“Implications of Being the Body of Christ” (Part One)

Let’s look at this important and very practical truth about the church and the body of Christ, and especially see how it relates to our connections with Christ himself, but also how we connect with each other in the body, and then look on Friday at the implications for outsiders.

So we start with the implications toward the Son of God himself, or the Lord of the body of Christ, the church.

1. He, Jesus Christ, is the head of the body (Col. 1:18; I Cor. 12).

Here we should think “head” as either synonymous with the head that sits on our own shoulders or the head as in the president of the company.  He is to be in charge.

Whatever your position on debates about the role of the pastor or even bishops or popes, no one should argue against the fact that Jesus Christ is to be the head of the church, to receive the glory from the way the church lives, and to be the director and command-giving and guiding force.

This is a recognition that should be shown in our church services when we worship Him and in our private lives when we bow our knees and call Him our Lord, our head.

At my age and with my nerve I even stop people when they speak of “John Smith’s church” where John Smith pastors, or if they called where I was “your church.”  No, no.  It is the Lord’s church.   It may the Lord’s church where you pastor or where I pastor, but it is His.

And we should act like that.

I don’t think we can exaggerate the special love of the Father for the Son.  At the times of special celebration or dedication or revelation, the baptism and the transfiguration, the Father speaks from heaven with a clear voice: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased – listen to Him.”

And that was not just for those people.  It is for us.

2. Therefore we should know what He is thinking and do it.

Now this is not meant to be overly mystical.  If He is the head of the body, the parallels are clear and the body should move at the direction of the head.  Unless there is paralysis or cancer or something else severely wrong, our feet do what our head directs.  I can’t even begin to think through how our Creator mastered this for us, but the brain in the head does send signals and tell my hands to do this or tell my feet to walk ahead.

And the church should honor the Word of the Lord.  No question.

All of this has implications for the pastor, not only to personally obey and set an example that way of course, but also to preach that Word so people know it better.  And to influence them to read it on their own, in Protestant and in Catholic churches!  We can lament all we want that for a long time the Roman Church did not influence its people to read the Bible in many cases.  But I think we would be surprised at how little some people touch the scriptures on their own during the week.

And that handbook tells us what the head is thinking, and what is His divine Word.

Even some theologians and church leaders today raise doubts about the true authenticity of the scriptures or inerrancy of the truths.  And the words.  And everyone has to choose for himself, but we are staying with believing that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, meant for our edification and instruction, and meant to be read and studied and embraced.

Obey the head.

3. Trust the head.  He knows best.

This is easy to say when I’m writing from a nice office and warm setting.  It’s harder to say when things are rough and the raging sea of life’s events has us scared.

But it is still true.

The analogy certainly breaks down, but our head or brain or will tells our body to exercise or to do some hard things because of the long-run benefits.  Even in the morning when my alarm goes off so I can get up to jog, my head says to do it and my body says to wait and go “snooze.”  The fight is on.

And our head, the Lord, probably gives us opportunities in life to do things that are not fun to do, to help the unlovely, even to endure some tornadoes that hit our lives, for He knows what is best.

Our head may allow some negatives in our lives simply to get us to trust Him more, or to be stronger in our faith.  James is clear that testing builds muscle – he said it in other words of course (James 1:2,3).

Trust our sovereign Lord and head of the church in pain.  Trust him in prison – as Paul did when he said in one of his letters that we should be content in all circumstances.  That’s where he states the verse taken out of context more than any other: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

That verse is not about standing on a train track and stopping a moving locomotive.  It is not about hitting a home run when you are up to bat.  It is about being content when the head allows danger in our lives or problems.  Or, as in the case of Paul, where in jail for the gospel.  We can do it.  We can remain content.

Those are some of the implications of Jesus Christ being the head of the church.  And while they are just plain true, it is the privilege of the pastor and other church leaders to teach and model all this.  Then it is not just true on paper but in reality.

Tomorrow we will look at the implications of this truth for how we treat each other.