“But now has God set the members, EVERY ONE OF THEM, in the body (the body of Christ, the church), as it has pleased Him” (I Corinthians 12:18). Every single truly converted believer, every person on planet earth who has been washed from his, or her, sins by the blood of Jesus Christ and granted God’s POWERFUL Holy Spirit, has a definite and precise function in the body of Christ or community of believers. Paul uses the parallel of the human body to prove his point. He writes that just as every member of the human body has a definite and precise function, so too, every member of the spiritual body of Christ, the church, has a definite and precise function. How one can read the 12th chapter of I Corinthians and fail to see this absolute truth amazes me and again points up and shows forth the blinding power of Satan. Your eye has a definite and precise function, so also your hand, your ear, your heart – every part of your body. Likewise, every single member of the body of Christ has a precise and definite function. That’s WHY Paul sums up his second letter to the Corinthians, urging them to “Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith (truly converted, actually possessing God’s powerful Holy Spirit), prove your own selves (instead of worrying so much about the other guy’s conversion or function in the body). Know you not your own selves HOW THAT JESUS CHRIST IS IN YOU, except you be reprobates (false converts, merely a bit religious)?” (See 2 Corinthians 13:5). One can join any “church” he wishes, be it the Roman Catholic Church, a Methodist assembly or an Amish congregation, but God alone can place someone in the body of Christ.
But how does someone determine what is their God-appointed function in the body of Christ? The apostle Paul answers that question very concisely in Romans 12: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God THAT YOU PRESENT YOUR BODIES A LIVING SACRIFICE, HOLY, ACCEPTABLE UNTO GOD, which is your reasonable service, AND DO NOT BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD, BUT BE YOU TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, THAT YOU MAY PROVE WHAT IS THAT GOOD, AND ACCEPTABLE, AND PERFECT WILL OF GOD” (verses 1 and 2).
Notice, the only trusted, tried and true way to PROVE what is God’s good, acceptable and perfect will of God for your life, literally your function in the body of Christ (see verses 3 through 8 of Romans 12) is to present yourself to God as a living sacrifice, holy, separate from this present evil world, renewing your mind, “bringing into captivity EVERY THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ” (See 2 Corinthians 10:5). Those who do not follow this course are like the heart being expected to perform the function of the lungs or the foot being used to perform the function of the hand. Is it any wonder that Christianity is divided into many dozens of various and blatantly contradictory denominations? To be continued…..
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley