BODY SHOTS

At lunch the other day, I heard a quote from Dallas Willard that has been resonating with me ever since.

It was this:

"Until the Kingdom of God hits your body it has not hit you."

When I first heard it, I wasn't exactly sure what it was referring to. 

Did he mean that the Gospel of the Kingdom needed to make an impact on your physical body before it could be fully understood?

Did he mean that the Kingdom needed to be realized in some mystical way within us?

It bothered me. So, I kept thinking about it. I prayed about it. I meditated on the statement while I was on the train, or drinking my coffee in the early morning darkness. 

One verse that kept coming to me in this process was this one:

"The Kingdom of God is within you." - Jesus [Luke 17:21]

So, in what way is the Kingdom of God within me? I wondered.

All of this coalesced the other night over dinner when I shared this quote with some friends and someone asked me, "What does that mean?"

Almost intuitively I answered her, "It means that the Kingdom needs to actually affect the way you think and how you talk and what you do in your everyday life. It needs to be more than an idea. It has to change you in practical ways."

Even as I said it out loud, I realized that this was indeed what was meant by the Kingdom of God hitting your body. 

I started to wonder about how the Kingdom of God has hit my body. How it has changed the way I see people, and how I treat others, and how I share what God has given me, and how I risk my personal reputation to follow Jesus in my every day life. 

To be honest, I still have a long way to go, but thankfully I can still see a few places where the Kingdom has hit my body, and how it is still hitting me, day after day.

If Jesus is alive in me, then His Kingdom is too.

Let His Kingdom come! He must increase. I must decrease. 

Amen.

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MY BODY

One of the most beautiful things about an open mutual participatory church gathering is that you learn from everyone in the room, not just one person.

In our last house church gathering a brother shared an insight with us that totally floored me. I had never seen this before, even though it was from a passage of scripture I have read, and taught from, and blogged about dozens of times.

We were looking at Romans 12 which starts out with the statement:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” [v.1]

It’s a powerful statement of our calling to lay down our lives for Christ and to allow Him to live in us by His Spirit. But I already knew that part.

Then we continued to talk about the rest of Romans 12 together and everything was going as expected, until we got to verse 5 which says:

“…so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

And then my brother in Christ said this:

“So, we lay down our bodies as living sacrifices so that we can become part of His Body…”

Boom.

Such a simple observation but, honestly, I had never made that direct connection between verse 1 and verse 5 as he had done. But now that he had pointed it out I couldn’t stop seeing it, and marveling at the beauty and synchronicity of it all.

We have to let our body die so that we can become members of His Body.

And consequently, if we refuse to lay down our bodies and to die to ourselves then we cannot really expect to become members of His Body.

We must become submitted to the Head of the Body and that can only happen if we do what He commands.

“If anyone would come after me, he must first deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” – Jesus [Luke 9:23-24]

This submission is not only essential to our own personal Christian life, it’s also essential to our corporate life in the Body of Christ.

This is how we experience “oneness” in the Body. It’s how we experience “oneness” with Christ.

So grateful for the simple power and truth of this insight.

Blessings!

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The New Jerusalem Has Already Come Down

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” [Rev. 21:1-3]


John kicks off this chapter by declaring that the New Jerusalem – which is the Bride of Christ – has come down from heaven in fulfillment of the promise that “The dwelling place of God” would be “with man” and that God “will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” [Rev. 21:3]

I know that many are tempted to read this passage – and certainly this entire epistle of John – as if it were entirely futuristic. But there are some problems with that, I think. Especially when it comes to the New Covenant, which the prophet Jeremiah foreshadowed and Jesus proclaimed as being inaugurated on the night before his crucifixion at the final Passover supper with his disciples.

“This cup is the New Covenant in my blood,” Jesus said. That New Covenant is simply this:

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” [Hebrews 8:10]

Keep in mind, the old city of Jerusalem which existed at the time of Christ, and before John wrote Revelation, was destroyed in AD 70. Its destruction was the “End of the Age” and when it was destroyed, so was the Old Covenant system.

Out of the ashes of that temporal city arose the new spiritual Jerusalem, and with the destruction of that Old Covenant Temple there was constructed a new, living Temple of the New Covenant, which is the Church.

Later in the chapter, John says:

“Then came one of the seven angels who…spoke to me, saying, ‘Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God…” [Rev. 21:9-11]

The Church is the Bride of Christ, and as John tells us in Revelation, the New Jerusalem has already come down from Heaven [by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit] and now grows to cover the entire earth.

Then John goes on to say:

“And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And they city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and her gates will never be shut by day – and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” [Rev. 21:22-27]

Within the Church – or the New Jerusalem – there is no temple other than Jesus Himself. He abides within us, and we abide within Him. We are the living Temple of the Holy Spirit where Christ lives, and Christ is the living Temple where all of us “live and move and have our being.”

Christ is our light, and because of this, we are the light of the world.

"You are the light of the world--like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.” – Jesus [Matt. 5:14]

The Bride of Christ is here now. We are the Incarnation of Christ in the world now. He is our Head, and we are His Body.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” [Rev. 21:3]

Has God not made His dwelling among men? Isn't this what Jesus, and Stephen, and the other Apostles proclaimed over and over again?

The New Jerusalem has already been planted like a seed on the earth. Now it continues to grow daily, and the Lord is adding to Her number daily, as His Kingdom advances and His rule and reign expands.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” [Isaiah 9:6-7]


[Image Credit: Moebius]

Painting Women In A New Light

From the earliest days of our house church gatherings we have always encouraged everyone to share a testimony of what God has done in their life, or to talk about what God is teaching them, or share from scripture what they’re learning in their daily walk with Christ.

Because we’ve rejected the modern practice of elevating a pastor or teacher above the rest of the Body, the issue of women operating within their gifting as members of the priesthood has never been an issue for any of us.

Within the Organic Church movement the emphasis is on Christ being our Leader, therefore everyone else is treated as an equal within the Body. Teaching is not seen as "exercising authority over" anyone, so the question of whether or not a woman can teach in that context has never been a problem for us.

Our goal has been to live out of the reality of the priesthood of every believer found throughout the New Testament. As Peter said at Pentecost, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit was a fulfillment of God’s promise to empower the Church, and that promise was made to “all people,” including “sons and daughters” (Acts 2:17). Quoting from the prophet Joel, Peter went on to say:

“Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” (Acts 2:18)

From the beginning, God’s intention was that women and men together would equally receive the outpouring and empowering of the Holy Spirit.

Women are included among those who the New Testament authors refer to as “a holy priesthood”:

“You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” ( 1 Peter 2:5)

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” ( 1 Peter 2:9)

“And has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 1:6)

“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:10)

“The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6)

Therefore, women in the New Testament church are not only allowed to behave as priests, but they are highly encouraged to do so. Why? Because the health and well-being of the Church is dependent upon one very important practice: the mutual sharing and serving of every single person in the Body of Christ. (See 1 Cor.12)

Without this practice of operating as organs that support and strengthen one another, we cannot rightly call ourselves the Body of Christ, can we?

We don’t believe so.

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DANGER: EXPECTATIONS

As someone who has left the traditional model of church in favor of a more organic, new testament style of ekklesia it’s not often that I find myself sitting in a pew somewhere. Unless I’m on vacation and am expected to attend church with my in-laws. That’s when I try to prepare myself for the worst. I pray that the Lord would help me not to be too critical. I work hard to hold my tongue, and to endure the pastor-centric model without embarrassing myself, or my wife and kids.

So, imagine my surprise when the Sunday School class turned out to be a conversational discussion of the book of Job. Everyone was allowed to speak and to share their insights with one another. Plenty of time was given to allow people to share testimonies and prayer concerns, and then they all began to pray.

During the morning service, different people stood up to sing, or to share concerns, or to pray out loud for each other. Plenty of time was spent in fellowship as people got out of their pews and walked around to talk to brothers and sisters they hadn’t seen for a while. Then the sermon began. After reading from 2 Corinthians, the pastor began to talk about the power of weakness and then took us to the book of Judges where he used Gideon as an example of how God loves to do extraordinary things through ordinary people. I was flabbergasted. Had this guy already read my book, “The Power of Weakness”? Apparently not, but the similarity of our views was astounding to me.

Immediately I felt a strong connection to Joe, their pastor. He wasn’t at all what I expected, nor was this little Baptist church. They seemed to have a genuine sense of community and love for one another. Intrigued, I found myself attending the evening service and a discipleship class that preceded it. Once again I was humbled by what I experienced there. So much so that I attended a Wednesday morning prayer meeting at their Associational office and then again the next Sunday morning and evening.

Certainly, Joe and I are not on the same page on many theological issues, but the one area where we are in complete agreement is that Jesus is Lord and that He is building His church. Before I left we traded email and cell phone numbers. He agreed with me that the Holy Spirit had brought us together during this week and we both felt the need to keep in touch and to encourage one another as brothers in Christ.

My expectations about this church were fantastically wrong, and I remain humbled by the heart of this brother and the quality of faith I observed in this little church.

During my vacation I began to pray for Joe and what God might want to do in this place. The message from the Power of Weakness – about how God loves to do extraordinary things through ordinary people – kept coming back to my heart. I began to sense that this little church, in this tiny little town, might be the catalyst for something incredible in the Kingdom of God. What better place for a revival to begin and sweep through the region than a little church like this one? God would receive all the glory and people would be transformed by the consuming fire of His presence. As long as they keep their eyes on Him and trust in His leadership, there’s no force on this earth that can stop them.

At least, that’s what I’m praying God will do as they continue to seek His face.

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Jesus Is Annoying Me

This might come as a surprise to you, but there's a lot about house church that annoys me.

For one thing, most of the people in our house church are so unlike me. They disagree with me about eschatology, theology, and politics. They don't like the same music that I like. They don't all agree with me on things like the proper way to baptize, or the end times, or about spiritual gifts, or healing, or speaking in tongues.

Not only do these people not agree with me about all of these things, they don't agree with each other about these things either. We all come from different denominational backgrounds and streams. None of us is on exactly the same page when it comes to these issues.

As a result, there are some Sunday mornings when I must confess I am pretty far outside my comfort zone. A little comment here, a little reference to a book or teacher there, a little wrong assumption about my view of a particular scripture, and I get very uncomfortable.

Of course, I realize that I could pretty easily solve this problem by either demanding that everyone line up with my particular viewpoint, or I could leave and try to find another church family that brought me closer to my personal comfort zone.

However, those solutions are even more objectionable to me than spending hours at a time in fellowship with a group of people who are different and rub me the wrong way occasionally.

In essence, I believe that Jesus is annoying me on purpose, and if Jesus intends to annoy me it must be because I need to have my rough edges rubbed off. What better resource for humbling me, and teaching me to listen to others, and showing me how to love people who are different from me than a church family full of people who are not like me?

Honestly, my definition of hell would be to sit for hours at a time in a room full of Christians who never challenged me, never questioned me, never taught me anything I didn't already know, and never pulled me out of my comfort zone.

I love my church family. They are gloriously annoying and I know that I am just as annoying to them.

If you don't believe me, just ask them.

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MEMBERS OF ONE ANOTHER

Christians pride themselves on being people of the Book. By this we mean that we love the Bible and we strive to follow what’s written in the Word of God as closely as possible.

However, in practice we quite often fall very short of that mark. Strangely, one of the areas where we stray from the clearly written instructions of the New Testament is the practice of gathering as a Church.

Hear me out.

If we read the letters of Paul, Peter and James we'll see what they considered to be essential for the life and growth of the Church. Therefore, there's no reason for us to do anything other than exactly what the Apostles say when it comes to gathering together. In fact, the very word for "church" in the New Testament is "ekklesia" which means "sent ones" or "a gathering together".

In other words, it should go without saying that if Paul were to enter one of our Church buildings today he should expect to see us participating in the ways that he and the other Apostles commanded.

Let's look at what the Apostles considered normative ekklesia:

“What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.” 1 Corinthians 14:26

According to this verse, Paul considers the following things to be essential to the health of every Church:

Coming together (“When you come together”)
Open participation (“Everyone”)
People-led worship (“Everyone has a hymn”)
People-led teaching (“Everyone has...a word of instruction”)
People exercising their spiritual gifts freely(“Everyone has...a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation”)

How do we know that Paul considers these activities to be important and essential? Because he tells us: “ALL of these MUST BE DONE for the STRENGTHENING of the Church.”

If we ask Paul's opinion about church growth, he would tell us that it's vital that every believe participate in the leading of worship, the teaching of God's Word, and the sharing of the gifts of the spirit. Do we care what Paul's opinion is on this subject? Is it up to us to just decide for ourselves to dismiss Paul's instruction as mere suggestion and go with what we prefer?

Notice also that Paul's concern is for the Church to be "strengthened". His priority is for the believers to grow deeper, not larger in number. It's quality, not quantity that he is concerned with here.

But this isn't the only place where we find the Apostle's instruction regarding the activities of the Church.

According to the New Testament:

We should confess our sins to one another and pray for one another when we gather together: “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

We should instruct one another when we gather together: “I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.” Romans 15:14

We should teach and admonish (gently correct and encourage) one another and sing together: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Colossians 3:16

We should comfort and build up one another: “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

We should urgently warn one another to follow Christ: “But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:13

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25

We should encourage good works in one another: "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works" Hebrews 10:24

We should use our spiritual gifts to bless others: "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." 1 Peter 4:10

Notice all the "one another's" here? The ongoing ministry of the members to one another was one of the fundamental elements of church in the New Testament.

There are 58 "one another's" in the New Testament. Twenty one of these verses (the vast majority) command us to love one another. Four of them command us to encourage one another. Three of them command us to serve one another and two of them remind us to forgive one another. The rest speak of instructing one another, being patient and kind to one another, submitting to one another, singing to one another, or putting the needs of others above our own.

Taken all together, these "one another's" remind us that we are responsible for one another spiritually. Helping our brothers and sisters move towards greater Christ-likeness is dependent upon our active participation as contributing members of the Body of Christ.

This means we cannot do it alone. We need one another. And that also means that you are an important part of this process. You are necessary. You matter. We cannot grow as the Lord Jesus intends us to grow without your willing obedience to God's command to love, serve, and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ.

My prayer has been that the Lord would help me to invest more of myself in the community of believers I find myself in today. Honestly, I've been holding back a little too much lately, and I know that I can only get out of the experience what I pour into it.

We are given as a gift to the Body and the Body is God's gift to us. Let us practice these "one another's" with all that is within us and trust Jesus to build His Church, just as He promised He would.

"But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be." (1 Corinthians 12:18)

"Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one another." (Ephesians 4:25)

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THE DISCIPLES ON LEADERSHIP AND HIERARCHY

The disciples of Jesus were very concerned with leadership. Early on they spent a great deal of their time discussing issues of hierarchy with one another. For example:

"An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest." (Luke 9:46)

Even at the Lord's Supper, when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him, and that he would suffer in order to establish a new covenant between God and man, the disciples took a break from discussing which of them might betray Jesus in this way in order to discuss the very important topic of leadership:

"A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest." (Luke 22:24)

Earlier on in Jesus' ministry the mother of James and John came to him to engage in a dialog about leadership, saying:

"Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom." (Matthew 20:21)

Of course, James and John themselves were also quite eager to move up in the hierarchy of the Kingdom and so they also came to Jesus to talk about leadership issues when they said:

"Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." (Mark 10:37)

Even when they traveled from town to town, the disciples loved to talk about which of them was the greatest of all.

"They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, [Jesus] asked them, 'What were you arguing about on the road?' But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest." (Mark 9:33-34)

Yes, the disciples were extremely fixated on the topic of leadership and hierarchy. But Jesus wasn't. In fact, in every single one of these cases, Jesus took the time to stress to the Disciples that, in the Kingdom of God, leadership didn't have anything to do with being top dog. In fact, if they wanted to be great in the Kingdom of God, they would have to get used to washing feet, being everyone's servant and acting like simple children.

In the Kingdom of God, the only boss is Jesus. He is still the head of His Church and no one else. All the rest of us are brothers and sisters in His Family.

Jesus reminds all of us that the least among us is the greatest of all.(Luke 9:48)
He models a servant style of leadership for all of us to follow (John 13:4-17)
He boldly declares that, unless we can become humble like little children, we will never enter the Kingdom of God.(Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17; Matthew 18:3-4)

"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:5-8)

Jesus pointed to both Jewish (Religious) and Roman (Political) hierarchies and made a point to contrast those systems with his own model. He sternly warned his disciples not to “lord it over” one another as the Gentile rulers did.(Mark 10:42-45) He also commanded them not to follow the example of the Jewish leaders who loved the praise of men and built their own kingdoms to glorify themselves. (Matt 23:8-12).

Eventually, the disciples got it. They abandoned their pursuits of hierarchy and they embraced the loving, servant leadership posture that Jesus so beautifully modelled for them.

We see this when Peter appealed to the Church as a fellow laborer in Christ and referred to himself as a "fellow elder" rather than as an Apostle:

“To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” – 1 Peter 5:1-4

Paul echoed this also, saying:

“Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.” – 2 Cor.1:24

People love leaders. We love leadership. We flock to those with the greatest talent and ability. But this is exactly what Paul warns the Church about when he rebukes them for identifying themselves as followers of Appollos, or Peter, or even of himself. (see 1 Corinthians 1:11-13)

Instead, Paul warns all of them not to become disciples of any other man, or leader, but to fully submit to Christ alone as Lord and Savior and Teacher.

When Paul was preparing to return to Jerusalem he wrote a letter of farewell to many of the churches he had helped to plant and nourish. As he encouraged them he took the opportunity to remind them of something that had been burning in his heart for three years. It was something that, in his own words, he “never stopped warning each of (them), night and day with tears.” – (Acts 20:25-31)

What do you suppose it was that concerned Paul so much? What could bring him to tears like this? What could compel him to constantly remind and warn those first Christians “night and day”?

Was it false doctrine in the church? Was it the coming persecution? No, it was something far more devasting to the Body. The rise of teachers and leaders who would draw disciples after themselves rather than pointing them directly to Christ.

“I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” – Acts 20:25-31

What troubled Paul most of all was the knowledge that, after he was gone, men would rise up “to draw away disciples after themselves”. Paul was broken-hearted to think of the Body submitting to the authority of men rather than to the authority of Christ.

Think about this. Paul is mainly concerned that men will rise up from within the Body itself and, in his absence, set themselves up as leaders and draw disciples to themselves.

Why would this concern Paul so much? Why would it cause him such anxiety and emotional turmoil? Perhaps because Jesus made the issue of leadership within His Body very clear: It was designed to be a family, an organism and a community, not a hierarchy.

In the Church, our only Head and Leader is Jesus.

"Christ is the head of the body, the church; Christ is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,that in everything Christ might be preeminent." (Colossians 1:18)

"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." (Ephesians 1:22-23)

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ORGAN CHURCH

"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ." - 1 Corinthians 12:12

What's the most important organ in your body? Is it your heart? Or your lungs? Or you kidneys? Certainly you need all of them to stay alive, and if you took one away (your liver for example) the rest of the organs would be essentially useless because the body would die.

For a human body to function as it was designed to function, every part of the body must be present and healthy and operating at full capacity. Otherwise, the body grows weak and the health of the body is at risk.

In the Body of Christ, every member is essential for life. According to the scriptures, no part of the body is more important than another. They are all designed to work in harmony and for the benefit of one another, as directed by the brain - or the head - who is Christ.

In the Body of Christ we are called to elevate (or edify) one another, not ourselves, and not any one person or group of persons.

Because every part of the Body is essential, it's wrong to elevate one member above another in terms of importance. The only part of the body that should ever be exalted over another is Jesus and He is always at the top.

This doesn't mean that none of us in the body is important, it means all of us are important. Not just important, but essential, because we need one another to function as a healthy, living organism. However, we are all equally essential. None of us is more essential, or less essential. Only Christ is the Head. We are all only organs within the Body. Our purpose is to encourage one another and to hold the Head high.

Just as our physical bodies need every organ to work as designed, so too our churches need to be composed of equally essential members who are equipped to serve one another in love.

If we understand this concept, as Paul lays it out for us in 1 Corinthians 12, we begin to see how important it is for everyone in our fellowship to understand their spiritual gifting, and to participate when we gather, and to fully realize their potential in the Body of Christ. When everyone works as God designed them to, the Body is healthy and Christ is exalted as our Head.

Who is the head of your church? Is it one of your fellow organs? Or is it Jesus Himself?

In the Church that God designed, only Jesus is the head, and all of the members of the Church are gifted individually to serve and edify and encourage and teach and help one another in love. Your heart cannot pump blood and also do the work of the liver or the lungs. It can only do what it was designed to do. When only a few organs attempt to do all the work in the Body, the rest of the members suffer because they are not allowed to do what they were designed and gifted to do. The organs doing triple duty are also suffering because they are taking on more than their fair share of the work.

"But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body." - 1 Corinthians 12:18-20

If a body's organs aren't working as God intended, you have a sick body. If the church doesn't operate as an organism, with every member contributing to the health and well-being of others, it's not the Body of Christ. At least, not in the sense that Paul outlines in 1 Corinthians 12.

Some have argued that what Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 12 is "descriptive" but not "prescriptive". To those people I would ask, "What is this passage descriptive of?" Is it not descriptive of what Paul understood to be God's model for how His Body should function? Is it not a description of how we can truly serve one another in love and humility? Is it not a description of a New Testament form of Church?

Whether or not you take Paul's instruction as prescriptive or not, I think you at least have to admit that he was describing how the Church was designed to operate and in what way we can actually function as a Body, with Christ as our Head.

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"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." - Romans 12:10

"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." - Ephesians 5:21

FIND THE CHURCH IN THIS PICTURE

LET US BE ONE

In the Gospel of John, we get to eavesdrop on the intimate conversation between Jesus and the Father. In this prayer Jesus prays for us and his prayer for us is that we would be one:

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one, Father, just as you and I are one....May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." - John 17:20-21

Unity in the Body is essential. According to the prayer of Jesus, our unity is a proof of the messianic identity of Jesus and of the love of God for us:

"May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (v. 23)

Hopefully in your experience as a follower of Jesus you have had the opportunity to meet another believer in Christ and fall in love with them immediately. I don't mean that in the romantic sense, but in the sense that you feel as if you have known them all your life even though you've only just met them.

If so, what you're experiencing is a kinship of faith with another member of your family - the Family of God.

Regardless of whether or not that person is a member of your denomination, or whether or not this person agrees with you about specific points of doctrine, you have an undeniable feeling of brotherly (or sisterly) love for this individual. You are recognizing the Christ in them and you are responding to the love of Jesus shared between you both.

Whenever we experience this we are bearing witness to the unity of the Body of Christ. There is only one Body and if we have loved Jesus and put our faith in Him, we are members of His Body.

Whenever we make a decision to love the Jesus in another person - and to overlook the doctrinal points of disagreement - we are keeping the unity of the Body of Christ.

A good friend, and brother in Christ, recently pointed out to me that throughout Christian history, when christian leaders gathered to nail down points of doctrine the result was never unity - it was always more division.

Our little house church, the Mission, is comprised of a variety of different people who are all from extremely divergent streams of faith. In our house church there are former Calvary Chapel pastors and youth leaders, former Vineyard members, former Southern Baptists, former Bretheren, former Church of Christ, former Lutherans, and former independent, non-denominational, "whatchamacallits".

On paper our house church has no business surviving for over 4 years as a family of God. Yet, somehow we manage to love one another, to serve one another and to consider one another as dear brothers and sisters in Christ in spite of our obvious doctrinal differences.

How do we do it? Well, mostly we've done it by choosing to see and love the Jesus in one another. We've made a choice to overlook those doctrinal differences in favor of learning from the experiences - and varying perspectives - of others in our Body.

Now, to be honest, our house church if far from perfect. We are people, just like everyone else. We're human. We're sinners. We're just as foolish and fickle as you are. And most of all, we all recognize our intense daily need for more of Jesus.

What blesses me, however, is how God called each of us to be part of this Body. I did not recruit anyone. Most people who currently attend our house church each week found us and sought us out. I did not find them. God touched their hearts and called them out and lead them by His Spirit to join this church family.

I love that God would call former Lutherans and Baptists and Church of Christ and Vineyard and Calvary Chapel, etc. members to join hearts and hands and lives and become one fellowship of saints together. I love that He would allow us to learn to forgive one another, and to honor one another, and to lay down our denominational and doctrinal identities to embrace membership in the Body of Christ.

We are part of your church. You are part of our church. All of us are members of one another. Because there is only one Body, and one Church, and One Lord.

"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." - 1 Cor 12:12-13

-kg