{"We need Christ Jesus' help to straighten up the way we talk"}
Teaching in a large group setting is not my forte. Not at all. But, as a youth ministry intern, that's part of my job description. So, I'm being afforded much opportunity to grow. Thus far I've given four Sunday morning talks and have found the process to be pretty exhausting - more so than putting together a speech or presentation in college ever was. Though I cannot say I enjoy teaching, I do enjoy how the process kicks me out of relying on my own strength and forces me to walk into a realm where I am pointedly aware of my dependence on God. On my own I could piece together what would seem to be an"excellent talk" with good spiritual points, intelligent arguments, and engaging audience participation. But I know that without God's power and the Holy Spirit's opening of hearts, my talk is just a meaningless jumble of to-do's.
A couple weeks ago I was asked to speak on the topic of how we, as believers in Christ, relate to others in the Body. A few friends expressed interest in hearing more about the talk (and seeing pictures), so here are some tid-bits.
The room was set up with tables each topped with a Mr. Potato Head body part. My inspiration for using Mr. Potato Head to illustrate the body of Christ comes from this clever video clip on 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 which I played as a part of the talk. The students were instructed to sit at the table with the body part they most relate to....for example, those who feel gifted to use their mouth to speak God's truth may feel drawn to the mouth table.
We explored what makes a person valuable in the world's value system and what makes a person valuable in The Kingdom. We concluded that our natural inclination is to value a person using the "world's value system" instead of The Kingdom's value system and we realized that as Romans 12:2a says "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" we need our minds to be renewed so that we are no longer conforming to the way the world values people (for example, valuing people on the basis of their beauty, intelligence, wit, athleticism instead of valuing people because they are dearly loved children of God). It follows from the renewing of our minds that we should not think of ourselves as higher than we ought but with sober judgment realize how we are individual members of one body in Christ and each member contributes in different ways to its health and growth.
I then showed the before mentioned video clip on 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. From the passage three points were expanded upon concerning the Body of Christ: 1. We are diverse, 2. We are one in the Spirit, and 3. We need each other.
{1 Corinthians 12: 12-13 "For just as the body is one and has many members,
and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ."}
I asked students to answer the questions "how can you use your gifts to strengthen, serve, and care for the body?" and "how do you die to self?" on the Mr. Potato Head body part at their table. Then, they shared their answers with the rest of the group while tacking their body part onto the Mr. Potato Head "body."
Isn't the Body of Christ a beautiful thing! It's just the big jumble. What does an eye have in common with a foot? Not much, but they're both parts of the body - unified through the Spirit.
On the same morning I spoke, Zade gave his testimony in "big church" as part of a sermon on "The Right Door." So, the weekend was a busy one for us both! Whenever I hear Zade share his testimony I am in awe of God's goodness in drawing Zade to Himself.