How
have we become members of the body of Christ? Let's
look at the next group of scriptures - 1 Corinthians 12:18-20, 23-25
Verse
18: “But
now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it
hath pleased him”.
This
tells us that God set
the members in the body “as it hath pleased him”, meaning He
caused us to sit; He placed us with care & deliberate purpose
into the body of Christ; He fixed us firmly and made us immobile, and
He knew when to do it. God knew in the beginning who He created us
to be, and by placing us with deliberate purpose, He knew when He
would need some more Sons to continue doing His work. And He was and
is pleased with each of us, meaning he delights in us and loves us
and loves what we are doing for the kingdom.
Verses
19 & 20: “And if they were all one member, where were
the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body.” The
word “body” means to heal, preserve,
save, do well, be made whole. With 1 member, He would not have a
body, but with many members, God has a body of Sons to heal,
preserve, save and and make the Kingdom whole. We know it will take
more than 1 Son to accomplish this.
Moving
on to verses 23 & 24:
V
23: “And those members of the body, which we think to be less
honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our
uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
V
24: For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the
body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which
lacked”
God
knew that there would be issues among the carnal-minded man. He knew
that the members would place too much emphasis on the flesh body
instead of the spiritual body and would view others, who don't
“measure up” with their dress or looks or amount of money, as
less honourable or uncomely, meaning without honour or inelegant.
But as followers of Jesus Christ, we are all members of one body, and
we are all viewed as equal in the sight of God! He created us with
different abilities and personalities to serve his purpose.
God
knew that each of us would have to follow Jesus's words in Luke 9:23:
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross daily, and follow me.” The members of the body
have to put God as the priority of our lives and daily focus, or we
will not be able to accomplish the goals of the body of Christ.
V
24: “God hath tempered the body together, having given more
abundant honour to that part which lacked”
What
did God do? He “hath tempered the body together”, meaning He has
brought the body together to commingle, blend into a harmonious
whole, combine or assimilate, mix with, to be companions, and to be
complete. God knows just how to adjust the members of the body
together into a harmonious whole. I can see God tapping on this
person and tapping on that person OR maybe He is walloping on some of
us in order to mold us together into 1 unit or 1 body! In other
words, He is allowing us to face various trials and difficult
situations to help us grow in the knowledge and power of Christ so
that we can all mold together as the body of Christ.
Verse
25: “That there should be no schism in the body”
God
said that there “should
be no schism in
the body”. Schism
translates in the Greek as a split or gap; a division or tear. The
world we live in today already has huge schisms – in families,
congregations, workplaces, sports teams, governments, the financial
world, etc. We so easily let our emotions take over our minds, and
we react to others in ways that create these divisions – whether
temporary or permanent. Our emotions such as jealousy, anger,
misunderstanding, and fear begin to dictate our actions, and this
leads to divisiveness in our lives and relationships with God and
others.
In
our Bible study of the book of Revelation, our pastor has talked
about how we need to conquer our emotions and change our thoughts to
put on the mind of Christ. We are all familiar with the scripture of
Romans 12:2, but I really like this New Living Translation that came
to me through email recently:
“Don’t
copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform
you into a new person by changing the way you think.”
1
Corinthians 2:16 states “For
who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we
have the mind of Christ.”
So
far we have looked at some descriptions of what the body of Christ
looks like – the body has many members, is diverse in gifts and
talents, and is covered in Christ. Part 4 will focus on my 2nd
“God moment”, which points out the desire of God to temper the
body together and have no schisms. The body of Christ must work
together.
~
Rachel West
This
message will be posted in 5 parts. If you are interested in
reading the message in its entirety, please click on this link to
download https://hotfile.com/dl/
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