Thursday, January 22, 2009

The Least of These, The Body of Christ.

12:10 PM by Christi Bowman

The church is not the body of Christ, but the body of Christ is the Church. They may sound alike, but they are not. By saying that the church is the body of Christ we conform Christ to our image, but when we say that the body of Christ is the Church than we agree to conform ourselves to who Christ is.

Who is Christ?

Matthew 25:35-40

35For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Christ is the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the prisoner. Whether it leaves a bad taste in our mouths or not Christ IS the least of these; and no matter what the least of these did or did not do, whether they were born into it or whether it was on behalf of bad decision making, God is their champion.

Counter to what I have been taught, the least of these do not have to do anything to be the body of Christ; by their very nature they just are.

Matthew 21:31 Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

Jesus doesn't say that the redeemed or the saved or the baptized publicans and harlots go into the kingdom before you; He doesn't say that the harlot and the publican who have asked me into their hearts get first access. No, Jesus refers to the publican and harlot as who they are in that moment and He says that they will go into the kingdom FIRST!

Oswald Chambers says:

When the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance one of the Beatitudes, we say, "What a startling statement that is!" Then we must decide whether or not we will accept the tremendous spiritual upheaval that will be produced in our circumstances if we obey His words...the interpretation by the Spirit of God as He applies our Lord’s statements to our circumstances is the strict and difficult work of a saint...The teachings of Jesus are all out of proportion when compared to our natural way of looking at things, and they come to us initially with astonishing discomfort. We gradually have to conform our walk and conversation to the precepts of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit applies them to our circumstances.

One night around a camp fire, as an area wide youth minister shared Tony Campolo's story of a Hawaiian prostitute, I heard God whisper:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

God's revelation did come with an astonishing amount of discomfort, and it did produce a tremendous spiritual upheaval for me, and I did decide to accept it. It has been a strict and difficult work to have the Holy Spirit apply His interpretation to my circumstances and I am now conforming my walk and conversation to His revelation.

Watchmen Nee says:

Do you know that God is asking of you your very life? There are cherished ideals, strong wills, precious relationships, much-loved work, that will have to go.

God is asking of me my very life and the things that are first to go are my cherished ideals.

I now see the great reversal of things that is the backwards kingdom, and what I have been taught pales in comparison to the revelation of Jesus.

How do we become the body of Christ? We become the least of these. How do we who are "rich" by the worlds standards, whether by money, circumstance, or morality, become poor? By the grace of God we realize that we already are.

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