Pray for Your Church: Members (6)
And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4.8
One-anothering
Things often repeated in Scripture require heightened attention, as we saw concerning God’s instructions on the building of the tabernacle. Five times—five times!—God told Moses to be sure he built the tabernacle according to the pattern revealed to him on the mount. In our study on praying for our church, we took that as instruction to do the same, looking to Jesus’ teaching throughout His Word concerning how we should build His Church.
Or think of how many times “Praise the LORD!” appears in the psalms and elsewhere. Or “Seek the LORD” or “Hear the Word of the LORD” or any other such phrases. Why are these repeated? To reinforce their importance and, in their own context, to elaborate the meaning of the phrase in particular ways.
One of the most repeated phrases in the New Testament epistles is “one another.” It occurs nearly 70 times—70 times! God reminds us of our duty as members together of the Body of Christ. Whole books have been written about these phrases, and certainly in this space I will not be able to address the many forms this phrase takes with any kind of detail.
But if I may summarize: God has given us gifts for ministry, which we are to use in serving our fellow church members for the edification of Christ’s church.
Let’s look a bit closer.
A brief one-another catalog
Here is a brief catalog of the various “one another” phrases that occur in the epistles of the New Testament. Each of the following words or phrases is followed by “one another”:
– be kindly affectionate
– give preference
– be like-minded
– love
– do not judge
– receive
– admonish
– have the same care
– do not bite and devour
– do not provoke
– be kind
– forgive
– speak in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
– submit to
– do not lie to
– bear with
– increase in love for
– comfort
– encourage
– edify
– exhort
– consider
– stimulate to love and good works
– do not grumble against
– confess your sins to
– pray for
– do not speak evil of
– love with a pure and fervent heart
– have compassion for
– be hospitable toward
– minister to
– have fellowship with
Yeah, we gotta a ways to go.
Practice for mastery
All these “one anothers” are simply nuances or facets of love. If we ask, How should I love my fellow church members? There’s plenty to choose from in this glorious list. And it’s a long list.
But there’s hope. The more we love Jesus, the more loving our neighbors will come (super)naturally to us as the Spirit of God works in us to will and do of His good pleasure. So, as in everything we do to take up Jesus’ work of building His Church, loving one another begins with loving Jesus. Spending time with Him in prayer and meditation, reading and studying His Word, sharing with and teaching one another, talking to others about Him.
So here’s a prayer we might use to help us and our fellow church members become more of a “one-another” bunch:
Lord Jesus, draw me close to You
so that I experience Your love,
bask in Your love,
and delight in Your love, more and more.
Equip me with Your love, Jesus,
and equip all the members of Your church,
so that we might relate to one another
according to all the glorious facets
of Your glorious love,
that the world may see
that we are one together in You.
For reflection
1. Review the “one another” list above. In which of these do you most need to improve?
2. Which of these “one another” skills has someone recently shown to you? Did you thank them? Did you thank the Lord?3. How does increasing in love for Jesus help us fulfill our “one another” calling in the church?
Next steps—Preparation: Review the list provided in this article. Define each term in your own words. Use this list and your definitions as part of your daily prayers, until “one-another” becomes more a part of your work in building Jesus’ church.
T. M. Moore
Give thanks
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: Read Moore (from the book, Revived!); from Crosfigell, “He Knows What He’s Doing”, on the work of the Holy Spirit; and “The Bitter and Sweet Word” from our daily Scriptorium series, “Jesus throughout the Scriptures.” And new in our bookstore, Let God Be True and Enjoying God, both free to download and share.
Thank you.
Many of you are faithful and generous in praying for and supporting Crosfigell and The Fellowship of Ailbe. Thank you. I encourage all our readers to seek the Lord about becoming a supporter of The Fellowship of Ailbe. It’s easy to give to The Fellowship of Ailbe, and all gifts are, of course, tax-deductible. You can click here to donate online through credit card or PayPal or Anedot, or send your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
