Sub-Identities in The Body of Christ

Have you ever noticed that sometimes Jesus will say something and it will go against the current institutional church culture…so no one EVER quotes that?

I have.

“I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:14-16)

“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.” (John 17:9-11)

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, (WHY?) that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; (WHY?) that they may be made perfect in one, and (WHY?) that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, (WHY?) that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:20-26)

One HUGE reason the world doesn’t believe in Jesus is because the Church looks like a schizophrenic bride to Jesus and not the healthy, unified body Jesus intends it to be.

“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.” (1 Corinthians 12:13)

(There are another 9 verses that mention the Church being ONE BODY.)

Why is it that the Church now is broken into hundreds of competing splinters (denominations, sub-denominations, congregations, organizations) while all this time Jesus intended it to be ONE ORGANISM?

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

Think about that last clause. One of the many sins Jesus died for was us, as the Church, choosing to be so divided instead of being ONE as Jesus told us to be.

Sobering, isn’t it? It gets worse.

Christian people don’t tend to IDENTIFY with their Lord Jesus. We have “sub-identities in the Body of Christ”. You don’t think so?

Why, then do we hear things like this:

“I am Church of Christ. I am Baptist (First Baptist, Second Baptist (why is there no 37^th Baptist?), Southern (why is there no Northern?) Baptist, Fundamental Baptist, Independent Baptist, Primitive Baptist, Free Will Baptist, Missionary Baptist, etc.) I am Pentecostal (a denomination or sub-set – or a separate style of worship). I am Methodist. I am Disciples of Christ. I am Presbyterian. I am Assembly of God. I am Lutheran (there are NINE different Synods or splinters in this group). I am Charismatic. I am Full Gospel. I am Non-denominational…(itself a sort of denomination.)  I am Reformed Theology. I am Holiness. I am Congregationalist. I am Episcopalian or Anglican. I am Adventist.”

All these divisions are based on physical differences…sometimes as punitive as carpet colors or building designs (and God NEVER even told us to have dedicated New Covenant worship buildings.)

Even worse, many of us IDENTIFY with a man-made congregation rather than with Jesus: “I am Bob’s Church-O-Rama. I am First Baptist. I am first Methodist.”

Why do we say these things? Why is someone reading right now getting angry?

Because when we do these things we think in terms of MY church…and NOT in terms of Christ’s ONE Church. And the first is more important to us than is the second.

In the entire Bible only one Person had the right to use the term “MY CHURCH” and it wasn’t a “member” of a sub-set of THE Church or even the general manager of one of those.

It was Jesus: “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)

Do you know why I think most congregations and denominations are dead in the water and shrinking?

Because the gates of Hell DO prevail against them because they aren’t functioning as Jesus’ Church.

What can we do to reverse this spiritually dangerous situation?

Try reading the Scriptures as if you’ve never seen them before. Ask the Lord to take away any filters which might be in place that twist the Scriptures into saying whatever it is you already believe.

There is power in the Word to teach us over and over again…if we will only open ourselves to the Holy Spirit to do so. Most likely, much of what we already believe IS true. If it is, we are risking nothing to read it with new eyes. We will emerge being reassured of the things we believed which were correct and corrected about things which we believed in error.

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (1 Timothy 3:16-17)

Far too many believers rarely seem to open their Bibles, preferring instead to get their Bible in 15-45-minute lectures taught through a paid minister. This person most likely sees himself in terms of some sub-set identity and whatever he teaches will be filtered though that bias.

We must read it and reason though it ourselves if it will truly become a standard by which we discern everything else. It is one of the Bible’s functions to be “the standard of sound words”:

“Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 1:13 - NASB)

Once we become more familiar with the basic tenets of how God’s Kingdom operates on the earth we can rightly divide the Word of God:

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2Timothy 2:15)

In fact, it would be appropriate for us to read this whole section of Paul’s encouragement to Timothy (and to us):

“Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.’” (2Timothy 2:14-19)

The ideas that God approves of the dissection of HIS Church into thousands of largely non-cooperative pieces parts and that the worldly pyramid style business authority structures represent the Church Jesus built are the result of “profane and idle babblings”. They have caused more and more ungodliness to increase in the name of Jesus and those messages have “spread like cancer”.

Finally, perpetuating an earthly system which barely harvests the grace of God because it is based on division and rebellion has, sadly, “overthrown the faith of some.”

Paul warned us about this and we, thinking we could improve on the Lord’s design, have gone our own way.

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

What can we do about this? The institutional church system is immense. It is so deeply entrenched in our culture that even Hollywood uses it as a staple example.

In social media every Saturday Christian people routinely encourage one another to “go to church” the next day so they can be “topped off or filled with goodness”. They ignore the TRUTH that if they are born again, they ARE the Church!

How can you go somewhere to be with yourself and others who comprise the Church? You can’t.

And why do you need to go into a building which is basically a money pit which sucks away the Lord’s finances…leaving the poor without…to be filled when the Word is VERY clear that the Holy Spirit of God literally dwells within all believers and can fill us if we will only depend upon him (and not ourselves or a building sanctioned by society to be special or extra-biblical clergy)?

Why do we need to “go to church to be filled back up” when the Holy Spirit (the Filler) is inside us ALL THE TIME filling us with goodness, peace, joy, etc. We don’t.

We must repent of these lies but we won’t if we don’t read the Scriptures for ourselves – which is why I wrote about that earlier in this piece. We can’t use the Word as a standard if we don’t know it is intended by God to be a standard for us to use, or if we don’t know what the standard measures.

Again, what can we do about this given the immensity of the institutional church system which is predominant in our Western culture? Its’s too huge to topple over.

So, if we wish to see it restored to its former simple glory we must choose to practice biblical Christianity in our own tiny realms of influence.

That will require us to stop thinking in terms of ideas which are either nowhere to be found in God’s Word or are even against things the Bible teaches.

We should scrap ideas like this:

-        MY church

-        MY church family

-        Only MY church is legitimate

-        I am loyal to MY church and MY pastor

-        I don’t see other Christians as MY brothers and sisters because they do things differently than I do.

-        Going to Church.

And, whenever we discard something which is wrong we MUST replace it with something which is right.

For instance:

-        Remember, none of us owns a church. THE Church belongs to Jesus and Him alone. The only Person in the Bible to use the term “My Church” was the One who spent His life for each person who comprises the Church.

-        Cooperate with other Christian groups. Ignore the differences that divide you. Keep the main thing (Jesus) the main thing.

-        Advance GOD’S Kingdom…not some human sub-kingdom like a denomination or congregation or church style.

-        Stop using language and entertaining divisive ideas like identifying with sub-identities in Christendom. Instead think: “I am a Child of God. I am a follower of Jesus. I am a Believer or, even, I am a Christian (which pagans called us…not God.)”

-        Remember, the pastor is not the head manager of a church business. A pastor is a shepherd; he is there to take care of the needs of the people. He is not there to sit in a throne, to be elevated above other believers and to be in charge. Jesus is in charge of His Church for He and only He is the head. (Ephesians 4:15; Colossians 1:18)

Remember that our goal is to not turn all the error around. That’s the Lord’s job. Our goal is to do our best to worship and live as Jesus instructs. Then we can expect to hear this encouraging welcome:

“Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” (Matthew 25:21)

May we all hear that when we meet the Lord.

Amen.

Pastor Mike McInerney

Mike McInerney Ministries, Inc.

© July 13, 2025  

(for use with permission)