The Body of Christ

Well, here I am.

 

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, to say the absolute least.

 

For those of you who weren’t there on Sunday, let me give you the Reader’s Digest Condensed version of what’s been happening recently: my car has been out of commission since just after Thanksgiving, my wife’s car had a flat tire a week ago and we found out the hard way that the spare was flat and the rim was bent, I lost a gig playing with a local artist in town, our heat went out on Wednesday night, my wife’s car had another flat tire on the freeway on Saturday night and we still didn’t have a spare, so we had to leave it there overnight, and we didn’t have the money to pay for any of it.

 

And I’m supposed to be the worship leader on Sunday morning.

 

I’ll confess that sometimes I feel like a cheerleader up there. It can be difficult to really get my heart into worshipping God, and especially into leading others in worshipping God. Sunday morning, the last thing I wanted to do was to get up there and pretend like everything was fine. I couldn’t pretend to be a shiny happy person anymore.

 

Late Saturday night, as I was reading my Bible and praying (out of frustration, but then again, why do you think God allows things like this to happen? It ain’t no accident!), God led me to 2 Corinthians 11. In this passage, Paul is responding to a group of believers in the church at Corinth who were going around boasting about how spiritual they were and what a great relationship with Christ they had. Obviously, that’s not exactly a Christlike attitude, so Paul says, “You wanna have a boasting contest? You’re on!” Paul first lists his credentials – a Jew and a Hebrew, a Pharisee (one of the religious leaders), circumcised on the eighth day, a descendant of Abraham – everything a good Jew was supposed to be in order to please God. On top of that, Paul then goes on to talk about how he has already suffered for Christ’s sake. This is still weighing pretty heavily on my heart, so I’ll reproduce verses 23 through 30 here.

 

²³ Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. ²⁶ I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. ²⁷ I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. ²⁸ Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? ³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

 

Later on, in chapter twelve, Paul brings this section of his letter to a close by saying this:

 

⁹ But [the Lord] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. ¹¹ For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

That’s the conclusion that God led me to after all this crap happened. If I had been in this situation a couple of years ago, I guarantee you I wouldn’t have reacted this way. I would have been yelling and screaming and questioning God. I would have been angry with God and blamed Him for all of this. But that didn’t happen. As I sat by the freeway on Saturday night, waiting for my friend Justin to pick Bekah and me up, I felt the peace of God like I haven’t felt in a long time. I suddenly had the strongest confidence in God’s sovereignty and providence. Instead of blaming God, I actually found myself thanking Him for these trials! Times like these are what bring us closer to Him. He uses trials to draw us to Himself.

 

That’s the thing: the closer you get to God, the harder life is going to get. The Christian life is NOT one of comfort or complacency. The closer you get to God, the more God will orchestrate circumstances to draw you even closer, while at the same time, the enemy is going to work even harder to pull you away from God. Often, similar things – or even the exact same things – can be used both ways. The bottom line is this: stuff happens. Which direction will you go?

 

The other thing that God’s been teaching me through all of this is that this is exactly what the Body of Christ is for. I’ll confess something else: I’m stubborn. And I’m proud. When you get right down to it, I’d rather sleep in a 40-degree house than make a simple phone call to a friend for a little help. Even admitting that hurts a little bit.

 

Once I finally gave in to God’s leading and mentioned that Bekah and I were having a rough time, God’s blessings started pouring out like nobody’s business. Marilyn Clanton, Mark DeMaio, Justin and Rachael Johnson, Lincoln Atwood, Zach Hastings, and Matthew and Chelsea Daniel all helped out in immeasurable ways…and that’s just to name a few. I have been so incredibly awed and humbled by the outpouring of love and support from my brothers and sisters. Thank you all from the depths of my heart for your love. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully describe how much God has blessed me through you. At least not this side of eternity.

 

That’s what the Body of Christ is all about, Charlie Brown.

 

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Tags: Body of Christ, Humility, Love, Strength, Weakness

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