Thurs. Aug. 7th :: Acts 9 :: We are Christ’s Body

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven
flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him,
"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"

(Luke 9.3-4)

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Korean theologian Seyoon Kim argues that this one sentence shapes Paul’s entire view of the church. This one sentence gives Paul an insight that he would spend his whole life fleshing out. Here’s why:

When the risen Jesus confronts Paul, he doesn’t ask: “why are you persecuting the church?” He doesn’t even ask: “Why are you persecuting the Christians?” No. He asks: “Why are you persecuting ME?” In other words, Jesus says: As you do unto my church, you do unto me. It’s a powerful sentence that we often overlook.

And this one sentence, at the beginning of Paul’s conversion, propels him to spend his life (literally) in service to the beautiful and messed-up church of Jesus. Why? Because as you do unto the church, you do unto Jesus. We (in the church) are Christ’s Body.

I’m thinking about the implications of this today.

There is a growing group out there that supposedly LOVES JESUS while wanting NOTHING to do with the CHURCH. They’ve had bad experiences in the church (who hasn’t?) and so they’ve purportedly said yes to Jesus, while saying no to the church. And I’ll admit, there have been times in my life when this approach to Christianity has appeared quite appealing.

There’s just one problem with this: JESUS.

In Acts 9 the risen Savior identifies himself with his Body on earth, the church. “Why are you persecuting ME?” he asks Paul. Translation: As you do unto my church, you do unto ME.

So here’s the takeaway for us:
You cannot love Jesus without loving his body.
You cannot love Jesus without loving his church (despite all her flaws).

So may we respond to this Scripture as Paul did:
May we spend our lives serving Christ by serving his church on earth. Amen.

What say you?