“…let us consider how to stimulate
one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together…”
(Heb. 10:24 -25a NASB).
“I am the vine, you are the
branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from
Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 NASB).
Perhaps
you've heard of the blind men and the elephant parable from India. In this parable one blind person touches the
elephant’s trunk and concludes that an elephant is like a snake. Another touches the elephant’s ear and
concludes that an elephant is very thin and flimsy. Another touches his leg and concludes that an
elephant is very large and thick. The
point is that each is only understanding one part of an elephant but missing
the bigger picture. An elephant is more
than a trunk, ears, tusks, legs, body and a tail; moreover, the whole is the
sum of the parts. In a similar way, we cannot
be formed into Christ by only focusing on one part of our lives. Also, we cannot keep beating the drum on why
the Christian life is meant for community.
Hopefully, you've seen this truth from scripture and the witness of
Christians that have gone before us.
Paul’s
illustration of the Church being a body in 1st Corinthian 12, is an
easy picture to understand. The body is
made of different parts, i.e. hands, eyes, ears, mouth, nose and so on. The Church is made of people who are
different and gifted in different areas for ministry. An eye cannot say to a hand, I don’t need you
and in the same way, one Christian cannot say to another, I don’t need
you. An eye cannot say that because they
are not a hand, they are not part of the body, in the same way, a Christian
cannot see another Christian using their gifts and conclude that since they are
not gifted the same way, they are not part of the Church. Therefore, it is not a complicated metaphor,
the only question is, will you obey the scriptures?
However,
our formation is a personal and individual venture as well. The prophet Hosea describes the people of his
day as egocentric vines (10). There they
are said to produce the fruit themselves and when that fruit increased so did
their faithlessness and idolatry (v. 1 & 2). In contrast to that, Jesus describes Himself
as the true vine and his followers as the branches. It is only through His support and nurturing
that we can produce fruit and apart from Him we can do nothing.
Therefore,
over the next several blogs, we’ll turn our attention to what it means for
Christ to be our vine and for us to be His branches. Reflecting on the example of the elephant
parable, would it be correct to state that part of an elephant is similar to a snake? However, that is only one part of many. Similarly, the goal of spiritual formation is
not just for one part of ourselves, but all of ourselves to be transformed into
Christlikeness.
Written by Pastor Ozzy
1995. Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. LaHabra: The Lockman Foundation.
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