Top Heavy
For the body is not one member, but many. 1 Corinthians 12:14 NASB
Not one member – Everyone is familiar with Paul’s analogy of the body. In his letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul goes to great lengths to impress upon this rowdy bunch that their lives must reflect the compassion, grace and obedience of the Messiah. They need order, but Paul quickly adds, order in the body does not mean control by a hierarchy of superiority. Order means everyone doing what they were designed and chosen (by God) to do. Anything else in the assembly is a form of spiritual abuse.
According to the text, there is but one, and only one, head of the assembly. That one is the Messiah. Everyone else is just a member of the body. Not one of the rest is independently important, spiritually superior or designated as authority over the rest. That means that the Messiah and the Father make arrangements for each member to fulfill tasks required for the edification, instruction and continuation of the assembly. God’s spirit at work among the members leads each one to take up the assignment necessary for that particular person. This is the combination of passion, calling and worship rolled into one. Unfortunately, what typically happens to members of the church is assignment by the church for the needs of the church. It is rare indeed for a member of the body to be asked, “And how is the spirit of the Lord leading you to participate with us in this assembly?” It is far more common to hear, “Oh, we have a lot of things to be done and you’d be great at this one.” This form of abuse was clarified for me by my friend John whose work in the area of passion and purpose is foundational and excellent.
Consider the implications of Paul’s analogy. No one is less important, less necessary, less useful than anyone else. The pastor is not the head of the assembly. He or she is not above critique, not more “spiritual,” not the final word. Of course, in pagan hierarchies, he is, but we are not members of a pagan hierarchical religion (are we?). You and I are members just like everyone else. If a church “official” says something, does something or displays an attitude that does not match Scripture or that impugns any other member, we are to speak up, to defend what’s right, to remind that person that every member is equally important in the one body whose head is the Messiah. Far too often we have been taught that if we are not a hand, we have no value. If we are not a foot, we must be left on the sidelines. If we are not persuasive, articulate, intellectual, organizing or contributing, then we have no place except to sit in the pew and agree with everything. Paul would strongly object! So should you. When we begin to treat hands and feet as equally and uniquely important to us all, community will flourish.
ouk esti hen says Paul in Greek. ouk, the strongest possible negative in Greek. Not to be one, but polla—many. So what’s the problem? Scripture clearly asserts your equal position. The spirit of the Lord has chosen you to perform duties specifically tailored to your passions. You serve Him in this body. Why do you hesitate? Throw off the shackles of pagan hierarchy and do what God designed you to do. And if you discover the reprisal of silent discouragement, then you will know which religion dominates your community.
Topical Index: body, one, many, hen, polys, 1 Corinthians 12:14
“Call no MAN your master.” That title is reserved for Someone else already. Amen.
So just wondering outloud…..how does this flesh itself out in real time – when a group gets together – no matter how many – someone always becomes ‘the leader’ … and it goes up (down) from there.
Naturally selected leaders are fluid. Leaders instinctively and easily slide behind whomever is most qualified or previously ‘installed’ in the place of leadership. The ability to size up a situation, and move into place is essential to the forward movement of any entity.
The loudest person, the most assertive person who sets themselves UP as leaders are not necessarily the ones who should be automatically installed. In true relationship these people will, at some point, in some way, relinquish their ill gotten position.
That’s been my observation/experience.
Agreed. The spiritual leaders that I love to follow are ones that REALLY don’t want to do it. Even through that though they have confidence in Him that much more and humbleness that allows to recognize other strong players.
Amen!!
Amen!!! Having had the experience of working on staff under a couple narcissistic Baptist pastors, (and I say this humbly from a background in counseling psych.), I couldn’t agree more! There are deeply rooted psychological reasons why some are driven to work so hard to propel themselves into career situations that give them power, status, and usually money as well. Couple that with the Biblical illiteracy and spiritual complacency of today’s contemporary worship culture, and too often, we end up with consumer oriented congregations that sit and watch (and worship) a pastor who loves to allow themselves to be viewed as an intercessory mediator between the people and YHVH. They will often cite Moses. One pastor I worked with even stated from the pulpit that “preachers are like high priests”. This system results in narcissistic pastors who overload themselves, and often their families as well, in desperate need to maintain their coping strategy and keep themselves above all others. They are also very prone to becoming spiritually abusive and at great risk of sexual temptation from adoring/worshiping congregants. Can’t recommend 119 ministries teaching on this topic highly enough at http://119ministries.com/the-church-his-model.
Personally, I can relate to this “pagan hierarchy”, and have been so disgruntled initially going from church to church, then being more disgusted with folks who have “left” churches to Hebraic roots, to Torah, but the same “pagan hierarchy”
carries on! And it is with a group of Yes-men/women that are involved with ‘leadership’ that agree, stand by, the hierarchy, to simply be part of the ‘leadership’s power of rule, instead of overseeing that everything is done in YHWH’s order, but their own pride of showing WHO are in charge, with no one to challenge their ‘authority’.
“…we are to speak up, to defend what’s right, to remind that person that every member is equally important in the one body whose head is the Messiah.” Amein!
In Bali, natives dare not venture outdoors after dark, they claim that heads can be seen floating around! Yikes!!!
Are heads floating around in churches, with no body parts!!
A hearty applause for this Post! Kudos for speaking up, Skip! We so admire you for such Posts. HalleluYAH!
Wow, a powerful article and some deep truths here.
Something that has been weighing heavily on my mind is the aspect of this subject that displays itself when people *want* to follow human leaders and seem not to be interested in living out of their true Christ-given calling. They are more interested in being fed than feeding others, being served than serving others. What do you tell them then?