Healing and the Body of Christ

Peter J Blackburn

Readings: 1 Corinthians 11.17-34; 12.27-30

During our time at Bulimba, when our children were ten, twelve, fourteen and sixteen, we had a bonus – a fifth child. We bought a people carrier – a Mitsubishi Express. It served us well, as did its successor.

I recall one time when our local mechanic replaced the timing belt. Driving the car home, I couldn’t go faster than thirty kph or the shaking became unbearable. The engine had two balance shafts designed to make it run more smoothly. But the mechanic had only managed to align one of them correctly which made the engine unbearably rough!

A wheel that is off-centre is called “eccentric” – so is a person who is “off-centre” in some way.

What is the central reference-point of our lives? We are designed to have God at the centre. Because we have inherited and chosen to put ourselves and “things” at the centre, we have become sinners and, in all sorts of ways, our lives just don’t “run true”. And the breakdown in our relationship with God soon manifests itself in breakdowns in relationships in the community.

Jesus died on the cross and rose again to bring about forgiveness and a restored relationship with God. His purpose is also restored community. That is why Jesus emphasised so strongly that God’s forgiveness of our sin requires of us a desire to forgive others.

The Body of Christ

In spite of all its imperfections and failures, the Church is the Body of Christ, “the fulness of him who fills everything in every way” (Ephesians 1.23). The word translated “fulness” here (plērōma) could also have been rendered “fulfilment” or “completion”. It isn’t as if all of Christ is now to be found in the Church. That just isn’t so – certainly not at this point in our history. And yet, the “Body” is an important part of the fulfilment of his redemptive work. It is also the principal visible means by which he brings the gospel of his saving grace into today’s world.

Have you noticed? A high official from Ethiopia had been in Jerusalem to worship and was heading home with his own copy of the book of Isaiah. The Spirit brought Philip alongside to explain the gospel to him (Acts 8.26-39). The Body of Christ was at work. Saul of Tarsus was “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples”. On his way to Damascus he had an encounter with the risen Christ. But the Lord sent fearful Ananias to him so he could regain his sight and be baptised (Acts 9.1-19). The Body of Christ was at work. Cornelius was a Roman centurion at Caesarea. He and all his family were “devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly”. One day, in a vision, he saw an angel of God... to bring him the gospel of Jesus? No! To send men to Joppa to fetch a hesitant Simon Peter who would tell them the gospel (Acts 10 ). The Body of Christ was at work.

I set out for an evening service in one of our churches in the parish. I wasn’t preaching that night, and, as I set off, I decided on a slightly longer route to drop in on a home where the husband was dying of cancer. I rang the doorbell and the wife just about collapsed into my arms – “How did you know to come?” I didn’t! The Body of Christ was at work.

In Romans 12 Paul writes, “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. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully” (vv. 4-8).

As Christians, we are no longer independent, but interdependent. It’s not just that, being born again, we are brothers and sisters in God’s family – though, if we could really grasp that much, we would have come a long way! Paul’s favourite image for the Church is the Body of which Christ is Head and Lord.

We need a body, don’t we? We can’t work without one. And if, for whatever reason, it won’t function properly or refuses to respond to what we want it to do, we are in a bad way! Without a body we are not equipped for life in this world. The Body of Christ is the principal means by which Christ works in this world.

Various Gifts

In the Corinthian church each person was very proud of the particular spiritual gift he or she had. This led to conflict and chaos because there was no awareness of the Body.

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul begins by acknowledging the variety of gifts the Spirit has given to individual members. Then he says, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.” (v. 12). The parts of the human body need one another, he is saying (vv. 14-26). “you (all of you together) are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (v. 27). As he goes on to list the gifts again, he is emphasising order and leadership in the Body. None of the gifts made anyone a “superior” member of the Body.

The problem, Paul is saying, is that we are so “me-centred”, failing to understand that any gifts we may have equip us in our place within the Body so the Body can function. That is why, in chapter 13, Paul goes on to speak about love. Without love, he is saying, our so-called spiritual gifts are nothing.

Paul speaks of some of the members having a particular gift of healing. In the passage from James 5 that we looked at last week, that gift is seen to act through the whole Body and ministered through the elders. I am sure that, where an individual has this gift, it is to be a Body ministry and part of the “prayer of faith” of the whole congregation.

Means of Grace

As we have mentioned previously, Jesus dealt with each person uniquely. He didn’t have a fixed “healing” formula or routine. He touches the leper (Matthew 12.2-4), speaks the word (from a distance) for the centurion’s servant (vv. 5-13), touches the eyes of two blind men (9.27-31), puts salivary mud on another blind man’s eyes (John 9.6-7), rebukes the demon (Matthew 17.18)... We don’t detect a pattern in the healing ministry of Jesus. Touch was often important, but not in a formal laying-on-of-hands sense. At no time is it recorded that Jesus anointed anyone with oil.

Once we get into the book of Acts, we note the awareness that it’s not them but Jesus who heals. So, to the crippled beggar at the Beautiful gate of the Temple – “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (3.6).

When Peter and John were taken to account for their actions before the Jewish Sanhedrin – “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed” (v. 10). In Acts 19 we read that “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed... ‘In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out’.” One evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” (vv. 13-16). We only live, and can only serve “in the name of Jesus”, but it’s a relationship, not a formula.

There are a number of general means of grace that God uses to build us up within the Body of Christ. These promote our spiritual health and growth and are important in the healing ministry of the Body.

God uses our reading of the Scriptures and our attention to the Word preached to build us up in our faith in God and to equip us for life and service.

Just the Scriptures are the important means by which God communicates with us, so prayer, individual and corporate, is the vital link by which we respond to God’s presence and grace. In 1818 James Montgomery wrote,

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,

the Christian’s native air...

Samuel said to the people of Israel, “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you” (1 Samuel 12.23). It is that constant prayer for one another within the Body that will express itself in specific prayers for healing.

At its heart, Fellowship is our inter-relatedness within the Body, our sharing together in the grace of Christ and the life in the Spirit. That is why we “rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12.15). Within the Body we feel the joy and pain of others.

There are two particular means of grace. We call them the “sacraments” – Baptism and Holy Communion. The Basis of Union says, “himself acts in and through everything that the Church does in obedience to his : it is Christ who by the gift of the Spirit confers the forgiveness, the fellowship, the new life and the freedom which the proclamation and actions promise; and it is Christ who awakens, purifies and advances in people the faith and hope in which alone such benefits can be accepted” (para 6).

Let me tell you the story of Jack – an eighteen-month-old boy whose family was holidaying at Inskip Point. He was found floating face-down in the water and was unconscious. Nobody knew how long he had been there. Dad worked for Telstra Mobilenet, but there was no signal until forty kilometres along the road.

Nambour Hospital phoned me, “Could you come to the hospital to baptise Jack?” I hastily called for prayer support and headed off to the hospital. I had to wait for half-an-hour, trying to shut out “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” which was showing on the TV and to focus my thoughts and prayers on this boy and the situation I would soon face.

In the emergency room the mother, still wearing her muddy jeans, was lying with the still form of her son between her legs and connected to oxygen. The request for baptism was repeated. A sterile stainless steel hospital bowl was soon brought and filled with hospital water. After a few words of introduction and counsel, there followed a simple service of baptism followed by earnest prayer for the life of Jack.

After the baptism, three doctors came and explained to the mother that Jack’s oxygen levels were too low. There was nothing more they could do for him in Nambour. He had to be transferred to the Royal Children’s in Brisbane. But rain had set in, so they couldn’t go by helicopter – it would have to be by road. The mother took the information in and the doctors left. A nurse came to relieve the one caring for Jack. She suggested it might help to move the Mum off the narrow bed and lay Jack down by himself.

Almost immediately he pulled off the oxygen mask – a worry to the nurse! He was offered a toy to distract him so the oxygen could be kept close to his face. He threw it on the floor. I saw him next day in a ward, the nurse by his bed saying, “You wouldn’t know anything was wrong with him!”

Six months later we went to his second birthday party on the other side of Brisbane. “This is the minister who prayed for Jack”. Well, that was my privilege, but it was God who healed him!

People have all sorts of questions about when and how baptism should take place. But we miss the point if we fail to see that God is at work.

1 Corinthians 11 contains what is almost certainly the earliest written record of the institution of Holy Communion. But something was seriously wrong in the way it was happening in the Corinthian church. There were divisions among them (v. 18). And it wasn’t really the Lord’s Supper, but more like a meal where some were gorging themselves with food and drink and leaving the poorer members with nothing (vv.20-21).

We should eat the bread and drink the cup in a way that recognises the body of the Lord (vv. 27-29). Is Paul thinking of the elements – the bread and the wine – here? Perhaps, though I think it is a reference to the Body of Christ composed of those who believe in his finished work. By their selfish individualism and their lack of care for their brothers and sisters, they were eating and drinking judgment on themselves. The result – “many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep” (v. 30).

We gather this morning to celebrate Communion. We focus again on the Lord – on his body and blood given for us. We are come to receive his grace freely offered and available to us. But our focus is also on the Body – the people of this congregation gathered with us and people meeting in other congregations in our region with different name-tags, different emphases and different styles of worship. We want to be a healthy and healing Body of Christ in our community – forgiven and forgiving, receiving and giving, reaching up and reaching out...