WE ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST

 

Marcella Ward      February 1, 2023

1 Corinthians 12:12-27  NIV

Unity and Diversity in the Body

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by^[a] 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. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ 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? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹ 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!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ 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, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Not only are we a corporate entity as the Body of Christ but we are also a body in which Christ, through the Holy Spirit, dwells in us.   If we could just grasp this profound reality as a believer, then maybe it would catapult us into a new dimension of God dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit!!

Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father.  Jesus promised to send us the Holy Spirit.  When we ask Jesus into our lives, He comes and lives within us through The Holy Spirit.  We are His emissaries here on earth.  He needs us to carry on His Kingdom on earth because He is no longer physically here. 

 

JOHN 14:11    NIV

Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 

In John 14:11, Jesus says that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him.  He also states that even beyond that let the works that He manifested speak for themselves.

We carry the very essence of God within us so others should be able to see God in us.  It should not only be our words, but our actions, that draw people to us.  We need to be manifesting the Kingdom of God here on this earth by our actions.  We not only need others to see the Kingdom but we need TO BE THE KINGDOM!

JOHN 13:35   NIV

³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

MATTHEW 5:16 NIV

¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. 

GALATIANS 2:20  NIV

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

MARK 16:15  NIV 

¹⁵ He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 

JOHN 12:45  NIV

⁴⁵ The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. 

 

CHRIST HAS NO BODY    ST. TERESA OF AVILA

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

(Englewood Review of Books    October 15, 2012)

 

SALVATION PRAYER

Lord Jesus, thank you for shedding your blood on the cross to wash away my sins.

Forgive me of all my sins as I forgive others who have hurt me.

Come into my heart and live Your life in and through me.

I surrender all to You.

 

Marcella Ward     February 1, 2023      Author of “Stolen Identity: Plan of the Evil One”