Apples

Can you name five types of apples? There’s the Granny Smith, McIntosh, Honeycrisp, Red Delicious, Gala—just to name a few of the 7,500 varieties! Each variety of apple has a distinctly different taste. Some are sweet, others are tart, and some are both. Even though they have different tastes, they have one thing in common: they are all apples. That’s similar to how the body of Christ works. The church—which is made up of believers in Jesus from around the world and throughout history–includes lots of different Christians. Every Christian has different talents, abilities, and spiritual gifts to serve the church (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12”€œ13; 1 Peter 4:8-11). Some local Christian churches are large, and others are small. Also, different churches have different styles of worship services, or ministries they emphasize or focus on, or convictions about gray areas in Scripture (Romans 14). But, just like all apples have similar traits, all true Christians are united around faith in the gospel: the good news that Jesus Christ—fully God and fully human— died and rose again as the only Savior from sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). All Christians are a part of the kingdom of God and are called to love God and others (Mark 12:30-31). How we love is what makes us us: we loved because Jesus first loved us (John 13:35; 1 John 4:19). • Melissa Yeagle • What are differences between you and other Christians you know? • Despite those differences, what unites you? • To learn more about the truths that unite all Christians, check out our “Know Jesus” page. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35 (CSB)

Read Verses:

Matthew 22:35-40; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; Ephesians 4:1-16