(Clip) The Body of Christ is a Fellowship like a Family — Zac Poonen

Loving One Another as Christ’s Disciples

Where we love one another and grow. We're trying our best not to seek our own, but seek the good of the other. That's why Jesus said, you know that wonderful verse, John chapter 13 and verse 34 and 35?

All men will know you're my disciples. When you love them? No, when you love one another. It's an amazing verse. It doesn't fit with my logic. My logic and what a lot of Christians also think like that is people will know that you are disciples of Jesus when you love them.

God’s Ways Above Human Logic

Doesn't that sound more right? God says, my ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts. As the heavens are high above the earth, so are my ways above your ways. All men will know you're my disciples when you love one another.

I accept the word of Jesus and not the teaching of psychology that people will know you're Christians when you love them. That'll come. But I go by Jesus' words. Love one another means I'm built in a fellowship with one another.

Belonging to the Local Church as a Family

A church, this is the church that Jesus is building. And for myself, I have come to see that this is the way I know I'm growing. I spoke of humility and thanksgiving, but then my fellowship with my fellow believers is getting better and better and better and better, that I'm getting more integrated with the local church God's put me as a part of.

I'm not like a butterfly going from this flower to that flower to the other flower to the other flower. Where can I get some honey now? Which church, which preacher's coming here and which preacher's coming there?

This is like butterflies going from flower to flower to flower. Or like people go from restaurant to restaurant Thai restaurant, oh no, I think I better go for Chinese now. Or Indian food, I like. This is how a lot of people go to churches to suit their tastes.

But what about a family? You better eat what mama's made. Whether it's Chinese or Thai or nothing. That's a family. Where we're not going according to taste. We belong to one another. We love one another.

We're not just listening to great sermons. We're building fellowship. Don't think the best church is the one that's got the best preacher. It's not true. It's a restaurant in a family. So if you belong to a family, see preaching is a matter of gift and God doesn't give it to everybody.

Receiving Different Spiritual Gifts

I've seen that. I know God gave me this gift when I was 23 years old. It's just like that. And I know more than anybody else, it's not something I could produce. You can't produce something when you're 23.

I'd been baptized only two years before that. God chose me for a particular task, gave me that gift, and I don't expect anybody to have my gift. And I don't think you should expect anybody else to have a gift God's given to someone.

Because if preaching was the most important thing that God saw to be in the body of Christ, do you know that God could have just as easily given the gift he gave me to hundreds and thousands of other people?

The Body of Christ Needs Every Member

All of you would have been able to preach just like me, without a problem. But God says, no, this is what I give him, this is what I give this other person, and all of us are needed. Like the Bible says, if everything was a tongue, what sort of body would that be?

Just tongues everywhere all over the place or eyes everywhere or little fingers everywhere? No, that's not the body.