City Life Starter

I. THE WORD:

The heavens proclaim the glory of God.  The skies display his craftsmanship.  (Psalm 19:1 NLT)

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  (Psalm 139:13-14 NLT)

Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.   (Ephesians 2:2-21 NLT)

II. STUDY QUESTIONS

1. What is the purpose (vision) of CLC? Can you say it from memory?

2. Do you feel connected to and passionate about the mission of CLC?

3. As a member of CLC, how do your roles/responsibilities relate to the whole?

My two boys are well on their way to becoming Lego master builders. They can easily hammer through a 500+ piece set in a couple days. Personally, I wasn’t big into Legos as a kid. But I am beginning to see the value as I watch them build for hours, and occasionally step in and help them complete a difficult page of the step-by-step instruction manual.

When reading the selection of today’s verses, I cannot help but marvel at our God, the ultimate Master Builder of the universe.  At every level of existence, from deep space to inner space, in every dimension of life, God can be seen carefully assembling all the many trillions of pieces of reality into a complex, interwoven, interdependent, and purposeful design.

This pattern does not change when God speaks about the body of Christ, the Church. Every member is uniquely designed with the end in mind, contributes in some valuable way to the big picture, and loses their true purpose and meaning when removed or separated from the body.

Thanks to my boys, I‘ve discovered three parallels between building things with Lego pieces and building the body of Christ with His people:

1. The grand design is a higher form and serves a higher function than the form and function of any of the individual pieces.

The ultimate purpose of the Church cannot be achieved by any part on its own, and yet can only be achieved when every part is in its proper place.

2. Each piece has its own unique design, placement, and purpose.

Individuality is important to God but only makes sense in the context of the relationship. Individuals on their own can either seem dull and useless or wildly weird and purposeless, neither of which is true.

3. We don’t have to wonder what the completed work will look like. There’s a picture on the front of the box.  

The Bible is not necessarily our step-by-step instruction manual, faith is required, but it definitely paints a picture of what the completed work of God will look like. It’s beautiful, marvelous, hope-filling, power-instilling, and God-glorifying!

 III. PRAYER

God, once again, you are amazing! Everywhere I look in creation, your design principles are there at work. From the astronomical scale to the quantum level, everything is in exact proportion to sustain existence. Thank you for revealing your purpose for the universe, and for every single person in it. Thank you for including me in your grand design. I accept and love the way you’ve made me unique, and I believe you have placed me in this church body and community for a reason. Holy Spirit lead me and guide me today so that I can fulfill my role in the body of Christ. Amen.