What does the Body of Christ Look Like? - Part 1 of 5

People often talk about the “body of Christ” or the “church as the body of Christ”. Have you ever thought about the meaning of the word “body”? And I am not talking about our physical bodies. Think about examples of the use of the word “body”:

• student body - students in a school
• body of people – could be members of a community organization, a sports team
• the body of a thesis paper or an article - parts of a written document
• body of employees – large group of workers on the job
• body of a car – the main, basic framework

What does this list have in common? Each example of a body has parts to it. They include people, words on paper, and pieces of metal attached together. Each of these “bodies” would not be a “body” without the parts that bring it together, and each body is only as strong as it's parts or members.

I looked up the definitions of the word “body”, and here are 6 that I found:

• a mass of matter distinct from other masses
• a group of persons or things
• a group of individuals organized for some purpose
• to give form or shape to, embody (to give bodily form and substance to)
• represent, symbolize
• a unit; group that is a constituent of a whole

As the “body of Christ”, we are a group of persons distinct from others; a group of individuals organized for a purpose – for God's purpose; a group which represents God and His truth.

The text for this message is from 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 18-20 and 23-27. With these scriptures in mind, I want to share with you 3 very clear and distinct “God moments” in which God showed me about the body of Christ and what I think that He sees as the basic characteristics of the body.

First “God Moment”

One evening I was driving home from work after finishing basketball practice with our Special Olympics team. As I drove, my mind began to think of each individual player and why he or she was on the Tigers team. I thought about each of their contributions, their limitations, and what I thought they hoped to get out of this experience. I have never thought about them in this way before so I knew that this was of God.

On the Tigers team, we don't have the most strategy-minded, coordinated, or well-conditioned athletes who can run various plays on offense and defense. In fact, we don't even play positions because several of our players would not understand that concept. BUT we do have 13 players who have a love for the game and want to be on that court to accomplish the mission, which is to win. They may have varying levels of intellectual disabilities, but they all LOVE this game and love being in the spotlight.

At first, I wondered what it was that brought this unlikely group together -

• this group whose members did not necessarily get along with each other outside of the team practices
• this group whose members looked out only for themselves and not necessarily how they could play together as a team
• this group whose ages, intellectual disabilities, and social skills varied from one end of the spectrum to the other

These athletes were on the basketball court together because they love this game and want to play basketball for the Murdoch Tigers team. The game of basketball was what drew them together.

Similarly Jesus drew to him an unlikely group of 12 men who became his disciples. A varied group that included educated and uneducated men, a physician, fishermen, a tax collector, those who spoke well and others who found it difficult to speak in front of others. But they were drawn to Jesus as He called them, and they all immediately dropped what they were doing to follow Jesus. Jesus was the one who drew them together.

Verse 12: “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.”

We know that we are members of the body of Christ just as is stated in Romans 12:5: “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another”. We are members of Christ because Christ is the church.

The definition of “member” includes the following:

1. one of the individuals composing a group
2. a person baptized or enrolled in a church
3. Greek word for member is “melos”= limb or part of the body. I looked up the definition of “limb”, which means an active member or agent; extension or branch.

One of the characteristics of a member of a body is that of an “active member or agent”.

When I was growing up, my parents always taught me that if I was going to join an organization or club or sports team, I should be an “active member”. Being an active member means you:

1. support the purpose of the organization by actively helping to achieve its goals
2. “work” for the organization instead of sitting and watching others do the work
3. have a passion for helping to move the group to a higher level in the pursuit of its goals
4. are at the meetings of the group and other functions
5. learn to express the purpose and goals of the group to others in hopes of drawing in more members to continue to help achieve the group's goals and member base
6. you are an “agent” or representative of the group, and when others see you, they remember that group which you represent.

For the Tigers team, each player is an “active member” and wants to play to help the team win the game. For the Sons of God, this also means that we engage as “active members” of God's team. This requires study and sharing the Word of God on a consistent basis and working together as 1 body or team or unit. Our source is the same for each of us, and our source has called us to play on His team.

~ 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/161227098/18bebe5/Message_51_-_The_Body_of_Christ.pdf.html.  If you experience any problems with this download, please leave a comment so that we may assist you.