ONE BODY

By Lahry Sibley
1 Cor 12: 12For just as the body is a unity and yet has many parts,
and all the parts, though many, form [only] one body, so it is with
Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
Unity of it’s parts are essential to continued life of any living organism. If a
part is removed from the organism, that part dies. It’s life cannot be
sustained. So it is within the kingdom of God and the body of Christ.
Whether you want to accept it or not, the fact remains, there is only “one
church”, “one Body”, whose head is Christ alone. No denominations, no
factions. One Body.

The term denomination testifies of division. Jesus said that a body divided
against itself cannot stand. Well, it cannot live either. If someone were to
divide your body into two equal parts, both sides die.

So has the Body of Christ died? It shall never be. But you can take all your
statistical analysis of what percentage of American society is Christian, what
percentage of that group belongs to certain denominations and you can take
those statistics and cast them into the wind like confetti at a NYC parade.
They mean nothing. Why? Because most are NOT HIS BODY. Billy Graham
admitted that he doubted if 5% of those who have ever responded to his
invitations at his crusades, were ever made alive unto Christ. Leonard
Ravenhill said he doubted if 2% of “American Christians” were born again,
living in the newness of life. I align more with what Leonard said, as being
the truth of the matter. Selah.

Pride and ego have raised up a new head, man, to lead a new group, not His
Body, and they call it His Body. Just as sure as I would cut off my index
finger and place in a nice plastic bag and put it on the shelf, that finger
would die, no living cells found in it’s tissue, within minutes of the
separation. It cannot live disconnected from my body. So it is with any
group of people who say they are connected with Christ, yet Christ is not the
head of their group.

Division means death to the working of the Holy Spirit among them. So in
order to “appear alive”, they devise carefully orchestrated activities designed
to give the appearance of life, like a toy in the toy store that’s made to look
so real, it almost “looks alive”. To dead people, it looks alive enough to be
real, and they love it so. Dead lead by the dead. And as long as there is no
prophet of God among them, they will remain dead, never suspecting that
they are dead. They are comforted in their death by continually being told
they are alive. Their numbers grow and confidence builds that gives them a
false sense of security in those numbers. Well, we know which road has the
“numbers” on it, don’t we?

So how do you know, how can you tell which “church” is alive, and which is
not? Millions across this land, and around the world, either consciously or
sub-conciously would like to know the answer to this question. How do you
know that you know that you know, this is the real living organism?

First of all, His Body has one head, not thousands of heads. The activities of
all the parts of His Body are directed only by the Head. My fingers, in order
to be a functioning part of my body are attached to my body, and are never
separated from my body, and they function only as directed by my head. My
fingers do not have a “mind of their own”, and they are quite content with
that. So it is with the parts of Christ’s Body. Each part does what Christ says
to do, and they love it so. They are quite content with that. Where the Body
goes, all the parts go. None are left behind. And the Body works really well
like that. Each part of Christ’s Body does what they are directed to do by
Christ alone. It’s called ……are you ready? It’s called…..OBEDIENCE. Each
part obeys the Head, Christ Alone.

Christ knows His Body parts, whether you and I do or not. He knows who
belongs to His Body and who does not.

Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven.

What does “doeth the will” mean to you? To me, it means that the father
gives the commands, and those who are His obey Him. I said, “THOSE WHO
ARE HIS OBEY HIM”.

My body parts do the will of my head because they are properly attached to
my body. The parts of Christ’s Body do obey His will because they are
attached to His Body. Those who reject His will are “REJECTED” by Him, He
does not know them. And no wonder, they rebel against His commandments
and do NOT DO His will!!!
My body parts know me and I know them. They do as I direct and they obey
me. If a body has parts that do not obey it’s head, but are doing all kinds of
“independent things”, we call that a monster, or demon possessed, or……are
you ready for this? We call it a “syndrome”. I think it is ironic that they
intentionally misspell that word. In reality, I think it should be a “sindrome”.
Don’t you?

So it is with the Body of Christ. Anything that does not follow Christ is a
monstrous being. It is not His Body.

So who are those who are actually attached to this living Body of Christ?
They are the ones who OBE Y HIM. They keep His commandments. They
respond only to His direction. And they love it so. They know who they are
and Whose they are. God knows them, and Jesus said you can recognize
them too…….

Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Those who keep His commandments, are the ones who are parts of His
Body. They love Him alone, no other loves. They do His will, and not their
own, day in and day out. They delight in doing so. What happened to their
own will? Well, they came across an old rugged cross, and they hung their
will there, and it died. But wait, they were also buried. The old life,
independent of God DIED, the old sin soaked nature and will died with it.
Then, and only then, they have been resurrected into the newness of life,
unified with Christ in His Body. They do His Will, they keep His
commandments, and they follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. That’s it.
There you have it. Dead unto sin, and alive unto God. (Romans 6:11)

Now, if your social club does not fit this criteria, would you consider it just
might not be His Body? His Body keeps His commandments, and because
they are obedient, He gives them LIFE though His Holy Spirit.

Act 5:32 And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also
the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

There you have it. His Body is alive, with His Spirit. You know they are alive
because they have the breath of obedience in their midst. They have the
heart beat of His will, in all they say and do. Do you? Selah - Lahry