The Resurrected Body of Christ

Welcome to this Times Square Church 2021 Easter special. God, would you help us to learn what it means to be part of the resurrected body of Christ?

Would you give us the hearts to embrace one another again and appreciate one another? This is Easter. This is the lesson of God.

May we learn it, may we love it, may we live it. That's Carter Conlin from Times Square Church in New York City opening with a special prayer for this Easter season. We're living in very uncertain times in the world today, and Carter believes now is the time that the body of Christ needs to unite and begin to work together as Christ called us to do. We need vision and understanding from God to know how we should fit in this age.

Let's join Carter now with the resurrected body of Christ. I'd like to start today by reading the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Firstly, verses 4 to 14 and then verses 20 and 21. And it's speaking about the Church of Jesus Christ, of which if you have trusted him for the forgiveness of your sins, the Bible says that you've received the Spirit of God and you are now grafted in and you're part of the family of God, but it also makes you the dwelling place of God, which is really the definition of the body of Christ on the earth.

Now here's what Paul says about this body. Beginning at verse 4, 1 Corinthians chapter 12. There are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries but the same Lord.

There are diversities of activities but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit. To another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit. To another faith by the same Spirit. To another gifts of healings by the same Spirit. To another the working of miracles.

To another prophecy. To another discerning of spirits. To another different kinds of tongues.

To another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually as he wills. For as the body is one and has many members but all the members of that body being many are one body so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks whether slaves or free and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. And verse 20 says but now indeed there are many members yet one body and the eye 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. Now when Jesus Christ rose from the dead and showed himself to the people of that time now he undoubtedly was empowered by and one with the Spirit of God.

Now there's there's really no debating that there's no argument about it. He was raised by the power of the Holy Spirit from the dead. He was now living again after having suffered on the cross and been three days in the grave now he's alive again.

So it brings to mind a question that I used to ask myself many many years ago. Question is why then after being raised from the dead did he choose to appear in human form in a way that left people at least initially questioning who it was they were talking to. He could easily have come out of the grave in a glorified body he could have come out recognizable as the man that he had been and walked among the people for 33 years. But for whatever reason and maybe there's a reason and maybe there's a teaching in this today it appears in the New Testament that when he was raised from the dead time and again people didn't recognize him physically as to who he was they recognized him by the Spirit but not by appearance.

So I want to just leave that thought and let's build on that foundation now. In this particular instance the question is what was he trying to teach us and the deeper question is did the people then understand the lesson and do we understand it today as the body of Christ. Now in the Gospel of John chapter 20 and beginning at verse 11 we see his very first appearance after he was raised from the dead. In verse 11 it says Mary stood outside the tomb weeping and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her woman why are you weeping she said to them because they've taken away my Lord and I do not know where they've laid him. Now when she had said this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. Now she loved him obviously with all of her heart she was very very familiar with him in his physical human form that he had taken on in 33 years he had walked on this earth she would have seen him on the cross and now he's raised from the dead and she doesn't recognize him. Verse 15 said Jesus said to her woman why are you weeping whom are you seeking and this is where it gets really interesting it says she supposing him to be the gardener said to him sir if you've carried him away tell me where you've laid him and I will take him away. Jesus said to her Mary she turned to him and said Rabboni which is to say teacher. So the interesting thing in all of this is he was always teaching everyone something so in this particular case what is what is he teaching her why did he not appear to this woman who just loved him with all of her heart this is the very very first appearing of Jesus Christ after the resurrection and so we look at this and then we go on to John chapter 21. So firstly he appears as a gardener in John chapter 21 his disciples have gone fishing again and they spent all night fishing and they caught nothing and suddenly this voice calls to them from the shore and they said do you have any food and they said no and of course he gives him the instruction to cast the net on the right side of the boat and there's suddenly the net is filled with fish and the scripture tells us that John shouts out it's it's the Lord. Simon Peter jumps out of the boat he's he's so excited he literally swims to shore he doesn't wait for the others to even get there and then now the lesson gets interesting it starts in verse nine of John chapter 21. Then as soon as they'd come to land they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid on it and bread Jesus said to them bring some of the fish which you have just caught Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land full of large fish 153 and although there were so many the net was not broken Jesus said to them come and eat breakfast yet none of the disciples dared ask him who are you knowing that it was the Lord so here we have again this a situation where he's appeared again after he's risen from the dead and they don't physically recognize him they just know in their spirit that this is the Lord Jesus Christ they were interacting with so the first time he appears as a gardener to Mary the second time he appears as a cook to his disciples I mean it's just absolutely incredible because I think about this is the risen Christ don't you think he would come with a chariot and angels and glory and glowing and when we do church plays about the resurrection of Jesus Christ I was thinking about it as I was preparing this there's always a music plays and there's a rumbling and he comes out of the tomb and they bring out the smoke machine and the whole thing and he comes out and there's glory and glowing well that's not the way it happened he came out as a gardener and then he appears to his disciples as a cook I mean it's just absolutely incredible I want to go backtrack a little bit and go to the gospel of luke chapter 24 it's just about some men who are on the road heading away from Jerusalem discouraged and down and depressed and the chapter 24 of luke beginning at verse 13 it says now behold two of them were traveling the same day to a village called Emmaus which was seven miles from Jerusalem and they talked together of all these things which had happened now so the the the crucifixion of Christ had happened and you know the whole of society was in a kind of a religious upheaval they're discussing it they're down and so it was while they conversed and reasoned that Jesus himself drew near and went with them but their eyes were restrained so that they did not know him and then of course it goes on and he has a conversation with them he opens the scriptures up he begins to explain what the old testament said about the messiah and what his ministry was going to be and what it was going to accomplish yet they still didn't know him he's still just a traveler and in verse 28 says then they drew near to the village where they were going and he indicated that he would have gone farther you know I love that because he will never force himself on us he will open the scriptures to us but never never he's such a gentleman he won't force himself on us to believe he gives us the opportunity to to seek him you remember as Jeremiah said you'll you'll search for me and you'll find me when you search for me with all of your heart and so here these men they constrained him and say no abide with us for it's towards evening and the day is far spent I think it might be time for us to pray that prayer again in this generation say God is getting dark you've got to come to us again you got to you've got to teach us again you got to show us things about you and about ourselves again that maybe we haven't considered and the scripture says he went in to stay with them now it came to pass he sat at the table with them that he took bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them then their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished from their sight I love that passage of scripture because I don't know what he said did he say this is my body which was broken for you I just know that when he when he broke the bread suddenly their eyes were open and they were given an understanding of who he was and what he had accomplished and in great great measure what it meant for their lives because the scripture tells us that they turned around they were walking actually away from the place of victory and they were walking to another place but they turned around and went back and they went back with a report and they said we have seen the Lord we've seen him personally so this is where I find it so interesting that he appears first as a gardener then he appears as a cook then he appears as a traveler now that's that's that's the risen Christ we're talking about here and the point I think that he was trying to teach the people of his generation and of our generation is that he was going to have a body on the earth of people that were just very different from each other they would not all have the same office they would not all be doing the same thing they're not all rubber stamped they'd all don't look the same we might call it like Methodist Lutheran Baptist Pentecostal they would be just men and women of different races language and cultures and values he was going to inhabit a body on the earth of gardeners and cooks and travelers and salesmen and anything and everything that's become his church in our generation very different from each other but all empowered by his Holy Spirit the third person of God for his divine purpose on the earth that's why we are called the church of Jesus Christ you're listening to Carter Conlon with his Easter message titled the resurrected body of Christ now here again is Carter Conlon now for too long we have allowed ourselves to be divided remember our opening scripture in first Corinthians chapter 12 Paul said 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 and my opinion for what it's worth is that we've been guilty of this over the years and it's brought great weakness into the testimony of Christ because we've looked at we the gardener we the gardener has said to the cook I don't need you and the cook said to the traveler I don't need you and the traveler said to the gardener I don't need you we're all part of the body of Jesus Christ remember the opening scripture there are differing gifts but the same spirit there are differences of ministry but the same Lord there are diversities of activities but it's the same God who works all in all the manifestation of the spirit is given to each one for the prophet of all so in other words that God's Holy Spirit is on every person who has genuinely come to Christ from whatever background or whatever church they happen to attend and given to us for the sake of profiting each other and the kingdom of God there are all kinds of gifts at work and the body is one in chapter 12 verse 12 he says the body is one and has many members all the members of that body being many are one body and so also is Christ by one spirit we're all baptized into one body whether Greeks or Jews or slaves or free we've been all made to drink into one spirit for in fact the body is not one member but many and we have for way too long allowed ourselves to be divided now I'm talking about division based on distinctives just different ways of looking at things different ways of doing things I'm not talking about the essence of the cross or believing for our salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ but once we have come to the cross once we've come to Christ his way once we've confessed our sin then we are given the spirit of God and we become part of God's dwelling place on the earth become part of his body and the scripture just tells us that Jesus himself said a house divided against itself cannot stand and we have allowed ourselves over the last I think it's a peacetime extravagance I've always called it to allow ourselves to be divided we've allowed ourselves to be divided and we find ourselves now in a generation where a flood of ungodliness is coming into our culture it's coming into our society it's swallowing up the minds of our children and our youth it's threatening to destroy the very fabric of the country as we know it and we find ourselves as the people of God as the body of Christ instead of having the impact on the culture that we should have we find ourselves rather powerless to change this or to stand against this onslaught of hell that's come against this nation at this time and so we have to stand back and say God what is it we have done that has brought this incredible weakness now there's obvious things a lot of the people of God are living a mixture that's for sure I mean living uh half in the kingdom of God and half in this world and and that's a division of sorts that causes us not to be able to stand but I'm speaking now about the real genuine body of Christ one of the reasons in my heart that I believe that we have found ourselves in such a weakened position today is that we have allowed ourselves to be divided on distinctives on just practices just the salesman as I said doesn't like the gardener the cook doesn't like the traveler and we've we've all gotten opinions about how we feel the church should look and who's in and who's out and we've become divided and as such we find that we are unable to stand against this onslaught of darkness in our time but the scripture tells us that when the enemy comes in like a flood the spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against it that means there's a there's a banner in a sense a flag may I call it that let's put in a high place where the those who belong to God can can gather again and and is it possible in our time that the Lord is saying you are my church and you have been divided too long and I'm calling you to one place where you start to recognize and appreciate one another and start to understand that none of us can do this alone we need each other every every Christian person who's trusted in Christ for their salvation you can no longer say to the hand I don't need you because maybe the hand speaks in tongues and you don't maybe maybe the hand likes to worship with flags and you just like to be quiet and sit and sing from a hymnbook and we've allowed ourselves to be divided over things that in eternity really don't matter what matters is that we are the people of God we are the dwelling place of God's Holy Spirit we are commissioned to allow him to represent himself through us on the earth and we are given the knowledge that in unity there is power and so it's time I think to put away childish things I think it's time considering the hour we're living in to to rally again to that banner that God is raising on the hill one more time and the the banner that I believe is the cross of Jesus Christ he's just calling us back to the cross and saying you're my people no matter what you look like and I've chosen to indwell you and you've got to understand that if you remain divided you're not going to have the power to stand against the darkness of this time my brother my sister I need you and you need me whether or not we have a few things we do differently if we're over the bloodline if we have trusted in Christ for our salvation we can't afford to be divided any longer we can't afford to thumb our nose at people who choose to do things differently than we do we are the body of Jesus Christ and God help us if we can't get beyond our divisions at this time what a sad indictment that would be if we let this whole generation perish because we choose division over unity we choose weakness over strength we choose to stand against in a sense the word of God and we will hold to our entrenched position that says I don't need you because you're not like me how sad that is the hand saying to the to the eye I don't need you because I do different things than you do or I see things differently than you the way you see them how sad that is Psalm 133 David the great great great Christ type and king of Israel here's the words he said behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity you know you and I have got to get to the point where we just agree with God and just say this is a good thing Jesus was trying to teach us when he rose from the dead that the gardener the cook and the traveler are all him isn't that amazing all the gardener is is encouraging a woman who's lost heart and is full of sorrow the cook is is helping uh feed and give direction to people who are fishing all night and catching nothing and the traveler's walking alongside two guys that are just really discouraged because the dreams seem to have fallen through their fingers and and we just we fail to recognize we're like the cook saying you know no that's not the way you do it you don't you don't travel beside people you cook them biscuits and fish and the gardener's saying no you don't need to cook anything or travel by anybody just stand in the garden and wait for them to come to you and and you see how foolish all these divisions in the sight of God may look you know what he was teaching us is i think really obvious because he never appeared in recognizable form he just said i'm going to have a body this body is going to come together as one in the earth and there's going to be something really pleasant about people coming together in unity and that unity being based on the cross of Jesus Christ he goes on in psalm 133 to verse 2 and he says it's like the precious oil upon the head running down on the beard the beard of Aaron running down to the edge of his garments there's an anointing there there's an anointing to comfort there's an anointing to provide for the hungry there's an anointing to unravel in a sense the the confusion in people's minds as they're traveling away from the presence of God there's an anointing when we choose to recognize and appreciate and love and honor one another there's an anointing when we come down in a sense from our lofty place and take on the form of a servant and identify with the rest of the body all around us we become in a sense as Christ was to us and is to us there is this incredible anointing oh God would you help us again as the people of God to come back together he goes on in psalm 133 verse 3 and David says it's like the dew of herman descending upon the mountains of Zion for there the Lord commanded the blessing life evermore in other words when when brethren dwell together in unity it's like this dew that descended upon the mountains and it it's it satisfies thirst would you agree with me today that we are living in a really thirsty society our children are fainting for hunger at the top of every street people are looking for hope and a way forward the societies around us are becoming bitterly divided on ethnic and racial and social and linguistic lines and there are powers of darkness sowing this division in our societies all around us but when God's people come together it's it's a proof in the sense that there's a better way to go that something else can be considered it's it's a do that comes down upon the mountains and begins to satisfy the thirst of every hungry soul when we remain divided when in the church of Jesus Christ we point out the window or out the door and say I don't need you you don't need me you're different than I am I'm not like you what makes us any different from the raging society in our streets all around us we are exactly the same except that we're just adding nice clothes and a Bible and a lot of Christian language to it but really at heart we're not much different than those that are dividing in our streets today and and literally cursing one another but it's in this place of unity that David concludes Psalm 133 by saying for there the Lord commanded the blessing life ever more this is the place where God says if you will walk together as my people manifestation of my spirit is given to you for a divine purpose and that purpose is to command life that purpose is to bring life into every place you go into every conversation you're involved in into every room you enter God says if you will do it my way I will command life again I want you to hear that sentence one more time for those that are hearing my voice today God says if you will do this my way if you will acknowledge the body of Christ I will command life through you one more time it's time for you and I again to sit at the table with Christ let the bread be broken let our pride be broken let our divisions be broken let us be broken for one another and for our generation and if we will do this then just like the men on the road to Emmaus our eyes will be opened our hearts will burn again for the truth of God that he is willing to give to us and we will go running back to our brethren our brothers and sisters in Christ of every persuasion and say I have seen the Lord God has spoken to my heart this is a good day what we thought was a defeat is actually become a victory above and beyond everything that I say that I say to you today I say again it's time to pray thanks for joining us today you've been listening to an easter message from time square church with carter conlon titled the resurrected body of Christ for more information about time square church be sure to log on to tsc.nyc