements in the universe, the life of God. And as long as we recognize that we areslaves or servants then we will be able to have a balance in that area.

Look over to the gospel of Luke chapter 17. The disciples said, “Increaseour faith,” in verse 6. The Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you cansay to this mulberry tree, “Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea; andit would obey you. And which of you having a servant plowing or tending sheep,will say to him when he has come in from the field. “Come at once and sit down toeat?” “But will he not rather say to him. “Prepare something for my supper, andgird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eatand drink? Does he thank the servant because he did the things that were

commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those thingswhich you are commanded say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done whatwas our duty to do.’ ”

Now understand what Jesus was answering. Jesus answered a questionsaying, “Lord increase our faith.” It looks as if He did not answer that questionbut He did. Instead He says when you have done something and you come backyou need to understand that that’s not the time to sit down and pamper the fleshbut to continue to serve Him. And He says to recognize that you are servants orthe Greek says slaves in Him. What is Jesus saying? Notice that these servants orslaves have two kinds of jobs. They have completed the first job. He says in verse7 which of you having a servant plowing or tending sheep. So, the servant is out inthe field. When the servant had finished the work in the field, which is work No.1, he comes into the house where the master is and the master gives him the workNo. 2. And work No. 2 is to gird himself, serve the supper and then prepare forthe master some more things. That is work No. 2. When project No. 1 is finished,project No. 2 comes in. Jesus is saying that when we exercise our faith and obeyGod if we get big headed because we succeeded we will not get job No. 2 and ourfaith will not increase. But when we continue to regard ourselves as slaves after ajob is done, we bow down before God and say, “Master our job is done.” Thenwe will have other jobs. And the other jobs will take more and more faith. Noticethat the second job is closer to the Master than the first. In other words, there willbe progression of job No.1, job No. 2, Job No. 3, job No. 4, and each one willneed an increase in faith. He is saying you cannot increase in faith unless youlearn to be a slave. Regard yourself as a vessel in God as a slave and servant ofGod so that every time you finished a job you could recognize, “O God, it wasYou who did it,” and your faith can increase. The disciples asked, “Increase ourfaith.” Jesus said, “All right I will tell you how to increase your faith.” He issaying, “Always recognize that it’s not you who did it but your Master who hascommanded you and you obeyed. And your faith will increase from glory toglory.”

Phil. 3 is one of the few times the apostles Paul uses a strong word as heintroduces his background in comparison with knowledge of Christ. Verse 4though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may haveconfidence in then I more so, (then here are the list of his qualifications,)

circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, aHebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal persecutingthe church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law blameless. But whatthings were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet, indeed, I alsocount all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that Imay gain Christ.

In some translations, it says, “I count it all as dumb.” What is he callingdumb here? It is like rubbish, cow dung. Those are the things the world values.He considered his qualifications, his confidence in the flesh, his circumcision onthe eighth day, his being of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews and aPharisee as rubbish and cow dung. How much stronger can you get? Think aboutit. What are your academic degrees if you do not know Christ? What is yoursocial status, your “pedigree”, your wealth, your accomplishments if you do notknow Christ? Paul calls them “rubbish.”

We know the English proverb “pride comes before a fall”. When someoneis proud you know that sooner or later he is going to fall. Yet, humility bringscontinued promotion and blessing. And one of the things that people find it hardto handle is success or recognition. It can cause people to be proud and spitefuland kill them as much as failure. Some successful people who become proud andbigheaded need two chairs - one for the head and one for the body.

Jesus always wants us to carry a humble attitude. And that’s the first pointon the servant. Here is the attitude that whatever is done we learn to forget it andlook forward to some more things. Some people bask in the glory when theyhave done the task. If they carry on with that attitude, sooner or later, their futurecomes to a full stop. In this life, we cannot come to a full stop. We don’t put a fullstop after you achieved something. We put a full stop where Christ comes toreceive us. Many of the best talents in town or in the body of Christ put a fullstop when they reach a certain point. Never, there is no retirement in Christ. Nomatter how great things you have done in God, learn not to put a full stop likePaul. He talks about forgetting those things that are behind. You won’t have tostruggle with the things that you have forgotten. Paul is not talking about

forgiveness here. He has no problem with unforgiveness. He is talking about hisachievements, his successes and everything else and he is prepared to forget themall and press on.

There is another man who is like that. Kenneth Copeland once shared thathe reached a point where he was willing to give everything back to God. Whenhe reached a point of surrenderedness, God blessed him and his ministry evenmore.

It is just like the Isaac story. Isaac was a gift from God. Isaac was a miraclefrom God. The Isaac in your life is your everything. Isaac is your success. Isaac isyour walking miracle. God says, “Give Me back your Isaac.” When Abrahamrecognized that he was still a servant and a slave, the second project can come.Greater things could take place in his life. We never stop until we reach thefullness of Jesus Christ.

I could imagine the apostle Paul. Here he was successful in his life. He wassuccessful in many of his ministries. I could imagine how hard it must be for himto press on to the next thing in God. He was having a burning desire in his heartto do something more for God. He talked of going to Rome. He talked aboutpreaching the gospel to people he has never seen before. And that burnt withinhim so that he went out in a blaze of glory.

We have to make choices in our lives to build ourselves and succeed. Whenyou succeed then you stop and you end your life with a song. God is telling usthat will happen as long as you recognize that you are slaves. You see, slaves willcome back and say, “Master, I have finished the job. Is there any other job?” Welearn to stand in His presence and wait on Him. And we can go home to the Lordin a blaze of glory. The last things that you do in your twilight years are thegreatest things. Retirement is not something less. It is something more. Now yougot more time for God. Now you can go home in a blaze of glory and get morerewards in heaven.

Members as Charisma or Gifting

The second thing when He calls us members of His body is in Rom. 12:3For I say through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not tothink of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly as Godhas dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in onebody, but all the members do not have the same function, so we being many, areone body in Christ and individually members of one another.

The first usage of the title, members of the Body, is in the fact that we areslaves of God. The second usage is talking about our charisma or gifting that wehave, like the gifting of an eye, a nose, a mouth, a hand. The word charisma isnot like the English word of what charisma means. But here charisma means aspecial enablement and endowment by God.

We will appreciate it more if you understand that there are three differentGreek words for the word gifting. The first Greek word for the word gifting isthe word dorema and it means a free gift or a present. But that’s not the wordused here. The word free gift or present is used in Rom. 5:16 And the gift is notlike that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which camefrom one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from manyoffenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reignedthough the one, much more those who received abundance of grace and of the gift(dorema) of righteousness. Dorema is the present or the free gift that is given toyou.

The second Greek word for present is found in the book of Matt. 5 andhere is the word doron. He talked in term of a gift given to God an offering.Verse 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that ourbrother has some thing against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and goyour way. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift

(doron). That’s the second Greek word for the term gift.

But here in Rom. 12 Paul speaks about members of the body of Christreceiving gifts from God. The word gift is the word charisma from the wordcharis. And charis means grace. The meaning means an enablement from inside.Now there are many points for that. That means that this gift can only be used ifyou co-operate with it. It is only an enablement to you. You still got to dosomething about it. Don’t look at the gifts of the Holy Spirit or the gift of theoffices in the body of Christ as a present. In a sense they are presents they cameby grace and not by works. But the word charisma means there is something toenable us to do something. It is not something that does it for us. That means acharisma received from God needs to be developed. So the first one as we look atcharisma is that it is an enablement we have to initiate. And that also means thesecond area of the word charisma it can be increased to function better in our life.That is why you could sit there in the church and do nothing until Jesus comesand you are wondering what is your gift. Your gift will never come out becauseHe enables you to do something but He doesn’t do it for you. You have todiscover what is the enablement is in your life and start doing it. If He gives youthe gift of teaching, unless you start teaching, you will not develop that gift. IfHe gives you a gift of giving unless you start giving, it will never increase. If Hegives you a gift of prophecy unless you prophesy it will never develop. Youcould sit until Jesus comes and you still do not operate in that gift. It is acharisma not a doron.

In terms of the gifting of God we look at Rom. 12:8 he who exhorts inexhortation - see it confirms what we are saying. You have to keep on doing whatyou are doing in order to increase - He who gives with liberality, he who leadswith diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. He says lets us use it or letus give ourselves to that gift. In verse 6 it says Having then gifts differingaccording to the grace that is given to us, let us use them, if prophecy let usprophesy in proportion to our faith. It can be developed in our life. Recognize thatenablement of God in your life and as you give yourself to that enablement, youwill develop and grow in that enablement, to the benefit of the body of Christ.Perhaps God gives you not only gifts but talents as well. Talents are a naturalcharisma, but gifts are spiritual charisma. This means that no matter how goodyour talent is unless you give yourself to it and develop and do something about

it that talent will never grow and develop either. If God gives you a certainmusical ability unless you give time to it to develop it, it may never come forthto glorify God.

As I was meditating on these areas, the Lord gave me a dream about whythe devil was coming after people. Why is the devil coming after believers? Afterall, he knows they are going to heaven. Even if he kills a born again believer, hestill loses because the believer is eventually going to heaven. Then the Lordshowed me something in the dream. I saw what the enemy was trying to do inpeople’s life. The devil has no power or ability in himself. Why does he temptpeople? Why does he twist people’s personality? Why does he cause people to gointo bondage? Why does he do all those things? The Lord showed me that He isthe only one that gives all good gifts. Every gift and talent comes from God. Thedevil cannot create; it is God that creates. There is only one Creator. But the devilperverts. So, why do the devil come against people and little children and causesthem to come under his influence? Since he is not a creator and in order topropagate his lies and temptations to sin, he must get hold of people who havetalents and gifts from God and use them for himself. So, the reason why he comesafter people to bring them under subjection to him is so that he could use theirGod-given talents and gifts for himself. Even the mediums and pychics whoconduct séances know that not everyone is sensitive to the presence of spirits.Some naturally lean toward it and some don’t. That natural gift or latent giftdidn’t come from the devil. That was a sensitivity given by God. Mediums whoare yielded to the demonic spirit world and see the spirit realm have giftsoriginally predestined for them by God for God’s glory. But the devil came aftertheir lives and turned them into mediums who conduct occult works since theyyielded themselves to the wrong spirit. God showed me that the devil hadnothing. And everything he had came from using people whom he had twistedand turned God’s gift for his own devilish purposes.

Elvis Presley was not supposed to sing the devil’s songs. He was supposedto sing God’s songs. That talent was used by the devil to propagate and deceivepeople. The talents of every musician and rock stars today were originally forGod. When God showed me that, I got up from the dream and I wept and cried. Isaid, “O God, the devil had stolen so much. He not only steals the wealth of thisearth to use it for himself, he also stole the gifting and the soul and the life of

people whom You have put Your predestined inclination and gifting.” Now youknow why the devil comes after kids. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. But hishighest purpose was to use their gifting for himself. He steals God’s car and usesit for his purposes. He steals God’s house and uses it. That’s all that he does. Godshowed me that and I became more aware of how precious little children are.They have gifts lying dormant in them that God has put that the devil can alsosense. When the devil sees the leadership qualities that God has put in somepersons’ spiritual and natural genetic makeup, he starts coming after them so thathe could turn them into wicked or ungodly leaders and prevent God from usingthem for leaders of good things. He is a thief and a pervert. But the charisma andall good gifts come from God. When He calls us members of His body, He isrecognizing that He has placed gifting in our lives. And every time the bibletalks about the gifts of the Spirit and offices of God He speaks about us beingmembers of the body of Christ. In other words, all gifts and offices of God aremeant for the benefit of the body of Christ. Let’s treasure the gifts of the Spirit.Let’s us treasure the office of God. Let’s us treasure the talents that God hasgiven. They are all to be used for God’s glory and the edification of the body ofChrist.

Members as Unity

Lastly when God calls us members of His body as we see herein Rom. 12:5 so we being many, are one body in Christ, andindividually members of one another. He is saying that we drawour nourishment from one another. You can’t eat your food justwith your hands alone. You need the co-ordination of your eyesto know where to put the food. You need your mouth in orderto receive the food. The simple thing like standing or walkingor reading can be tortuous when there is a deformity or injury.When someone has an organic or physical defect, then he or shewould realize that even the simplest tasks could be an agony.The simplest task of eating or walking becomes an agony. They

realize what a marvel the machinery of the body that God hasgiven to us. It emphasizes unity.

Let’s take note of I Jn. 2:9 He who says he is in the light and hateshis brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brotherabides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him

The moment you have unforgiveness or dissension with anothermember of the body of Christ in your heart darkness comes.Sickness in the body comes. The moment your eyes are notgoing to work with your legs or other parts of your bodysickness comes into your body.

I Jn. 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life,because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brotherabides in death. That links up to our point where we said themoment love is not in our heart like in I Cor. 13 all the giftingthat we have will be used by the enemy. It is an awesomethought. But the command of God is that we love one anotherand it says here in I Jn. 3:15 Whoever hates his brother is amurderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abidingin him. I Jn. 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us. Ifsomeone says, “I love God” and hates his brother, he is a liar; forhe who does not love his brother whom he has seen how can helove God whom he has not seen?

Now there are two things that are important in our lives, to love

God and to love our fellowmen. People struggle with lovingGod therefore they will struggle with loving men. In order toreally love another person we have to love God first. Unless weare able to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength,we cannot really love our neighbor as ourselves. That’s whyloving God is called the first commandment And the worldstruggles to love one another. There are wars being fought evenright now today. Millions are dying because of man’sinhumanity towards man. Men did not turn towards theheadship and authority of Almighty God. And only when welove God can we love our neighbor. I mean one struggle that allministers have is to get people to love God with all their heart,might and strength. But recognize this you could love God withall your heart, mind and strength and yet not have that lovedeveloped for people in you.

Let’s give an example like Moses. You can’t argue that he lovesGod. I mean he loves God. He reached a point where hededicated his life to God. But there is one point where despiteall his love for God, when the people misbehaved, he didn’t getangry with God. He got angry with the people. God said,“Speak to the rock and the water will come out.” Moses tookthat rod and scolded the people. At that moment, did he loveGod? In his heart of heart he still does. But at that moment, hedidn’t love his neighbor. And because of that one act, God said,“You didn’t sanctify Me. You will not enter the PromisedLand.”

On one side, he is getting people to love God. On the other side,he is getting those who really love God to love people. And Ipoint it as a reality because I do know people who really loveGod but cannot love people yet although strictly speaking whenyou love God you should come to love people. The more youlove God the more you love people.

What about David? He is called a man after God’s heart. Butwhen he plotted the murder of Uriah the Hittite, do you thinkhe love Uriah? Uriah is among the mighty men who protectedand loved David. And he is so loyal to David. When he plottedto have Uriah come back to sleep with Bathsheba Uriah said, “Ican’t because I got a job to do.” And king David had no feelingsfor him. He just sent him to the battlefield to die. He certainlydid not love Uriah. While David was doing all those things, didhe really love God in his heart of heart? He did. He just got intothe flesh a little bit and his love for men was affected.

I want to point to the fact that we can say, “I love you Jesus,”and if that love doesn’t develop into love for people, it is anincomplete cycle. The more we love God, the more we mustallow that love to love people. See in the early stages of yourChristian life you began to strike into what I call the glory land.There is a stage you strike in Christianity where you are faithfuland you touch the glory. God comes into your life. You seemany things in the things of the spirit and the more you seeGod’s holiness the more you see people’s sinfulness. And youstruggle to love them because you know people are not doing

the things that God wants them to do. But that is only a half-baked and immature stage. You must reach a stage where youcould really love them like God love them.

Even though the world was doing all kinds of evil, Jesus choseto come down because He loved us. And if you think that Hesuffered only six hours on the cross, you are mistaken. Hiswhole life was suffering because He was the holiest man ever tolive among the sinful breed of people. Think about whether itsgoing to be easy or not. It is difficult but yet He loved and Hewas called a friend of sinners. In spite of their sins, He lovedthem. That’s how great His love for us is.

And we need to allow the love that we have for God to growinto a love for people. We need to allow that to come so thatwhen you look at a person you feel for them the way God feelsfor them. There are many failures of men and women of God inthis bible. We are talking about people who know God and loveGod. Their failure was not that they didn’t love God. Theydidn’t allow the love of God to transform into a love for thepeople around them. You could love God in a selfish way.

Let me give you an example. Perhaps God spoke to you to spendmore time with Him. Lets say you are a housewife and you wantto spend two hours in the morning, two hours in the day timeand two hours at night. So, you are spending time with God.Then your children come and say, “Mama.” You say, “QUIET! Iam spending time with God.” Then there is a fight going on

among the children. And you say, “QUIET! I AM SPENDINGTIME WITH GOD.” Or you plan your time with God andpeople try to take away your time with God. And you get angrywith people for taking your time from God because you loveGod. That’s an extreme example of how you can love God andbe selfish about it and don’t understand that loving Godinvolves loving men as well.

Lets look at that case again. What’s happening? That persondoesn’t just love God. That person loves God in a selfish senseand wants to be a person who is closest to God in a selfish way.He wants to be so changed until he can say, “All I have is Godand all God has is me.” The second sentence is wrong. All thatyou have is God and all the God wants is the whole world. Goddoesn’t just want you. You don’t come to God and say, “God,you have me - forget about the world. You have me.”

Now Moses was given a chance like that. See Moses sometimesshowed his love for the people but his love for the people wasnot developed. His love for God is unquestionable. When Godgave Moses a chance and said, “I will destroy all the people andmake you a new nation.” Moses said, “No thanks.” So, he didlove the people. But then the same people whom he had lovedso much failed him again and again until he could not take it.And he scolded them and God scolded him.

You could be a businessman. You have a busy schedule. Then

when you come home you need two hours with God. And youshut yourself up for two hour. The whole house is in disarray.And you go into your closet and say, “O God I love you.” Iwonder what the Father will say. The Father will say, “Yes, youlove Me but what about the rubbish in your house?” That’sloving God in a selfish way. We love God but we won’t let thatlove develop into a love for people. Or when you are fastingand you are seeking God. Instead of being nice to people whenyou are fasting, you scold people. The purpose of your fast is tomake you more like Jesus. But when you fast you don’t becomemore like Jesus you became more like the devil.

Look carefully what is the objective for all our love for God. Itis so that in the end, we become more like Him and when weare like Him, we will be as He is to the world. As He loved theworld so we begin to love people the way He loved. I believethere is not a single time in Jesus’ entire life that He has everallowed people to know that His time with God was selfish. Histime with God was to help people. He always continues to helpthem. That’s the objective. If all we want is “God-and-Me”syndrome, we forget the purpose of why we are here.

We need to recognize the unity in us in Eph. 4:25 Thereforeputting away lying. Let each one of you speak truth with hisneighbor, for we are members of one another. And Eph. 5:30 Forwe are members of His body, of His flesh and of his bones. Weneed to recognize that we are part of one another. That’s thetitle for us as members of the body of Christ emphasizing on

loving one another. That is the high calling of God.

There are three things when He calls us members of His bodywe are doulos or slaves. No. 2 is charisma No. 3 is unity. Andthey all work together so that we understand our position asmembers of the body of Christ.