Accepted: A Member of Christ's Body

1Corinthians 12:27 ESV
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Some other key verses, working up through the chapter. (I realize bottom to top is not generally recommended.)

12:26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

12:18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

We have been considering many ways that a believer is accepted by God. Many of these have focused on the believer as an individual. With this indicator of acceptance, we see that God has accepted the believer as a part of something much larger: the body of Christ. Now this is not the physical body of Christ, even though the current passage of scripture is based on the analogy of the physical body. The body of Christ is the Church, and of course I mean the true Church, those believers who are truly redeemed. Christ is obviously the head of this body. By God's design, the combining of believers into a body provides much strength and ability that would not be available for an individual body part.

As God knows intimately each believer, He knows how to fit each one into the body. God has an exact place for each believer in the body. The positioning is not only what is best for the individual, but also what is best for the body. All the members of the body take orders from the head of the body (Jesus Christ), and as they trust and obey, the body is strengthened. When believers do not trust and obey, then the body is weakened.

So what is your experience in the body of Christ? Your 'in the body' experience is first in the Church, and secondly in fellowship with the broader circle of Christians. The norm presented in the New Testament is that the believer functions in a church body. Have you found the place that God wants you to be? Are you enjoying strength and support from the fellowship? In the midst of your body life, are you able to see your sins and faults, and forgive others for theirs? How about the Pastor?

I certainly hope you are living in victory and joy with this issue. God has designed the body of Christ for our good. We must believe that, even if it is only by faith. In this day and age, many Christians have struggled with rejection (real or perceived) from the body, as if they were a transplant that did not belong. These people are hurting and need the love of others in the body. The sanctification of all believers is still underway. The fruit of remaining sin is that sometimes the church will dump their wounded along the road (maybe because they are not perfect Christians) instead of restoring them.

God Bless You with what you need regarding 'body life',
Dennis