Broken Bodies: Part One
Eph. 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
2 years ago I fired up my table saw. I was getting started on one of a thousand projects I had put off. This specific project required me to rip through a few 1×10’s on order to repair some old drawers in a dresser I was to cheap to replace. I had safely and successfully operated a table saw for over 20 years. Ignoring some of the well established safety precautions my hand was yanked into the blade I sliced my thumb in half, Awesome! Besides having a very healthy fear of power tools renewed I experienced a miracle. Sure I needed stitches (for the record when you get stitches and the Doctor says you will feel pressure, he/she is lying, you feel pain… lots of pain.) and some medicine but the miracle I experienced was how my body goes into action as soon as I am injured. More specifically the miracle that stopped me from dying, coagulation. “Coagulation is initiated almost instantly after an injury to the blood vessel damages the endothelium (lining of the vessel). Platelets immediately form a hemostatic plug at the site of injury; this is called primary hemostasis. Secondary hemostasis occurs simultaneously; proteins in the blood plasma, called coagulation factors, respond in a complex cascade to form fibrin strands which strengthen the platelet plug.” The minute you are injured a dozen different processes instantly begin to bring about healing.
Paul used the body as an example of how the church should function. I have read through the passage in Ephesians countless times but a few weeks ago God hung me up on one simple word used in the NKJV translation, “effective.” In order for a church to thrive it takes Christians recognizing, honing, and applying their skills but that’s only part of it. An arm can be the best arm on the planet but without the shoulder and the rest of the body it’s just going to sit on the floor. As we function as a healthy church we must ask the question how do my gifts work into the bigger picture. Unless a body is unified it is useless. Our charge is not just to create a ministry, or to build a single part of the body but to strive toward a common goal and work in a coordinated effort in order to achieve an, “effective working by which every part does its share.
