Dearly beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, allow me a moment to confirm what I think all of us already know: I am not a bodybuilder. When I look in the mirror, I see a bulging belly, not bulging muscles. The same, alas, goes for many of our fellow Americans. We hear shocking statistics about obesity all the time. Yet whatever our attitude toward exercise and bodybuilding when it comes to our physical natures, the passage before us this evening makes it clear that bodybuilding is something that every member of the church ought to engage in. Every member is a minister, Paul insists, and he adds that only when every member is a minister will the church grow itself up in love. Indeed, this theme of every member ministering comes up at the beginning of our section (v. 7), in the middle (v. 12), and at the end (v. 16). If he says it three times in this passage, and repeats in Romans and 1 Corinthians, I think it’s safe to say that it’s an important theme. As those saved by the descent and ascent of Jesus Christ, you and I are called to ministry in the body. I am called to be a bodybuilder, and so are you. We’ll see tonight the method of bodybuilding that Paul taught, what happens when this method is followed, what the goal of this method is, and how it works in practice. The bottom line is that the church is bodybuilt when every member ministers.
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Caleb Nelson grew up in Ft. Collins, CO. Born into a Christian home, where he eventually became the eldest of 11 children, he has been a lifelong Presbyterian. He professed faith at the age of six, and was homeschooled through high school. He then attended Patrick Henry College...
