Tag: The Body of Christ

There is no "i" in c-o-r-p-o-r-a-t-e.

Please note, this entry is simply to relay my own personal thoughts…it is not meant to be critical in any way.

Over the past several years, the Spirit has been gracious to us at Heritage and impressed upon us through the Holy Word that we must value one another in the Body of Christ. I am quite grateful for this and my eyes have been opened to see the great frequency in which the Scriptures deal with this issue.

Recently, I have developed a keen sense of hearing when it comes to congregational singing. (Don’t worry Matt, I’m not talking about hearing those who sit behind me!) I am speaking of a sense of hearing the words of the hymns which we sing, and the focus, or lack thereof, in these words concerning the Body vs. the individual. This development has been the result of hymns that felt incredibly gripping compared with other hymns that seemed to be good and solid, but lacked something.

I have found that the difference to me in many cases was found in pronouns. There are hymns that we sing that speak of “me” and then there are hymns that speak of “we”. The “we” hymns have seemed to resonate in my heart as we sing them much more than the “me” hymns.

Please don’t take my words as a condemnation of hymns that focus upon self-reflection. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with them. I especially enjoy meditating upon these “personal” hymns and other such songs in private, and I am not against singing them in corporate settings. I also am not saying at all that we should not be self-focused in the proper manner and degree in corporate worship.

All I want to bring up is that, to me, it does take something away when we corporately sing about “Me” such as:

and I have realized that there is something very special when we corporately sing of “Us” such as:

Both hymns quoted above are wonderful. I just really love the way Corporate Hymns are crafted for public worship, calling us to consider our faith in light of the great work of God in the Body of Christ.

Let us (no matter what we sing) be built up by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in our corporate heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ! (Ephesians 5:18-21)

PTTS: Ephesians 1:15-19a

Praying Through the Scriptures: Ephesians 1:15-19a

For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. (NASB)

My loving and gracious God,

I have heard of wonderful things! I have seen it with my own eyes! You have blessed many whom I know and love with faith in the Gospel and granted us sincere and genuine Christian love for one another. Who am I, that I should be blessed with the fellowship of the Body of Christ? Thank you for your mercy, and for blessing me richly with this knowledge and this fellowship.

Help me, my God, to never cease from enjoying the faith and the love of my brethren. May I always praise You and thank You for this, and be faithful to pray for their strength. It is a joy and it is beautiful.

May you now give us each wisdom. We need this wisdom so that we may shine as lights in the darkness. We need wisdom so that we do not fall into the snares of sin. We need this wisdom so that we honor You, and bring glory to your Son, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Open our eyes, and let us realize that we have been called to the highest of callings! We have been called to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Nothing can compare to this. Nothing should take our affections away from this calling. We are to building up one another in the Body of Christ, which is the inheritance of Christ. As such, we ought to be the most diligent of stewards, protecting one another, sheltering one another, and encouraging one another to be faithful witnesses, holy and sanctified vessels. Your Church is a treasure, filled with riches beyond all of the gold in this world. Let us value it as You do.

Please grant us the surpassing greatness of this power! We need it. We cry out to You to grant it. And we trust that You will pour out this power and transform us.

PTTS: Ephesians 1:11-14

1:11 In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will 1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, may be to the praise of his glory. 1:13 And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)—when you believed in Christ—you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, 1:14 who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession to the praise of his glory. (NET Bible)

I ask You, my God, to remove my pessimism and the things that have happened in my life that have made me cynical towards your possession, the Body of Christ. Let me not forget that the King of Kings has promised that the gates of Hades will not overtake the Church. It will remain strong and it will persevere until the end of all time. You have set Your sovereign affections upon it and eternally purposed it to be Your choice possession, to the praise of Your glory!

Thank you for allotting the corporate Body of believers as Your inheritance. It doesn’t even seem right in our feeble minds that You should be pleased to possess us! We seem so frail and depraved. By the Word we know that we were not chosen because of our wisdom, our fame, or our beauty. Yet You have sovereignly treasured us and You take pleasure in us. Help me to grasp that truth!

Selah.

With this truth upon my mind, let me then also treasure the Body of Christ. Let me do nothing to harm my brethren. Let me never promote divisiveness or slander, but let me seek to build up one another in the Body. Grant me a relentless love towards my brothers and sisters in Christ that is according to Your love.

Thank you for predestining this to occur. Thank you for letting nothing stand in the way of Your love toward each of us as the faithful ones in the Gospel. You indeed work all things according to the counsel of your will. Forgive the terrible inventions of man’s theology that asserts the opposite; namely that your will is worked by the counsel of all things. You are sovereign. Nothing happens apart from Your decree. Let our minds trust that, as Your Word tells us clearly in this passage.

Thank you for the work of Your Spirit. It is His work that gives us assurance that we are the inheritance of God, for the Spirit has sealed us as the pledge that we will be redeemed forevermore. Teach us, as the Body of Christ, to treasure the riches of grace that we already possess, as we also long for the day that we are corporately redeemed as Your possession and we will spend eternity together praising Your mighty and holy name.

"Multifaceted" Wisdom

Several weeks ago, there was quite a stir over Barack Obama and the church to which he belongs. Typically, I avoid involvement in politics and talk radio, and this would have not been an exception, except one thing stood out to me. Obama stated that Sunday is the most segregated day of the week in America. His point brings up a stark reality that there is in many cases a strong separation between churches of different racial backgrounds.

There was much reaction to this statement. I heard many discussions around me in person, on the radio, and elsewhere. And as I listened to the responses, my heart sank. I have harbored a very passionate reaction to this, but I have held it back to let the emotion pass and hopefully allow the very critical issues to be considered.

First of all, let me state that I am glad that the issue was brought up and I hope that it brings about something good, especially in the Body of Christ. But I do want to point out one exception to Obama’s statement. I do not believe “segregated” is the right word. Instead, I believe that the word “separated” would be very appropriate. To me, “segregation” implies a purposeful and proactive attempt to keep one people group from being integrated with the other. I do not know of a single church or a single pastor that has ever purposefully and proactively sought to keep people away from their church on the basis of race.

However, I do think that it is an appropriate point of discussion to consider the “separation” of racial groups in churches today. I do not want to begin a discussion of why this separation exists, though it may be a useful exercise and good for harmony in the Body of Christ. But I just wanted to share a passage of Scripture that I think should come to our minds in light of this issue.

In Ephesians, Paul discusses the greatness of the Body of Christ. As we went through Ephesians as a church, we were all changed. The Word of God powerfully worked upon our hearts and by the Spirit we were challenged to a new understanding of the importance of the Body of Christ. We saw the need to love, to forgive, and to be involved in one another’s lives. Throughout the epistle, we are reminded over and over that the Body of Christ – the living Temple – is great and glorious.

In the second chapter, Paul speaks of the wonderful work of Christ in making one Body, out of two groups: the Jews and the Gentiles. If ever there were groups that were racially divided and segregated, these two groups would have been the clearest example. In Ephesian 2:14-22 we see Paul state that the blood of Christ has abolished the dividing wall (the Old Covenant Law) established peace between the two groups. They have been brought into one household, the household of God (His dwelling place).

The language of Ephesians is filled with construction (specifically Temple) imagery. The Body of Christ is shown to be the Temple of the living God. Each member (whether Jew or Gentile) is a part of that structure, and each is instrumental for the good of the others. In chapter 3, Paul speaks further of integration of the Gentiles with the Jews and he makes this statement:

3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.

There is a construction term in this verse that we need to grasp. The word “multifaceted” is the word to describe the beautiful, multicolored decorations of the temples in the first-century world. (Temples were not a drab gray as we see in their ruins today…they were splendid in color.) In other words, the Body of Christ is composed of all sorts of races. They are all united together. This is the wisdom of God to bring reconciliation in the Body, and just as the temples were colored with beautiful and vibrant decorations and gems, so the Body of Christ is beautiful in the multicolored peoples (races) that compose it.

Let us in the Body of Christ be burdened that racial division still occurs. Let us seek to remove any racism within. Let us see that hatred towards others based upon their race is unloving and sinful. And let us repent when we find it in ourselves.

Now let me add one more thing. There will never be the glorious racial integration spoken of in the Scriptures when we leave the pure Scriptural purposes of the church and seek culture-centered needs instead of biblical truth.

For instance, consider preaching in the modern church. Exposition of the Scriptures in preaching will unite us under the banner of our Lord. It does not matter what our racial background is or our social status is when the Word is proclaimed. Being black, white, rich, poor does not affect our ability to seek the Kingdom of God through the Word. But, if the preachers in our churches abandon the Word, we quickly see the results of separation. The seeker-sensitive suburban churches that teach about the felt needs of 20-30 year old white Americans will not be attractive for those who are outside the demographic. The churches that preach sermons dominated by themes of social injustice and of frustration for specific groups without regards for others also increase the separation.

Let us return to the Word! Let us seek the glory of our Lord! And let us love one another and value one another, regardless of race or social status. May God grant us this power which will work within us far more abundantly beyond all that we think or ask, and to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus!