1 Corinthians 12:27(NKJV) 27Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
This week we are looking at the fact that possessing, driving out enemies and occupying our land of promises requires that we function as the body of Christ. We cannot fulfill this destiny as individuals alone. It will take the whole body working together to get it done. Yesterday our focus was on the need for Jesus to have a healthy body. Just as our own physical body must be healthy to be unhindered, the body of Christ must be healthy for Jesus to do what He wants to do in the earth today.
I want to explore some other thoughts today. First, let me point out how radical this whole idea is. As a matter of fact, Christianity as a whole is probably the most radical idea that has ever been embraced by humanity. Imagine if you had never heard of Christianity and your child came home and said, “I have heard of a wonderful new religion. They believe that their leader, who died two thousand years ago, rose from the dead and is still alive today. They also told me that if I receive this leader as my Lord and savior, he will come and live in me and I will be born all over again. I won’t change on the outside, but I will be a completely new type of person on the inside.”
I do not know about you but I would probably say, “Stay away from these people. They’re crazy.” However, that is exactly what the bible teaches about Christianity. Now we add another radical thought. When I am born again, I become a member of the body of Christ. This is not some theological membership in His body. It is not just a poetic way of describing our connection to Jesus. Just as my arm or my leg is part of my physical body, I become a “member” in the body of Christ on earth.
There are some things that distinguish one individual’s body from another individual’s body. DNA is the major one. Only my physical body has my exact DNA. My children and siblings have DNA that is very close. We share certain aspects of the DNA structure, but I am the only one with my exact DNA. My hands have it. My hair has it. My heart and lungs have it. Each member and organ shares one DNA code and no other.
A second thing that distinguishes one body from another is blood type. Although this is not as singular as DNA, my whole body has the same blood type. If I have a blood transfusion, the wrong blood type will kill me. It must be a match.
Finally, no two bodies look exactly alike. Even identical twins will have subtle differences. No one looks exactly like me. No one looks exactly like you. Once we know one another, we can immediately tell who we are looking at. Even from a distance, our individual look will often stand out enough that we will be able to tell who is coming.
When we say we actually become the body of Christ that means we are somehow given Jesus spiritual DNA. Our DNA contains the code that determines everything about us. This molecular code contains our eye color, hair color, voice quality, gender, height, build and intellectual makeup. If you could take my DNA and build another person from it, he would be an exact duplicate of me. When I am born again, my physical DNA does not change, but my spiritual DNA does change.
In a miraculous transformation called the new birth, my spiritual DNA is infused with the Spiritual DNA of Christ. Although I am still unique because I am a member of his body, I am also the same. My hand and my heart share my physical DNA, but each one is unique in order to fulfill its function in my body. Each member of the body of Christ is unique in its makeup due to its function; however, in the spirit we have the same DNA as Christ the Lord.
When we are born again, something happens in the spirit to our blood. It does not change physical type. However, the bible teaches that the life is in the blood. When we were born in the natural, our physical life carried the curse of Adam’s sin. When we are born again, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. The bible says we are justified. One way to understand this powerful word is to say that salvation causes us to be “just as if we had never sinned.” We no longer carry the curse of the fall of man in our blood. Our spiritual blood type has gone from “sin negative” to “righteousness positive.”
Finally, when I am born again, if I am healthy in my faith, I will start to look more and more like Jesus in the spirit. I will start to walk like him and talk like him. I will have the same stature and build. I will begin to do the things that he could do. I will begin to take on his features such as righteousness, holiness and gentleness. I will see life through his eyes and hear through his ears. I will become a perfect duplicate of who he is in the earth. I will only be one part of his body, but I will look like him.
All of this is a powerful mystery, but it is what the bible teaches. Since this is the case, I want to ask you something. Would you consider cutting off your own finger? Would you gouge out your own eye because it saw something that offended you? If an organ was sick, would you just take a knife and hack it out of your body?
Why do we think we can simply cut off members of the body of Christ if we are hurt or offended by them? We are all one body. If one member suffers, we all suffer. If one member is honored, we are all honored. It there is a problem with one or more members of the body, we need to bring healing to those parts not separation. If one part of my physical body is sick, the blood rushes to that part with healing to restore that part to health. That is what we should do as the body of Christ.
Let us look at another perspective. If your foot did not want to go where your head wanted to go, would your foot be capable of going its own way? Could your arm function if it was not connected to your body? The answer is no.
It is easy for us to say that we are members of the universal body of Christ. However, my hand is not a part of universal humanity. It is a member of a particular body and can only fulfill its function in that body. Another mystery that I do not understand is that we are all part of one body throughout the whole earth. At the same time, God has established local expressions of that body in every town and community. We are not functioning members of the body of Christ unless we are vitally joined to a local body of Christ or church.
The word “church” is translated from a Greek word ekklesia. This word means a group of people called out from a larger group and joined together. This can mean those who have received Jesus called out from the whole of humanity. It can also mean a group of Christians called out from the whole of Christianity and joined together locally.
I can never fulfill my function as a member of the body of Christ if I am not vitally joined to other members of the body of Christ. If I am a foot I must be joined to an ankle which must be joined to a leg which must be joined to a knee. This goes on and on until we are joined to the head. If the foot is alone and unconnected it dies.
If you are part of a local church that preaches and teaches the word of God, stay there. Learn what part you are. Get connected to the other parts of the body that help you grow and function. It is in the vital union of the local church that we fulfill our function as a member of the body of Christ. It is in our interaction together that we will change the world for our head, Jesus.
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