The Body of Christ
The church of our Lord
serves as His body on the earth (I Corinthians 12, Ephesians 1:22,23; Colossians
1:18). As head, Jesus is in control of the body’s actions. As the
body of Christ, the church is to carry out the Lord’s will. What does
the Lord desire the church, as his body, to do?
We must carry the gospel
message of salvation to the world. Jesus commissioned the church to preach
the good news of salvation on Jesus to the world (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark
16:15,16; Luke 24:47ff). Jesus did His part in surrendering His position
in heaven, becoming a man, and dying on the cross (Philippians 2:5ff). He
came to the world to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10 NKJV).
Before His death Jesus taught the disciples and any others who would listen.
He no longer directly teaches people, that is now the responsibility of the
church. Acts records Jesus appearing to Saul of Tarsus and talking with
him. When ask what he needed to do, Jesus instructed him to “Arise
and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do” (Acts 9:5). After
arriving in the city, Saul spent three days fasting and praying before Jesus
sent Ananias to speak with Saul.
It is interesting to read
how Ananias reacted to the Lord’s instructions. He did not want to go.
He even told the Lord about Saul’s purpose of coming to Damascus to persecute
Christians. He genuinely feared talking with Saul, but he went. How
often do we miss opportunities to teach others about Jesus and His love because
we fear? Fear we will not do a good enough job; fear we will not know how to
answer some difficult question; fear we will . . .
What do we do with the
fear? We remember people need the Lord and He instructs us to introduce
them to him. We remember the Lord has used imperfect people throughout
history to accomplish His divine purpose. He used imperfect men from the
beginning of the church to reach the world with the gospel message of salvation
in Jesus.
Someone observed that Jesus
has no hands but our hands, no feet but our feet. To that I would add no
audible voice but our voice. Not because He cannot speak, but because He
has chosen to speak through the foolishness of preaching (I Corinthians 1:18ff).
He can accomplish as much today through the hands, feet, and voice of the church
as in the first century, if we overcome the obstacles Satan places before us and
“just do it.” We are, after all, His body on the earth, with the
obligation of operating according to the instructions of the head.