Autoimmunity And Antibodies: The Disease Of The Church
1 Corinthians 12:14-22 – 14For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19And if they were all one member, where would the body be? 20But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21And 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.” 22No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
I. The Autoimmune Mechanism
• A healthy body attacks what’s foreign; an autoimmune body attacks what’s natural.
Galatians 5:15 – But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
• The church's Autoimmune Disease is an “Anti-Body Ideology” — the deeply embedded theology of individualism that has taught us to function as isolated units rather than connected members.
II. The Two Anti-Bodies: How the Disease Presents
• Anti-Body #1: The Lie of Insignificance – “I am Not Enough to Matter.”
1 Corinthians 12:14-16 – 14For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
1 Corinthians 12:18 – But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
• Anti-Body #2: The Lie of Self-Sufficiency – “I am too Strong to Need Anyone.”
1 Corinthians 12:21-22 – 21And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need ofyou”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22No, much rather,those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
Proverbs 18:1 – A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment.
III. The Cost of Untreated Autoimmunity
Hebrews 12:12-13 – 12Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame maynot be dislocated, but rather be healed.
• Every member has Two Functions — and Autoimmunity attacks both
Ephesians 4:16 – from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
• The Two Functions:
− The What of your function – Your specific supply, what God placed in you that flows from your unique makeup, your gifts, your history, your calling.
− The Where and Why of your function – Your specific contribution to the whole body; how your part connects to, supports, and releases the function of others around you.
IV. Paul Destroys the Theology that Produced the Disease
• The Standard of the “All-Around” Christian
Ephesians 4:7 – But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.
THE TREATMENT
• AT THE LEADERSHIP LEVEL — The decision is to examine honestly what we have built and whether it creates pathways for every member to function or whether it suppresses the very gifts we need.
• For those of us living Anti-Body #1 — The decision is to stop agreeing with the autoimmune attack on you. Stop letting COMPARISON be the voice that determines your value to this body.
• For those of us living Anti-Body #2 — The decision is to stop severing the connections the body needs.
• FOR ALL OF US — Let’s all stop trying to be the whole body – Just be your part.