Membership Of The Body

by J.L. Ferguson. | Category: Great Spiritual Treasures | May 1991

One of the most precious things that we, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, can treasure in our hearts is the glory that God has given us in making us members of the church which Christ is building - the Church which is His Body (Eph. 1:22.23).

1 Corinthians chapter 12 this Church is likened to a human body. In our bodies all the members are designed to work together in perfect harmony. Each one needs the other. No member thinks of thanking the other for working for it' yet they all show the same care the one for the other. Immediate responses by every member to the signal from the head ensures the smooth working of the whole body.

In the same way all those who are members of Christ's Body should lovingly care for one another. Just as the parts of the human body have each a different contribution to make to the functioning of the whole, so in that Church God has given different gifts to the members, so that the varying contributions of each can help towards the spiritual upbuilding of the whole. Now this has a practical side to it for which the Lord has carefully provided. The point is, how do the members of the Church which is Christ's Body recognize each other, so that they can in their daily lives minister the Spirit's gifts among themselves? In this connection Paul expressed a helpful truth when he wrote to the Church of

God in Corinth, "Now ye are the Body of Christ, and severally members thereof' (1 Cor. 12:27). You might ask, "What exactly was the Church of God in Corinth?" If we turn to the hook of the Acts we will get the account of how it came into existence as a result of Paul's labours there. The Lord told him in a vision that He had much people in that city, and Paul remained there for fully eighteen months.

And many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized (Acts 18:8).

By the time that Paul left to go to Ephesus, a church of God had been planted, one that was highly gifted in spiritual service. When Paul later wrote and reminded them that they were the Body of Christ he was naturally not meaning that one local church of God was the entire Church which is Christ's Body. That would have been absurdly wrong even to contemplate. But Paul had in view the design of God that all members of the Church the Body living in Corinth should be found in worship and service in the local church of God there. By that means they could be identified as fellow-members of the Body, and thus known to each other. There they could show mutual care for one another. And since the Church of God in Corinth was in fellowship with the other churches of God elsewhere throughout the whole Roman province of Achaia (2 Cor. 1:1), and indeed throughout the Roman Empire generally, it was God's plan that earthly members of the Body should be available to each other for mutual help. The local churches of God, working together in a world-wide fellowship of assemblies, were the presentation to the world in testimony of the living members of the Church, the Body of Christ. This is a vital truth, long overdue for the earnest consideration of fellow believers today.

Another point, Paul states that the Church the Body is subject to Christ

(Eph. 5:24). The Church the Body is eternally free from sin, and it stands related in rank to Christ as its Head in an indivisible union. The individual member, however, can be disobedient to Christ his Head. He cannot sin in his new nature, but he can sin in his old nature. He may fail to follow the plan which the Lord has revealed to him for Christian life. There are many believers who are failing the Head by not being found functioning in collective testimony according to the New Testament pattern. The privilege of serving and worshipping in a New Testament type church of God as baptized believers, in an atmosphere conditioned by thoughtful ministry of the Word, and where thoughtful care for the needs of one another is in evidence, is a spiritual blessing that should not be missed.

J.L. Ferguson. | May 1991
Great Spiritual Treasures