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 Sunday

   Bible Classes (10:00 am)

   AM Worship (11:00 am)

   PM Worship (3:00 pm)

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   Bible Classes (7:35 pm)

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Piedmont Family YMCA

442 Westfield Road

Charlottesville, VA 22901
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Are You Attached?

by Steve Klein

The amputation of a part of ones body is at best an unpleasant consideration.  Just trying to imagine having an arm or leg cut off probably makes most of us a little squeamish.   No one wants to have a part of their body permanently severed.  Amputation invariably handicaps the body and destroys the part that is amputated.  Our body parts must stay connected to our bodies for the benefit of the body and the life of the parts!

The church is a body.  The body parts are the church members.  "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ." (1 Corinthians 12:12).  But some members think, act and speak as if they've been amputated. 

4 They think that their presence isn't necessary in assemblies.  A church functions as a body in its assemblies.  It worships, it edifies and it communes.  What if all the parts of the body felt that they didn't need to assemble?  Would the body be able to function without all of its parts coming together?  Would it not be more like a lifeless carcass, mutilated in some chain saw massacre with its parts strewn all over?  The body is made up of parts, and every part must maintain its connection to the body!  "For in fact the body is not one member but many" (1 Corinthians 12:14). 

4 They talk as if they are not part of the church.  They'll refer to the church that they are supposed to be a member of in the third person.  Instead of saying "We had a gospel meeting" or "Our attendance was good" they'll say, "They had a meeting" and "Their attendance was good."  But just because a member talks like he is detached from the body, doesn't mean that he is. "If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body?  And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body?" (1 Corinthians 12:15-16).

4 They act as if the church can do just as well without them.  Every part of the body has some function.  Some parts may appear to be more important than others, but EVERY PART has a role to play if the body is to be at its best. "The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."  No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary" (1 Corinthians 12:21-22).

These things being true, why would any church member stay "detached" from the church?  Are you attached?

 Other Articles by Steve Klein
The Spirit of the Sadducees
Legalism - The Un-Sin
Are We Doing Worse than Our Parents?