2000-10-31 - The Body of Christ

Part 5 - What Actually Happened? The Moment I Trusted Christ

1 Corinthians 12:12-27 "For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit..."

We come to the fifth thing that happens the moment we trusted Christ for salvation.

5. I was incorporated into the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13)

   It is a great privilege to be joined to the body of Christ and to have fellowship with the saints. David knew this, "One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I will seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate in His temple." Psalm 27:4 Now the temple, in the Old Testament, was the house of God, and today we have really two spiritual temples in the New Testament Church. One is our body, the temple of the Spirit, and one is our physical place of worship, which we know as the house of God. This is where we meet with the people of God, and with them, worship Christ.

   How we define that second temple can be different from tradition to tradition, person to person. The house of God can be precious to some, a few walls with a roof to others, and to some it is simply someone's house where worship is held on the Lord's day. The house is not really the issue for most, it is the Body of Christ, the people of God that is important. It is our duty to "not forsake assembling together," (Hebrews 10:24, 25), and the privilege of meeting with God's fellow children. That is what takes priority over the particular place of worship for most.

   This is because our communion with other believers and our fellowship with them is a source of great happiness to us. It is also a source of strength for us. If you have ever grilled on a barbecue you know that if a piece of coal gets separated from the rest it quickly loses its fire. But when the coals are kept together, they all retain their heat. It is the same in the church. When the people of God stay together it keeps the fire of our faith strong.

   The Body of Christ is that which is found in Ephesians 4:11-16. Our mutual fellowship with other Christians is to be a source of strength, for our edification and spiritual growth, as Ephesians 4:16 says that the whole body is, "...held together by that which every joint supplies..." Each member has a place in the Body of Christ. And this should lead us to seek to respect and encourage every member of the Body of Christ. Not only seek, but we should also respect each member of the body of Christ. As the above passage says, if the whole body was an eye, where would the hearing be? Every member of the Body of Christ has a vital role to play in the function of it.

   "Christian society is like a bundle of sticks laid together, where one kindles another. Solitary men have fewest provocations to evil, but, again, fewest incitations to good. So much as doing good is better than not doing evil will I account Christian fellowship better than any hermitish or melancholy solitariness." Joseph Hall

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

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