The Foundation of  Earthly Body Building

We live in a day when people try to build a healthier body through quick fixes. None of these gimmicks work. They promise great change with either very little or no effort on the person’s part.

Several years ago, I got into amateur power lifting.  During that experience, I learned much about building a solid foundation for competion.

I was encouraged to increase my consumption of water to at least one gallon a day. My trainer encouraged me to not focus on how much weight I worked out with or how long my work out was. Cardio exercises for my heart and endurance included walking three times a week for 30-45 minutes.

I was to also work out four or five times a week for only an hour and focus on correct form. When I did workout with weights, I moved  them quickly in order to keep my heart rate up. Stretching after each set was strongly encouraged.

My weekly workout led me to strengthen every major muscle group. It does help to be strong all over in bench pressing.

Along with major muscle groups, stretching and cardio exercises, my trainer had me work out the smaller muscles that support these major muscle groups. People who fail to tend to these smaller muscles often fail elsewhere.

Any food two to three hours before bedtime or less than an hour after a workout was looked down. For the sake of sanity and as a way of jolting my metabolism I did have one day a week that I could cheat on food. Otherwise it was the regime of eat plenty of protein, avoid too much sugar and in the evening  eat plenty of vegetables and fruit, but no carbohydrates.

The week before a competition included a few unique tricks of the sport. On Monday, I would work out up to my maximum bench press with three lifts of various weights. Then, I met with a physical therapist for a major massage that broke my muscles down. Throughout the week, I ate very lean meat, grilled chicken breasts, and plenty of green leafy vegetables. Starchy foods were a not allowed until after weighing in on Saturday morning. Marathon runners do the same thing to make their bodies very hungry for carbs. Also, the afternoon before a competition, I would get a sports massage from a physical therapist. This extra relaxation was just enough to be helpful but not a hindrance the next day.

The Foundation of Spiritual Body Building

When we look at Paul’s epistles to the body of Christ at Corinth, he wrote about a different kind of bodybuilding—a spiritual bodybuilding. As I read I Corinthians 15, it appears this church lacked a healthy gasp of Jesus’ resurrection. Therefore, the entire body of the local church lacked soundness. At the heart of all the problems Paul addresses is this doctrinal concern for the resurrection. For if Jesus is not raised, as Paul said, then our faith is futile. We might as well eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.

So, all that Paul said about the problems with loose morals, division over spiritual gifts, lack of unity, squabbles over favorite preachers, character issues, weak focus upon Jesus as Lord of his church, and various other problems all come to the issue of Jesus’ being truly risen. But if he is not risen, then nothing else really matters. That lack of soundness within the body opened them up to all kinds of spiritual attacks and ailments.

I agree with a comment by a contemporary Methodist theologian. William Abraham wrote that "without the healing effects of the deep truths of the Christian faith, any renewal will be superficial and short-lived" (Abraham 29).

There is no truth deeper than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yes indeed, churches may try various church health fads just like power lifters and others may try various body building fads. However, the results will be the same. After a while, a church body will become burned out with one faddish program after another and become like a headless body.

The Spiritual Body Building Question for the 21st Century.

How to bring healing and wholeness into the community of faith is probably the most important church related question of the twenty-first century because of the excessive individualism of "modernity."

This contributor to  poor church health comes from a congregation’s concentration only on the individual’s relationship with Christ while forgetting that the church, as the body of Christ is a system of relationships. Any serious attempt to approach developing church health as a living system in Christ by the Holy Spirit begins with the study of the biblical nature and mission of church.

Another contributor to the diseased condition of sick churches is the separation of Christology (what the NT teaches us about Jesus Christ) from Ecclesiology (what the NT teaches us about Christ's Church.) A third contributor comes from partaking of the knowledge of good and evil via various forms worldly wisdom that
appear helpful but lack the power to build up authentic health within a church.

The Doctrinal Foundation for Building Healthy Churches.

The doctrine of Jesus’ resurrection stands behind the New Testament writings. While implicitly true for the whole, it is explicitly for certain writings of the NT.

Consider, Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians. The focus of the first division is on Christ as God’s instrument of reconciliation through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Division two’s focus is on the Church as Christ’s instrument of reconciliation through its ascended Head—Jesus Christ. Throughout Ephesians, Paul is concerned that the readers not separate Christology from ecclesiology.

The addition of theology to a systems approach to church health probably pushes the envelope for those who desire more "freedom in the Spirit." Attempting the development of a healthy congregation apart from biblical teaching will either produce a superficial and short-term renewal or explode into unhealthy and unholy directions. A sad example of this comes from a radical group during the holiness revival of the 19th century. The Oneida Community was an example of a mystical view of holiness where they practiced ‘sanctified sexual promiscuity’ (Synan 16).

The Nicene Creed and church health.

Drawing from the NT teaching as a whole, the Ecumenical Creeds (The Apostles’ Creed and The Nicene Creed) guard us from separating our Christian faith concerning the Church from our beliefs about Christ and salvation.

Whenever people have strayed from biblical teaching concerning Jesus Christ and salvation, some very unhealthy teachings and churches have arisen. The result has been an increase in the lack of sound health in various churches.

            Jesus Christ.

Church health is shaped by our beliefs about the person of Jesus Christ. Christ is the cornerstone and the head of the Church. Whatever we believe about Him as a person will shape our beliefs and approach to the Church.

An extreme over-emphasis on Jesus’ divinity would say that a church could become healthier only if its pastors and laity teach the appropriate biblical, patristic, theological, and church health principles.

An extreme over emphasis on Jesus’ humanity would see the principles of pastoral leadership and systems theory without any biblical or theological shaping as the key for church health. In other words, the first would lead to any other worldly mystical approach to church health that does not involve our participation very much at all. The second would focus totally on what we need to do to develop a healthy church but would leave God out.

The biblical approach as reflected in the Nicene Creed recognizes the unity Jesus’ divinity and humanity. This would lead people to hold together both the divine side and the human side of congregational health based upon God’s grace, motivated by Christian love, the empowered by the Holy Spirit. Our response is involved as a free gift of the amazing grace of God.

            Salvation.

Biblical principles of church health are reflected in our beliefs concerning salvation, which emerge from our beliefs concerning Jesus’ mission. Whatever we believe about Christ’s mission will shape our beliefs and approach to the Church.

Simply and profoundly, the Nicene Creed summarizes the Bible’s teaching concerning salvation. It says that our salvation is in and through Jesus Christ who died and rose for us. As Ephesians 2:8,9 says, we are saved by grace through faith which itself is a gift of God’s grace—and not by works lest we boast that somehow we earned salvation.

Therefore, how pastor, church leaders, and members view the doctrine of salvation will influence their approach to church health. A biblical, grace based understanding of salvation and our response empowered by God’s free grace leads the church’s pastor and laity to both seek God and trust God in following biblical principles of church health. In this view, the pastor, staff, and elected officers lead as spiritual guides and do not view the pastor as CEO of a business.

A view of salvation that does not involve our response at all would lead to a passive waiting for God to make the Church healthy by a sovereign act of grace alone. In this view, the pastor and others in the church wait for God to make them healthy without them having to do anything.

A view of salvation emphasizing human free will more than God’s free grace would lead a church then to work as if it all depended on them and to pray as if church health all depended on God. In this view, the pastor and others lead by trying to do too much. A view of salvation focusing on human free will alone would lead a church to choose and execute some prepackaged church health program without any prayer or biblical/theological discernment. In this view, the pastor and others lead the church as a business. The congregation comes to view the pastor as the CEO who tries to keep the stockholders happy and increase the church’s marketing ability. Thus, the spiritual dynamic of the congregation’s health is lost as people build a church in their own strength.

            One, Holy, catholic, and Apostolic Church.

An early ecumenical creed, the Nicene Creed, summarizes the doctrine of the Church for us by speaking of "one holy catholic and apostolic church." Each of these traits of Christ’s Church informs us about some aspect of congregational health.

Christ’s Church is both apostolic and confessional. When Peter confessed Jesus Christ as the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus replied, "on this rock, I will build my church" (Mtt. 16:18). Following Jesus’ death and resurrection, he told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to endow them with power in order for them to be his witnesses and make disciples of all nations.

God builds the church as the temple of the Holy Spirit upon the witness of the apostles to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ along with people’s confession of Christ as the risen Lord and Savior. Another reason the Church is called apostolic is due to its being under the apostolic authority dwelling in the New Testament. Thus, the proclamation of Christian doctrine reminds congregations that the people of God stand under the authority of Scripture.

Although the Church is composed of a wide range of people, it is one in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. The constitutions of many denominations state its openness to people of all ages, nations, and races. Such statements reflect both the diverse unity and catholic nature of the Church worldwide as well as locally.

The Communion service reminds a congregation of its foundation—the love of God displayed in Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. The service also reminds congregations of their mission—to be the body of Christ for the world. Some Communion service asks for the Holy Spirit to make the congregation one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world. Very often, as a church participates in a communion service, a deeper love for God and each other develops. Sometimes, a congregation finds itself refocused on being in mission as the body of Christ in the world by having participated in the Lord’s Supper.

As the temple of the Holy Spirit, the body of Christ—the Church was founded upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is her ascended and returning head.

Given the spiritual and organic relationship of the Church with Jesus Christ, many membership rituals ask for a commitment from a new member to faithfully participate in the church’s ministries by their prayers, their presence, their gifts and their service. Keeping these commitments is seen as a means of spiritual growth in faithful Christian discipleship and participation in the priesthood of believers. Many churches understand Christian baptism as symbolizing one’s ordination into the ministry or priesthood of all believers.

Within the unity of the Spirit and the diversity of the Church, each Christian congregation is blessed with various spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit to continue Christ’s ministry in the world. To accomplish such a ministry through various ministries, God not only gives individual spiritual gifts to the church, but he also calls persons into various offices of full time ministry to equip others for their ministry. As a body of Christ —the priesthood of believers, we do not minister in our own strength, but by the empowering of the Holy Spirit. As Gordon Fee points out,

If the church is going to be effective in our postmodern world, we need to stop paying mere lip service to the Spirit and to recapture Paul’s perspective: the Spirit as the experienced, empowering return of God’s own personal presence in and among us, who enables us to live as a radically eschatological people in the present world while we await the consummation. All the rest, including the fruit and gifts . . . serve to that end. (xv)

Whenever a congregation forgets it is a temple of the Holy Spirit, the church militant becomes vulnerable to various spiritual illnesses that wage war against its health. Thus, it looses the anointing of Jesus’ resurrection power to overcome the attacks of evil. One of these illnesses is the business model that seeks to build a church on human resources alone.

H. Orton Wiley states in volume 3 of his Christian Theology that "another aspect of catholicity is that which regards the church as militant and triumphant. The church militant is the one body waging war with principalities and powers" (115). Although the Church on earth is militant, Richard Taylor states in his Beacon Dictionary of Theology,

The church is also both impregnable and vulnerable. While the "gates of Hades" cannot prevail against the Church, it can be contaminated and compromised from within—by sin, by false doctrine, by worldly alliances. (114)

The vulnerability of the Church constantly calls for Christians to watch over one another in love as members struggle with imperfect moral behavior and imperfect personal character.

Closely related to the diverse unity of the Church is its holy nature and calling. While set apart by God’s grace as disciples of Jesus Christ, the New Testament also calls for the Church to be a holy people. Thus, the not only is the body of Christ justification-based but also sanctification-directed.

Jesus’ Great Commission instructs us first to seek to bring all people to faith in Christ and then to life of obeying all Christ taught. Holiness or sanctification is important to church health for those whom God calls and the church ordains to an Office of Ministry.

Remind Churches of the Doctrinal Foundation of Spiritual Body Building.

To treat unhealthy views of Jesus Christ, salvation and Christ’s Church, people need reminding of the biblical call to repentance from their sins, believing in Jesus Christ as their Savior, putting their whole trust in his forgiving grace, and promising to serve Christ as their Lord together with other Christians in the Church.

Therefore, the Church belongs to Jesus Christ. It does not exist for itself or by its own resources. Since Jesus Christ died on the cross for everyone, the invitation of the Church to salvation and Christian discipleship is open to all people.

The foundation witness to our faith in Jesus Christ’s resurrection is the Bible. Thus, Christians need reminding that many of us were also asked to receive and profess the Christian faith as contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments when we joined the church. Such times of remembering the spiritual nature of the Church may come through services of Holy Communion. All such services by whatever names we may call them serve to remind us that our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation connects us with the Body of Christ at large and a local congregation in particular. As a member of Christ’s Church by God’s grace, we also share in the Christ’s ministry and mission, which he continues on earth through his, body the church.

Two Penetrating Questions for Easter.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of Christ’s holy, catholic, and apostolic church down through the ages, throughout the world, and under various denominational or non-denominational banners.

Calling any church to reflect theologically upon the resurrection of Jesus for practical Christian living and ministry as a congregation is not a popular church health fad. It is the gift of the church catholic to any congregation with the willingness to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to the church. It is the old fashion way of dealing with church health issues through both God’s grace and speaking the truth in love.

The testimony of both the improvements concerning various churches in the writings of the NT and the early church Fathers demonstrates the effectiveness of a theological approach to church health. It makes no claims about being either easy or quick.

Therefore, this Easter consider two questions from the faith of the church catholic. First. What does the reality of Jesus’ resurrection say about your life and ministry as a Christian pastor?" Second, "What does the reality of Jesus’ resurrection say about the life and ministry of your local congregation?"
                                                                                                                                        
The content of this article comes from my dissertation: "PREACHING FOR A WHOLE PERSON RESPONSE IN DEVELOPING A HEALTHY CHURCH." Diss. Asbury Theological Seminary, 2001. The contents are protected by copyright. Parts of this article first appeared in Crowe, John M. "Biblical Teaching about Church: the Missing Ingredient In Past System’s Models for a Healthy Congregation." Sharing The Practice: The International Journal for Parish Clergy Fall 2001 pg 3-8.
                                                                                                                                        

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