The Church Is the Body of Christ

 June 18, 2024

Tuesday

I heard a mega-church pastor claim that he had over 500 staff members. I guess I get it. His church grew so rapidly that he didn't have the time to disciple the membership to maturity. He hired more people for the foundation (the mature) of his church. Of course, this means that much if not most of the church budget will be used for personnel. His claim was that a church cannot grow if it gives too much of its budget to missions. He practiced what he preached.

This results in a anemic church. Even though the attendance is in the thousands, many of these have almost no understanding of the fundamentals of the faith. They don't truly understand soteriology, eschatology, hermeneutics or the Trinity. They may be at this church on Sunday mornings and watching a heretic most other days of the week. They can't tell the difference between biblical truth and heresy that uses the Bible. They are tossed around like the waves of the sea.

Jesus didn't tell us to leave people at their conversion. He commanded us to make disciples. They must obey what Jesus has commanded. Discipleship is intended to create organic growth. Every member is an essential part of the whole. They are the followers of Christ who obey His commands. Those commands include sharing their faith and helping others to mature in their faith. They live by example and by their words. Church members are not intended to be attenders only. Worship is more than being entertained. It is an act of joining with the Holy Spirit for personal change. Bible study is not merely sharing the intellectual understandings of the Bible's contents. It invokes change in the person to live like Christ. Fellowship is more than eating fried chicken. It is contributing to each other in care. Prayer is more than bowing the head while the nose is scratched. Prayer goes into the throne room of God making requests with the expectation that God will answer. Christ-like character is not merely acting like a Christian at church, but it goes with the believer in everyday life.

While I marvel at the mega-churches and am amazed at the sermons their pastors preach, I see church a bit different from them. The church is a body with every part essential. The only thing that I know of on a body that can be lost is fat.

That means that every member of a church who reads this blog has an essential function in his or her church. So, what is yours?

1 Corinthians 12:14–27 (NASB 2020) ¹⁴ For the body is not one part, but many. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But now God has arranged the parts, each one of them in the body, just as He desired. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ But now there are many parts, but one body. ²¹ And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again, the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² On the contrary, it is much truer that the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; ²³ and those parts of the body which we consider less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor, and our less presentable parts become much more presentable, ²⁴ whereas our more presentable parts have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked, ²⁵ so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ And if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if a part is honored, all the parts rejoice with it. ²⁷ Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.