Day 40 – One Body

Saturday September 1

Man’s view of unity often involves conformity to a single form or expression.  Singing “in unison” means singing at the same time and on the same key.

God’s view of unity, by contrast, is filled with diversity.  The seeming chaos of thousands of different living creatures blending harmoniously together in one beautiful forest.

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.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.  If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? I Corinthians 12:17

The greater the diversity of things functioning together, the greater too the wonderment when harmony is achieved.  A single cell amoeba has one function – it’s not that impressive. But the human body?  There are literally millions of cells functioning in a staggering array of possible processes.  To breathe, to blink your left eye, to move your right arm doesn’t involve one cell or even one part of your body but an amazingly complex series of biological reactions. 

If God has put such care and thought and effort into the design and operation of our human bodies, which exist for seventy or eighty years and then return to dust, how much more intricate are His designs for the operation of His eternal spiritual body – the Church?  How much care and effort and thought has He put into the creation and placement of each part in order that He might achieve the “spiritual reactions” needed to see His purposes accomplished in the earth?

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. I Corinthians 12:18-20

As human beings we still struggle with understanding the complexity of the human body enough to fix things that go wrong.  So is it not one of the greatest expressions of the pride of man when we think that by our human wisdom, we can figure out how all the members of the spiritual body should be placed and how they should work together?

Yet this is exactly what we try to do in the church.  Like spiritual Dr. Frankensteins we take upon ourselves God’s role to put the body together as we see fit.  And like in Shelly’s cautionary tale, we reap the results of our pride with much pain and sorrow. Even death.

Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

1 Corinthians 11:27-32

When we submit to Jesus as the Head over one body, the Church, we recognize that as Head, Jesus alone has the right to determine and place the members of the body, according to His own pleasure. 

As the body, our responsibility is to humble ourselves and by the spirit,  discern and accept the placement God gives us and others in His body without contention or jealousy. We can do this because we trust that the Lord who created us, knows us better than we know ourselves and that His plans for us are always for our good – to give us a hope and a future. 

Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh…. 2 Corinthians 5:16

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:3-5

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Philippians 2:3-4

As we choose to live in the spirit and not in the futility of our human thinking, we will see a body being fit together supernaturally, not based upon human logic or political expedience but upon the will of God.  God will make the function and placement of each part of His body clear to us.

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."  Acts 13:2

As God seeks to establish His Kingdom on earth through His church in a greater measure in this new season, He is bringing everything into greater alignment with the Head, Jesus Christ.  As we each discover our unique place in the body and begin to obey the commands of the Head, we will function as we were created to function and in so doing, find fulfillment and joy and rest like we have never known.  God, by His wisdom and power, will combine this multiplicity of unique creations into one harmonious unit and the body of Christ will attain a spiritual synergy beyond anything the world has ever seen.  They will marvel at the beauty and complexity of this divine oneness and the Head, Jesus, will be finally revealed and honoured and glorified as He should be.

Today and tomorrow, during our regular day of rest, let us take time to go before the Lord and ask Him to examine our hearts and expose any areas where we are operating by human wisdom instead of spiritual discernment in our understanding of our placement and the placement of others in the body.  Having examined ourselves, let us take communion proclaiming that from this day forward we resolve to know no man after the flesh, but according to the Spirit and to submit ourselves to Jesus Christ, as the Head of the Body, to bring us into the complete unity that His prayers may be fulfilled.

Let’s pray this prayer together:  Lord, I come to You now and open my heart and life wide before you.  God I ask you to expose in my heart any ways in which I have not been rightly discerning your body, acting according to the dictates of human wisdom instead of living by Your spirit. Father forgive me for pride and for trusting in my human ability instead of living by Your spirit.  Father I ask that you free me from the lies of the enemy, the fears that provoke jealousy or competition and cause me to strive for positions other than what You desire for my life.  I know that You as the Creator know me better than I know myself and I trust that as You, Jesus, the Head of the body, will place me and the other members into a divine alignment, we will find true fulfillment like we have never understood before.  God I long to see Your body established on this earth!

Father help me today to rightly discern my place in Your amazing body.  Help me to discern and know by the spirit the placement of those around me and to bless what You are doing in Your body.  God I thank you for bringing Your alignment into family, my church, my city, my province and in our nation in a new way in this day.  May we be one that the world might see the excellency of Your power and wisdom that You might be exalted to Your rightful place, Jesus, as the Head over everything.   I pray this in the Mighty name of Jesus, in whom all things fit together, Amen!
 

Comments:

Gary, Kelowna, British Columbia
As I read today’s bread [day 40] I am reminded of when I worked on blasting crew in a mining operation. What happens is this, the hole is drilled then filled with the right amount of explosive mixture, and then the hole is topped up with the fillings from the drilling presses. Then the holes [which are many] are tied together with an explosive cord. Then the blast is set in motion by a firing device. All this is done very carefully so as to get the desired result. This is to free the ore from the hard rock which keeps it captive.

When the Lord reminded me of this I realized that He is performing this procedure to set His church free from all that the enemy has heaped on it. To set His church free, we are the valuable ore.