What does Ecclesia look like? (2)

Discerning the Body of Christ Correctly

[See 1 Corinthians 11:29-30]

I am of the view that we have to take a ‘radical’ view in relation to this matter, but let me say clearly at the start that I use the term ‘radical’ with its original meaning: ‘of the root’.  Rad is the Latin for ‘root’.  So here, radical means going to the root of the matter.

The ‘root’ of this matter is not found in so-called church history but in the words and actions of Jesus and Paul.  Jesus is the Founder and Head of ecclesia and God gave Paul the revelation of His new administration – the administration in which ecclesia is at the heart of the Spirit’s work because it is the primary passion of God – the bride for His Son.

So then, I take the view that ‘discerning the body correctly’ is roughly the same as taking the same view as Jesus and Paul – as far as it is possible to do so – and then seeking the wisdom of God and the power of the Spirit (i.e. acquiring the ‘ears to hear’) so we can ‘hear what the Spirit says to the ecclesias’.

The concept of “the body of Christ” is profoundly important to us.  Very often we use this term when we want to refer to the whole ecclesia as distinct from a particular local group or cluster of groups.  Unfortunately, we also use the expression (incorrectly in my view) to refer to the murky mass of mediocrity that is ‘christendom’ today.

The concept of “discerning the body” is likewise very important.  We are taught by Paul that failing to discern the body correctly leads to weakness, sickness and death amongst us.  But just what did Paul mean by the expression “discern”?  The idea is the same as that in the gospels where Jesus suggests His disciples can correctly interpret signs in the sky relating to the weather.  Do we have eyes that see and ears that hear concerning the body of Christ?

Romans chapters 9 through 11 are all about the revelation that Paul received concerning the place of the Jews in the plan of God in His new administration since the inauguration of the new covenant in the Lord Jesus Christ.  In Romans 11:7-8 Paul writes, “That which Israel is seeking for, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, ‘God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.’” (A quote from Isaiah 29:10)

And what was Israel seeking for?  According to Romans 10, righteousness.  “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.  For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:2-4)

And the New Testament writer to the Jews [Hebrews] says that if one does not understand the teaching about righteousness, one is still an infant (Hebrews 5:11-14).  The writer says to them that some things have become…

“…hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.  For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.  But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

My informal research shows me that most in “the church” do not understand the teaching about righteousness, much less teach it – just like the Jews the New Testament writers were addressing, trying to teach things they do not themselves understand or know in experience.

In addition, we have the elements of bread and wine as a memorial observed regularly in Christian gatherings.  We are warned that by not discerning or “discriminating correctly” what they represent, we are opening ourselves to God’s judgement.

When I find weakness or sickness or death among the people of God today, this is the first place I look for an explanation.  I believe there is good reason to do so at present for I have discovered a very poor record of “discernment” in this matter around the ‘church’ of my nation Australia.

Commonly, the term “the Body of Christ” is seen as the sum of all our christian organisations (of whatever denomination or non-denominational grouping).  This is rather like seeing the sum of the twelve tribes of Israel as “true Israel”.  Only in the natural do the 12 tribes make up Israel.  In the spiritual sense, true Israel is the “remnant” the scriptures speak about (Romans 9:27; 11:5) made up of Jews and people of all ethnic groups.

“For they are not all Israel who are [descended] from Israel.  Neither are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants.  That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.”  (Romans 9:7-8)

And again, “Understand, then, that it is those who are of faith who are the children of Abraham.”  (Galatians 3:7)

In the same way, not all “the church” is “the Body of Christ” and when we take the bread in communion, we are to at least understand this or we risk the judgement of God.

The Body of Christ (The ecclesia) is not made up of any organisations.  Organisations are a human imposition onto the Body of Christ and in a real sense run “beside” it.  All our organisations - including all our denominations, mission groups and whatever else we have created - are, in the fullest sense of the word, para-church.

If it is true that it is “those who are led by the Spirit of God” who are in fact “the sons of God” (Rom 8:14), then the Body of Christ is all such people, from every period of history, from every part of the globe, from every race that has ever existed.  Just as to take the wine is our participation in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for our sins, taking the bread is our participation in this “Body of Christ” - our sharing in the sustenance which that Body receives from the Holy Spirit and provides to those at the Lord’s table.

If we do not examine ourselves and end up lying to ourselves about how we really see this, is it any wonder that the anointing of God has moved to the perimeter of our work – or left altogether?  Is it any wonder that “many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have died”?

God is not interested in our organisations that we start because ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’; and Jesus wants His Body back.  Unfortunately, much of what poses as the body of Christ would be better described as a self-interested body-snatcher.

Organisations do not go into eternity, people do.  Organisations have probably been the source of some blessing in the lives of believers and unbelievers alike; they have also been the cause of a very real fracturing of people’s vision of “the Body of Christ”.

Every human organisation we have ever made has come with the built-in risk that it is likely to succumb to the temptations of Jezebel and Babylon; of a spirit of religious control over the bodies, souls and spirits of the people of God.

If, then, our discerning of the Body of Christ – our seeing and hearing – is impaired by participation in an organisation, to that extent we are at grave risk of becoming weak, sick or very dead!

For some time now, the Spirit – through today’s prophets – has been saying: “Come out of [Babylon] my people, so that you will not share in any of her sins or receive any of her plagues.”

He is saying it because He is shaking and sifting His people in preparation for a move of His Spirit like we have never seen before.  If we cannot “discern the Body of Christ correctly”, how shall we be prepared for this move – or to rule with Christ, reign with Christ, judge angels and judge men as Apostle Paul talks about?

What does ecclesia look like?  We can see her when we stop pretending we are gurus and willingly submit to the prophets and teachers God has given to His ecclesia for precisely this purpose of understanding the teaching about righteousness and then going on past the ‘elementary things’ to maturity.  [Remember Ephesians 2:19-22 and 4:1-16]

Ecclesia has eyes that see the unseen; ears that hear the whispers of the Father; a spirit that leans into the wind of His Spirit.  When our eyes behold a movement that is the living embodiment of the words of Jesus and Paul we have examined here, we are looking at Ecclesia.  No institutions; no sacred buildings; no special clergy; no secret rites.  Jesus Christ as Head; the Spirit as the primary teacher and interpreter; and “first apostles, second prophets and third teachers…” (1 Corinthians 12:28) building maturity, unity and love in the body.

Paul became the vessel of God to “[make] known to us the mystery of His will, according to His intention which he purposed in Him, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.”  When our eyes behold such an administration, we know we are looking at Ecclesia.

Cheers,
Kevin.