We also live in a society where we have accepted a social contract to share responsibility for those who are disabled, or disadvantaged by factors beyond their control. We voluntarily join together to promote and support programs, charities, sports teams, political parties, and events that interest us and in which we can participate. The higher degree of commitment we feel translates into the greater support we give. Alexis de Toqueville in his famous Democracy in America said that the genius of the United States was the voluntary associations American citizens belonged to and participated in. This is especially true, he wrote, of the variety of churches in every community. Wherever they go Christians establish churches. The architecture of every town is distinguished by its church buildings. When we choose to follow Christ, and believe in him as our Lord and Savior, we voluntarily join his band of disciples in a fellowship of faith, a community of love, called the church.

The New Testament describes the local church through the metaphor of the body of Christ. It is a striking image. It rests on the idea of the body as the essential expression of the whole person of the crucified and risen Christ. Jesus used this image at the Last Supper when he broke bread and said, "This is my body broken for you." His body was literally to be given in sacrifice for us. The church, composed of the followers of Christ, is the present embodiment of Jesus. When Paul is confronted on the road to Damascus with the question, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" it indicates that to persecute the church is to persecute Christ. This means that Christ and the church (in the form of the community of believers) cannot be separated. We are an organic whole. "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body."

We are one in the body of Christ, but there are also many parts of that body. Paul emphasizes the indispensability of each part. We each belong to the body. "There are many parts, but one body." We may have differing gifts, differing personalities, differing functions, but we are all indispensable to the whole. No part can say to the other, "I don't need you!" Each part should have equal concern for each other. "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."

For the body to function properly as it is designed, all parts need to be in working order, contributing to the whole. Some parts are more public, some more private. "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" (Romans 12:7,8).

Everyone matters in the body of Christ. Don't think that you are not needed or essential to the working of the whole body of Christ. Don't think that you won't be missed, or your contribution of lack of it won't be noticed. You can't check out or sit on the sidelines. Your absence is like an amputation. It weakens the body of Christ.

Imagine what your body would be like if your stomach refused to function, or your feet checked out on you. Those of you who have suffered from gastric problems of neuropathy know what I mean. Failure of any part of our bodies has serious repercussions on our ability to live as we wish. The same is true of the body of Christ. When a Christian believer refuses to participate in the life of the church and is absent from his local church life, the full functioning of the body of Christ is affected. For a Christian to selfishly live independently of the church or to think of himself as self-sufficient and that the church to him is unnecessary is to fail to recognize that he is but one part of the body of Christ and that he needs the other parts in order to be healthy and to live in harmony with others.

The old proverb says it all: "For the want of a nail the shoe was lost; for the want of a shoe the horse was lost; for the want of a horse, the rider was lost; for want of the rider, the battle was lost; for want of the battle the kingdom was lost."

God is depending on us to build his church, to expand his kingdom, to communicate his Gospel of truth and love. His plan is to work through us to fulfil his purpose.

"He has no hands but our hands
To do his work today;
He has no feet but our feet
To lead men in his way;
He has no voice but our voice
To tell men how he died;
He has no help but our help
To lead them to his side."

The church is not other people. The church is not the preacher, the pastor, the priest, the bishop or the clergy. The church is not a committee or a program. The church is people. The church is the Body of Christ. The church is you. It is made up of people like you. What you do is contagious. You either create healthy functioning or disabling sickness. All who touched Jesus in faith were made whole. We can be the healing presence of Jesus in this community. Will you do it by participating fully in the Body of Christ?

Ted's blog is found at www.tedschroder.com