Alba 3-26-2023
THERE IS ONE BODY
Ephesians 4:1-4a
Warren Wiersbe, in his book “Be Rich” page 103, tells a story of a free-lance missionary who visited a minister asking for financial support. "What group are you associated with?" the minister asked. The man replied, "I belong to the invisible church."
The preacher then asked, "Well, what church are you a member of?" Again he got the answer, "I belong to the invisible church!"
Getting a bit suspicious, the preacher asked, "When does this invisible church meet? Who leads it?" The missionary then became incensed and said, "Well, your church here isn't the true church. I belong to the invisible church!" The minister replied, "Well, here's some invisible money to help you in your invisible church!"
It is obvious from scripture that Jesus Christ is the founder and builder of the New Testament Church. And He calls it His church.
Any church not founded on Jesus Christ is not His Church. Scripture calls the church, the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:4 proclaims that, “There is ONE body”. Jesus only has ONE body. And in this body the Lord pleads with us through the apostle Paul to be the people we are called to be.
He writes in Ephesians 4:1-4a, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body...”
There’s only ONE body for Jesus… it is His Church. What is the church? The word church comes from the Greek word “ekklesia ” which literally means “a calling out.” It is a meeting of people who have been “called out” or “summoned together.”
In the New Testament “ ekklesia ” refers to the congregation of God’s people who have been called out or separated from the world into His kingdom. The church is made up of those God has joined together into the body of Christ.
What a blessing it is to be called into the fellowship of the Lord. But I found a web site (Billy Graham Association – Answers) that had the following question:
“I haven't been a Christian very long, and going to church is kind of intimidating to me. In fact, I've almost quit going because I'm afraid I'll stand at the wrong time or won't know what to say when everyone is repeating a prayer. Can I be a Christian without going to church?”
The first answer given was: “It’s possible to be a Christian without going to church—but you will be missing out on an important part of what God wants to do in your life.”
And it added: “Don’t be embarrassed or feel awkward because you haven’t been in church much; you’ll soon become familiar with its ways. And remember: You are now part of the family of God, and no one is going to look down on you if you make an occasional mistake.”
While these answers are good, let's ask the question a little differently. Can a person be saved and not be in the church?
The answer here is this: The Bible teaches that a Christian is one who is saved. And Acts 2:47 says, “the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” The saved are the church. The church is those who are saved. So why would one who is saved not want to be in church?
In addition, Christians are specifically told not to give up meeting together as is the habit of some. Rather, we should encourage
"one another, and so much more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:25).
Church involvement is both an encouragement to us and an opportunity to encourage others. Here is another way to ask this question: Why would someone say he loves God and His truth, but not wish to fellowship with God's people?
One of the reasons God wants us in church is because it helps to bolster our faith and makes us accountable to one another. It is also an excellent environment to grow in our capacity to love God and one another, especially for the new Christian.
If a person says, "I believe in God and the Bible and want to be saved, I want to be baptized, but I don't want to go to church," it sounds to me like a man saying to his bride, "I love you, I want to marry you, but I don't want to live with you."
It's saying you want the benefits of marriage, but not the relationship that goes with it. The Christian experience is being able to have a relationship with the Lord as a member of His church.
If you are a blood bought, born-again, baptized believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are in the church, the body of Christ.
It does not matter if you are young or old. It does not matter if you are a male or female; it does not matter if you are black or white, Asian or Hispanic; it does not matter if you are tall or short.
It does not matter if you are rich or poor; it does not matter if you are educated or not; it does not matter if you been a Christian for one day or for 40 years; if you are in Christ, you are in the body of Christ, His church.
You have been called out of the world and into fellowship with your Savior, Jesus Christ, the one who went to the cross to die for your sins. And all of us who share in that blessing are His church.
I Corinthians 12:12 reminds us our bodies have many parts. The church is the same. Scripture says, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.”
How many bodies do you have? I think it is fair to say you have only one. The same is true for the church. It has many members, but one body. We come together out of different backgrounds and experiences to form one body.
When the body of Christ is functioning like it should, it becomes a place where everyone has a place of belonging.
People who have struggled with addictions, with abuses, with the results of bad choices, with disappointment about life in general, can become a part of this body – a unit, made up of many parts, but it is just one body.
That means, if we are in Jesus Christ, we are part of the Body with each other. And all members of the body are important and must work together.
For example, think about a baseball player catching a ball in the outfield. The ear hears the bat hit the ball, the eye sees the ball, the brain tells the legs to start running in a certain direction.
The arms and legs and body all move together in a certain way and then finally-- he jumps and catches the ball in his glove!
For a successful catch, all of the members of the body are important and needed. If the eye refused to see, or if one leg refused to run, or if the arm refused to extend itself, then the ball would not have been caught.
In the same way, there needs to be unity within the Lord's body with all the parts working together to fulfill the purposes the Lord has for His church. Verse three of our text encourages us to endeavor, “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
“Endeavoring” has a certain eagerness about it: a purposefulness. We are not being asked to create a unity - it already exists as “the unity of the Spirit”. But we are called “to keep” it, maintain it.
Verses one and two describe some ways to accomplish this unified purpose we have been given. In verse one we are asked to “walk worthy of the calling with which you were called”.
How do we do that? Verse two says we do it “With all lowliness”. That means with humility. Like the humility of Jesus who gave up the glories of heaven to come in human form for our salvation.
Also the unity of the Spirit is maintained when we deal with each other with “gentleness”. The King James Version uses the word “meekness” here. Meekness is not weakness, but is the gentleness of the strong.
Then we must also practice “longsuffering”. That means patience. And it means being patient even with people who are annoying.
And unity is maintained simply by “bearing with one another.” That requires a mutual tolerance of each others quirks and personalities. How can we possibly do this? It says we do it “in love.”
All of our relationships within the body of Christ must be governed by the Christian law of love. We must never forget that we are a forgiven people, and therefore we must be forgiving towards others.
It is then that we will have the “bond of peace.” But from where does that come? Jesus Himself is our peace, who has broken down the middle wall between us (Ephesians 2:13-14).
It is because of Jesus that we, who have different ways of thinking about things, and different ways of doing things, can come together in a unified way to be His one body.
There is something else that is unique about the body. It has a head! Without the head, the body is not of much use. You have probably heard the expression, “Running around like a chicken with its head cut off.”
That comes from reality. We had chickens when I was growing up, and I remember watching my mother chop off a chicken's head. It didn't just fall over and lie there. For a little bit, it ran around the chicken yard, no head!
A church that does not acknowledge Jesus as its head will still appear to be active, but it is dead and doesn't know it. That's why some denominations actually show rebellion against scripture, and teach and practice things contrary to God's Word.
But Colossians 1:18 makes it clear that Jesus Christ “is the head of the body, the church”. We can't just make things up on our own, we must teach and practice what the Word of God says.
That certainly is our intention here. How can we honor the Lord if we do not heed what He says? We are not perfect. But we will do better if we put Him who is perfect at our head, and follow Him.
And if we follow our Lord we will find that we will receive blessing upon blessing and mercy upon mercy. The reason is because Jesus loves us. The Bible tells us so in many places, but it is especially true of His love for the church.
Ephesians 5:25 says, “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her”. Therefore, shouldn't we also love the church, the imperfect people that Jesus has forgiven? We often say that God's love is for any and all in this old world. And that is true.
Also we are aware that when Jesus died on that cruel, cruel cross, He took the punishment we all deserve for our sins. But who can lay claim to what Jesus did for us there? Who did He die for? What does it say? He died for the church!
If you think you can receive the salvation made possible by Jesus' death on that cross and not be part of the church, you are wrong. If you are not a part of the church, you are not a part of His body. You have no spiritual head.
If you want salvation you must come to Him with an obedient faith, repenting of sin, and be buried by baptism into His death, burial and resurrection. But then do you just go on your merry way and sin no more?
No. Jesus adds you to His church. Your name will be written down in the book in heaven. And you will become part of the body, the very body of Christ.
May we honor His body by sharing in times of worship together and through our participation as a member actively used to His glory.
CLOSE:
In 1988 in Bruno, Nebraska, there was a farmer named Herman Ostry who had a barn that was built in the 1920's which kept flooding because of new road construction.
After consulting with companies that move buildings, Herman decided it would cost too much to pay to have the barn moved. So he invited friends to a barn raising.
He needed to move his entire 20,000-pound barn to a new foundation more than 115 feet away. His son Mike devised a lattice work of steel tubing, and nailed, bolted, and welded it on the inside and the outside of the barn. Hundreds of handles were attached.
After one practice lift, 344 volunteers slowly walked the barn up a slight incline, each carrying a little over 50 pounds. In just three minutes, the barn was on its new foundation. About 4,000 people watched.
Many doubted it could be done. Some were even betting against it happening. But in Herman's mind, there was no doubting the plan. “100% that it was going to work -- I have faith in our maker,” said Herman as he pointed to the sky.
The church can accomplish great things as well when we work together as one body, and we have faith in our Lord and maker.
