"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity in the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. -Eph. 4:1-8.
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by the craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." -Eph. 4:11-16.
The term "church" is a typical approach to this discussion. Our context, however, is from the heavenlies to earth, not the other way around. We want to view God's provisions according to His word toward us. This is an inside-out sort of perspective. Typically, we look at spiritual things through the lenses of our temporal conditioning. Today, we want to put on God's glasses, seeing ourselves through the pure lenses of God's view of us.
When we speak of the Church we conjure images of tangential steeples and stained glass rather than the Body of Christ. Our concern should not be about brick and mortar or even duty and organization. We are interested, rather, in the culture of grace, seeing what is unseen. We are interested in a building made out of living stones containing His Holy eternal presence, not structures coming from the hands or ideas of men.
Several images used in the scriptures convey an understanding of the Church. The Body of Christ is the metaphor most often used, but others include the vine and the branches, the Bride of Christ, members of the Household of God and there are others such as "all Israel." A common theme in these teachings is the unity of the members. There is one body, one Spirit, one flesh and Christ is the head. The mystical reality of our individual oneness in Christ is extended to include the whole Body of Christ. Not only are we "in Christ" but we are also "in the Body of Christ" as members of each other, now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
In the same way the triune Godhead is one, so we as individuals are not only "in Christ" but members also "in the body of Christ." Great is the mystery of godliness. We are to understand what it means to be "in Christ" and in the "Body of Christ" even though described as mysteries in Ephesians.
These two mysteries share in common a radical reality which is, creating a new personal nature and a oneness with God through Jesus who is our head. We will not understand fully the nature of these realities on earth but what we can understand is its effect experientially as we develop our walk in faith. These are not mysteries in the sense they are not understandable, but rather, they are not understandable without being "in Christ." This is not theological speculation, this is declared Truth of God which we experience when we accept it and make it living of our life. This is the reality God created for us who are in Him. This is the reality we are to walk in while still in mortality.
The mystical nature of Christ's Body of believers is quite reasonable. We are contending with an absolute union of dissimilar properties. It is not only something unknown in our temporal experience, it is beyond the integration of matter with dissimilar properties. It is integration of matter with non-matter. How many books have been developed over the idea of the trinity, three separate integrated persons so completely indivisible they retain their separateness within their equivalence. Jesus stipulates our reality into this unlikely mix in His prayer to His Father, Our Father, in John 17.
That they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.
This is the metal out of which the Church of God is forged. It is a fusion making mockery of atoms and nuclear material. Time and space are tinker toys in this realm. Water can be changed into wine by thought. Life itself can be created at will. The fires of hell itself will not prevail against the Church of God.
You and I are part of this action. God is calling out, at this present time, this body of believers which is His Church. While we are being distracted by festive activities entertaining our finite minds, Christ is shaping His Church. He is separating out of this world His Bride and preparing to present Her to Himself with all the pomp and circumstance that will dazzle not mere kings, but the rulers and authorities ruling universes and worlds in unseen places. His Church is where He is! She is Holy, set apart for an awesome divine purpose. How insensitive we seem to be to this incredible reality taking place right here, right now before our eternal eyes!
We would be dumbfounded, unable to speak because of the terrible power in this process. We do not understand all that is implied by this unseen preparation taking place. This durative event is an awesome spectacle in heaven but is obscured to man because it is quiet and unseen in temporal terms. The sovereign divine context of this "mystery" has to do with unity. It has to do with oneness, an inclusion bringing mortals into oneness with eternal holiness just as Jesus Himself is holy. This is the ambiance for the Body of Christ. The puntiliar event climaxing this process is the removal of the Church. It will explain the meaning of resurrection power to our puny minds. It will display God's glory and majesty.
The prayer of Jesus to His Father declares as a primary desire of our Lord, that we might be one with Him and in Him. God validates this one body relationship through a spiritual baptism placing us into eternality. This is one of the many riches of God's grace extended to us. We are introduced to this vital, organic work of the Holy Spirit as He births within us a new creation, a partaking of His divine nature. This event is sealed with God's own authority after we believe.
The essence of unity is possible only in and through God Himself. It is not a matter of agreement concerning elements of doctrine or the giving to each other in love among mortals. This
reaches into the essence of the trinity itself and adopts us into the realm of His divine state.
The "Body of Christ" may seem a vague label to the natural man or perhaps the new believer. It is scripture's own rendering of those who have entered into an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul refers to this teaching as a great mystery. Consider that this descriptive truth is written to uneducated, illiterates and slaves. This letter to believers in Ephesus is concerning the power of God enabling them to walk Christ's Life in flesh. The Holy Spirit of God is working in the life of the believer, yesterday and today, providing understanding in our mind with His Truth. We are meant to grapple with God's Truth so that it becomes compelling in personal experience. He who began this good work in us will continue to perform it into its completion. Remember, it is God who gives us the revelation in the knowledge of Him and gives illumination to the eyes of our heart when we are ready to receive it. This is how the working model of grace and truth and faith work together.
The Body of Christ is a major principal in the function of God's grace culture. It is through the Body of Christ that God is revealing His eternal purpose to rulers in heavenly places. It is the Body of Christ that has the honor of being the Bride of Jesus Christ. It is the Body of Christ that is being called out of the world at this present time to be filled with all the fullness of God. This major teaching concerning individuals "in Christ" calls us to perform eternal functions in unity in Jesus Christ Himself. Those of us "in Christ" are by definition participants in His Church. We are being prepared for intimate roles in the administration of our Lord's eternal kingdom.
The "Body of Christ" is a collective people who are "in Christ" and have been delivered from the rule of self, they are redeemed. It is not sufficient we accept the idea of forgiveness with a free pass getting us into heaven. It is not sufficient to say we have been delivered from the world, self and the devil. It is more than that. We are delivered from the darkness of our own soul, that is, our mind, heart and our will. We have not only been delivered from the darkened understanding of the natural man but have received the incorruptible seed of God and made partakers of His divine nature. We have been set apart and blessed for divine use.
We have been delivered from the philosophies of man's imaginations and have been given the source of Truth and Life itself. Jesus said: I am the way, the Truth and the Life. But when He the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. We have been created into a new man with a new heart capable of seeing divine Truth. This is who we are "in Christ."
(Ezek 36)
Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
We have been delivered from the state of natural man. The natural man, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life in God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; does not have the ability to know the Truth. We have been transferred out from the kingdom of darkness into Jesus' kingdom in light. The New Testament emphasis is about re-newing our heart and mind in understanding the Truth of God.
But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have learned Him and have been taught in Him, just as Truth is in Jesus.
Each person "in Christ" is a member of the Body of Christ and has received the Truth. This is not salvation truth about death and heaven. This is Truth about His divine power (that) has granted
to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and excellence. He has equipped us to overcome all of life's issues.
How? Through the knowledge of Him! It is our task to renew our heart and mind in His truth, be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that
which is good and acceptable and perfect. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who is at work within you, both to work and to will for His good pleasure.
This is not theology; this is the substance of daily living for the person who is in Christ Jesus. This is the reality of every person who is "in Christ". Romans 6, "Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, BUT alive to God in Christ". Romans 7, speaking of sin, "Now then, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me". Romans 8, "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. We should make personal decisions about life based upon these statements of truth. We belong to Jesus. He loves us and despite any feelings to the contrary, we are His purchased possession and under His care. This is who we are, this is our state, our condition as a member of His body. This has nothing to do with feelings or our perception of reality. This is the case where His Truth trumps our feelings!
Our knowledge is based upon Truth residing within each person's heart and mind who is "in Christ." This is an amazing thing. It is part of the "mystery of Christ." Within us is the very essence of Christ Himself. When His word is processed through our heart and mind we have the ability to respond with joy, with recognition and eager reception. It is a processing of Holiness by mingling the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ and His word together in the wash basin of our heart and mind. This is a physical reality occurring when we submit ourselves to Him through His word. He will do the washing, we do the seeking. We go to the wash basin and turn on the water. He has His own cleansing agents. He wants us to allow Him to do the work. He may have to use a wash cloth, sometimes He may need to use borax instead of a soft scented soap. Always, we need to be on the knees of our heart, sometimes we need to be quiet and open to listening, sometimes we need to make a phone call and say, "I apologize for what I said." Always we need to submit, accept and yield to His Truth. His Word applied will produce faith. The Holy Spirit uses the Word we place in our soul to permeate our being.
We are scheduled to be presented to Jesus as His bride without spot or wrinkle. Together, in our collective unity, just as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are One, we will be presented to Jesus Christ. Each one of us is a selective part of the whole, unique and loved as an individual, cared for by tender protective love. This is the grace culture to which we are called; this is our church, His Church.
Once we understand who we are in Christ, we begin functioning within the Body. The Lord Christ, our head, will gift each of us with the power to fulfill our function in the body. Our spiritual gifts may change from time to time but each of us is guided by the Holy Spirit Himself to perform tasks He desires.
Our egocentric bent continually inclines us to be looking through the eyes of self to determine our spiritual worth. We will not be concerned with self and specific gifts when we learn to gaze upon Him. Our spiritual gaze upon our Lord can become a reflex action in our soul instead of us looking to self. His ways are not ours and He delights in blessing us in unexpected ways. Our gifts change as we grow in our faith and we find there is grace upon grace upon grace. We may find ourselves operating in the ministry of His power totally oblivious to what is going on. We may find ourselves in positions totally out of character with self expectations when our gaze is upon Him.
The Body of Christ is part two of being "in Christ." We have been given the responsibility to love each other as members of His Body. This means we are to care and nurture each other
so that we become like Him. We are to put on Jesus Christ, allowing His mind seen in us. We are ministers one to another so that Jesus is formed in us individually. This is the body building itself up in love.
I have had eye problems early in life. I was near sighted very young. Then, as an adult I developed cataracts. Later some of my optic nerves lost their function in my left eye. Now I have glaucoma. I have learned to appreciate the design and mechanics of this amazing creation called the eye. Man has a long way to go to match the intricate design and function of this amazing instrument. Awesome as the eye is, it has no value without a support system to make it useful. It needs a container to hold it, it needs an electrical system to communicate to the brain, it needs blood to keep it viable.
Consider the function of the eye as a particular part of the whole body. I need to convert visual images to calculate the speed of a ball I am about to catch with my mobile hand. I need to discern between colors to enjoy beauty. I need to transform images into ideas and words so that I can "see" what path I am to walk. But I cannot do any of these functions with my eye unless other members of my body support my optic system. My eyes, marvelous as they may be, serve no purpose to me unless they operate as part of my whole body system. I need my heart to pump blood, I need viable bone, memory, nerves, I even need tears to make my eyes work.
My eyes do not know I have a ping pong paddle in my hand. They do not know why they are being instructed to follow the flight path of the ping pong ball to calculate its spin, direction and path so that my paddle hand can intercept the flight of the ball and return it into a new trajectory from a calculated point of impact. My hand does not know that I am receiving processed intelligence so that it will be at the right place, at the right time with the right motion at the right angle to hit the ping pong ball correctly. The mind co-ordinates the processes of these activities to accomplish a specific task. The better the instruments and infrastructure, the more successfully I will be able to win the point.
Christ is the head and we are His member parts. He will gift us with the power to perform the tasks to fulfill His purpose. We may never know what part we may be playing in His purpose. We are wonderfully made and have capacities beyond our temporal limits because we are part of His supernatural plan. He made us. He is not limited by the restrictions of our finite design, rather, He uses them to display His power over our limitations.
It was a family gathering in the garage of my daughter's house. I was on one end of the ping pong table and my 10 year old granddaughter on the other. She had just made the best shot of the day and everybody was cheering her with excitement. She had hit the ball from the left side of the table so that it just dropped over the net and bounced once toward the right side of the table and off into space. An impossible ball to hit back. Amidst their cheers and encouragement suddenly the ball appeared coming back from ground level up and over the net with an equally sharp angle bounced once and off the table on her side. Everybody went dead silent. She lost the point. She laid down her paddle, dejected and went for hugs and empathy from her family. Grandpa won the point and lost her heart.
My mind, heart and will were committed to make the play, unwise as it was. Spontaneously, my body parts were called into action and were gifted to reach near floor level to intercept the flight
of the ping pong ball before it hit the ground and give it the right trajectory back up to make the impossible play.
All of my body was in total focus operating in unity to accomplish a task. How many body parts had to move together immediately to make the play once the head gave it direction!
Christ is the Head of His body the Church. Some of us perform as muscle tissue, others are the bones giving strength and structure. Some sit in the control room of the brain and send signals to legs, hands and fingers. Others grip the paddle of life or give form with skin holding us together and giving us definition. We are all one vital organic body performing in unity with the singular purpose of God. Our ministry is to each other in the context of unity in His purpose.
For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth it and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church; for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.
This is an amazing statement. We can see why Paul refers to it as a great mystery. Temporal illustrations all around in creation teach about eternal things. Here, he refers to the oneness of husband - wife relationships. This we understand in our temporal carnal experience.
There is reason and order for all things in scripture. God is the God of order in His total creation. It is an affirmation of His inspired word. Adam is described in the creation account to be alone. God acknowledging this circumstance, for our benefit, creates woman out of man for a helpmate. God actually caused Adam to go to sleep and performed an operation. He opened him up, removed a rib and closed him back up. He didn't have to do it this way but it was in accordance to His purpose. She is named woman because she came out of man. She was bone of his bones, and flesh of his flesh, Coincidence?
There is an inherent oneness that completes man and woman together. The intimacy of this relationship instructs us concerning the intimacy between Christ and His body, the Church. The Church is not just a corporate organization of Christians organized to perform tasks and good works. It is rather an intimate ingredient of oneness in Christ, "bone of His bone" and "flesh of His flesh." Paul uses the same description for the body of Christ as is used for Adam and Eve. In another place Paul speaking of the Church says it is the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. Christ up holds all things with His word of authority but in the Church, His Body, He pervades it now with His living presence in resurrection power. He is bringing all members of His Body into unity and love through grace and faith, truth and light.
Adam was the "first Adam" and Jesus is the "last Adam," the man from heaven. Eve was formed from out of the body of Adam, in a similar way, the Church is formed out from Jesus, the man from heaven. The man is joined to the wife and they become "one flesh", This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. This is part of the gospel to us and we cannot neglect it because it is labeled a "mystery." Rather, we need to open our hearts to receive understanding from our Lord, our Head. We are members of Christ's Body!
The mystery of the Church gets even more mysterious. Envision a rectangular piece of granite chiseled to fit into one of those marvelous old New England churches or Ivy League school buildings. It has that solid look of indestructibility having endured time and weather. Dark green ivy is climbing up four stories to the roofline encasing an external stairwell. Each chiseled granite stone has been engineered to fit perfectly into its place forming a crafted structure built on a solid rock foundation. This stately edifice is more than a building. It is history, a culture of man overcoming adversity and establishing a presence in a hostile environment.
This old stone building is a metaphor for the Church, a spiritual building made without hands, built out of living stone forming the Church of God. This structure is unseen by human eye and is more subtle then the wind. You can feel the wind and you know what it is because trees bend and clouds move. But this invisible, living rock is not affected by winds or hurricanes or even earthquakes. You can walk through it impervious to its existence, even while being part of it. In fact, you cannot walk, anywhere, without being protected by its walls, its power and its force because we are the living stones. The effect of this living rock? It protects even while it grows. The structure is not yet complete, its still under construction, and so are we!
There is a battle raging all around. It is quiet and unnoticed hidden in the darkness of our worldliness. Disruptions of violence erupt, you can see and feel its presence. The weapons are spiritual and produce visible forms like pride and fear while the unseen combatants are working invisibly targeting hearts and minds, and the will of man.
These spiritual forces are being restrained because this invisible Church structure of living stones is being built here on earth. It is occupied even though not complete. When it is complete, it will be removed from the earth and the hostile forces will wreak devastation on earth. The physical ivy covered granite fortresses gives us the feeling of safety while the real invisible enemy is penetrating our souls. Ironic, isn't it?
God uses history and our experience to grow our faith. There are ample examples in both Old Testament and New. They all teach Truth messages about our life in Jesus Christ our Lord. He reveals Himself to us through His Spirit and through the Word we place in our hearts but it is Jesus Christ Himself, who is our Life and Head, establishing our paths.
Two themes stand out from these lessons about the Church. First, everything is from God and nothing from us. God is both the design engineer and the contractor building His house of living stones. Second, He is greater than materials we rely upon to build. He can produce from our temporal sources a result beyond our pondering.
God makes it clear, our touch taints His work. Events in our temporal life are teaching tools so that we clearly understand the lines of demarcation between who we are, the creature, and who He is, the Source, including His life in us. He wants to produce in us His righteous holy character. This is accomplished through divine channels of death and life, His and ours.
God gave Moses instruction about worship and behavior in their relationship after Mt. Sinai. God is a detail person with purpose for each minute item. Instruction for building an altar of sacrifice included the following: And if you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it. God sends a clear message, we contribute nothing to what He provides. Good intentions from our heart notwithstanding, we taint the process when we contribute or modify, or "improve" upon what God is providing or already has provided.
Gaze upon nature all around us and see God's intricate detail displayed in the work of His design. His plan leading Israel through the desert is no less in aspect than the work we see in nature. Moses was given specific instructions to build the tabernacle including dimensions and colors. God is not given to haphazard loose ways. He has zero tolerance and sees to the minutest part as both architect and builder.
God attends the same attention to His invisible church as He did to the tabernacle and temple even though the construction material is totally different, In whom all the building fitly framed
together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.
When Solomon's temple was built all the stones had to be designed and hewed to fit exactly before they were brought to the construction site, and the house while it was being built, was built of stone at the quarry, and there was neither hammer or axe or any iron tool heard in the house while it was being built.
No provisions for adjustments in the size and fit of the stone at the construction site? Have you tried to build a house lately? No builder you or I know would commit to this restriction. The architect and builder of this house has all His materials custom-made to form, fit and function before they even appear on the site.
The stone and brick creating the silhouette of our ivy covered granite buildings is well understood. What about a spiritual building? It is restraining unseen principalities and powers with spiritual materials. God uses our temporal experiences and language to guide our understanding into these realms beyond our thought and imagination. This building, not made with hands, uses living stones nurtured organically with truth and love. Unlikely weapons against the forces and powers of the unseen? Or so it would seem, from our perspective.
God demonstrates His power by manipulating the laws of space and matter offering us shelter in His house of mercy. We are His Living Stones, by which, we are able to interact with Him and other Living Stones to exhibit and enjoy His life in Us. Under His direction and by His divine presence, we are the unity and completeness of His Church. We are temporal beings on the outside but created new out of living stones on the inside with a life not temporal, but eternal.
God used this metaphor to show how miraculous and fundamental is our Life in Jesus. The body of Christ is made out of Living Stones. Living stones? This sounds like JRR Tolkien or JK Rowling, more the "ring" of fiction than reality. Such is our God who can make water gush from a rock so that "my people can drink." God has made stones alive with living water. Water from stone, such is our God!
God shapes our life of living stone into a form suiting His purpose. The size, the shape, the texture, the color, are all part of His purpose. We limit ourselves by our own innate temporal restrictions. We impose upon ourselves. God does not!
God is building a living house. He is not bound by form or physics. This is part of the "mystery" of Christ. When we are "in Christ" we are in fact, new created beings. We have the capacity to understand things not of this world because our spirit is joined to His Spirit within us. He enables His δύναμις (dunamis) power so we can see what is not seen. When we seek Him, we begin to see with eyes of divine understanding. It is the knowledge of His Truth in our mind producing αγάπη (agape) love in our heart, prompting our will to consume His grace with our faith. This is how we grow, consuming God's grace and knowledge with faith. The mystery of the Church is the mystery of living water from the rock of ages.
The living stones joined together create special relationships to each other in Christ. These relationships are built upon truth in love by faith. As living stones in God's spiritual building, God has provisioned us to change into His image, from one glory to another, continuously. This process includes maintaining unity within a diversity of stones so that all the stones are fitly framed together. They are designed and prepared for their relationship to each other. The Truth in love flowing from the Head joins all stones to each other.
It was the counsel of His own will that charted an unbelievable set of events. Through His grace we clearly see history still unfolding before our very eyes. Here in 2018 we are witnessing God's great plan and yet we seem immune to the power and immensity of God's grand
scheme. We sit silently enjoying the security of our position in Christ while Christ is building His church, preparing her to be delivered to Himself, the Bride of Christ!