THE BODY WITHOUT BLEMISH
By Jim Kaseman
Text: I Corinthians 12:12-27
Many times Jesus would compare things of the earth to things of the spirit in order to help us understand spiritual things.
The parable of the sower sowing the word in the fourth chapter of the gospel of Mark is a classic example. Here Jesus compares the human spirit to the earth and the Word of God to earthly seed such as corn, wheat, etc. In doing so, countless questions are answered concerning faith, prayer, and living a successful life in Christ.
Likewise, I see the Lord comparing the physical body to the spiritual body of Jesus in I Corinthians 12:12-27. As we compare the two, I believe a lot of spiritual questions will be answered concerning unity and walking in love in the face of persecution even from other Christians. Questions concerning churches and denominations will be answered as well.
Physical Body
Psalms 139:13-16 speaks of our physical bodies being wonderfully made by God. What an understatement when you begin to observe the physical body and how it functions.
The human body is unmatched in power, capacity, and adaptability. It is made up of over seventy-five trillion cells. The wisdom of just one cell is said to exceed all accumulated knowledge of the human race to date. This cell can’t be seen except through a microscope!
The human heart beats about one hundred thousand times every twenty-four hours and is designed to pump without skipping a beat for decades! The heart pumps six quarts of blood through over ninety-six thousand miles of blood vessels. This is equivalent to sixty-three hundred gallons of blood pumped per day or almost one hundred fifteen million gallons in only fifty years!
The skin is made up of over four million pores constantly acting as a cooking system for the body keeping the body temperature around 98.6 degrees.
The brain consists of more than twenty-five billion highly developed cells that are in contact with seventy-five trillion cells and direct the body in performing quadrillions of processes twenty four hours a day! Speaking of processes, the individual cell of a human body is the site of more chemical reactions than all the chemical factories in the world combined!
In just mentioning a few things concerning our bodies, you can really begin to see how wonderfully God made our bodies!
Spiritual Body
Now let’s begin to compare the two bodies and see if we can’t broaden our spiritual understanding of the church.
Brain-Head
When I learned that the human brain was in contact with all seventy-five trillion cells and performed quadrillions of processes daily I no longer had any difficulty believing that Jesus or the Head of His Body can speak to and answer the prayers of all Christians all at the same time if necessary.
Cell-Believers
Thank God for the 75 trillion cells that make up our physical bodies. Yet a single cell is very limited in what it can do unless it works together with other cells. So, cells join together and form the heart, lungs, eyes, liver, kidneys, feet, etc…
Organs-Churches
Likewise an individual believer as wonderfully as he has been made by God is very limited as a single believer all alone. None of us have the Holy Spirit without measure. But, as believers join together corporately and pool their gifts, talents, abilities and anointings, they can be a whole lot more effective and productive and some join together and form the church of the heart, others form the church of the liver, while yet others form the church of the lungs, etc…
Body-Body Of Churches
Again, individual organs are not nearly as effective as all the organs getting together and forming a body. Likewise individual churches are not nearly effective as all the individual churches getting together and forming a body of churches commonly called denominational or non-denominational groups of churches working together. Incidentally, there are an estimated 22,500 groups of churches in the Body of Christ world wide.
Every Member Different
As in the physical body there are no two members the same. You won’t find any two Christians, churches, or groups of churches the same even within the same group or denomination! That’s the beauty of the Bride of Jesus, the church.
We’ve all been given the same Great Commission of going into all the world and sharing the gospel but there are multitudes of different approaches, styles, anointing, gifts, and methods within which the Great Commission is fulfilled. So, if each part does it’s share upon the direction of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel will be taken to the world, the church will become glorious and Jesus will return for His bride! Glory!
So, we could take I Corinthians 12:14-21 and read it as follows: “for in fact the body is not one member (christians, church, or group of churches) but many. The eye (Pentecostal’ Lutheran’s, Full Gospel ‘etc.) cannot say to the hand (Methodist, Non-denominational ‘etc.), I have no need of you,” nor again the head (Word of Faith, Episcopal, Presbyterian, etc.) say to the feet (Baptist, Evangelical Free etc.), “I have no need of you.”
Not one of us individually have “The Spirit without measure.” But corporately as the Body of Jesus Christ we do, for Jesus has the Spirit without measure and we are His Body.
Who Belongs To The Body?
It goes without saying that there are Christians in every denominational and non-denominational group of churches and those who are not Christians, but call themselves Christians. There is only one way into the Body of Christ. Jesus said in John @4:6, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” Romans 10:9 tells us, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
What determines whether you’re part of the Body of Christ is not what group of churches you belong to or were raised in, but whether or not you’ve personally received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Without Blemish
Ephesians 5:27 talks about Jesus coming back for a church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Now when it comes to blemishes we can once again draw some parallels between the physical body and the spirit man.
Defense System
The physical body has white blood cells that destroy disease causing organisms.
The spirit of man has the name of Jesus and the Blood of Jesus.
Tumors
A tumor is “an abnormal growth of new tissue, independent of it’s surrounding structures” (Websters Dictionary). A nonmalignant tumor generally does not affect the rest of the body other than it’s an embarrassing looking blemish.
This is true with the Body of Christ. You’ll find Christians gathering together with no accountability and no interest in fellowshipping or working together with the rest of the Body of Christ. Often times in serious error and false doctrine. But, by and large they’re in a world by themselves and do not affect the rest of the Body of Christ.
Malignant Tumor
According to Webster dictionary malignant is having an evil influence, wishing evil, very “harmful, causing or likely to cause death!” Cancer is a sick cell.
Unfortunately we have such Christians in the Body of Christ who used to be healthy and are now sick and evil. Unfortunately, they try to spread their evil beliefs, doctrines and carnal desires on the rest of the Body of Christ. All of a sudden they are self-appointed policemen for the church. If you don’t believe the way they do, you’ve missed God or you’re labeled as a cult. They don’t understand spiritual things, they’re carnal and unfortunately, like cancer, they destroy good Christians and churches.
This is not only embarrassing to the body of Christ but an evil thing that the body must protect itself against and believe for God to surgically remove it.
Pimples and Pus
Now a pimple is “a small inflamed swelling of the skin.” Nothing serious just an embarrassing little blemish.
At times my wife will spot the beginning of a pimple on my face and try to squeeze it prematurely. It hurts terribly and nothing happens – it just hurts worse and looks worse. However, if you wait until the right time and the pimple is ripe, you can squeeze it gently, hit the mirror with the pus and the blemish is healed almost instantly.
I think as Christians we have all been the pimples at one time or another. I’m reminded of Christians who mean well, real sweet people, but who are tossed to and fro with every new doctrine and preacher that comes to town or appears on television. Then they bring the “flaky” books and tapes to the church to pass out among the congregation without the pastor’s approval. Now if the pastor doesn’t approach this individual correctly or is premature, the Christian could be hurt unnecessarily and end up leaving the church. However, most Christians are teachable and at God’s right time they can be approached gently, the flaky stuff exposed, and the Christian apologizes and healing comes quickly.
AIDS
The AIDS virus deceives the defense forces of the physical body by disguising itself as a “good guy”. And only after it infiltrates and penetrates the body and cells does it expose itself for what it is and begins to destroy
Sad but true at times the devil sends people to churches disguised as good, sweet, Bible believing Christians. And some times the church is split in half before people catch on to what strife, discord, error and destruction the so called Christians have been engaged in.
Love Removes Blemishes
As we walk in love towards one another people will know that we are His disciples. Being kind to one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. (John 13:34-35, Eph 4:32). Love will cover a multitude of sins (I Peter 4:8), and I might add love will remove and heal a lot of spots, wrinkles and blemishes in the body of Christ.
(The above information was published by JIM KASEMAN MINISTRIES, November 1993)
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