What body do you want?

the Church is a body and not the work of one man or a group of individuals.

Paul uses the body as an example to describe the nature of what a church should be and how it should function and its analogy is very true. No part of the body can function without the rest doing their jobs as well. The body cannot be all one thing, so it cannot just be an eye, a mouth or a nose instead it is made up of many different parts all with different functions but all working together for one purpose. If any part of your body begins to be in pain you can feel it right across the system. All of these things or types which the body has the Church has too.

We each need one another to support us as the heart needs the kidneys and the liver. We support one another and lift one another up. Friends if you aren’t doing your bit then we can’t simply carry on with out it instead somebody else would have to do it. Whether you think it or not you are vital to the rest of us and they are vital to you.

We cannot function as a church if we all try to do the same thing for the Lord. Each one of us has a calling that was prepared from the beginning of the world. We must remember that the Lord does not need us but that we need Him, to serve Him is a privilege and not a chore. Yet as a body we have many diverse and wonderful people but are all apostles or are they all teachers. Maybe one or two, maybe not at all but to each the Lord gives a measure and by this diversity the body functions. However no part of the body is more important than another, Christ dies for all and he no more died for the preacher than he did for the cleaner. Yet the person who has been forgiven much understands because Grace abounds much more in their life.

If any part of our body is in pain then we should all acutely feel it in the same way that a tooth ache can floor the biggest of men. I wonder do you feel that your pain is shared by those whom you go to church with or maybe you are reading this and you don’t go to church at all but you like the sound of a problem shared.

A body lies naked to its self; there are no parts it doesn’t know. Today very few churches can boast of such a connection of its attendees. To do such a thing would of course make you feel terribly exposed. We often wear masks and we need to take off the masks and be exposed and raw because it is only then that we can help one another out. This is the term of true fellowship and it is a thing to be cherished and nurtured. We are warned in the bible not to cast our pearls before swine. The word for pearl in Latin is unio, where we get the word unity from. So we must not just cast out unity out without care lest it be trampled upon. True fellowship is a body that shares one another’s pain and feels it acutely. Yet it doesn’t end with empathy because then that true fellowship shows its metal by carrying that wounded person until they can carry others.

I dream of a body that one day lives according to these principles and once again my heart has been reminded of this. I hope reading this a spark is born in you that says I want that too. Without that closeness, that unity and that kindness we will not last because we are coals burning on our own and soon to go out.

Yet the final part of the body is its purpose and its true head. The head of Church is not its leadership team but the Lord and it is to Him we must look for guidance. We do this by praying and reading His Word for the answer. And when we look for the answer in the Word it is done by understanding the whole of scripture and not opening a scripture and claiming it, out of context, as a promise in our lives.

So Christ is our head and he gave us but one purpose. Together we are here to work for the unity and purpose of the Kingdom of Heaven, to fulfil the great commission and to make the name of the Lord an honourable thing by the example of our lives. It is only together that we will be able to succeed in this mission and with Christ as the head.

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he does not have another to help him. Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone? And if one overthrows him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

let us strengthen ourselves with these words but only when we look to put them into practical use. Friends we cannot be an island out there on our own. So what body do you dream of? i dream of this one and I hope it challenges you to find like minded believers who like you want to be exposed and raw. This is not people who are like you but people who want the same goal as you

a body of believers working towards a purpose of openness and growth