THERE IS ONE BODY AND MANY PARTS
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
When I think about the church I can't help but think about it as I would a physical body, and how that physical body should operate. If we look at that simple analogy we can more easily see the way that God looks upon the church. The physical body has a head, arms, hands, legs and feet, and a basic body trunk where most of the organs live that allow us to function and live in a healthy way.
One of the things that I have found as I look at the church through God's eyes is a need for a replication of those same kinds of things in order for the church to be healthy, and able to operate within the world on the level that it needs to.
Once again we can turn to some of the teachings of Paul that are found in 1 Corinthians 12: 1-30 as he begins to teach on spiritual gifts. Paul begins by telling the Corinthians that just like different parts of the body then we have the church has different parts that all need to be able to work individually as well as together. He likens all of these parts as gifts that are given to us from God the father, but he tells us that all of these gifts even though they may be different from one another are all under the guidance and direction of one Spirit. Today we tend to want to feel as though the individual body of believers that we worship with is kind of like a single cell organism that we call the church. As long as we worship together within that body we are brothers and sisters in Christ, but if we are called to go to do a work in a different location, and with a different body we somehow become alienated from the body that we have been with. Because of the way the world works we may even take up a negative attitude toward someone who is listening to God's call to ward a different body of believers.
When we began to look at the body of Christ as a single body then has many different parts one of two things must take place. 1. We must either begin to treat the church in every part of a community as a single body with each worship group or church group who worships as being only a part of the body of Christ, or 2. We must divide ourselves against one another by refusing to worship together or to fellowship together which will cause the body to not be able to function at all with in the world.
If we begin to look at the church worldwide as Christ does in the way that he has established the church we can even see a greater number of parts within the body then we could ever imagine, and which desperately need to be able to be coordinated under the guidance and leadership one Spirit which is from Christ Jesus. In the beginning of this year I am finding the need to begin to explore what the true church in our community, and in our world really looks like to God. At my very first glance I can tell you that the division and lack of fellowship that I see between the different parts of the body who are desperately trying to claim control over the whole body has completely crippled in the effort that we might make in trying to witness for Christ. While the concept of one body, many parts is a very valid one if we are going to look truthfully at what God's intention has been for the church we also must admit that at best there are very few parts of the body (or the church) which are even able to work effectively. It is because of that we must begin to take a very close look at our individual parts and functions with in our part of that body. In order to do that we must go back to the very beginning of our relationship with Christ much like the Corinthian church needed to do, and begin to rebuild those things that we have thought we already knew, but we find ourselves spiritually being like little babies who need to be fed the basic milk of the word again. We may feel very bad about the inferior material that we have given to God to build with through our worship, and attitudes that we have developed when we see the true effect of what the divisiveness in this world has brought to our worship in the church. Stick with me in this discussion because it may well bring out some things within each one of us that needs to be dealt with. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
When I think about the church I can't help but think about it as I would a physical body, and how that physical body should operate. If we look at that simple analogy we can more easily see the way that God looks upon the church. The physical body has a head, arms, hands, legs and feet, and a basic body trunk where most of the organs live that allow us to function and live in a healthy way.
One of the things that I have found as I look at the church through God's eyes is a need for a replication of those same kinds of things in order for the church to be healthy, and able to operate within the world on the level that it needs to.
Once again we can turn to some of the teachings of Paul that are found in 1 Corinthians 12: 1-30 as he begins to teach on spiritual gifts. Paul begins by telling the Corinthians that just like different parts of the body then we have the church has different parts that all need to be able to work individually as well as together. He likens all of these parts as gifts that are given to us from God the father, but he tells us that all of these gifts even though they may be different from one another are all under the guidance and direction of one Spirit. Today we tend to want to feel as though the individual body of believers that we worship with is kind of like a single cell organism that we call the church. As long as we worship together within that body we are brothers and sisters in Christ, but if we are called to go to do a work in a different location, and with a different body we somehow become alienated from the body that we have been with. Because of the way the world works we may even take up a negative attitude toward someone who is listening to God's call to ward a different body of believers.
When we began to look at the body of Christ as a single body then has many different parts one of two things must take place. 1. We must either begin to treat the church in every part of a community as a single body with each worship group or church group who worships as being only a part of the body of Christ, or 2. We must divide ourselves against one another by refusing to worship together or to fellowship together which will cause the body to not be able to function at all with in the world.
If we begin to look at the church worldwide as Christ does in the way that he has established the church we can even see a greater number of parts within the body then we could ever imagine, and which desperately need to be able to be coordinated under the guidance and leadership one Spirit which is from Christ Jesus. In the beginning of this year I am finding the need to begin to explore what the true church in our community, and in our world really looks like to God. At my very first glance I can tell you that the division and lack of fellowship that I see between the different parts of the body who are desperately trying to claim control over the whole body has completely crippled in the effort that we might make in trying to witness for Christ. While the concept of one body, many parts is a very valid one if we are going to look truthfully at what God's intention has been for the church we also must admit that at best there are very few parts of the body (or the church) which are even able to work effectively. It is because of that we must begin to take a very close look at our individual parts and functions with in our part of that body. In order to do that we must go back to the very beginning of our relationship with Christ much like the Corinthian church needed to do, and begin to rebuild those things that we have thought we already knew, but we find ourselves spiritually being like little babies who need to be fed the basic milk of the word again. We may feel very bad about the inferior material that we have given to God to build with through our worship, and attitudes that we have developed when we see the true effect of what the divisiveness in this world has brought to our worship in the church. Stick with me in this discussion because it may well bring out some things within each one of us that needs to be dealt with. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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