What the Church Must Do to Become the Body of Christ

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:6

I used to think that it was Satan who scattered people, but one day I began to recognise that in Genesis 11 it was God who did it. Men were all in unity at the Tower of Babel. God came, smote them in the mouth so they could not communicate, and all men went their own way. They did not come together again until Acts 2:1, when "they were all with one accord." This was the greatest miracle. God brought together some from every tribe, tongue, and nation of the world. He smote those disciples in the mouth, and His spiritual Kingdom was initiated in the earth.

God scatters . . .

Do you know what would happen if sinners could get together in unity? This is why the Communists are fighting amongst themselves. God breaks the unity. He permits no one to come together except when they are purely motivated. This is true in every realm. Scientists, philosophers, doctors, theologians, and denominations cannot agree within their own groups.

For our protection . . .

I have seen new fellowship groups come together with perfect unity. Everything goes really well until the motivation is not right. Then God breathes on it and scatters them. One says, "I'm going this way." Another says, "I'm going that way." Soon the whole group splits up. When God divides, He divides for our safety and His protection.

Keeping us apart . . .

God has divided men by mountains, oceans, and languages. He has divided them economically, racially, and in every possible way to keep them from coming together. All these things cause conflict amongst men until the day comes that we come together in Jesus. Then, suddenly, colour means nothing; finances mean nothing; education means nothing. We come together in Christ. The only way we can have unity is if we come together with a pure motivation. There are splits and divisions everywhere except where men come together in spiritual unity.

Completely . . .

So complete is this division that in Matthew 18:20 Jesus said, "If you can just get two or three together in one spirit, I will come ..." ('In My Name' in the Greek literally means 'in one soul'). When Christians are 'one soul' in believing God it is so pleasing to the Lord that He says, "I, Myself, will be there."

Until we need one another . . .

God structured the New Testament Church so that we would need each other. He has designed it in such a way that it cannot function except when we are in spiritual unity. I want to show you this from the Word of God. I believe John 16:7 is the crux of understanding the New Testament Church.

"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: It is important for YOU (His interest was in them) that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto YOU; but if I depart, I will send Him unto YOU."

The Holy Spirit doesn't just come in a nebulous way ... He comes to PEOPLE. Jesus said, "When He comes He will come to YOU"; and when He came, He didn't just come to Jerusalem, He came to the 120 people in the upper room. I believe it is as He comes to the CHURCH that He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgement. It is through HIS CHURCH that this is operative. It is not some kind of mystical thing ... God coming to a city and making everyone feel bad. It is as we stand and give testimony. It is as Christ is manifested in our lives.

Then He comes . . .

In John 14:18 Jesus says, "I will not leave you comfortless: I WILL COME TO YOU"... "I - ego - MYSELF - will come to you." In verses 14 and 15 of John 16 He explains to His disciples how He is going to come to them. "He (the Holy Spirit) shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you."

In His fulness . . .

In verse 16 He says, "A little while and ye shall not see Me." This is easy to understand. In a little while He was going to be crucified, buried, and resurrected, and would ascend into Heaven. "Again, a little while, YE SHALL SEE ME, BECAUSE I GO TO THE FATHER." The disciples said, "What is He talking about? We can't understand what He is saying."

Firstly, His character . . .

Firstly, we have the CHARACTER of Christ, which is described in Galatians 5:21, 22. Here we have listed the nine fruit of the Spirit. When you met Jesus His character was love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. When you met Him, you met a Man that was in self-control; you met a Man that exuded the love of God; you met a Man that was long-suffering. This was His character.

Secondly, His power . . .

Secondly, there is the POWER of Christ which is described in 1st Corinthians 12:8-10. Here we have listed the nine gifts of the Spirit, which are the word of wisdom; the word of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues, and prophecy. Everything Jesus did on the earth (except, of course, what He did as the Lamb of God) falls under one of these categories. He walked on the water. What is that? It is a gift of miracles. He healed the sick and performed supernatural miracles. Many of these, translated over into the Book of Acts, we see being accomplished under the power of Christ.

Thirdly, His authority . . .

Thirdly, we have the AUTHORITY of Christ which is described in Ephesians 4:11-13. Here we have listed apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists. Hebrews 3:1 says that Jesus is the Apostle of our Faith. He is called the Prophet. He is the Pastor, or the Shepherd. He was the greatest Teacher there ever has been, and He was the Evangelist of evangelists. He is all of these.

The whole Christ . . .

When Jesus ascended, the Holy Spirit took all that Jesus was and brought it to us. He gave us the WHOLE CHRIST. In other words, it was JESUS who came that day. In Acts 2, it was Jesus who had come to His disciples, and they knew it. Jesus said, "I will come to you." "Lo, I ... go ... I, my very self ... will be with you even unto the end of the age."

Now it is Christ unlimited . . .

Jesus said, "It is expedient for you that I go away." Before He ascended, He could only be in one place at one time, but after He ascended, every local church, functioning in scriptural order can say of a truth, "Jesus is here." So that in New Zealand, and Los Angeles, and Hong Kong, at the same time the WHOLE CHRIST can be there.

Not just in part . . .

Many churches just want part of Christ. For example, there is the "power" group ... all they want is the power of Christ. Then there are others who say, "We don't go for that. We just want the love of Christ." There is nothing more frustrating than to love people and not be able to help them. Some say, "We just evangelize." Others are the "divine order" group, usually with an over-emphasis on apostles. I believe God is restoring the apostolic-prophetic ministry to the Church. I know that there are a lot of strange things that have gone on in this name, but it is still true, and I stand for it. We need the apostolic-prophetic ministry badly in our churches. We need real pastors, and the teaching ministry, and evangelists that are called of God. But this is only one part of the whole Christ. Most churches that I have ever known make an emphasis on one of these things or the other. But the CHARACTER of Jesus should be in the Church; the POWER of Jesus should be in the Church; the AUTHORITY of Jesus should be in the Church.

But fully unveiled . . .

I was preaching one time in a church in northern New York when, suddenly, I saw the Lord standing in the aisle with His arms outstretched, looking at me. I saw the gifts of KNOWING, the gifts of DOING, and the gifts of AUTHORITY resident in Him. Healing, miracles and faith were in His Hands, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and discerning of spirits were in His Head, and the authority of Christ was on His Chest. This was where this concept was partly born ... when I saw the whole Christ. I will never be satisfied with, or settle for, anything less than the whole Christ. Jesus gave us Himself ... HIS ALL. I don't want power without love. I don't want to be filled with love and not have any power to help the people I love. I want patience and longsuffering and goodness, but I also want to know when there is a phony in the midst. I want to see the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge working in others. I want to see this spiritual anarchy that is in the world brought to submission by the apostolic gifts, and the authority of Christ resident in the Church.

Functioning . . .

Now let us take the next step and understand how the WHOLE CHRIST functions.

It is my conviction more and more that God has designed the Body of Christ so that we need each other. Every member must be involved. There are no spectators. There is a gift and calling for every man and every woman, even the people I don't like, and to whom I would not give a gift if I were the one dispensing them. In fact, this is where the excitement begins. I used to get so frustrated and say, "Lord, how can you use a man like that!!?" I had to learn something, and this is what I want to share with you.

Through each member . . .

In 1 Cor. 12: 7-12 all the words "another" have been translated the same in the English. However, in the Greek there are two words used, "allos" and "heteros", speaking of two different kinds of people. "Allos" speaks of "those of the same kind", and "heteros" speaks of "those of a different kind". This word "heteros" shows us that God divided the gifts, not only amongst those who are of a similar kind and understanding, but also amongst those who are different in make-up and outlook to us. The Lord did this to force us to appreciate one another and to come together in spiritual unity. We need every member of the Body of Christ.

"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal" (Everyone that comes to God and is baptised in the Holy Spirit has a place and function in the Body of Christ.) For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to ANOTHER OF A DIFFERENT KIND faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another OF A DIFFERENT KIND divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as HE WILL." (Not as I, personally, will).

Dividing the gifts and the Truth ...

The problem at Corinth was they were scattered, divided. The Lord knows that we will not get along, and because of this knowledge He has divided the gifts of the Spirit. I also believe He has divided the truth. Every denomination has a certain emphasis of truth, and this particular aspect needs to be shared and received by the whole Body of Christ. Many of us will not yield to what God is doing because we have gone up a doctrinal branch of the tree. I was raised in the Armenian background, but when I went to an Anglican Seminary I began to see some of the truth of the sovereignty of God and predestination and many of these things. It was the most healthy thing that happened to me. It brought release to my soul. But, you see, I am not up either of those doctrinal branches. Now I stand between them both, looking up both branches and saying, "Hallelujah, it is true." I have come to understand what it means to 'feed on the whole counsel of God.' Truth has been divided to the Church. I am not ecumenical. I do not believe in one world church, organisationally. If we all join one big club I think we are going to have the problems all over again that we have faced in the past. I think only God can bring spiritual unity.

Too many kinds ...

God gives the gifts of the Spirit to many kinds. To the "allos" (the same kind) and to the "heteros" (those of a different kind). Let me give you an illustration. I know a lady who was a real problem to her pastor. She was always talking at him. But she was a precious woman, who loved the Lord with all her heart and sought to follow God and obey the Lord. One Sunday the Lord woke her at about 5.30 in the morning and said, "I want you to pray for the pastor this morning." That really disturbed her and she said, "Lord, if this is You, please make the opportunity." The church meeting was going well when all of a sudden it came to a halt. The pastor leaned across the pulpit and began to weep. He was purple around the lips. He had a coronary and sugar diabetes. He said, "Church, I am a sick man. Won't somebody obey the Lord this morning and pray for me?" Now, who in that congregation do you think he didn't want to pray for him? The Lord said to that woman, "He will refuse you, but get up and go down to pray for him." She left that pew trembling under the power of God. That the gift of healing was upon her there is no doubt. Since this time God has used her in four similar instances and every one that she has prayed for, when God told her to go, has been healed. This instance was the first time God had spoken to her in this way. She walked up to the pastor. He opened his eyes and saw her standing there. He straightened up quickly and said, "That's all right, sister, just kneel down here in prayer. Elders, deacons, come up here and pray for me!"

That woman was humiliated in front of all those people. She walked back to her seat and sat down. That was fourteen years ago and that pastor is still sick. He still has his coronary and sugar diabetes, and I know who has his healing. That anointing to pray for him is still on that woman to this day.

So that we need each other...

God has designed His Church so that we need each other. "... not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." (1 Cor. 11:29,30). This verse is speaking of His Body, the Church. Since the Lord showed me this I have tried to learn to love God's children... not only the "allos", the same kind as I am, but the "heteros", those different from me. We have a great tendency to gravitate to people of our temperament, and get in little cliques. But the Lord wants us to come out of our little cliques and expose ourselves to the "heteros" and see that they have something to add to us. Fellowship does not mean total agreement. You are only one of the pieces, needed to fit together with the other pieces in order to make the whole.

And the whole Christ is manifest . . .

The whole Christ is divided to His church. "He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you." (John 16:14). The Holy Spirit brought Jesus. The early church had been divided and scattered, but when they came together with proper motivation, they came together as the Body of Christ. "A little while and ye shall not see Me"... the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. "A little while and ye shall see Me"... the Descension of the Holy Spirit, and the whole Christ is manifested in His people.

When the Body of Christ comes together with pure motivation, in spiritual unity, then, of a truth we can say, "We see Jesus. We see His authority; we see His power; we see His character. Let us take this equipment, take this anointing, and let us extend this Kingdom to the ends of the earth."