“But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.” – 1 Corinthians 12:18
The hand is not a complete hand without the fingers and the thumb. Together with the palm and the wrist, they make up a collective. All those parts and more make up the whole hand. To not have one of those parts is not have a complete hand.
But the hand is not the body. To have a hand without a foot or a mouth or an elbow is only (and will always be) just a part of something. And while it is possible to have a body without a hand or a foot or even a leg, it would not be any meaningful definition be considered complete. It might function, but it would in many ways be considered limited or even disabled.
Why do I give you this strange biology lesson (as if you needed to know it)? It seems that those who call themselves the followers of Jesus have different ideas about what it means when the apostle Paul (and in fact, Jesus Himself) refers to us as “His body.” I asked myself why there was such diversity of opinion on this, and a few things come to mind.
The first is that many followers of Jesus (as well as people in general) struggle with figurative language. They would rather we all talk straight. If it’s a city, then call it a city; don’t call it a Big Apple. Don’t spend time describing it as something that it is not, because that requires interpretation, and interpretation leads to confusion.
The second is that the language in the Bible as it relates to the “parts” of the body uses the word “members.” The reason this word adds to the confusion is because individual churches all over the world have people who are dedicated, regular attenders called members. They often have membership classes. Some have voting privileges as it relates to church business and such. There are rules to becoming members of churches and expectations to maintain membership.
But this concept of membership has nothing to do with what the New Testament means when it refers to members of Jesus’ body. Rather, what the apostle Paul alludes to in his use of the metaphor of body is that ALL people who are true followers of Jesus are parts of the whole. And to be a true follower of Jesus has nothing to do with which church you became a member of. It has nothing to do with which denomination you identify with. It doesn’t even have anything to do with church which you attend from week to week.
To be a follower of Jesus can be broken down into three things:
1) You recognize that you are a sinner, and you repent of that (meaning you don’t want to live like that anymore),
2) You acknowledge that Jesus is God who became a man, died and rose from the dead, providing the means for you to do number 1), and
3) You surrender yourself to following His teachings and His will for your life.
That’s a true follower of Jesus. It pays no respect to denominations or membership rules. True followers of Jesus make up what has historically been referred to as “the invisible church.” Call it the church underneath the many churches we have today. You see, any congregation or denomination has people who behave like Christians in many ways, but in fact, do not truly believe or follow the three things I listed above. And they might be close to doing so, or they might be simply ignoring that part. Whatever the case, most every church has true believers and those who are mere “cultural Christians.”
And what those of us who are true followers of Christ need to be reminded of is how desperately we need each other. The primary purpose of the metaphor of body is that we all are parts of a whole. And that whole does its best work when all parts show up and function as designed (or called, if you will). The hand cannot go feed the mouths of the hungry without the feet to get them there. The eyes cannot understand what they see, but they need the ears, and the fingertips, and the other parts of the body to truly understand what’s in front of them.
Do you call yourself a follower of Jesus but are not interacting with other believers? Staying at home on Sunday? Avoiding the organized church because they burned you in the past? While that experience is difficult and even traumatic for some, it also means you have some hard questions to answer for yourself. You belong in the body of Jesus. There are other followers of Jesus who need you in their community. That isn’t explicitly a Sunday morning gathering, but it should be a part of your ongoing life. Many stopped going when the COVID restrictions took place and have just sort of stayed disconnected when they lifted.
Reconnect yourself. Recognize that you need believers in your life as much as they need you. Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.