God Speaks Through the Church
Memory verse: Jesus gave them this answer: ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does’ (John 5:19)
One problem many churches face today is they have so emphasized the doctrine of the priesthood of believers they have lost their sense of corporate identity. What does that mean in simple words? Christians think their walk with God is independent of anyone else and they are not accountable to the church. It is true Christians have direct access to God through Christ. However, God created the church as His redemptive agent in the world. He has a purpose for the church. God places every member in a church to accomplish His redemptive purposes through that congregation.
A church is a body—the body of Christ (see 1 Cor. 12:27). Jesus Christ is the Head of every local church (see Eph. 4:15), and God places every member in the body as it pleases Him (see 1 Cor. 12:18).The Holy Spirit manifests Himself to every person for the common good (see 1 Cor. 12:7).The Father fits together the whole body (see Eph. 5:16), and the Holy Spirit enables and equips members to function where the Father has placed them in the body. The body builds itself up until every member experiences the fullness of Christ (see Eph. 4:13). God made us mutually interdependent. We need one another. What one lacks, others in the body can supply.
What God is doing in and through the body is essential to my knowing how to respond to Him. When I see Him working in my church, I immediately adjust and put my life in that place too. In the church I let God use me in any way He chooses to complete His work in other members. This was Paul’s goal when he said, “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present every one perfect in Christ” (Col. 1:28). Paul constantly asked believers to become vitally involved with his life and ministry. The effectiveness of Paul’s ministry rested on them (see Eph. 6:19; Col. 4:3; 2 Thess. 3:1-2).
Read how Paul describes the Church in 1 Corinthians 12:18-27
God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Apart from the body you cannot fully know God’s will for relating to God’s people. Without the eye the hand does not know where to touch. Without the ear the rest of the body may not know when or how to respond. Every member needs to listen to what the other members say. If the members are not talking about what they sense God is doing in their midst, the whole body will be disoriented to God.