POWER, PEACE and PROVISION ARE FOUND in the BODY!—by Roger Roth Sr.
I want to express a preeminent truth, confirmed by Scripture, that only the Body can fulfill the full purpose of God. “Sacrifice and offering you didn’t want but a Body have you prepared for me” Isaiah 40; Hebrews 10. Weren’t the Israelites told to make sacrifices and offerings? Yes. However, the Apostle Paul tells us, “No, God doesn’t want sacrifices, He wants a Body!” This is reminiscent of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:38; Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: (See Exodus 21:23-25) But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other.
Or consider the instruction that God gave to Abraham in Genesis chapter seventeen, where God said every male must be circumcised and that this would be an everlasting covenant and those not circumcised would be cut off. But in Acts 15, the church fathers say the Spirit told us that circumcision is not required. Again, we are struck by the fact that what they thought God was saying and what He was actually saying were two very different things. At the very least, it should make us consider that what we think we understand from scripture may be different than God’s true intent.
If you believe God’s desire and your ultimate purpose can only be accomplished through the Body, the ordering of your spiritual life will be very much different from those who believe that personal ministry and personal gifting is preeminent in accomplishing the will of God. If it truly takes a Body, then those spiritual forces opposed to Christ will endeavor to keep any group of Believers from ever manifesting the fullness of Christ.
The pattern for the Church throughout much of the past two thousand years has been one of gifted individuals who lead astonishing movements or display remarkable spiritual power. We often name church organization after them and hold them up as the examples for believers to emulate. This may not be bad, but it may be short sighted. The indication to many believers is that only what is done by prominent individuals is what has moved the church forward and their actions should be emulated.
Yet, Jesus is not the head of disconnected individuals but of a Body. The Body, as the Apostle Paul demonstrates, is made up of many members with varying tasks and responsibilities. Has modern Christianity neglected the fuller and more significant ministry of the Body in favor of noted personalities, titles and exalted ministries?
What is the value of the “rank and file” Christians? Perhaps seen by those aging prayer warriors who have stayed the mouth of demons or made continual visitations to the bedside of the sick and elderly. What of those who inwardly live the truth of Scripture, but outwardly are forever unnoticed? They serve God and love people, they share of what they have and what they are and perhaps are the ones, who from Heaven’s perspective, are actually the force that is advancing the Kingdom.
Has Christianity fellowshipped the Body of Christ? Have Christians in this era become a true spiritual Body with Christ as the head or are we generally, more of an association of disconnected members? Could this be a root of the ineffectiveness of a Religion that, at least on the surface, often seems to have more scandal than victory and more rejection from the lost than respect?
Jesus died to deliver mankind from sin but are we willing and able to likewise die to self in order to become the instrument for the restoration of mankind? It’s one thing to say, as some disciples did, “we will follow you wherever you go.” But, it is quite another to actually do it. When they said that to Jesus, He basically said, really? “Foxes have holes the birds of the air nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay His head.” They have places to reproduce, but I don’t have any place to reproduce my nature. His nature can only be fully reproduced in the Body.
They can mercilessly beat, defame and abuse Him, and though He has the justification as well as the power to destroy them, He is so whole, so healed, so mature, so filled with love that He asks forgiveness for them, not deliverance for Himself. Is this not the one that the true Body is to emulate? Where the power of persuasion and manipulation yields to the power of love in reaching out toward the world.
Have Saints been taught the Body of Christ? Have Christian leaders even understood what the Body really is or how it is to function? What church can testify that they are a Body “fitly joined together?” Have we (plural) become a (singular) perfect man (matured, completed, whole, Body)? A Body, where every part works toward the increase of the Body and its edification in love?
Till we (plural) all (plural) come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, (singular) unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint upplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Eph 4:13-16.
Ezekiel’s bones are rattling. For the openhearted, God is changing almost everything in this day that has commonly been accepted about ministry, church, and the Kingdom! To those with eyes to see, He is bringing forth a Body with Jesus as the head, that will bring to pass by the power of love, truth and maturity, all that He has spoken for this day.
Roger Roth Sr. is a ministry son of Dr. Mark Hanby. Together with his wife Karen, they are the set ministry of a local church in Northeastern Wisconsin, and oversee the Bloodline Network Newsletter. They consider it an honor to work with Dr. Hanby for many years, helping to oversee the ministry of Papa Mark’s extended family—”The Father’s Heart.”
Any questions or comments please contact them at rogerandkaren@live.com
