Pray for Your Church: The Foundations (5)
For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 1 Corinthians 12.12
An exercise in imagination
We have been considering some Scriptures which seem to be foundational to an effective life of prayer for our churches.
Jesus is building His Church. He has a plan and vision for what churches should be. And He knows better than we how to build our churches. So we pray for our church, that we may align with Jesus’ design and plan; that our church may be more and more like Jesus; that we may follow His work plan for building our church; and that we may understand ourselves as one true City of God, interfacing with heavenly realities and exerting transforming influence to everything around us.
Now let’s engage in a bit of imaginative theology. Jonathan Edwards was a great believer in such exercises. In his book,Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God Edwards wrote, “Such is our nature, that we cannot think of things invisible, without a degree of imagination. I dare appeal to any man, of the greatest powers of mind, whether he is able to fix his thoughts on God, or Christ, or the things of another world, without imaginary ideas attending his meditations? And the more engaged the mind is, and the more intense the contemplation and affection, still the more lively and strong the imaginary idea will ordinarily be…”
And the stronger the “imaginary” we have, the more that vision will move us to pursue it in our endeavors.
So let us imagine this scenario: Jesus comes to your city in bodily form. Imagine Him taking up residence in your city, as He did in Capernaum. Imagine what He would be doing among us, what the effects of that would be, and how your city might respond.
Jesus teaching in your city
Can you imagine Jesus, walking about your city, seeking a man or two or a handful to follow Him in His ministry? He might discover them in some public place—a park or a market area, or perhaps beside a lake—or even while they’re taking a break from work—just as He did in Galilee.
He would begin to teach these men in private and to take them with Him as He went to the religious centers in your community, taking every opportunity to teach the Good News that His Kingdom was drawing near and soon would come to earth with power. This would be for religious people—in Sunday school classes and Bible study groups and even services of worship—a completely new idea, and many would flock to Jesus as He taught in open public places. For the non-religious folk, it would be a revelation.
Astonishment would grip people as they heard His claims and promises and His stories and expositions of Scripture. They would hear Him clearly insist that He Himself is the Bringer of God’s salvation and the Kingdom; that He has bound Satan and is plundering his holdings; and that all who wished to be His disciples must deny themselves, be done with all sin, and follow Him even, if necessary, to death.
The more He taught these things, going about to various settings and sectors of your city, the more people would be drawn to Him.
And the more religious leaders would begin to grow jealous of His “success”.
Doing good in your city
But Jesus would not limit His efforts merely to preaching and teaching. He would embody all the things He taught, thus lending them form and credibility. He would seek to help the neediest people in your city, to bless and encourage them, heal their diseases, restore their health, and arrange for the provision of their daily bread.
To these good works He would always attach His teaching, insisting that these works are what the Kingdom of God is like, what we should expect and seek as it comes. And when the Kingdom comes—and His coming among us inaugurates that great arrival—all things would begin to be made new.
Can you see Jesus walking into the poorest neighborhoods of your town? Stopping to chat with, encourage, and offer provision to a beggar? Calling the least of these to be His disciples? Offering peace, counseling wisdom, demonstrating the possibilities of what love can bring into relationships, neighborhoods, and workplaces?
And can we see Jesus standing up to corrupt civil authorities? Misguided theologians and religious types? Doing good to your community by putting self-interested elites in their place—to the great delight of the crowds?
Yes, if Jesus could come bodily into your community, I’m sure He would do all these things, teaching and preaching and evangelizing and doing good and taking certain folks down a notch or two—just as He did when He came among the people of Judea and Jerusalem all those years ago.
So, guess what?
Jesus in your community
Yes, Jesus has come “bodily” to your community. The Church in your community is the Body of Christ, and your church is the Body of Christ within that Body. And all who believe in Jesus are members of that Body with something to contribute to that Body’s fulfilling the expectations of our imaginations of what Jesus would be doing were He bodily amongst us today.
So to that end, brethren, let us pray:
Lord Jesus, help all who believe,
all Christians living in this community,
to realize that we are one Body of Christ,
pervading and transforming our community
by following Jesus faithfully and in love.
Let our church be a microcosm
of that one Body in our community,
and let me be an active member and agent
in helping that to be so.
For reflection
1. What does Paul mean by comparing a church to the Body of Christ?
2. In what sense is an individual believer a “member” of that Body?
3. What is your role as an active member and agent of Christ’s Body?
Next steps—Transformation: Make sure that you are putting to good use all that God has given you for making His church a true Body of Christ. Take some time in prayer to share with the Lord and listen for His leading on this matter.
T. M. Moore
Give thanks
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Thank you.
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
