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Part 4 - The Application of Faith
Sanctified: In the Body of Christ
A third aspect of the sanctifying work of Christ is the separation of the
believer into the body of Christ, the church. (See Part 2: Separated in the
Body of Christ). Upon the earth the collective group of worldwide
believers comprise the church. The body of Christ is not necessarily the
visible church but it is all true believers in Jesus Christ who are known to
God. Christ is head of his body, the church. The church on earth is also
called the temple of God, for the Holy Spirit dwells in
it. An important element in being fruitful in the sanctified position one
has in Christ is abiding in the body of Christ. It is to recognize that God
has placed the believer in the church in a calling to be a functioning
member through which the Spirit is to operate.
A holy temple
In writing to the Ephesians, Paul the Apostle says concerning the joining of
Jews and gentiles together as one body, "Now, therefore, you are no longer
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of
the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, in whom the
whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the
Spirit" (Eph. 2:19-22). The church is not a completed entity, nor a mature
one. It is continuously being built and its members are in the process of
growing.
Christianity is not an individual experience. God has called His people as
one in Christ. Individuals are "being joined together," they are being
"built together." Together the church "grows into a holy temple in the
Lord." Into the church Christ has placed the believer where He pleases and
has given the believer gifts in order to facilitate this growth.
Set apart by Christ: into His body
Paul writes, "But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body
just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body
be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot
say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; nor again the head to the feet, 'I
have no need of you.' " (1 Cor. 1218-21). Experiential sanctification
depends on the interaction of the members of the body. Each member is
nourished by the others. No one grows alone. In being nourished and built
up, each member in turn can build others up.
Because God's design for growth in Christ, for maturity, and for the
creation of a holy "dwelling place of God" involves the working together of
the members of the body of Christ, it is into this body that the sanctifying
work of Christ has placed the believer. This is one aspect of Christ as the
Way. It is in the body of Christ that the way to a sanctified relationship
with God is established. Maturity and fruitfulness comes through the members
of the body working together, with the Holy Spirit operating through the
gifts of each member. To be fruitful in this place
requires a reckoning by faith in this position and the abiding in it.
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