A Look Inside the Body of Christ
Last
night I watched a video called “Life’s
Greatest Miracle.” Did you ever imagine that
we would one day be able to see inside a woman’s body
and witness conception taking place? It was fascinating
to even glimpse the miracle of life getting started. I
was particularly struck by the very deep ways along which
the body functions, how the chemical codes are used by
cells to signal processes to begin or to end. It was so
much deeper an understanding of the body than what we had
in 1966. Remember the old movie “Fantastic Voyage” about
the people in a submarine, who were shrunk down to the
size of a cell and shot into the bloodstream of a human
being? Apart from it being fantasy, the movie was so limited
in how the body was portrayed. It was rather like they
were traveling on a subway train and the organs were stations
in a vast city. I guess the only way we could perceive
the body back then was as a biological New York City.
But actually, your body is infinitely more
wonderful and complex than any city. Of course, there are
the observable functions of the organs, which we readily
learn about at school — the heart pumps the blood, the
pancreas secretes insulin. We still tend to relate to them
as functions within a city — the garbage collectors, the
water utility, and so forth. But beneath these observable
functions, in ever-deepening layers of complexity, are
the underpinnings of the bodily functions — the relationships
between the cells. These relationships are harder to define,
but they are the key to understanding what makes a body
a body.
A living body is more than just an association of cells
who have put aside self-interests to work co-operatively
for their survival. For one thing, all the cells identify
with the body as a whole. There are complex chemical codes
identifying each individual cell in its role, but overall
the body knows who are its own. For another thing, all
the cells live and work for the common good of the body.
The cells of the liver, for example, are not waiting for
an opportunity to promote their organ or function above
the interests and functions of the other cells and organs.
We take this truth as self-evident, but it
is a really deep thing to understand. You could say they
are not independent or self-seeking because within a body
there is no threat, no ambition, and no competition for
resources. There is a distribution according to the need,
but the head is not dictating every last move over subservient
and oppressed cells. All the cells are working in harmony,
and the autonomic nervous system acts as a coordinator.
There is no need for oppression when all the parts are
willing and surrendered to the head.
A very important feature of the body is that
there is a life force that propels all the parts. There
is no rebellion that can be tolerated because it would
surely lead to death. Once we thought of cancer cells as
essentially hostile, as if staging a revolt, but scientists
now know that it begins with simple independent action.
To put it in human terms, when cells do not come under
the pre-ordained plan for their function, but instead independently
decide how and when to respond, they are essentially changed
in their nature. They are called mutant cells. They roam
around, no longer serving the body. In human terms we could
say they propagate a self-life, serving their own interests.
Some cells (triggered by something known only to their
mutant selves) become malignant and rebellious (meaning,
unable to be controlled by the body), and actively turn
against the body, persuading other cells to do the same.
Between
the normal cells, there is no vying for position or honor.
Each cell is content to belong to the system or function
of which it is a part — the heart cells don’t
break off on a whim to float through the bloodstream and
join in the eye in its task of seeing. The cells of the
muscles are content to work in co-ordination with other
muscle tissue cells, under the direction of the nerve impulses,
having a simple existence of contracting and returning
to normal under the command of the nerve impulses.
Imagine the disorder in the body if cells
could come and go as they pleased, or could choose sometimes
to respond and other times to hold back. Imagine what would
happen if jealousy existed and cells took to saying, “I
am part of the brain and infinitely superior to you tendons
in the foot”?
Could a body function in that kind of dysfunction?
Multiple Sclerosis sufferers will clearly tell you the
answer is no. But even they know that their body is their
own, despite its rebellion from the Creator’s order.
Could a collection of cells not even bearing the same chemical
code, not working together for the common good, and not
occupying the one location even be considered a body?
A Look Inside Christ’s Body on Earth
Paul likened the church to a human body in
his letter to the Corinthians. The Body of Christ is
not a mystical body, but a corporate corporeal
body. You can see why he had to write about the integrity
of the human body as the way to understand the Body of
Christ, for the entire letter refers to the division that
was disintegrating the church.
So what is the Body of Christ like? If our
understanding of the human body is correct, there would
have to be relationships that cause the members to function
as one body. The members would all work together in coordination
with the head, not taking thought for themselves as they
go about their daily works. These are not just independent
good deeds, but is their actual work of service in His
Body. Their calling, as it says in Ephesians 4:1, is
their actual employment or occupation in the Body — the
good work they are to be occupied with until Christ’s
return. The talents are the natural gifts of each member,
empowered by faith and grace, employed to build up the
Body in love — a growth that comes from God.
Just as the human body cannot exist without
all of its systems (lymphatic, circulatory, digestive)
continually functioning, so the Body of Christ cannot exist
without apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and
teachers. Take teaching, for example. All the members
of the Body teach in the capacity in which they are able.
Some teach academics to children and others teach the Word
to disciples. It is going on all the time, just as the
members of your body are at work all the time. The Word
is taught every day when they all gather together, morning
and evening, to hear God speaking through each member as
they are inspired by the Holy Spirit. There is the
teaching of the anointing, which takes place in all
the different places of the Body. It is as simple and as
constant as one brother teaching another our Father’s
heart within His statutes as they work together on a job.
And new disciples and children are always being raised
up to their greatest potential to take on responsibility.
And there is the ministry of the apostles,
bringing into obedience all the members of the body through
faith. Without concentric faith and mutual submission
to one another out of fear of Messiah, the body would
be destroyed by the mutant cells who would go about their
independent course. Left unchecked by the Body’s
immune system, they who say in effect, “I am of Paul,” or “I
am of Apollos,” would denominate themselves into
camps of mutual hostility and estrangement. Just as cancer
cells take over by making healthy cells mutant, so would
the believers be led astray into rebellion.
Apostles and apostolic workers travel throughout the Body,
bringing the Word and speaking the faith needed to obey
the commands of Messiah, dealing with what would cause
disease and ill health. Apostles give direction for the
members of the Body because they are compelled by the love
of Messiah, not lording it over those who are subject to
them, but being as a nursing mother, treating with gentleness
all those who err.
The gospel is preached as a witness by the
corporate life of the Body, which today is just like
the Body of Christ was when the Holy Spirit first came
in power. This corporate Body is a marvel, a miracle
of the Spirit enabling them who were once being led by
ungodly lusts, to live a godly life together in the glory
Messiah prayed for in John 17:23. Of course, the Body speaks
the truth of the gospel of the kingdom to itself as
well as to those outside, so that they who belong to the
Body would not hold any of the world’s
goods and harden their heart when they saw their brother
in need. Paul wrote about the division that comes when
there is neglect in taking care of the needs of our brothers.
Messiah taught His own disciples that they would not be
able to follow Him unless they gave up all of their possessions.
Those who live in the Body of Christ hear that exact same
gospel daily so that they could pick up the cross every
day and follow Him.
Shepherds are those wonderful men with the heart of King
David who lay down their lives for the sheep. In the Body
of Christ, the shepherds live with His sheep, not living
as hirelings who flee when the wolf comes. They protect
the people in their care from being taken advantage of,
so that they can be released to give all that they have
to show hospitality to strangers, and to pour out their
gifts on other people, not just on their own families.
Shepherds stand in the gate to protect the
people from danger. They make sure all the sheep are fed,
as the Savior commanded those who love Him to do. Shepherds
who obey Him tend to His sheep, making sure that their
wounds are bound up and the fat sheep don’t take
more than their portion. Shepherds work amongst the
flock, taking the load. They are the shepherds because
they love more than others are yet able to love. They lay
down their lives for the sheep, staying up later than
anyone else, praying for the people in their care, fixing
the furnace late at night, giving away their own shoes
if need be. Their love causes others to become shepherds,
too, just as the activity of the cells prompts the production
of more cells of their own kind. Shepherds show the sheep
the heart of our Father by how they don’t react to
the circumstances. All apostles are shepherds, and evangelists
and prophets are always shepherds because this is a basic
bodily function.
And the members of the Body exhort one another
daily (Hebrews 3:13 is a command) so that no root of bitterness
can spring up, leading to mutant cells. And the prophetic
word is spoken daily just as Paul said he wished all would
prophesy, speaking of that which comforts and edifies.
This spoken Word gives the members the vision they need
to continue building and to not cast off restraint and
not lose heart. They speak of the faith of Abraham,
whose seed they are because of their faith in Messiah.
They speak of the prophets and the vision for Israel. Every
day the Body is fed and nourished by the prophetic spoken
Word.
A member of the Body is only able to flourish in an environment
of forgiveness, thanksgiving and praise. Scientists have
been working hard to define how this also works in the
human body, because they see now that chemicals flood the
body according to the attitude of the person. This could
be likened to the happy heart of a disciple while working
with his brothers and sisters to meet the needs of his
brothers and sisters. This fills the Body with encouragement.
But more than just this, there is the thankfulness for
being in salvation, where the daily difficult circumstances
faced together by the Body lead to the common salvation
of our souls, and praise is offered up every day in the
worship and works of service.
All these things are the fundamental aspects
of being a body, the means by which the Body is the Body
and not an association. As its members go about their functions
— cleaning, cooking, landscaping, tilling the land, taking
care of the animals, making clothes, buying groceries,
building houses, repairing cars, taking out the trash,
baking bread, typing letters, making soap, teaching children
— it is all within the context and location of the Body.
Just as the human body teaches us, a cell
will entirely work for the well-being of the whole body,
the common good. And all the cells are in co-ordination,
taking their command from the head, right down to the “least” cell
(if any cell could even be described thus). Indeed, every
member is needed. In the human body, there are no superfluous
and unnecessary organs, even if doctors can not explain
them. How much more so in the Body of Christ when each
member was bought at a great cost by Messiah so that he
could live for Him who died for him, so that he could lay
down his life for his brothers. For there are no “lone
rangers” in the Body of Christ, but every part does
his share effectively to cause the growth of the Body for
the building up of itself in love.
It really is a wonder.
1 Corinthians 12:12
Mystical — Remote from or beyond
human comprehension; baffling human understanding; unknowable;
obscure; mysterious.
Corporeal — Of, relating to, or characteristic of
the body. Of a material nature; tangible.
1 Corinthians
1:10
Ephesians 2:10
Ephesians 4:12
Luke 19:13
Ephesians 4:15,16; Colossians
2:19
Ephesians 4:11
1 Corinthians 14:24-26
1 John 2:27
Romans 1:5
Ephesians 5:21
Jude 12-13
Matthew
24:14
Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-37
Hebrews 3:13;
Malachi 3:16-18
1 John 3:16-18
1 Corinthians
12:25
Luke 14:33
Luke 9:23
John 21:15-17
Ezekiel
34
John 10:15; 13:34
Hebrews 12:15
1 Corinthians 14:1,5
Proverbs 29:18
Galatians 3:29
1
Peter 4:11
2 Corinthians 5:14-16; John
15:13
Ephesians 4:15
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