KEY SCRIPTURE: Acts 21:7″ And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day”.

(read Acts 21:6—10)

Apostle Paul left Tyre and continued with his journey to Jerusalem. Paul and his team took a stopover at Ptolemais, where he saluted the brethren there. Once again, Paul demonstrated his love for the master by showing love for his body. It seems Paul never travelled through any town or city without associating with the believers or brethren in that place. The church of God is the body of Christ.

Let’s consider what happens to us when we either treat the Lord’s body well or not. In 1st Corinthians 11:29, the bible said, “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body”. This verse is about the bread of the Lord’s communion. It says those who partake of it in an unworthy manner bring damnation on themselves because they do not discern the Lord’s body. What does this mean? It means these brethren who took the bread of the communion took it as ordinary bread. They did not see and treat it as Christ’s holy body. The bible said those who take the body of Christ this way come under condemnation or damnation, which is

1. A weak body,
2. A sick body and
3. Some fall asleep or die. (Please note that all these setbacks are about the person’s body)

What has the communion got to do with Paul’s recognition of the brethren in Ptolemais? Now note this, just as the bread is the body of Christ, so is the group of believers, or an individual Christian, also the body of Christ. The body of Christ is the body of Christ, no matter the form we relate with it, whether the body of Christians, the communion bread or even the bread of the word. To see the Christians as the body of Christ and to show love and honour for it brings you a special blessing. Those who dishonour the body of Christ, represented by the communion bread, become weak, sick or die untimely; vice versa, those who discern it will not be weak, they will not be ill and will not die before their time. Dear child of GOD, if you treat fellow Christians as the real body of CHRIST, you would have the same blessings as you worthily took the communion. Some Christians became weak, sick, or even died before their time because they treated the group of Christians as just ordinary humans. That was their error, or what brought them so much trouble. The Lord told Paul, who was persecuting the church, Why are you persecuting me? (Act 9:4)

The church, no matter where you find it, is the body of CHRIST. Love the brethren, honour the brethren, and treat them like you would have done for Christ if He were here in the flesh.

CONFESSION

The church of God is the body of Christ. I honour it, respect it, and love the brethren with a sincere love. Whatever I do for the Christian is directly unto the Lord JESUS. I am always a blessing as I honour Him through His body.

FURTHER STUDIES

Acts 9:4. And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

1 Corinthians 12:27. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.