Body Life. Body Life is the expression of Christianity as described in Romans and Corinthians by Paul and hinted at in many other writings. It is a very good illustration, as it expresses the unity that will be evident in a fit and lean body that can function in beautiful and powerful ways. When we watched the Olympics in London last year we saw young men and women at the peak of their ability and perfectly expressing what the human body is capable of when it is fully trained and motivated. The holiness explored the last 2 weeks is the key to good Body Life; it’s the only way to achieve it! Such is local church Body Life when God enables it, or rather, when the Body allows the Master to use it in the way He intends it to. God alone knows the full capability of Body Life, but I doubt if many of us have ever seen that, very few have! When we read that the Body can enjoy the fullness of God, Eph 3:19, and the fullness of Christ, Eph 3:17, then the boundaries seem non-existent! Even in times of revival, I doubt if that has been fully expressed because, where God is at work, Satan is too and has placed the Counterfeit in the churches and these Pretenders cannot function spiritually in Body Life. In 1905 Evan Roberts was publicly criticised, so Body Life on a larger scale did not function perfectly even then. However, Body Life does express God’s wisdom and power to the principalities and powers, Eph 3:10, and God’s glory to every generation, Eph 3:20, and it would be good to see that today like it was in 1905; it was powerful! When all members of a body function as they should it is great to see the results. Take that Body to be a big machine in a factory or a powerful computer – wow, the results are breath taking! When a local church functions in Body Life as God desires, fluently and beautifully, then the community knows for sure that God is among His people, 1Cor 14;24, and the fear of God will come upon them. Oh yes, amazing things will be seen, miraculous conversions will take place, lives radically changed and families revolutionised, all will make the community realise that God is very much alive and behind it all. Oh that more church leaders could understand this! Paul’s illustrations of Body Life are so relevant and we need to heed them – if one member fails, the whole body suffers! 1Cor 12:26. Come on, we all know that in most churches there is only small nucleus of people who do the work, the majority of members are merely pew fillers on Sunday morning and evening. Whose fault is this? Leadership! If church leaders were what they should be and able to say – imitate me, as I imitate Christ – then far more in the congregation would function as Body Life members. As this happens, others feel the need to function and when the real children of God become sons of God and function fruitfully then the False, the Counterfeit Pretenders, get to feel uncomfortable and some will leave; making the church even more effective. I like Tozer’s pithy quote – when there’s fire in the pulpit, there is action in the pews! Most seminaries only train preachers and they have little expectation of the people in the pews, except to be there each week and put their money in the collection box. Far too many church leaders are merely preaching machines, who see the pulpit as the beginning and end of church and as long as on Sunday they can fill the church building, they’re happy! How much longer are millions of God’s people to suffer under this pathetic idea that church and Christianity is ‘meeting attendance’ and very little else? Most church goers are merely sermon fodder for their weekly fix! Body Life is characterised by fellowship; the ‘koinonia’; that’s the powerful Greek word that is used for the close knit togetherness of a local church. Read Acts 1-5 and see how many times the word ‘together’ is used! Oh yes, they had ‘meetings’ in the Temple every day to praise God, but every spare moment they had they were together, but that characterises very few churches today. They ate together, ‘the agape’ was a meal together every day and it appears that at the end of it, they broke bread to remember the Lord; wow, what fellowship is that? That is non-existent today. This is Body Life and it is characterised by ‘agape’ love; real love. But the condemnation of the Risen Lord against the church at Ephesus looms large over most churches today – you have lost your first love, Rev 2;6. Each member of the Body is indispensable! It might not appear so, for like the human body, some parts can be taken out and life goes on, like the tonsils, the gall bladder and the appendix; but no, doctors today only remove these organs as a last option, because they know the body does not function properly without them. In a local church each member has a function and if one doesn’t function, then the body suffers! Obviously there are some members that are more important than others; like arms, legs and eyes to the body, elders and deacons are vital to a church because without them a church is hardly a church and will achieve nothing at all. But real elders and deacons would never say they are more important than anyone else; in fact, they know that their main goal is to get every member functioning fruitfully. This is the issue of ‘gift’ and it is vital that everyone exercises there gift spiritually, even if it is in practical work. Those who clean the church building will be there when no else is around to do their work, but they will put their heart and soul into it and while they polish the pulpit they will pray for the speakers, when they vacuum around the chairs, they will pray for each one who sits there! This is natural ability used spiritually; simply everything done will be bathed in prayer! So, you make sure you play your part in your church, make sure you exercise your gift spiritually and you will be blessed and so will others. Perhaps you think that your gift is one that is not recognised by the leaders and that is not unusual today, but pray and trust God and He will answer you, and soon you will find a way to exercise your gift. In some churches [that are merely institutional religion] it may be that you will have to use your gift outside, or parallel to the church, [para-church organisations abound] but keep praying and more often than not, the church will benefit from your service. Just remember, you’re Body Life and you’re important!
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 08:10:47 +0000
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