A number of professing Christians today appear to want a decapitated Jesus. They desire to have His head apart from His body. The Bible tells us that the church is Jesus’ body with Him serving as the head of it. Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” So, in essence, to claim that you want Jesus but have nothing to do with His Church is to attempt to cut Jesus’ head off from His body. It is equivalent to accepting someone’s head but rejecting their body. It would be like going around with a severed head in your hands. An image that is very disgusting and repulsive. Something that none of us could ever imagine doing. Yet, that is exactly what one attempts to do if they neglect being a part of the church that Jesus gave His very life for.
Of course, it is impossible to sever Jesus’ head from His body. To separate Jesus from His church. He even identifies Himself with the church. We see this with His words to Saul/Paul when He confronted him on the road to Damascus. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). Notice He did not ask, “why are you persecuting My church?” Instead, it was “why are you persecuting Me?” According to Jesus, to persecute the church is to be persecuting Him. Whatever is done to the church is ultimately done to Him. That is how closely connected He is to the church. This is communicated as well in the illustration of the shepherd separating the sheep from the goats at Christ’s return in Matthew 25:31-46. Remember that the primary evidence there of whether one is a sheep or a goat comes in how they treated Jesus’ people. It will be the sheep who fed Jesus when He was hungry, gave Him drink when He was thirsty, showed hospitality to Him when He was a stranger to them, clothed Him when He was naked, visited Him when sick, and came to see Him when in prison (vv. 35-36). Upon asking when they did this, Jesus will tell them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, the least of them, you did it to Me” (v. 40). Who are Jesus’ brothers which He refers to here? Not His biological family but His spiritual one. Not the Jews but all believers (both Jew and Gentile) who are following Him as disciples through faith in Him. He made this clear to His own mother and brothers when they came to see Him earlier as recorded in Matthew 12:46-50. After being told that they were there to speak with Him, He points to His disciples and declares that they are His mother and brothers (v. 49). On the other hand, those who neglect His people (His true mother, brothers, and sisters), Jesus will tell them to depart from Him to the eternal fire of punishment as they show themselves to be goats who did not belong to His flock (Matthew 25:41-46).
Don’t miss the point of this! The evidence of having a relationship with Christ is seen in your relationship to His people. What does it indicate then if you claim to have a relationship with Christ but have nothing to do with His people? If you neglect being with His people and serving them on a regular basis? John goes so far as to say that if you do not love (which is an action word involving commitment, not a feeling or emotion) your brother who you have seen, then you cannot say that you love God who you have not seen (1 John 4:20). And “brother” there specifically refers to a brother or sister in Christ. A fellow believer that everyone who is united to Christ through faith in turn is united to.
You can’t have the head without the body. To reject the body is to reject the head. Other illustrations that are used to portray Jesus’ close inseparable connection with the church as His body also show us this. You can’t have a building with a foundation but no house built upon it. There can be no marriage with only a groom but no bride. A shepherd rightly cannot be called a shepherd without sheep for him to tend to. Jesus and the church is a package deal. He does not give the option of having Him without being a part of His church. It is not like when you are buying a car and are presented with this protection plan you can also purchase, an extended warranty, and a lifetime service plan with the dealership where you are free to choose to buy one but leave the others. Or just to get the car without all of the additions. You are not obligated to accept them all. That’s not the case when it comes to Jesus and the church. The New Testament knows of no such thing as a believer who is not some way connected and actively participating in the life of a local congregation. It teaches that every believer is a part of Christ’s body, the church, and has each been given certain gifts by His Spirit to be used in the church. To sit that out and not to use such gifts would be to be disobedient to the Lord and working to separate yourself away from Him. (And, certainly, those who may not physically be able to make it out to attend Sunday services can still maintain an active part in a congregation in other ways. That should not serve as an excuse or justification for isolating oneself from the body of Christ they belong to. Just a week or so ago, I had someone who fits that description reach out to me about contributing VBS decorations. They knew that they could not make it out to the church but it still was a way that they could serve and be a part of things. Of course, if you can come out and be more involved, there is no reason not to, especially in light of all that Christ has done for us.)
So, do you want a decapitated Jesus? His head without His body? I pray that if such has been the case with you that His Spirit would open your eyes to see the importance of being an active part of the local church and not just accepting Christ’s head but also His body as well. Don’t try to keep carrying His severed head around. Seek to love and serve Him through loving and serving His people. And for those who may have drifted away from the church, if there is any way that I can help you get back to being with His body here at Mt. Joy, please let me know. Let’s not neglect Jesus through rejecting His bride, the church.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Lee
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