The New Species – The Body of Christ and the Family of God
Back before God created the first quark, the first as yet unknown string that became the fundamental building block of our physical universe, he had a plan to have a family. And the first-born in this family would be His own Son, Jesus – God the Son. And this family would join in the eternal community that the Trinity shares with each other. This boundless love that the Trinity had throughout the ageless reaches of eternity would be expanded to include a whole new family.
When Jesus died, then rose again from the grave, He was the only body that expressed what God looked like and acted like. Jesus was the expression of God in our world. But then he ascended into heaven, so the body of Christ was no longer with us. But on the day of Pentecost, His body reappeared in another form. Three thousand people were brought into the kingdom that day and the new body of Christ was born. Like Jesus, the church, the body of Christ exists to express God here on earth.
Let’s look into the account in Acts of the birth of the body of Christ, the church. The first thing we see is that they had an instinct for community. They met continually – every day! This desire for community is an indelible instinct for a genuine believer.
Here also we do not find the idea of individual salvation. By that I mean that you were not saved to go out and be a lone ranger for God. No. You see that they were baptized into the body of Christ. The idea of salvation was a translation from one community to another. Look at these verses.
“More and more there were being added to the Lord those who believed [those who acknowledged Jesus as their Savior and devoted themselves to Him joined and gathered with them], crowds both of men and of women,,…” Acts 5:14 – Amplified
“And a large company was added to the Lord.” Acts 11:24 – Amplified
Notice that in these translations it says that they were added to the Lord. It does not say that they were added to the church. So we see from these verses that the church is actually the enlargement of Jesus Christ. And that is because Jesus and His body are one.
Now let’s take a look at the conversion of Paul.
“As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’
“‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked.
“’I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.” Acts 9:3-5
Now the voice from heaven did not say, “I am Jesus and you are persecuting my people.” No the voice from heaven said that Saul was persecuting Jesus. You see from this verse that in God’s eyes Jesus and His church are indistinguishable from each other. You and I must come to grips with the fact that this idea of the church being the body of Christ is not some symbolic play on words, it is a spiritual reality.
So, let’s look at the handout that I gave you a couple of weeks ago. Were you able to find scriptures that substantiated each one?
Our prayers to the Father through the Holy Spirit are Christ’s prayers.
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” .Rom. 8:26-27
“Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Rom. 8:34
John 14:12-13; Eph. 6:18
Our appeal to others on behalf of God is Christ’s appeal to others.
“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” 2 Cor. 5:20
John 16:12ff; 2 Cor. 5:18
Our affection for the members of the body is Christ’s affection for the members.
“God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.” Phil. 1:8
John 17:26; 1 John 5:11
Our deadness to sin is Christ’s deadness to sin.
“…don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,…” Rom. 6:3-6
“We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” 2 Cor. 4:10
“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.” 2 Cor. 5:14
Rom. 6:10; Eph. 2:1ff
Our sufferings are Christ’s sufferings.
“We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.” 2 Cor. 4:10-11
“Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” Col. 1:24
“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,” Phil. 3:10
Rom. 8:16-17
Our burial of the old fleshly nature was Christ’s burial.
“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Rom. 6:4
“having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” Col. 2:12
1 Cor. 15:20-21
Our spiritual resurrection was Christ’s resurrection.
“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Rom. 6:4
“…having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,…” Col. 2:12-13
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” Col. 3:1
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,” Eph. 2:6
“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,” Phil. 3:10
Rom. 6:5; 1 Pet. 1:3
Our spiritual ascension was Christ’s ascension.
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,” Eph. 2:6
1 Thess. 4:17; Eph. 4:7ff
Our spiritual glorification was Christ’s glorification.
“And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” Rom. 8:30
2 Thess. 1:11-12; Rom. 8:17; 1 Pet. 4:11
Our spiritual enthronement was Christ’s enthronement.
“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” Rom. 5:17
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,” Eph. 2:6
The point of this entire exercise is to plant in our minds a concept that may perhaps be foreign to our thinking. It is that “Jesus Christ is virtually indistinguishable from His church.”[1]
Now, as a practical application of this concept, let’s look at Paul’s dealings with the Corinthian church. Here was the worst church in the Christian world. Just look at some of the sins that were taking place in their midst.
Jealousy and strife were evident and the church was coming apart at the seams.
- Gross sexual sin – incest.
- Taking each other to court to settle disputes.
- Some of the men were visiting prostitutes.
- Gluttony.
- Mistreatment of the poor at the Lord’s Supper.
- Pride and selfishness in using their spiritual gifts.
- Chaotic meetings.
- Married couples were defrauding their spouses sexually.
So, given all of these horrible sins, tell me how you think most church leaders today would deal with this? Take a look at how Paul approaches the issues.
Through all of the things that he says to the Corinthian church, he always ties it back to the fact that they are the body of Christ. He reminds them constantly of who they are from God’s view. In fact, he starts out the letter this way.
“To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:…”1 Cor. 1:2
To address the problem of jealousy and strife and the fracturing taking place, look at what he says to them. Their attempts to whack off pieces of the body are alarming to Paul.
“For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” 1 Cor. 3:9
"Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.” 1 Cor. 3:16-17
So Paul’s take here is that these divisive activities are just like taking a sledge hammer to the temple of God, knocking the stones out of it.
Now look at his tactic in addressing the problem of sexual sin – men visiting prostitutes. Does he brow-beat them about their lack of self-control? Does he tell them to take cold showers and upbraid them about their addiction to pornography? No.
“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, ‘The two will become one flesh.’ But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.” 1 Cor. 6:15-17
So Paul begins prying away at this notion that the Corinthian men in the church are just disciples of Christ. Their sins are personal sins and affect only them. NO! Paul reminds them that they are more than just disciples of Christ; they are actually members of His body. And since they are members of His body, they are uniting Christ with a prostitute! Imagine that the next time you are tempted to look at pornography on the Internet; I am using Jesus’ eyes to lust after another woman. I am using the mind of Christ to engage in mental adultery.
Christ is the Head and the church is His body. They are inseparable. You cannot sin against only yourself. You cannot sin against only Christ. When you sin, you are engaging Jesus and the rest of the body in the sin as well.
Christ and His body are inseparable. But His body is no longer a separate individual as it was when He walked the earth. It is now a corporate body. And that’s hard for us to get our minds around. But it is true nevertheless. We see this over and over again as we read through the letters to the Corinthians.
So, Paul’s solution to all the problems in the Corinthian church is simple – remember who you are! He reminds them that they are the body of Jesus Christ and charges them to begin walking in this new knowledge.
Jesus still speaks to us today. He speaks through His body. But it is impossible for us to hear Him if we are not a close-knit community. It is impossible for Him to speak unless all of us function as ministers. This is painted on multiple canvasses in the letter to the Corinthian church.
Probably the most damaging concept in Christian thought today is that we are individuals commissioned with the task to change our world for Christ. We are exhorted over and over again to go home, read our Bibles, pray, meditate, and then get out there and start telling others about Jesus. It is an individual task. We are in it alone. And unless we are personally being successful at winning others to Christ, we are failures. This wars against what Paul writes about in most of His letters in the New Testament. The individual Christian can never express Christ to the world. Only the corporate body of Christ can do that.
This also drives the notion that an individual must man the helm of the local church. He (or sometimes she) is responsible for and answerable to God for the lives of those under his care. Again, we look at Jesus words to His disciples about the names and titles that are not appropriate for them as leaders. Jesus never intended for any of His disciples to take His place as the Head of any church.
“And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Eph. 1:22-23
Jesus Christ is to be the functioning, practical Head of the church. “In so many modern churches, a set of doctrines, a certain theology, a charismatic personality, a set of special works or ministries, is the centrality rather than Christ. Mark it down: The centrality of anything other than Christ is a betrayal of the new species.”[2]
You see, we have lost sight of the concept of the Kingdom of God. That’s why we have also lost sight of the fact that Jesus is the exclusive authority. When you look at Jesus words recorded in the Gospels, you find that he talked about the Kingdom of God all the time. Our problem is that we keep looking at the Kingdom of God as some future thing. And it is a future thing too. But it is also something that is here and now. The church cannot be separated from His kingdom. It’s a mystery, because it is both here and now and yet something to come. Like Jesus body, it was the expression of God in an individual body for awhile, but now it is the expression of God in a corporate body.
My point here is that the church is a community of believers that operates under the kingship of Christ, the Head.
[1] Viola, Frank. “From Eternity to Here”. David C. Cook. 2009, pp. 231.
[2] Viola, Frank. “From Eternity to Here”. David C. Cook. 2009, pp. 272.
So what
does this mean for us? How will it
impact the way we conduct ourselves both individually and as a group? Let’s look at some of these
behaviors.
·
Prayer
– Knowing that we are the expression of Jesus both to each other and to
the world, how will it change our concepts about prayer and our behaviors
during prayer?
o
We
should begin to recognize that prayer is not limited to the strict behavioral
and procedural techniques with which we associate it.
§
Closing
our eyes.
§
Bowing
our heads.
§
Trying
to tune into the impressions we receive.
o
What
might be some new ways to engage in prayer?
§
Recognize
that when another member of the body of Christ is talking to us, they may
actually be God’s voice.
Remember that prayer is supposed to be a two-way communication. Often, God uses another person to speak
to us about what He wants. As a
result, we need to pay attention when the body of Christ is speaking,
recognizing that we are engaged in prayer at that moment – eyes wide
open, face to face with another member of His body.
§
Recognize
that God chooses to speak through us as well. And sometimes the very thing He wants to
say to another member of His body is the thought that is going through your
mind.
§
Stop
designating specific times during a gathering when we will engage in official
prayer. Instead, it is appropriate
to intersperse our conversations with others in the group with our
conversations with God. In other
words, begin acting on the reality of His presence among us rather than
pretending that He is an unengaged entity that must be conjured up like we’re
conducting a séance.
Let’s bow our heads, close our eyes, hold hands, and get really
spiritual. Light the candles and
emit spiritual moaning noises. If I
am offending you, I apologize -- but not much. We cannot change our deeply ingrained
rituals unless we are awakened to the absurdity of our actions.
§
We
need to do the same thing as we go through the day. Paul encouraged us to pray
continually. Given that admonition,
we must come to the conclusion that Paul’s concept of prayer was
necessarily and fundamentally different than ours.
o
What
might be some new ways to worship God?
§
One
thing to note here is that we need to start paying attention to the things we
do as a group that are unnatural.
Remember our discussion last time about the natural habitat of a
Christian. These would be things
that tend to bore us or intimidate us.
I am of the opinion that most of the worship services going on today
tend to drain us of spiritual energy rather than connect us to the source of
eternal life. So here are some red
flags:
·
Everyone
is ready to escape as soon as the meeting is done. The opposite of this is that the group
as a corporate entity senses when the meeting is over. Of course this assumes that there is
ample time in everyone’s schedules to accommodate this level of
flexibility.
·
Interaction
with each other must be suspended until the meeting is over.
§
Discover
new ways to engage in praise and worship that do not include singing. Today the term “praise and
worship” is almost synonymous to corporate times of singing.
o
What
might be some new ways to express Jesus to the world, keeping in mind that
Jesus body is corporate, not individualistic?
§
I
would like for you to provide one instance in the letters of Paul, Peter, John,
James or others, where we are admonished to win other people to Christ –
to persuade unbelievers to become believers. I would like for you to give one verse
where Paul or any of the other writers tear into the readers for not winning
others to Christ. By the way, this
type of teaching permeates the preaching and teaching of most evangelical
churches today.
·
If
no instances can be found, then we must reassess our understanding of the Great
Commission. To whom was it
directed? Did they accomplish it? Why did they not pass it on to others in
the letters of the New Testament?
§
So,
if persuading others to become a Christian is not the New Testament concept of
expressing Jesus to the world, then what is it? We must rethink this.
Wrap-up
We have
explored the four secret purposes of God that He established before he began
creation. So what’s it all
about?
“It’s
to expand the life and love that’s in the Trinitarian Community. It’s to increase the fellowship of
the Godhead and reflect it on earth.
This is the goal of evangelism.
This is the goal of all the church’s activities. This is God’s dream, His eternal
purpose. To obtain a bride, a
house, a family, and a body that is by Him, through Him, and to Him.”[1]
