July 3, 2005
Scripture:
Turn to Ephesians 4; I’d like to read the first four words of verse 4, There is one body. Those first two words, “There is”, are in present tense; it’s not “There was” or “There will be”. “One” means one that is unique, one that never was and never will be. What is this one body? In another place the Lord said, “A body thou hast prepared for me”; was He talking about this one? No. When the Lord came down, God prepared Him a body. Think of it. The Son of God started as a baby and grew; He came to the cross and bore our sins and iniquities. When every sin was atoned for, He said, “It is finished”; He died and His body was taken down from the cross and put in a grave. Three days later He rose from the dead in a new body. Eventually, He was taken up into glory, and is now at the right hand of God. Then 50 days later a group of believers were gathered together and the Holy Spirit came down and baptized them into one body. That is the body we read about in Ephesians. Ever since then, every new believer has been added to that body. We are all familiar with bodies since we all have one; we know a body has a head. This one body also has a head, the Lord Jesus. Our physical body is attached to our head; so the spiritual body is attached to its head in glory. Bodies can do things, and we should be willing to do whatever our head wants us to. One thing that is interesting to realize is that as we look at the loaf, it is a symbol of the Lord’s body, broken for us; but it is also a symbol of the body we read of in Ephesians. Some churches cut up their loaves into small cubes to make it easier to distribute to the people; they are destroying the symbol. Some Christians are not following the head properly, but God still sees only one body. You and I are part of it, so we should do the things He asks. One of these things is to remember Him in His death; we have done that this morning. When did this idea of a body come into God’s mind? Ephesians 1 tells us that it was before the world began. The Old Testament barely says anything about it, but it does give us glimpses. For example, when God made Adam, He said, “It is not good that man should be alone. God was not only thinking of Adam, but also of His Son, who was alone, and wanted a bride. We should remember who is our head and follow Him. We know the closeness of our physical body and head; the same closeness should be between the “one body” and its Head. This should make us want to serve Him more. There is one body.