3/19/11
Greetings,
When I was young I used to love to build with Legos. The fun that I derived from them came through a process. The process would begin with a birthday, Christmas, or a random gesture of grace from my parents. At these times I would get a brand new set! The Lego set would come in a pretty box that included bags of unassembled pieces and an instruction book. I would use the instruction book to put the Legos together one step at a time until I reached the last page and the set was complete. As promised, it would look just like the picture on the box.
The second phase would come within a few minutes. After I was done admiring the work and showing it to anyone around, I would play with it. The only problem was that once the Lego set was assembled the interaction with the toy was limited. After a few hours, or maybe a few days, I would take it apart and add the pieces to a huge box of other disassembled Lego bricks. I would use these bricks to build inventions of my own imagination. This is where the majority of the fun came from.
We are like the Lego bricks that I used to play with. We are all necessary parts of the body of Christ. When we all come together it reveals Jesus. We all have a purpose and a design dedicated to fulfilling that purpose. Every brick that comes with the Lego set is designed specifically to establish one aspect of that project. There may be some identical pieces or pieces that appear particularly unique, but even so, they are all necessary. Without the presence of the other bricks the individual pieces can never fulfill their ultimate purpose. Every piece joins with the other pieces to correctly assemble the set. They are all members of the same project.
“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. “ (Romans 12:4-5)
We must work towards properly fitting together believers in the local church. The local church is kind of like the Lego set that comes in the box on birthdays or at Christmas. Every time God births a new local church, He has a vision for it like the picture that is displayed on the outside of the Lego box. Each believer that joins that church, when properly trained and released, becomes a necessary piece of that set.
Every Lego set builds something unique. Whether it is a plane and runway, a setting from a recent movie, or a spaceship, every Lego set creates something innovative. How successful would Lego be if all they sold were one kind of block? Would it make any sense to only include 300 pieces that all looked exactly the same? How boring. Our churches were never intended to produce cookie cutter Christians.
Moreover, what if the Lego set only included half of the necessary pieces? Although the set required the use of all of the pieces, any piece designated “female” was left out. Obviously the finished product would have more than a few holes. We might even have to implement the use of “foreign” objects to compensate for the lack: possibly toothpicks, Elmer’s glue, pebbles, and so forth. Let us take a lesson from Lego. Our churches were never meant to be built on the gifts and callings of men only. Junia was a woman who held the apostolic office in the early church—this was no coincidence.
“Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.” (Romans 16:7)
Unity comes by embracing the gifts, talents, and abilities of others regardless of how unique or exceptional they may be. Let’s pretend that there were only 300 purposes that God distributed throughout the whole earth. Forcing others to fulfill the same purpose would only allow 1 out of every 300 people to embrace their destiny. Destiny can only be achieved when it is in line with the purpose for which we were created. With that said, imagine that there are as many purposes as there are people. Every person is unique, and every person has their unique set of gifts, talents, and abilities. Achieving a common vision or goal comes by properly utilizing and coordinating the talents and callings of those that are present in our local bodies, not by training others to reject their purpose because it isn’t understood.
When building a Lego set from the box we must use the instruction booklet. Our instruction booklet is the word of God, rightly divided. This includes the Bible and the word He speaks to us today through the Holy Spirit. This allows us to use the pieces that come in the set the right way. If we don’t use the instruction book we are likely to build the set the wrong way. Like the picture on the box of the Lego set, God has a vision for every local body. Not only must the local body define this vision, but it must receive God’s plan for building it. This involves hearing from God and fitting the callings and talents of the body together in a way that will properly assemble God’s purpose. The natural result of using the instruction booklet to build a Lego set is a properly built project. The natural result of properly fitting together the gifts and callings of a body are unity and fulfillment of corporate purpose.
Once the corporate purpose is being fulfilled it is amazing to look at. The builder can begin to play with the creation and experiment with all of its functions. Unfortunately, this is where the parable runs into a problem. When I would finish building the Lego set and had spent some time playing with it I would get bored. Once a body begins to achieve its purpose, the vision must expand. Consider another example. When I have a checklist and I complete every item on that check list, it’s good for nothing but to become recycled paper. The only way to renew the purpose of a check list is to add new items to the checklist so that I can continue to use it to meet my goals.
Once a local church has achieved God’s vision for it corporately, its vision needs to immediately expand. It is not an entity unto itself but part of something larger. Once I had finished playing with the Lego set, it was time to break it apart and add it to the box of other Lego sets. I would then use these pieces to build inventions of my own imagination. The only way I could achieve the construction of these new and revelatory projects was to combine the elements of the individual sets. This is what God wants to do with the body of Christ. God has plans for His body that have not yet entered into our imaginations, but when we are ready He promises to reveal them to us by His Spirit.
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)
We first need to settle that in order to achieve the corporate purpose of a local church we need to use the members of our body as they were intended to be used. We must stop training people to reject their purpose because of religion, fear, and insecurity. Second, we must not only receive God’s vision for the local body but also establish His plan for achieving it. Third, we must understand that God has significant purposes for Christians beyond their local body. God wants to use us in citywide, statewide, and nationwide projects that require members from different bodies to come together according to the purposes in His heart.
Discussion
1. What do the individual Lego blocks represent?
2. What does the use of an instruction book to assemble a Lego set represent?
3. What does the picture on the box of the Lego set represent?
4. What needs to happen when a local church begins to achieve its vision?
5. What does building new inventions using pieces from various Lego sets represent?
