The Church as a Body; are you part of a functionally fit family?
or do your wounds, inbalances and amputated fingers stop you working as God designed?
The Bible gives us the biblical analogy of the church structure as a body, and what that means to us as individuals and as a congregation.
‘For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones’. Ephesians 5:29
Just stop for a minute and think about this — we are literally joined, fused and inseparable from God. How incredible is it that God would take us, miserable sinners and join us to him to help accomplish his good works; putting at stake his name and glory because he loves us so much. Scripture describes us a literal bricks in the new temple, and we need to remember the old temple was filled with the Glory of God so much that only the High Priest could enter without dying! So how does that body work? Our two reference scriptures are from 1 Corinthians 12:4–27:
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honour to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually’.
and EPHESIANS 4:11–16
that we ‘may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love’.
Many Members; One Body. Different gifts; All Valuable. No separation by race, gender, intelligence, wealth, position, title, just a oneness that smashes down the claims of any individual to be special. This was radical at the time it was written and still is today as society descends again into camp forming, and social media encourages us to surround ourselves with people just like us. But that’s not how God designed us. It is being joined together and working effectively together with different people that causes growth of the church, the kingdom of God and the indivuals therein. So what does this body need?
The Body of Christ as a physical body
If God uses the body as a description what can we learn from our own amazingly designed and constructed bodies about how the church should function. Well it should be;
Connected — the human body relies on the circulatory system so the blood flow can transport oxygen, nutrients and antibodies out to the limbs. If you tie a tourniquet around a limb it dies and will eventually need amputating, and if the tourniquet is kept on too long and then released the blood in that limb will poison the body. We are designed to be in intimate relationship with each other with a constant flow between us through teaching, prayer, discipleship and fellowship. These are the lifeblood of the body of Christ and you cannot do these effectively on your own. Without constant communication you will wither and die spiritually.
Stronger — one muscle cannot lift a weight- it has to work in combination with it’s associated tendons, bones and neighbouring muscles. While unilateral training and bodybuilding can grow individual muscles it is only when the body does multi-joint and full body movements that it is has the capacity to life massive weights. So is true of the church. While lone Christians have capabilities to work and grow on their own the biggest challenges will always need to be accomplished in unison with other believers.
Valued — A part that does not value others will seek to dominate, control or ignore. Any disfunction in any part of the body leads to an un-natural adaption which almost always leads to disfunctional movement and additional stress on other parts of the body. Parts that under value themselves won’t see how important they are and so won’t contribute, and the parts that see their value too highly will just pick up the slack — leading to that vicious cycle of imbalance. It may work for a while but the long term impact of this is almost always the failure of other body parts which become worn prematurely due to overload. The parallels in the Church are clear; We all need to value each other and perform, otherwise we put undue pressure on others and slowly break the Church down.
Facing Opposition
So what problems do we face in our efforts to achieve a healthy and strong Church body?
External —Firstly, we are now unopposed in our goal. Satan and his demonic forces love to undermine us both individually and corporately. His favourite tactic; the darts of lies. If he can get us to view ourselves or others as less or more valuable, stronger or weaker than others then he sets us up for failure. His other favourite tactic is separating us out into individuals where we will wither into ineffectiveness. He normally does this through lying to us about our need for relationships; particularly the challenging ones.
Untreated Wounds— the issues we don’t tackle or the scars we bear that stop us connecting or being functional together. So many Christians walk around with unforgiveness, anger and upset towards their brothers and sisters. This untreated wound just becomes a gateway for infection to pour back into the church. If I break my elbow and always keep it in a sling then even when it’s healed it won’t work. The Doctor will task me with rehabilitation exercises to regain strength and function. Rehab is hard and often boring but I only store up trouble for later by not doing it. So it is if we walk around church without dealing with those wounds, and getting treatment and rehab.
Infections — these enter the body through one of our openings. They are the problems we allow into the church due to our inattention or actions. This could be heretical teaching or pride from the leadership, or complaining, gossiping, arguing in the congregation etc — Basically any way that we Sin we bring trouble into the church. If we are one body then our sin affects EVERYONE. And yes this means even the sin that no one at church sees.
The Big Question
So the question I’m wrestling with is why do we treat this body like one that I can opt into and out of at different times of the week/year? As Francis Chan points out in his book ‘Letters to the Church’, would a gang member say to his gang — sorry guys but no gang stuff for me today? Of course not, he lives and dies for them and knows that he can expect the same in return. The way we do Church in the West makes no sense at all. It’s like a hand saying to the arm — hey I’m too busy to see you this week, you’ll have to carry on without me? If we saw a foot stamping down the street without a body we’d freak out and put a bullet in that zombie! It’s only when see the whole body moving that it makes sense. So the world does to us as individuals but they would take note if we were seen as one church. Those gang members see themselves as much more than friends; they are family. The bible says we should do much the same.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. ACTS 2:42–47
That sounds amazing doesn’t it? We tend to forget that ALL of the New Testament churches started like this. What we read in the bible is that without exception they all drifted and needed correction. Paul’s letters are loving course corrections. The Romans were in two factions; legalists and ultra grace, the Corinthians were arguing over which MAN to follow, the Galatians and Colossians were slipping back into legalism, and don’t forget the correction for the four churches of Revelation.
The main objection I hear is that we couldn’t be like that now, but why do we believe this?
While he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, seeking to speak to him. And one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking to speak to thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples, and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother. MATTHEW 12:46–50
We live in little family or friendship silos now, and climb out of them to attend church events. We can actually fool ourselves with what sound like a very reasonable statement ‘God first, family second, then the church’.
But that ignores the single woman, the divorced father, the widowed lady, the child who is the only Christian in their home. What we say with that statement is ‘I’m going to sort my family first and If I’ve got anything left, you can have a bit’. We know that cannot be correct but so often it’s the message we live. If we are one body, one family then we should never have people who feel marginalised or lonely in our church. After all we need them to be an integrated part of the body just as much as they need us.
The call to be a Christian is a radical one of putting Christ first and his church second in our lives. James and John in Luke 9:59 leave their father, the family business and their legacy and just walk away. The examples given by Jesus in Luke 9 are of people giving ‘good reason’s not to follow Jesus — he has none of it. In Matthew 10 Jesus makes himself crystal clear — I don’t come to bring peace but a sword; The separation of families, split in their loyalty to God or man. I am not stating that we should ignore or do anything to harm our birth families but the bible is clear — they have no more value than our spiritual family. If they are not believers then they should actually have less because they cannot help but drag you away from God; not malicously or willfully but just because they are on a divergent path which if we follow will inevitably lead us off the path we are called to follow. They will always want you to give them more attention, more time and more money than you give God. You cannot serve two masters , and so God wants us to recognise his family as being our family. Now that is super challenging to do when we see the state of most church families. So what can we do to help people get to that point?
The Key Responsibilities of a Healthy Church Body
The first thing we need to do is make sure that we are part of a church that is functioning as it should by providing the key nutrients to promote growth.
1/ Worship and Teaching: that we need to come together to worship God and give and receive teaching — note that this is a two way process, and not just a ‘listen to the pastor and that amazing band on the stage’ time.
2/ Fellowship: We learn from our interactions with each other. This is where the blood flows and is strengthened with love. Being together with our broad family is where we are reminded of being a part of something larger.
3/ Discipleship and Accountability: really close relationships are where we can make ourselves extremely vulnerable so that we can build others and be built up in the areas of our life that we can’t be open with publically.
4/ Healing: receiving and giving this as a specific ministry. The church should provide both physical, emotional and spiritual healing.
5/ Prayer: coming together in prayer is the most effective world changing thing we can do. It’s the one route to 4 above and should underpin all of the others and is how we take the spiritual fight to the enemy.
What about you and I?
Secondly, we need to take personal responsibility for being a part of this body, but what does this entail?
Reflection and Honesty: we need to dig deep into our souls, to understand our actions and motivations, to read the scriptures and allow God to point out the sin and dysfunctions in our lives.
Repentance and Confession: to turn away from those things in our lives that fall short of what and who we are called to be, to confess them to our family so that we can become accountable to change and supported in those areas by prayer and discipleship. By being vulnerable with others we allow people to be vulnerable with us.
Relationship: to seek out close relationships and battle to keep them healthy — loving outrageously, and taking no offence.
Prayer: for the family, for the body, for the leaders through to the least. Listening to God and acting on what he tells you.
A Band of Brothers?
We are not called to just play happy families but be part of a family at war. We therefore need to look at the church and our activities like a unit of soldiers. Most soldiers in the front lines will say that they fight more for the men an women around them than for the country that sent them. They would rather literally die than let down their ‘brothers’. When our church is meeting to pray, going out to serve, joining together in worship, or even just socialising, we should think ‘my brothers and sisters are going to war — I can’t just sit at home and let them do it alone. If we truly believe that when we come together we are the body of Christ we should never allow the building, style of worship, length of service or any other constructed thing dictate our satisfaction. The only thing we should care about is counting down the hours until we are back together again. Should the world see us genuinely behaving as that first church described in Acts - as the embodiment of Christ, I truly believe that we would see regular miracles and that God would add numbers to his kingdom daily.
Straighten Up and Walk Right
Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. HEBREWS 12:11–14
God is calling the church to the highest of standards; if we are called to be His body, His physical representation on earth would you expect anything less? I appreciate that this is tough- you may even see it as impossible, and it is in our own strength, but the Bible says that not only is it possible it should be our ambition. I don’t stand here in any position to criticise; Paul was quick to remind the Hebrews in chapter 12 — we are on mission and we must stand together — that requires each part of the body to do what it’s called to do, and that starts with me.