Scripture
18But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. 19How strange a body would be if it had only one part! 20Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. 21The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”
1 Corinthians 12:18-21
Observation
Paul uses our anatomy to illustrate how important each member of the Church is. No can say to another Christian, “I don’t need you” anymore than a Christian can say to The Church “you don’t need me” anymore than a body part can say to the head I don’t like where you put me. There’s not a single part of my body out of place and yet when one part of my body is hurting it affects the whole body. Every stub your toe? “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.” (1 Cor. 12:26). Now, imagine if all of a sudden your toe were no longer there. The entire body would be off balance. That’s exactly what’s going on right now.
Application
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Many experts believe phantom pain may be at least partially explained as a response to mixed signals from the brain. After an amputation, areas of the spinal cord and brain lose input from the missing limb and adjust to this detachment in unpredictable ways. The result can trigger the body's most basic message that something is not right: pain. Some researchers have found that people who had pain in a limb before amputation are likely to have it afterward. This may be because the brain holds on to the memory of the pain and keeps sending pain signals, even after the limb is removed.” The Body of Christ is experiencing Phantom Limb Syndrome because we experienced an unexpected amputation. According to Barna 1 of 5 churchgoers stopped attending church in all forms in 2020. According to Gallup, “The proportion of Americans who consider themselves members of a church, synagogue or mosque has dropped below 50 percent. It is the first time that has happened since Gallup first asked the question in 1937, when church membership was 73 percent.” Half the Body is trying to do twice the work while still feeling the pain of the people who were once there and are now gone. Pastors were never meant to do the work of the Body, but rather to work with the Body and equip each part on their divine design. Now, according to Barna, we have 29% of pastors seriously thinking of self amputating because they can’t balance the pain of the phantom limbs while also meeting the needs that have doubled around them. This isn’t cause for panic. This is a good thing. Ministry was never meant to be a one man show, or a one part Body. Paul continues to write to the Church in Corinth, “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. 28Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church: first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership, those who speak in unknown languages.” (I Cor. 12:27-28). An amputee would normally need to get a prosthetic, but our God wants grow new limbs where old ones are missing. First, we must acknowledge the pain we feel those who are no longer connected to the Body. Second, we must make sure we don’t self-amputate and instead commit to serving in our God-given place in The Body. Third, we must pray for new members of God’s Body to grow so we can run into God’s purposes for His Church. I’ll give you one example of this. I once had a family that were members of my Church tell me they were leaving to go to another church. Now, let me make it clear, that “my church” is just one part of Christ’s Body. So, I prayed them out and encouraged them to plug in to their new church and find a place to serve so they would continue to grow. Let me also make it clear, this hurt. They were a wonderful family and were an important part of our particular expression of Christ’s Body. I had to address the phantom pain I felt. They weren’t there anymore, but it still hurt, especially when I found myself trying to fill the holes they had left. That same day I received a call from a new family that had recently started coming. They told me they were so thankful to have found our church and that they wanted to meet with me to find out how they could serve and become more involved in the Body Life of the Church. The limb I had lost was now growing back. Why? It’s not MY Body, it’s Christ’s! Where something has been cut away He makes a way for new life!
Prayer
I bring you the pain today Lord of those who I have known and served alongside that are no longer connected. I bless those who are serving in other parts of Your Body. I pray for those who have self-amputated from the Body all together. I pray that they would be reconnected to You first, The Head, and then to Your Body again. Let there be healing where they have been hurt by the very Body they were once connected to. I pray that we would continue to reach those who don’t you and see them connected, not to a religious program, but to the person of Jesus.
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