“But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I love the church. I’m not just saying that because I’m a pastor either. I think I’ve always loved the church. At least, I don’t remember a time when I haven’t loved it. I’m well aware that the church isn’t perfect. It has done things to me that have been hurtful at the time. But the church is good. The community of the body is good. And when it works, when all the parts operate like they should, it really is a beautiful thing. I was reminded of that rather poignantly this week. Let me tell you about a busy Wednesday afternoon and the wonder of the church operating properly.

The apostle Paul had a very clear vision of what God designed the church to be. It was designed to be a body. Specifically, it was designed to be the body of Christ. The church is the physical representation of Christ on earth. Where we are present it is like He is present in the flesh. We are His flesh and blood on earth until He returns. 

Drawing on this, with both the Ephesian and the Corinthian churches, Paul leans pretty hard into the comparison of the church with a human body. He talks about the human body having a host of different parts that are all required to be working properly in order for the whole body to function like it was designed. The church is the same way. 

With the Ephesian church Paul talked about the importance of growing and maturing in our faith and understanding of the gifts God has given us to use for the growth and advancement of the body. “Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind up teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. From him the whole body, fitting and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.” 

With the Corinthian church Paul noted emphatically that each part needs every other part. No part can do it all on its own. No part is more important than any other. No part is less important than any other. Instead, “as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted.” 

These are all really good and important ideas in the abstract. They are good sources of encouragement both to believers who are active but doubting their worth to the body some, but also to believers who are not active like they ought to be. I’ve preached on these two passages more times than I remember. 

This week, though, I experienced the reality of these words in a more direct way than I can remember. The last week has been crazy around here. We had an ice storm last weekend that shut everything down and kept the kids out of school…all…week…long. This weekend—starting this afternoon in fact—we are expecting a snowstorm that may keep them out of school for most of next week. In between these two bookends it has been cold—really cold. Well, this past Wednesday afternoon turned out far busier than I expected it would be. But for all the busyness, I got a front row seat to seeing Paul’s description of the church play out right before my eyes. It was a pretty special moment. 

Let me give you the breakdown. At one point this past Wednesday afternoon I had one group of folks in our kitchen actively working on preparing the meal for our regular midweek dinner. They were planning for one of the largest crowds that had ever signed up. While that was going on, I met up with another member who is working on repairing a couple of access holes that were cut a few years ago and never repaired properly. The fire marshal discovered them on a recent surprise inspection and offered the polite suggestion that we patch them. Before this member left, another member arrived who is working on some details related to an informational brochure she has put together for our first time visitor gift bags. She and I were talking about how to get them formatted and the layout just right so they look as good on paper as they do on the screen.

Just before all of this started happening, yet another member let me know that our old sanctuary building was pretty chilly and that the thermostats in the building had “call for service” message on them. After a quick investigation we discovered that the gas tank providing fuel for our furnaces had run dry and there was indeed no heat in the entire building. It was currently 49 degrees…inside. And we were planning for 80 or so people to be in just that building for Bible study in less than six hours. My awesome secretary got on the phone and got our gas company to send a truck immediately, but after filling the tank, his pressure gauge was registering a leak in the line somewhere, so he couldn’t actually let the fuel flow into the building for safety’s sake.

The clock was ticking hard now.

This resulted in a near frantic call to yet another member who spent his career working for that gas company. He rushed over to the church and got to work identifying where the leak could be. Thankfully, he found it fairly quickly, got it repaired, and the heat came on.

And while all of that was going on, I was coordinating with my awesome program directors who were setting about preparing a Plan B for the evening and communicating that with their teams just in case we couldn’t find the leak quickly or repair it easily. These same team members are now actively preparing for us to worship virtually again this weekend.

There are churches in other places around the country who operate with the mindset that it is the pastor’s job to do all of the work that needs to be done in keeping the church up and running. Let me tell you: I couldn’t have done any of the things all of these other folks were doing either at all or nearly as well as they are doing them. Without each of these different parts of the body playing their part, the body wouldn’t haven’t worked that day.

We wouldn’t have eaten the great meal we had. We wouldn’t have as safe and well cared for of a building as we do. We wouldn’t have had heat in the sanctuary building, meaning a whole lot of different pieces of our normal operation would have been jumbled. We wouldn’t be as well prepared for guests as we are and will be. And all of those other programs happening that night wouldn’t have been able to happen like they did. 

I’m not naming any of these folks because they weren’t looking for recognition and probably don’t want it. They were just doing the ministry God has called and equipped them to do faithfully and well. As a result, the church worked on Wednesday just like it needed to. A host of potential obstacles to the movement of God’s Spirit in our midst were removed, and He was able to do all the work that needed to be done. The church works best when all the parts play their part. 

Now, is every day this busy? Of course not. Most of the time it’s just me or perhaps our secretary and me there all day and the phone doesn’t even ring. But that is only possible because of all the different parts playing their part so smoothly and well. That is only possible because my church is filled with people who are being who God designed and called and equipped them to be in this local body of Christ. 

There are two things I think need to be said in light of all of this. First, thank you. Thank you to those individuals who made everything work this past Wednesday. Thank you to every single part of this community who is playing a role in helping us be fully who God designed us to be as a church body. Second, if you aren’t actively playing a role in everything that is happening around here, or if you aren’t sure about the role you are or should be playing, talk with your pastor. Helping you do that—equipping the saints for the work of ministry, as Paul described it to the Ephesian church—is his role in the body. 

The church matters. The church is the hope of the world. Jesus is advancing His kingdom through His body every single day. Let’s continue to play our part in that work so we can see it expand even further to His glory and our joy. Amen.