Every Member Brings: Part 7 (Conclusion)

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This is Part 7 of a multi-part series of posts entitled Every Member Brings.



Part 7: Conclusion

We have spent some time looking at the Biblical concept of every member bringing, expressed in 1 Corinthians 14:26. We have looked at the spiritual portrait of us presented by God’s Word, but reality may not immediately, or ever, take on the appearance of this spiritual portrait.

The many members of the Body of Christ who are one are also human. That fact will always affect how we manifest this spiritual portrait in actual practice. Those who have walked in this for years know that. They have lived it, and are living that reality today.

Some people may not agree with what has been shared here; this study tends to get a very marked response from those who read it. Some people may consider this a “lightweight presentation” of God’s Word, and still others might consider it “out of reach” for today’s believers and impractical. That’s OK. Some may not agree because they reject the concept of eldership outright, or conversely believe that it should remain in place as it is today. And that’s OK if they feel that way. Some may never feel comfortable facing their fears and bringing forth what God has placed within them. They may never speak a word in gatherings. There may be many other responses, and that’s OK, too.

Coming to the place where we, as God’s people, begin to walk in this way of living and worshipping is not a tidy proposition. The Journey is based upon both individual and group learning, with the Word of God learned and lived through God’s Holy Spirit by individual members and the whole Body alike. It is a marked by shared mistakes and failed attempts, jointly experienced deadlocks and exhilarating breakthroughs. And that’s OK.

This same Journey, regardless of how each of us may or may not as individuals begin to embrace and live this Biblical spiritual portrait, produces in us a spiritual growth that is the hallmark of a genuine and spiritually growing spiritual community. Daily, we all grow to be a little more like Christ because of God and Him in those around us. Seasons characterized by giant leaps, or by baby steps, or by seeming setbacks waiting to be overcome through Christ Jesus are all OK. It’s all part of the Journey.

God loves us as we are, and He loves us enough not to want to leave us that way. As much as is within us, we must grab His hand and the hands of those around and embark on this Journey together. We must simply and in sincerity be who are in Christ and live the Journey day by day.

This spiritual portrait that we see in 1 Corinthians 14:26 gives us a picture of who we can be as a Body through Christ Jesus and God’s Holy Spirit. It establishes a Truth from God, and dispels a lie from satan.

We are not a boat full of holes, brethren, as satan would have us believe. If we see boards on the Ark that need more sealer lest we leak, or more pegs lest we come apart, it is not because we are falling apart. It is because He is still building us. He has but a little left to finish, and then it will begin to rain.

If we look at the horizon, we can see that there are clouds that are growing dark for this world. It is not growing dark for God’s children, though. Our path grows brighter and brighter until the last day, God tells us in His Word. The day will someday come, perhaps soon, when it will begin to rain. We, however, need not fear nor strive, for we are safe and sound upon the Ark of our salvation, Christ Jesus.

In God’s Word, we read of Nehemiah, who instructed his workers to work with a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other. Let us do likewise, serving in the Kingdom of God by making disciples with one hand through God’s Word, and with the other hand lovingly standing against the enemy satan who seeks to divide us.

We are one. Let us, with His help and one another’s, manifest it.

12-13 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

14-18 I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.

19-24 But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?

25-26 The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

1 Corinthians 12:12-26 (The Message Translation)