Our Dependence Upon the Body of Christ

We live in a culture that prizes independence, but it’s important to remember God created us as dependent beings. We are dependent on Him. We are dependent on the opposite sex. And, within the Church, we are dependent upon each other.

When I was called into the ministry, I felt helpless when it came to preparing myself to get where God wanted me to be. But God was faithful to guide me every step of the way, providing every resource I needed throughout my journey.

His primary method of provisions—of fulfilling His call for me—was through my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, who nurtured me and helped me grow. When I look back on how many people invested in my life to get me where I am today, I am humbled and thankful.

Had Karen and I been isolated from healthy Christian fellowship, we simply wouldn’t have made it. We would not have matured as individuals, and we might not have remained married.

That we are still together is a testament to the transforming power of God and the way he works in our lives using people of faith.

God designed His Body, the Church, in such a way as to force us to depend upon each other.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul writes that the Holy Spirit distributes gifts in the Church to everyone He wishes. The result is a fully gifted Church, able to express the manifold ministry of Christ within itself and to the world.

As a whole, we are complete. Individually, however, we are incomplete. We depend upon the larger Body for perspective, ability, and wholeness.

All the gifts we have represent part of God’s own ministry and mindset, but He has also withheld a part of the relationship He has with us. This is so we cannot gain directly from Christ what He has designed for us to receive from fellowship with other believers.

In other words, we can’t refuse intimate Christian fellowship and not suffer as a result. Without it, we are missing out on something vital.

If we are too independent, we are punished by a lack of divine nourishment and spiritual deposit in essential areas of our lives.

Do you want to live in the fullness of Christ? Then dependence upon the Body of Christ—the Church—is a must.

Part of what Christ will reveal to us and provide us comes through the flesh-and-blood relationships we have with fellow believers. Otherwise, we don’t receive that blessing at all. His design is respectful, relational dependence.

Every day we hear about personal independence, but as Christians we need to be reminded that personal independence is a deception. It is a perversion of God plan.

God created mankind to depend on him, on our spouses, and upon the Church as a whole. “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (Romans 12:4–5).