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REDEFINING THE
BODY OF CHRIST #1
WHO ALL'S IN THE CLUB?
A Christian hymn by Richard Avery and Donald Marsh
has these interesting lyrics:
"The church is not a building. The church
is not a steeple. The church is not a resting place. The church is a people."
Which probably reminds us of that little Sunday School
rhyme where you put your hands together with the fingers interlocking
and then "look inside and see all the people." And I can't help
but think of how cartoon character Linus once did the routine and then
peeked inside and looked at those few fingers waving around inside. Shaking
his head, he remarked to Charlie Brown or whoever it was: "Doesn't
look like a very big congregation!"
But is the church really just people? Not buildings, not steeples, not
flow charts? The title of that song by Avery and Marsh is this: "We
Are the People." But if the church is people, we have to immediately
ask: what people? Which people get included when we use the inclusive-sounding
expression: "The Body of Christ"?
This week we're returning to what's almost been a season-long study: the
New Testament book of First Corinthians. After several weeks of holiday
programs here on the Voice of Prophecy, we're returning to the writings
of our friend Paul and we're finally up to the very interesting section
found in Chapter 12. Which, with all due respect to Linus and Charlie
Brown, is a bit more complicated than a nursery rhyme.
We want to spend a couple of days later this week discussing the concept
of spiritual gifts. What are your gifts? Do you for sure have one if you're
a believer? Is it God's plan for every single Christian to participate
in the ministry of the church? I hope you'll stay by as we get to some
of those study points, but we really have to address first things first.
If the church is made of many parts, as Paul says in verse 12, then what
is that church? How do we define the church being discussed by Paul as
he writes to the Christians in Corinth?
You might protest that Paul was writing to an infant church just in one
city. There weren't 500 denominations in 55 A.D.; there was only one.
There was "the church." Period. Like the old film spoof showing
an early American town, and there's an ice cream store: "Howard Johnson's.
One flavor." Could Paul have possibly envisioned the Yellow Pages
of 1997, and the hundreds of listings of churches now? Would he still
talk about the Body of Christ and who would he be thinking of?
Let me start off our discussion with a couple of points that are bound
to be controversial, so let me encourage you to fasten your seatbelt before
we start. Question Number One: Are you a member of the catholic church?
I'd like to think that I am and friend, let me hasten with great rapidity
to tell you what I mean. As you probably know, I'm an ordained minister
in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which is about as Protestant as you
can get. However, I am indeed a catholic Christian that's catholic with
a small "c." Did you know that the word catholic again, small
"c" means "of broad scope. Comprehensive"? "Universal"?
For many centuries now, Christians of all persuasions have accepted the
creed that they are part of "one, holy, catholic, apostolic church."
And that catholic with a small "c" means universal. Part of
a global Body of Christ.
In fact, the very word "catholic" comes from the Latin catholicus,
which means "universal."
But tell me something. As you read through this chapter where Paul uses
the expression "the body" or "one body" or "the
body of Christ" a total of 16 times, what is your assumption about
what that refers to? Does he mean just your home congregation? Just your
denomination? Or a collection of many denominations and if so, which
ones?
Friend, I can tell you one thing that's for sure. Here in the year 1999,
all Christians do not agree on who else is a Christian. First Corinthians
chapter 12 receives some very broad interpretations and also some stridently
narrow ones. Many, many believers read these verses and think only of
their own home denomination. Others even tighten that down, thinking to
themselves, "People in my own denomination who think just like me."
A painful story took place a few years ago, just before the 1992 presidential
election. That was George Bush versus Bill Clinton, as you recall. And
the evangelical magazine Christianity Today interviewed I think it was
all four of the major presidential and vice presidential candidates, and
then ran these articles at separate times. For sure, Dan Quayle and Al
Gore were interviewed at quite some length.
Several weeks later, a reader of the magazine wrote in to find fault with
the interview involving then-candidate Senator Al Gore. He had answered
questions on a number of issues, both political and religious. And this
letter writer very clearly disagreed with Gore's evolving convictions
on what is without a doubt the most controversial issue in both religion
and politics today: abortion.
The letter began with this sentence: "Senator Gore is not a Christian."
Those exact six words. Because the reader didn't agree with Gore's position
on that issue, as far as he was concerned, this Southern Baptist politician
was not a Christian.
Now friend, I don't relate that story to stir up dissension on the hard
question which created it. But it does illustrate the very real dilemma,
even the painful dilemma, we face when we try to decide who is and who
is not a Christian. As we look at the globe sitting on our desk and try
to decide who comprises the worldwide Body of Christ, it's a question
without an easy answer.
One of the fiercest debates to take place in the Christian community has
happened within the last three years: a document entitled Evangelicals
and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium.
And the firestorm has been strongly felt on both sides those who felt
that the "Body of Christ" could encompass both of those groups,
and those who were equally adamant that it couldn't.
Here is Article 13, verbatim, from that document, under Section Two: "We
Affirm Together."
"All who accept Christ as Lord and Savior
are brothers and sisters in Christ. Evangelicals and Catholics are brothers
and sisters in Christ. We have not chosen one another, just as we have
not chosen Christ. He has chosen us, and He has chosen us to be His together.
However imperfect our communion with one another, however deep our disagreements
with one another, we recognize that there is but one church of Christ.
There is one church because there is one Christ, and the church is His
body. However difficult the way, we recognize that we are called by God
to a fuller realization of our unity in the body of Christ. The only unity
to which we would give expression is unity in the truth, and the truth
is this: There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to
the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in
all.' (Eph. 4)"
Most of that probably sounds all right as you hear
it over the radio, but I can tell you something. It didn't take many months
at all for an opposing viewpoint to be published in the book, Protestants
& Catholics: Do They Now Agree? And the answer, according to authors
John Ankerberg and John Weldon, was a resounding no.
"The doctrinal differences that divide us
are far more important than the moral convictions we share," they
wrote.
And although their book doesn't explicitly say so,
the implication is very clear that they would not define the "Body
of Christ" as being "Evangelicals and Catholics Together."
The question hits even closer to home than that. There are many, many
books and pamphlets and documents and videos suggesting that this church
or that one is not Christian. My own Adventist denomination, it's sometimes
been suggested in certain evangelical circles, is not a full-fledged part
of the Christian faith. What agony to have anyone even think that, and
especially to suggest it out loud. Other churches and associations ask:
And what about Mormons? Despite the official title, "The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," it is a fiercely debated point
of contention right here in 1999: are these men and women Christians?
Are they "in the loop" when Paul talks about the Body of Christ?
How could people in a denomination where Jesus' name is explicitly included
not be Christians, some wonder. And when a coalition is formed of Christian
ministers in a community, or of Christian broadcasters, who gets invited
and who is left out?
I hope you can sense how much we need the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom
and discernment and charity as we study. We want to be inclusive but
also wise. We want to reach out but also hold on to essential truths.
We want to take our proper place in the Body of Christ, but not allow
the Body to be wrongly infected by deceptions from the enemy. Friend,
how can we know what's the right thing to do? Where do we draw the lines?
One thing does give us comfort as we commence our study. All of chapter
12 makes it clear that the church is God's church. He distributes the
gifts. He pours out His Spirit. He takes charge of His work, giving each
of us the talents we need in order to be a part of that Body. And so,
in a sense, we can give some of this discussion up to Him. Is such-and-such
a denomination Christian? Are the people in that church Christian? Friend,
God knows. And even as we study and learn and seek to expand our horizons
if God wants them expanded we can rest secure in the knowledge that
the Church belongs to Him.
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