Built Together: Finding Your Place in the Body of Christ
There’s a picture Jesus gives us of a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation. When the storm came, the water crashed against it, and the whole thing collapsed. The ruin was great. It would be a terrible shame to spend eighty or ninety years building a life, a house, that crumbles the moment the storm hits. We go to the Haven Senior Center every Sunday, and there are people there who, if they were honest, would tell you they spent their whole lives building for nothing. That’s a hard thing to sit with, but it’s also the reason this weekend’s message matters so much.
The only thing that will be worth anything in the end is what you do with Jesus and for Jesus.
Built On the Right Foundation
Ephesians 2:19–22 says it plainly:
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”
God puts people together in a particular location. Here at New Vision Church, that’s us. He has brought people to this place, and He’s building a house. He’s putting people together as He sees fit, for the glorification of Jesus. That’s the only reason we get together at all.
On Sunday, that idea was illustrated with a simple box, and it was damaged. Dented and worn, not pristine. That’s a good picture of us. We’re all damaged, yet God is willing to come and invade our space and use us anyway. When He comes to dwell within us, He’s also the one who gives the instructions for how to live. You don’t get to bring your own owner’s manual and tell God, “This is how it works for me.” God says, “No, this is how it works. This is what you’re going to do. This is the way it’s going to work best.” A lot of us are still trying to rewrite His instructions instead of reading the ones He already gave us in His Word.
Before you go any further, it’s worth asking yourself honestly: do you truly know Jesus Christ as your Savior? Is He truly your foundation? Because if He’s not, you’re building on something else, and no matter how sturdy that something else looks right now, it won’t hold when the storm comes. Second Corinthians 5:17 says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old has passed away, and new things have come. God is doing new things.
Made By the Creator, For a Purpose
During the service, everyone was handed a LEGO building block, and no two people got the same one. Some got a different shape. Some had more studs, the little pieces that stick up. Some got smooth tiles. Some got foundational blocks, and others got finishing pieces. Every block was handed out randomly, and that’s exactly the point. God is the one who distributes to each of us as He sees fit. You don’t choose your block. It comes to you.
God made you a certain way, for a specific purpose. He’s creating something beautiful, but it’s going to take all of us together to make it a reality. A single block sitting by itself doesn’t make anything. It’s just a block. But when we come together and let God piece us together, we become something we could never be on our own.
Ephesians 2:10 puts it this way:
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them.”
God determines who you are. He decides how many studs you’ve got, who has the flat surface, all of it. He does that with the intention of us having to work together.
Jeremiah 18:1–4 tells the story of the potter who was shaping a vessel on the wheel, and it was spoiled in his hand, so he remade it into another vessel, and it pleased the potter to make. Sometimes for God to build, He first has to tear down. God may be tearing some things down in your life right now, not because He’s angry with you and not because He’s trying to destroy you, but because He’s trying to make something different and beautiful with you. He wants to do something new in your life. But you’ve got to let Him do it. You’ve got to give Him the authority to be your Creator, your God.
We Need Each Other
Once everyone had a block, the room was invited to connect their blocks with the people around them. Most people ended up connecting with a block that didn’t look like their own. Different shape, different color. That’s exactly how the church is supposed to work.
Ephesians 4:15–16 says,
“But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”
Every person has a part to play. Everyone has a piece to contribute.
If you’ve ever felt like you don’t fit in, that doesn’t mean there’s no place for you. It might mean you’re trying to connect with the wrong people, or that you haven’t looked hard enough yet. Sometimes we only look to our immediate left or right instead of searching the whole room. There is a place for you, in every church that’s seeking God. Don’t quit just because a connection didn’t happen immediately. Ask yourself honestly: did you really try?
Ephesians 4:11–12 says God gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers. Some. Not everyone has every gift, and no one person has all the gifts. God built it this way on purpose, so that we would need each other and have to depend on each other. That’s true even for people who are naturally self-sufficient. There are things all of us can do on our own, and there are things where we still need help, even when asking for it doesn’t come easily.
Verse 12 says this equipping is “for the work of service.” You’re not serving yourself, you’re serving other people. If you’re not good at serving other people, it’s going to be hard when it’s time for others to serve you. Humility has to go both ways. You humble yourself to serve, and you humble yourself to be served. Your contribution is valuable, even when it doesn’t feel like it. If you don’t believe that, you’ll stop showing up for it. God sees everything, and your obedience matters more than whether anyone else notices.
Availability, Flexibility, and Commitment
We can’t simply give the way we want to, or when we want to. We need to give when it’s most needed. Time and again, when there’s been an emergency in this church, people have risen up and jumped in to help. That matters, and it’s worth continuing.
Your greatest ability may be your availability. How available are you to God? If God needs you, or someone else needs you, are you available? It’s easy to assume the pastor is too busy to call, and if everyone assumes that, then nobody calls, which means the pastor isn’t actually busy at all. Being here means being available, even while being busy. It takes being willing to bend, to move, to be flexible enough to show up wherever the need is.
If you can’t bend, you will break. That’s true for one person trying to do everything alone, and it’s true for a church that isn’t willing to be flexible. Sometimes we get locked into thinking a piece can only connect one way, in one place. But there are other ways to configure the room, other ways to look at people, other ways to connect. You don’t have to share every interest with the person next to you to find real common ground in Christ. Language barriers, different hobbies, different backgrounds, none of that has to be a wall. The church will not grow without a greater connection to God and to one another, and that connection has to extend beyond a Sunday morning.
Putting On Compassion, Forgiveness, and Love
Colossians 3:12–14 lays out what it looks like to live connected to one another:
“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”
It starts with compassion. Does it still hurt you when you see what other people are carrying, or have you gotten a little jaded over time? Ask God to give you a heart of compassion. Ask whether you talk to people kindly. Work on humility, gentleness, patience. Any church that’s genuinely growing in those things is a church people want to be part of.
The passage goes on to talk about bearing with one another. Anyone who has raised a child knows that bearing something isn’t always comfortable. We don’t naturally want to bear with one another in the church, because it’s uncomfortable, and we’d rather stay comfortable. Bearing with each other is worth it, because God is trying to birth something through it. And when there’s a complaint against someone, forgive, just as the Lord forgave you. That’s not easy, but it’s the standard. If you’re going to be part of an effective church, remember how much you’ve been forgiven before you hold onto a grudge.
Beyond all of it, put on love, which goes further than compassion. It’s sacrificial. When was the last time you did something costly in the name of love for someone in this church? Colossians calls that “the perfect bond of unity.”
Where This Leaves Us
If you’re still holding your piece and wondering where it fits, don’t quit. Look a little harder than the person directly to your left or right, and ask someone to help you find your place, whether that’s a small group, a serving team, or simply a new face to sit beside next Sunday. Real connection almost never happens by accident. It happens because someone decided to try again after the first attempt didn’t work.
Once you’ve connected, stay committed. A block that’s locked into place doesn’t break easily, and neither should you. Don’t let something small talk you out of a commitment God has asked you to keep.
Join Us at New Vision Church
If you’re looking for a church home in Fayetteville where you can find your place and grow in Sunday worship and Bible study, we’d love to have you. Join us for Sunday worship at 9:45 AM at 479 Inman Road, Fayetteville, GA. For special events, we gather at 193 Johnson Avenue, Fayetteville, GA. Whether you’re new to faith or you’ve been walking with Jesus for years, there’s a place for you to connect here.