Tuesday, August 26, 2014

The Important Parts of the Body


“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.  And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?  But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.  If they were all one part, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.  If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” (I Corinthians 12:12-27 NIV)

Every night, my knee and the muscles surrounding it remind me of their presence.  Until my knee replacement surgery last spring, I slept peacefully, never giving my knee a thought.  Not anymore.  A similar thing occurred many years ago when I fractured my femur.  I never gave a thought to my quadriceps when I turned over in the middle of the night until then.  With every move, those muscles screamed with pain.  

We tend to take the parts of our bodies for granted, until they cease to function the way they are supposed to or are injured.  No one notices how their legs perform until they break one.  The hamstring doesn’t garner much attention until it is pulled.  Fingers are functioning appendages toward which we give little thought until we jam one or a joint is afflicted with arthritis.  The smooth functioning of our body parts leads us often to have a lack of appreciation for their importance to our daily lives.  

The same is true for the Church.  Paul tells us it is made up of many parts that are all necessary for the healthy functioning of the Body of Christ. Yet, as the Corinthian Christians proved, how easy it is for us to lack appreciation for many of the parts.  In today’s church, there is an overemphasis on the pastor or pastoral staff, and on the worship leaders. They are the most visible and, thus, get most of the attention.  But just like the human body, the Church is made up of many parts and all of them are important to the healthy function of the Body.

While the pastoral staff or worship leaders might get much of the attention, crucial roles are being fulfilled by those serving the children and the handicapped, by those visiting the elderly and the sick, by those making sure the meeting place of the church is functioning and looks presentable, and by those providing a listening ear to ones suffering under the burdens of life.  

There are many parts of the Body of Christ and not one is insignificant, regardless what the “Christian culture” might imply.  While our attention may be drawn to those most visible parts, God gives equal attention to the less or nearly invisible ones.  We may be impressed with a pastor’s preaching or his latest book, but the Lord may be even more impressed by the one who is wiping the runny nose of a child, speaking words of encouragement to a disheartened mother, or cleaning the toilets on a Saturday night.  The parts of the Body are not equal in function, but they are equal in value.

Today, don’t be deceived by the apparent superiority of certain roles in the Church, which may have led you to believe you have no important part to play.  All parts of the Body, like those of the human body, serve crucial functions even if they are very different from one another. Whatever gifts you have been given are intended by God to serve an important role in the functioning of the Body.  For there is no other kind.  

© Jim Musser 2014

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