The Body of Christ

The Body of Christ

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”

This one Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. Rom. 8:11. The flesh lusts against this Spirit. Gal. 5:17. You cannot love your life according to the flesh and also walk in the Spirit. Only those who hate their own life according to the flesh belong to Christ. All those who do this—whether slave or free, whether talented or less talented—drink of one Spirit and are one body of which Christ is the head.

This body of Christ must grow and be edified. Eph. 4:15-16. Even if a person hates his own life he only knows himself in part, and it is written that he who finds his life shall lose it.

As this development progresses, the head can work more perfectly through the members. There is also a considerable difference in the growth of the various members. Since there are many members, there also have to be many different ministries. Humility is the only way by which a member can fulfill his ministry and his place in the body.

“If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body?” This is how human someone can be and still belong to the body. He has the feeling that his ministry is so insignificant compared to another’s ministry that he is on the outside. “But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.” We have to believe this. All unrest about our place and our ministry stems from our self-life that has to be put to death by the Spirit.

“And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you . . . .’” A person can be so conceited and consider his ministry so vital that he has no use for the others, yet he still belongs to the body. However, if he drinks of the one Spirit, he will receive light, and the self-importance of the flesh will be put to death.

“And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.”

This is how God works; but who is willing to acknowledge that he is one of the weakest so he can receive the help the body can give him? “And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor . . . .” But if the less honorable member would rather stand behind the pulpit, it is difficult to cover him up. If he acts embarrassingly behind the pulpit and has to be asked to step down, he feels useless and rejected. Yet the opposite is true. He is useless behind the pulpit, even harmful; but he is a glorious brother in other ministries if he by the Spirit could just discover his selfish ambition and be saved so he can be hidden. Then it would become evident that he is useful and a great blessing.

In the body of Christ there is room for everyone who wants to be saved, regardless of how wretched he is as a person and how talented and conceited he is. In the body of Christ we suffer and rejoice together. Only those who seek their own end up on the outside.

We can learn something about this from the account of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Num. 16. “And they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown.”

They had become high-minded and did not understand God’s distribution of the ministries. They thought they, too, were sufficiently qualified to perform Aaron’s ministry. This can also be the case in the church with those who think they are capable of doing both that which belongs to another’s ministry, if only they were given the opportunity. They do not believe that it is God who appoints people in the church; consequently, they oppose their own fellow members. They do not realize that they are striving against God who put the body together as it pleased Him.

In the world and in religious circles you have to be a “somebody” in order to stand out. In the church we must first come to the point where we are unprofitable. Therefore it is difficult for those who are talented and who have occupied a high position to be broken down to the point where they are not sufficient in themselves. Yet this has to happen so that their sufficiency can be from God, for no other sufficiency is of any profit. 2 Cor. 3:5-6; 1 Cor. 3:18-19.

Blessed are the humble of heart in whom God can do this work. They will receive their ministry in the body of Christ and will be trained to be fit to sit on the throne together with Jesus in the Millennium.