12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
-1 Corinthians 12:27
1 Corinthians is a letter from the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth. In this letter, Paul relates the church to the human body. He explains that when God created the human body in placed the parts in certain ways.
One of my favorite preachers is Christine Caine. She writes the following in her new ebook, Embrace Your Place, about this scripture passage. She writes,
“It is the same way in the body of Christ. God sets every member in place as He desires them to be. And every member is an indispensable, important part. Many people have been lulled into believing that somehow church is simply an organization or a business, or a way to satisfy our religious conscience to fulfill an obligation. We have come to view church as a talented worship team followed by a gifted speaker—but this is not church. It doesn’t begin and end here. It’s not about what happens on the platform and what comes from the pulpit.
We are not born again into an organization, bureaucracy, or institution. We are born again into a living, dynamic organism—a body. My body is a living organism. If we, the church, truly understood the power of this, we would go beyond the boring religious obligation on a Sunday and become the mighty force that God has called us to be on this earth. God desires the church to be a place of salvation, hope, healing, reconciliation, restoration, mercy, justice, truth and a bright light in the midst of darkness! We need to stop “doing” church on Sunday and start being the church 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Imagine how much the world would change.”
Christine Caine goes on to explain why she doesn’t go to her church. In the same way, we don’t go to The Anchor because we have good music. We don’t go to The Anchor because it’s where our parents went or go. We don’t go to The Anchor because the sanctuary looks nice or it’s easy to drive to. We go to The Anchor because it is our church.
Read this to yourself-
“It’s me. I am the church. I am intricately interwoven into the very fabric of that body of believers, and that body doesn’t actually function effectively unless I’m a part of it.”
We need to ask, “God, where have you planted and placed me to be an indispensable part of Your body?”
~Pastor Leah