A Healthy Diet – Spiritual Nutrition and Fitness for the Church (PART ONE)
The importance of personal character development in the proper functioning of the church.
The importance of personal character development in the proper functioning of the church.
The Church as the Body of Christ
The Christian Church is an assortment of many different people from different places and backgrounds with different testimonies and levels of maturity. Each believer is a member of the generic global church and each of these members has an impact on the church as a whole. The leaders of the church are faced with this reality and have a duty to influence the character development of each member by teaching and discipleship training. So, how important is character development in the proper functioning of the church? Let us first look at a picture of how the church functions as outlined by the Apostle Paul.
Paul uses the analogy of the Church as being similar to the human body; the Body of Christ. He writes about this in his first letter to the Corinthians in Chapter 12, verses 12-30. The Corinthian church was fractured by divisions in thought and behavior. Paul’s teaching of unity and the working together of the members as one body is as relevant today as in the first century. Paul introduces his letter in an interesting way, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with a all those who in every place call upon the name of our lord Jesus Christ…” (1 Cor 1:2). Paul calls them out in how he addresses the church as those who are called to be saints together – they must not have been “together”. Clearly, the Corinthians were a model of a church not functioning properly.
The word picture of the church as a body is obviously not a literal description of the church, but is a very helpful depiction of how the members of the body work together for God’s glory and the proclaiming of the gospel. Paul argues, just as the body is one and has many members, and all members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Cor 12:12).
1 Corinthians 12:12-30:
The Christian Church is an assortment of many different people from different places and backgrounds with different testimonies and levels of maturity. Each believer is a member of the generic global church and each of these members has an impact on the church as a whole. The leaders of the church are faced with this reality and have a duty to influence the character development of each member by teaching and discipleship training. So, how important is character development in the proper functioning of the church? Let us first look at a picture of how the church functions as outlined by the Apostle Paul.
Paul uses the analogy of the Church as being similar to the human body; the Body of Christ. He writes about this in his first letter to the Corinthians in Chapter 12, verses 12-30. The Corinthian church was fractured by divisions in thought and behavior. Paul’s teaching of unity and the working together of the members as one body is as relevant today as in the first century. Paul introduces his letter in an interesting way, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with a all those who in every place call upon the name of our lord Jesus Christ…” (1 Cor 1:2). Paul calls them out in how he addresses the church as those who are called to be saints together – they must not have been “together”. Clearly, the Corinthians were a model of a church not functioning properly.
The word picture of the church as a body is obviously not a literal description of the church, but is a very helpful depiction of how the members of the body work together for God’s glory and the proclaiming of the gospel. Paul argues, just as the body is one and has many members, and all members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Cor 12:12).
1 Corinthians 12:12-30:
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
The body is one with many members and as one member of the body is injured or broken it will greatly impact the effectiveness of the entire body. Take for example a broken foot. Anyone who has had a broken leg, ankle or foot knows that you become immobile very quickly. A small body part such the foot can immobilize the entire body for a long time. You can barely get around the house. You can’t drive your car very well. You can’t play basketball. You can’t go on a hike. You become handicapped. Consider pneumonia, which is an inflammatory condition in the lungs. Your body will not function properly when you have pneumonia. Proper function of the body requires the health and fitness of each member. So it is with Christ.
Without taking it literally, we could see that maybe the arms of the Body of Christ could represent the deacons and elders who do the work of the church. Maybe the legs could represent the evangelists and missionaries taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. The mouth might be the preachers proclaiming the word of God to the rest of the body. Most children would claim that their mothers are the eyes and ears of the body, always catching them in the act! There is no Biblical definition of what the body parts represent and it would be foolish to stake claim on knowing that the thumb is represented by any person in the church. There are many members and all the members work together as part of a unified body. However, Paul extends his analogy in his letter to the Ephesians and does define one body part; the head:
Eph 5:23:
Although this passage is specifically dealing with marriage, Paul is describing marriage as a picture of God’s relationship with us. Christ is the head of the Church and therefore the head of the Body of Christ. Christ is the leader of our unified body, all unified with Him working together for the Glory of God.
So it is with Christ, Paul states.
In Part Two, we will extrapolate Paul’s analogy by considering the effects of character development on the proper function of the church in terms of the effects of diet and exercise on the proper function of the body.
by Keller Hackbusch
October 2010
