The whole human body is a present Biblical model of the Body of Christ in the earth, composed of individual churches and individual believers. This natural model was first created by God in Genesis 1 and then given to Paul as a revelation in 1 Corinthians ch. 12. and in other places like Ephesians 4.
Eyes are important!
Ears are imporant!
Hands are imporant!
Feet are imporant!
AND.... The Body needs internal organs! Those are the parts that no one sees (there is a problem if someone can see your liver from the outside!!) yet are working tirelessly in unison with the Head and supply and serve the Body.
AND.... The Body needs internal organs! Those are the parts that no one sees (there is a problem if someone can see your liver from the outside!!) yet are working tirelessly in unison with the Head and supply and serve the Body.
Just because you appear to be a small member or church, that does not exclude you from Body MEMBERSHIP! The rest of the Body NEEDS YOU! Some cells come in direct contact with each other, within the organs and so on.
DISCLAIMER:
I am NO DOCTOR. (A funny story happened to me about that phrase "I am not a doctor" ask me about it. :D )
But I happen to know the natural human body is made up of various kinds of cells. Then if Paul is using the human body in his comparison (1 Cor 12), the same would hold true in the Spirit.
Some cells mesh directly together. Brain cells mesh together and carry electrical signals. Blood cells are individual yet flow together in the same narrow stream carrying oxygen.
Brain cells don't minimize muscle cells or blood cells. They NEED THEM. All cells nourish each other or supply each other, based on their design. God designed muscle cells to help the Body move. God designed bone cells to help give the body STRUCTURE! Skin cells are important too! God in His infinite wisdom created the human body skillfully and wonderfully. The more the human body is studied, the more amazing facts we discover about it.
Some cells never come in direct contact with each other, and that's normal. Yet they are STILL IN UNISON with each other, through CHRIST THE HEAD. (Col. 2:10). They are all connected to each other by the nerve system and the cardiovascular system and the respiratory system of Christ.
The BLOOD of CHRIST flows though the spiritual cardiovascular system.
The BREATH of the HOLY SPIRIT flows through the spiritual Respiratory system.
The AUTHORITY and POWER and KNOWLEDGE and WORD of Christ flows through the Nervous System.
The Body is a CULTURE OF HONOUR (also known as RESPECT). We cultivate a culture of honour where there is none. We cultivate love of Christ where there is none. The body parts that seem to have less respect, we respect them! The parts in pain, we pray for them! The parts that are thriving, we rejoice with them!
We feel each other's pains and rally in prayer. That is like the Body's immune system coming to fight off plagues and clot wounds.
We CELEBRATE the successes of our fellow Body Parts!!
BE an ambassador of the Head, Christ Jesus. (2 Cor 5:20-21)
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
12 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.
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
16 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?
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?
18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.
21 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.”
22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, on these we bestow greater honour; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty,
24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honour to that part which lacks it,
25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.
26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
- - - - -
It is important to recognize that God Himself composed this Body. Both the natural human body, and the Spiritual one. (V18 and V24). He composed Adam in a fully formed, fully functioning way in one Day. The Day Christ (The Head) rose from the Grave was the day God formed a new Spiritual Body.
In His wisdom, He made some members and churches small, and some are large. These parts are composed of different kinds of cells. Yet this is exactly what makes the Body function.
Look past the non-essential differences and or affiliations and titles. See Christ at work in all the true body members. Agree with them that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to be saved. He is the Only Way to the Father. (John 14:6) He is the ONLY solution to sin and to the world's problems, and it is only by grace through faith that we can be saved! (Eph 2:8) Whoever calls on the Lord will be SAVED.
On this, the True Spiritual Body of Christ agrees:
In His wisdom, He made some members and churches small, and some are large. These parts are composed of different kinds of cells. Yet this is exactly what makes the Body function.
Look past the non-essential differences and or affiliations and titles. See Christ at work in all the true body members. Agree with them that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to be saved. He is the Only Way to the Father. (John 14:6) He is the ONLY solution to sin and to the world's problems, and it is only by grace through faith that we can be saved! (Eph 2:8) Whoever calls on the Lord will be SAVED.
On this, the True Spiritual Body of Christ agrees:
Romans 10:9-13 (NKJV)
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
The GOOD news among all this bad news we keep hearing on the media is that Jesus Christ is RICH TO ALL who call upon Him! (v12) Note that it says "all" not "some".
Also:
Acts 15:41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
Acts 16:5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.
As believers in Jesus, let's bless the Body in Jesus' Name! Let us "strengthen the churches" by being PRESENT. This is always true, but it is especially true at a time like this.
Let's remember how unique each body part and cell is, and embrace how God has made you and formed you in the Spiritual Body. Not everyone in the Body does what you do, and God's grace has appointed you to fulfill that honour. God bless you in your local church! I know things are still a bit different right now with many government-ordered lockdowns. And yet, God will make a way. Jesus IS the Way. (John 14:6) God is still sovereign over the nations (Psalm 47:8; Psalm 82:8), and Christ is still the Leader, the Head of the Body! All true Body members hold to the Head, Christ Jesus (Colossians 2:18-19)!
Let's remember how unique each body part and cell is, and embrace how God has made you and formed you in the Spiritual Body. Not everyone in the Body does what you do, and God's grace has appointed you to fulfill that honour. God bless you in your local church! I know things are still a bit different right now with many government-ordered lockdowns. And yet, God will make a way. Jesus IS the Way. (John 14:6) God is still sovereign over the nations (Psalm 47:8; Psalm 82:8), and Christ is still the Leader, the Head of the Body! All true Body members hold to the Head, Christ Jesus (Colossians 2:18-19)!
And of course we know that Christ the Head is seated in HEAVEN, ruling and reigning victoriously with the saints who went on before us! And we are connected to our HEAVENLY HEAD as the Body on the earth which is the Lord's (Psa 24:1)!
Like Stephen in the book of Acts, who died in a riot against him, we too can receive powerful revelations of the Lord Jesus in the middle of some terrible times. The revelation of Christ is what keeps us hoping, keeps us in joy and keeps us working in the Body!
Acts 7:55-56
55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
God Bless,
Pastor Curtis
Thu Jun 4th 2020 1:53pm EST
Read MORE about Jesus the spiritual "Body Builder"!
https://view-finder-blog.blogspot.com/2017/04/jesus-is-spiritual-body-builder.html
Read MORE about Jesus the spiritual "Body Builder"!
https://view-finder-blog.blogspot.com/2017/04/jesus-is-spiritual-body-builder.html
