Jesus said: “… what God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6, NKJV), referring to God’s plan on marriage. By applying this same principal to everything God has planned, we could affirm the following: “what God planned, let not man modify.”
When human beings plan on modifying God’s plans they will suffer consequences. What God planned can never be broken. For this reason, when human beings try to modify what God has planned, they don’t damage the plan; instead, they just damage themselves.
This series of teachings is titled: “What God Planned,” because its objective is to lay down some foundations for every disciple of Jesus Christ, no matter if he or she has very recently surrendered to the Lord and integrated into a local congregation, or has spend many years in it.

What is a person seeking when surrendering to Christ? To be saved in a personal way.

• The word directly mentions in 1st Timothy 2:4 “… (God) wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”(NIV, text added). God’s will is that all people, every person on this earth, be saved. Now, salvation is for everyone, but it’s personal. God’s plan for salvation was to send his Son Jesus Christ to this world so we could be saved through Him. For this reason Jesus taught that the decision whether to be saved or not does not depend on God, instead it depends on the answer of every person for Jesus. The Lord confirms this when he says: “17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”(John 3:17-18, NIV).
• The perspective that people that people have about salvation is usually based on personal need. On one hand the individual sees himself as a sinner who is lost, condemned, and on a path to hell, and he understands that he needs to receive eternal salvation; on the other he sees his day-to-day problems, whether they be personal, related to marriage, about family, or his career, he knows that God can save him from them. Due to all of this the reason he seeks to surrender to Christ is a double one: blessing in heaven and earth. He wants to be able to receive prosperity, health, and everything that allows him to enjoy God’s blessing in every area of his life. And in the afterlife to be able to ensure his eternal life and a place in heaven (See John 14:1-4, NIV).
• Evidently this perspective is completely individualist. Obviously all individuals are important to God. God does not save people by groups or families, he does it in an individual way. However, the purpose God has with his children is not just individual salvation.
• If it’s more than enough for us as his children to enjoy the terrestrial and heavenly benefits of salvation, why isn’t it enough for the Lord? It’s because His purpose is to make one out of all of them by inserting them into the body of Christ that is the church. God only carries out His plans on Earth through his Church.  

What are some of the results that come when God’s children are inserted into the body of Christ?

1. Breaking with individualism. To understand this action from God, it’s necessary to first define the difference between individuality and individualism. Individuality is defined as: total character peculiar to and distinguishing an individual from others (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Through this definition we see that individuality is defined as the distinctive traits that each person has, which makes him different from others. Now, individualism is: the actions or attitudes of a person who does things without being concerned about what other people will think (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). When we compare both of these meanings, we reach the conclusion that there is nothing similar about individuality and individualism. After analyzing the fact that individualism is based on the idea of being independent of others, it is obvious that God needs to break it because it’s the only way for each of His children to be transformed and form part of the body of Christ, while at the same time reaching unity amongst the members of it. If a believer thinks that it is normal to be an individualist, which means: an advocate of individualism (Random House Dictionary), it’s because he doesn’t realize the profound damage he is causing to the body of Christ. In reality individualism is the first thing the Lord tackles from its roots within anyone who desires to be His disciple. After Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple,”the first requirement he mentioned was “… must deny themselves…”(See Luke 9:23, NIV). Why was this the first requirement? It is because it has the power to break the spirit of individualism, which is very well described in this second definition from the Oxford Dictionary: A social theory favoring freedom of action for individuals over collective or state control. While individualism the supremacy of the individual’s rights above all else, Jesus tells whoever wants to be a disciple that to be able to follow Him and to belong to God as a son, he must voluntarily renounce to all his rights, which is only achieved by denying himself.
2. Give a sense of belonging.
   In our everyday life we say things like “I am from the --- family,” why do we say things like that? It is because we have a need to belong, it’s natural.
   •    Individualism isolates us, but the sense of belonging helps us experience what it means to be integrated to the body of Christ.
   •    The sense of belonging makes us firm in the identity we have in Christ.
   •    When we live united and integrated in to a body, we live the life of the body, which is the life of Christ.
   •    Integration produces trust, security, and protection.
3. Being effective for the body. Ephesians 4:15-16 (NIV) says:

“15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

This word demonstrates that God sees his children integrated into the body of Christ, each as a member united to the other and never isolated. God placed every member wherever He wanted in order to carry out his own and particular activity that He has assigned for it (See 1st Corinthians 12:18). This is the only way for the body to develop harmoniously and for it to grow and be built up functioning in wholeness.

 

1. Experience the victory of Christ. Jesus said: “… I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”(Matthew 16:18b, ESV). The defeat of the devil and death are a fact that was consummated through the work of Christ on the cross. Jesus Christ is who defeated the devil, not us. That victory was transferred to the Church and not to individuals who are saved and isolated. When the devil sees the body of Christ, he knows it is impossible to defeat it, because the church is the extension of Christ here on Earth.

How Did the Lord Plan His Church?

1. God placed the church on Earth to transmit life and not a system of religious creeds. This is why the church is the body of Christ, the representation of the Lord Himself and not an organization or religious institution. This is why the Bible says: “… as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior”(Ephesians 5:23b, NIV). God did not assign a “CEO for the company named Church”; He placed a head to transmit and share the same kind of life with His body.
2. When there is a head and a body, the members of the body naturally subject to the head, it’s not something that is forced. The members of the body would never do anything that the head doesn’t command. God’s word confirms this by stating: “… as the church submits to Christ…”(Ephesians 5:24a, NIV).
3. What was just stated has complete harmony with what Jesus did since the beginning of His ministry in the world; He called for people who would be a part of his Church to be His disciples. The main characteristic of any disciple is that he does what he is commanded and not what he wants or feels like doing. When Jesus called people to follow Him, he said words that no other master could say: “If people want to follow me, they must give up the things they want. They must be willing to give up their lives daily to follow me”(Luke 9:23, NCV). These requirements from Jesus are very challenging. Now, why did Jesus only promise these people that He would transfer His same kind of life? Because they would be members of His body and they would be joined to Him, the head.
4. The Lord made sure that the beginning and the growth of the church was a natural result of the manifestation and transference of His life through his people. This is why the Church is made up of disciples of Christ and not by people who believe they are saved and only go to meetings with the following concepts in mind:
   •    To comply with God.
   •    Because this world is so materialistic that it’s necessary to bring a bit of spirituality into one’s life.
   •    Because the Bible says we shouldn’t stop congregating.
   •    To receive from God.
   •    To “recharge the spiritual batteries,” so that we can face the problems in life.
   •    To have an active social life with a group of “safe people” with whom to share.
   

   Nothing of what we just mentioned has anything to do with God’s plan for His church. What God planned is that the church be the natural transmitter of the life of Christ deposited within her. The Church is here to give of what it has because it has received it from God. This is the representation that allows the world to know Christ through the Church.

5. The word shows that the disciples have a notable characteristic, and it’s love for the Church. “32Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common”(Acts 4:32, NKJV). This behavior is the ultimate expression of a lack of selfishness and it shows that individualism has no place in the church, just as Jesus Christ formed it.

Reflections

• Individualism is part of the spirit that governs this world; as God’s children we have been freed from individualism once we are united to Christ and his body, so much so that we are one with the Lord (See 1st Corinthians 6:17, NIV). 
• The disciples live surrendered to Christ and His purposes on this Earth, and do not focus their lives on the completion of personal and temporary plans (Romans 14:8, NIV).
• The disciples are aware that they are the body of Christ and that the Lord has placed them in a local congregation that they love with a genuine love (1st Peter 1:22, NIV).

 

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