Body Life is a Responsibility of Bible Teachers

Body Life doesn’t come natural to us fallen human beings.  We tend to live for self.  Consequently, how to live life together as members of one another must be taught.  Teachers have a wonderful setting for helping students practice Body Life principles.  Teachers also have opportunity to model Body Life.  Click below for two teacher training worksheets that will help teachers build a classroom environment in keeping with God’s design for the Body.

Teachers Either Block or Promote Community Worksheet
In Facilitating a Discussion, Everyone’s Contribution is Valuable Worksheet

Body Life is a Responsibility of Church Leaders

Church Leaders have a platform for promoting Body Life.  If they are going to effectively steer members toward God’s design, they themselves must also function in accordance with Body Life principles.  You can evaluate how your leadership is promoting or detracting from God’s design for the church in the Body Life section of TrainChurchLeaders.com.  There you will find questions with possible responses.  Clicking on the responses will provide additional input.

Body Life is the Responsibility of Everyone

God has both commanded and enabled believers to engage in Body Life.

1. Each member of the body must heed the one another commands of God to function as a body.
2. Every believer has been given at least one spiritual gift to be used for the common good of the body.

Even if Bible teachers do not fulfill their responsibility in teaching and modeling it and even if church leaders do not actively promote and function within it, you are still responsible before God to do your part in living out Body Life principles.  May this site be used by God to help you better understand God’s design for the Church and encourage you to do your part.

Think About the Human Body

• The human body is a unit (one) made up of many parts.
• Each part is important and needed.
• Each part has a function that contributes to the whole.
• Parts of the human body function interdependently.
• Parts of the human body are dependent on the brain for growth, health, and directives.

Scripture’s Analogy of the Church with the Human Body

The church is referred to as the Body of Christ.  Jesus is the Head of the Body and we are members of one another.  Click below to study key passages related to God’s Design for the Church as a Body:

Ephesians 4:11-16
Romans 12:1-21
1 Corinthians 12:14-26

Body Life Defined:

If the Church is to function similar to the human body, then Body Life is how we relate to one another in ways that demonstrate:

1. unity out of diversity … every part important and needed
2. interdependence on one another … every part contributing to other parts
3. dependence on the Head … every part living according to directives from Him

In the next post we will consider whose responsibility it is to foster Body Life within the Church.  Subscribe to receive e-mail notification of new posts.

Resources to Help Your Better Understand Body Life

Based on what Jesus defined as the greatest commandments, we would have to conclude that our purpose would be to live out those commandments.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Matt. 22:37-39)

The next verse cues us in to the importance of these commands.  Jesus asserted, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The Ten Commandments listed in Exodus 20 are ways to show love for God and love for people.

The theme of love for God and love for people runs through Scripture with the various commands lining up under these purposes.   God’s objectives have not changed.  Consequently, you should be able to make a two column chart for your church with the headings Love God and Love People.  What you do should be able to fit under one column or the other.  That which does not clearly fit, should be examined for its value of the time and resources it takes in light of God’s purposes.

The question we must ask is if we are actively pursuing and lining up with God’s purposes as a church.  If not, why not? 

Church leaders, you will find help for breaking through hindrances at TrainChurchLeaders.com, a site developed by Ministry Tools Resource Center to help ministry leaders work through issues affecting their leadership.  When you click on the above link, it will take you to a page about church purpose where you will find questions to get you thinking about what you are doing in pursuit of God’s purposes.  Follow the instructions on that page to get input on your responses.

The church finds itself in some difficult times . . .

          doctrinally
          morally
          societally
          financially

We stand at a crossroad. Will we despair and compromise or will we persevere and stay true?

Financial Realities:

For many churches,

giving is down and expenses are up.

Financial Retooling:

Yes, it takes money to do ministry certain ways but, in truth, it takes God working in the hearts of people.  The best facility, equipment, and materials don’t change lives.  God, through His Spirit and His Word, does the true work.  Money isn’t required to access those resources.

Yes, it takes money to buy student books and classroom supplies but the truth is that people need love way more than they need learning materials.  Love is something you can give away and will be remembered long after the lesson ends.

Yes, it takes money for the upkeep of a church building but if everybody would do their part, these expenses could be reduced.

Yes, it takes money to purchase high-tech equipment, DVDs, and computer software, but there are many ways to communicate without cost.  If used strategically, skillfully, and with excellence, some of this low-tech methodology can still be quite effective.

Financial Reckoning:

We all might have to make some adjustments and sacrifice in certain ways.  As we do, perhaps it will pull us back to relying more on the Lord than our resources.  That would be a good outcome!!

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”  (Heb. 13:5-6)

Church Leaders:  Learn to think outside of the box.  What are some alternative means of doing ministry?  Purchasing a pre-fab program might take less time but it isn’t the only way when the funds are tight.  You might need to get back to the basics of good time management as part of biblical stewardship.  (1 Cor. 10:31; Eph. 5:15)

All Church Members:  View giving as an act of worship, not merely a responsibility.  View giving as an investment into eternity, not merely to pay salaries and other current expenses.  Give from the heart as God prospers you.  (2 Cor. 8:2-3; 9:6-7)

Stewardship Resources

The church finds itself in some difficult times . . .

          doctrinally
          morally
          societally
          financially

We stand at a crossroad. Will we despair and compromise or will we persevere and stay true?

Our Society:

We live in a world where we’re supposed to be politically correct and pluralistic (accepting of all beliefs) or face scrutiny, skepticism, and accusations of intolerance.

We live in a world where people want some semblance of spirituality but are not so sure they want what the church offers  … too narrow, too out of touch.

Our Options:

1. Ignore and further alienate ourselves from the real world.
2. Combat those who oppose us.
3. Compromise by watering down truth to make the church more appealing to the masses.
4. Wisely make the most of every opportunity in ways that stay true to God and His Word.

The fourth option is the most biblical:

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  (Jn. 17:15-18)

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.  (Rom. 12:2)

Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. (Eph. 5:15-16)

Church Leaders:  Remember the real essence of the church.  Remember God’s desire to present the Bride spotless (Eph. 5:25-27).  It’s your responsibility to line up with God’s purposes and design in all you do, not to appeal to the masses and to lift Jesus up, not ourselves.

All Church Members:  We need to remember that we will stand before the Lord one day, accountable to Him for what we say and do (Rom. 14:12; Heb. 4:13).  His judgment is what matters, not what society deems proper, not what pleases people but rather what the Lord says matters, what pleases Him.

The church finds itself in some difficult times . . .

          doctrinally
          morally
          societally
          financially

We stand at a crossroad. Will we despair and compromise or will we persevere and stay true?

The Church faces a moral deficit:

• Pastors and ministry leaders who have lied, cheated, or fallen into illicit relationships
• Teachers and ministry leaders allowed to teach and lead even though their lives do not line up with God’s ways
• Church members who are living more by the standards of the world than God’s Word

Thankfully, the above does not characterize every local church but does for far too many churches.

The Church faces a moral dilemma:

How are we going to be a testimony for Jesus if we don’t live differently than those who do not know Him?

Compromise, integrity breaks, immoral deeds from leadership to church members –

Is it any wonder our society is headed down such a destructive path?  The church, as salt and light in this world, is supposed to function as a moral compass in this world.

Is it any wonder people who might want spiritual life, want little to do with the church itself?  The church, as salt and light in this world, is supposed to attract people, not repel them.

The Church faces a moral deliverance:

As Romans 7 states, we will have that struggle between the old human nature and doing that which lines up with our new nature.  If we keep getting back to Jesus and the Gospel truth, we will find the help we need to live holy lives.  We must regularly find ourselves at the foot of the cross, grabbing hold of the resurrection power available to us, and relying on the Spirit as our Promised Helper.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom. 7:24-25)

Church Leaders:  Be that example you are called to be.  God clearly specifies qualifications for people in ministry in passages such as 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and 1 Peter 5. 

“Now the overseer must be above reproach.” (1 Tim. 3:2)  “Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect.” (1 Tim. 3:8)

All Church Members:  Learn what it is to walk in the Spirit.  Live in accordance with the new life you have been granted in Christ.

Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (Gal. 5:16)

Resources to Help with Your Walk with God

The church finds itself in some difficult times . . .

          doctrinally
          morally
          societally
          financially

We stand at a crossroad. Will we despair and compromise or will we persevere and stay true?

What seems to be happening in the Church: 

• creeping in of the world’s relative and pluralistic view of truth as opposed to absolute truth – and so we lack a foundation and have no moral compass
• drifting away from apologetics (why we believe what we believe)  – and so it’s easier to be swayed to humanistic thinking and mystical views of spirituality
• lessening use of the meat of God’s Word in sermons, teaching, etc.  — and so people have a shallow understanding of truth that does little to affect the way they live

Thankfully, the above does not represent every local church but does for far too many churches.

The end result of these doctrinal shifts:

1. We seem to be seeing more and more Bible illiterate people in our churches.
2. We seem to be seeing more and more non-victorious people in our churches.

The hope for the church:

We must get back to what the Word says:

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (Jn. 8:32)

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (Jn. 17:17)

saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. (2 Thess. 2:13)

If we want to see people released from bondage and growing more and more Christ-like, then we must present to them the unadulterated Truth of God’s Word.

Church Leaders:  We need to unashamedly and unapologetically stand on the Word of God.  We need to be ready to give an answer but remember that it is to be seasoned with grace, gentleness, respect, and love.

… prepare God’s people … until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. (Eph 4:12-15)

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.  (1 Pet. 3:15)

All Church Members:  We need to return to our roots, to value the authority and life-changing ability of God’s Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17).  Doctrine has application to life and is what will keep you rooted and growing in the Lord.  That is why Truth is an integral part of our spiritual armor, that which holds everything together — “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist” (Eph. 6:14).  If you struggle with the role of God’s Word, read through the following posts:

origin of the Bible
authority of the Bible
uniqueness of the Bible
accuracy of the Bible
sacredness of the Bible

Let’s remember:  Failure to hold on to Truth only leads to trouble.  –

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, (Rom. 1:18)  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen.  Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.  … Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.  (Rom. 1:25-26a, 28)

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