Christ's Body

There are many purposes for which our Savior Jesus came to the earth. While He lived, Jesus was called Rabbi, or Teacher (Jn 3:2). He was called the Prophet (Jn 6:14; also see Dt 18:15-16), Shepherd (Heb 13:20), and Apostle (Heb 3:1). One reason Jesus was sent to the earth was to show the fullness of God to Man (Col 2:9). God’s essence lived in His Son, Jesus.

In the past, God spoke face-to-face with Moses. However, it frightened the Israelites for God to speak to them, therefore He spoke to them through Moses. Moses was God’s prophet to God’s people, yet he spoke of the future when God would raise up a prophet greater than him. That man was Jesus.

After Jesus was crucified He rose from the dead and gave gifts to men. Paul writes that “it is he that gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, . . .”(Eph 4:11). Jesus actually imparted the essence of His own personal gifting to Man when He rose from the dead. All that Jesus was as a man walking the earth, He gave to the Church to become. Though Man may be afraid to hear God speak face-to-face with him as He did with Moses, Man can hear God speak through the various gifts He has placed in the members of the Church. It is as if the congregation were each a piece of Jesus, becoming His body here on earth. The communion we partake of symbolizes that each member of the Body of Christ, His Church, is partaking of Jesus’ flesh and blood.

Collectively, the body of the Church should knit itself together as the Body of Christ (Eph 4:16). This is accomplished by each member doing his particular part. In fact, if an unbeliever should come into the church, he should see the sum total of Christ in the activity and words of the congregation.

The purpose of the gifts of the five-fold ministry is to prepare the Church in each member’s particular part, or their “works of ministry,” (Eph 4:12). This brings unity to the body. Each member has a part to play, a work he was predestined to do. It is Jesus that supplies the growth by the Life that He gives, and that Life is in His blood. He courses through the veins of our churches to bring Life and build us up, person by person doing their part as they abide in Him and use the gifts He gave to them for the edification of the Body. Jesus covers our sins as He passes through the body, qualifying each member to function in his God-given role.

Though this lesson could end here and be a scholarly paper about the purpose of Jesus’ gifts to the Body of Christ, there is more to say. I will begin with a dream I had several years ago. In this dream many Christians sat in a room situated like a class room, with stadium seating. They quietly listened to the teacher, who only had a head. He taught them what seemed to be Christian principles, yet spoke against the blood of Jesus. When we left the class many thought his words were correct. That was the end of the dream.

You might recognize that stadium seating is constructed so people can listen, but not participate. And a talking head is a leader or speaker who operates without the rest of the body. Also, until the listeners could appropriate the blood of Jesus for forgiveness of sins, they would not have a sense of being a body; they were only spectators. What the Lord was showing in this dream was a dysfunctional church system that exists in some bodies of Christ.

There is one thing that has become apparent to me since this dream, and that is this; the main hindrance to the individual members of the church serving God is that they don’t see the strength God put in the blood of Jesus. If and when we believe that we can walk in forgiven sins, then we can be a functioning part of His body. If a speaker lessens the qualifying quality of the blood of Jesus, he (the speaker) will be the only one who serves God. Until God’s people feel qualified they are vulnerable tofeel disqualified by the talking heads.

There is great scrutiny in the body of Christ these days, trying to discern if and when a man can serve God in the church. Could it be that some are not seeing through the eyes of Christ the accomplished work of His blood in Man? I am not suggesting that the church should ignore unrepentant sin. However, if leadership sees most of the congregation as unqualified, their church will have only a few talking heads and they will not become a body. Rather, the leadership should encourage the individual members of the church to use their gifts as Christ intended.

Collectively, we the Church are Jesus to the world. When someone comes into our congregation they should meet Him in us, individually and collectively. This was the wisdom that God displayed to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places (Eph 3:10). God lifts up His Church to the spirits, both evil and good, to show that His plan stands, and it stands in us. Christ was not defeated on the cross; He was dispersed amongst His brethren. Let us do all we can to encourage one another to serve Him as a functioning part of His Body. Amen