Self-Excommunication from the Head

     Those who do not remain, stay put in, or making their home in Jesus Christ, those do not remain in submission to and cooperation with the Spirit of Christ disconnect themselves from the Head, and therefore self-excommunicate. What do I mean by this?
      We tend to think of excommunication as merely being removed from or kicked out of a particular church or denomination. But at the heart of the word "excommunicate" is the word "communion." The foot holds communion with the hand through its connection to the head. The same is true of the eye to the ear, or the mouth to the arm. All are connected to each other because they are connected to the head, and if one of them should disconnect from the head, that part is no longer connected to the rest of the parts of the body.
     We tend to think of the "Church," the "body of Christ" as just the members of a religious organization or community. As such, we act like it. But His body consists of all those parts which are connected to the Head, receive instructions from the Head, send information to the Head, and through the Head are coordinated with the rest of the parts of the Body.
      Those who choose to live disengaged from the submission to and cooperation with the Spirit of Christ choose to disconnect from the Head, which is Christ. It would be as if the hand had decided to sever itself, including the blood supply and nerve connections, from the rest of the arm. No more nourishment. No more communication with the Head. No more sending and receiving instructions. No more coordination with the mouth, the eye, the foot, and so on. Simply being in the same room with the rest of the connected Body does not imply connection to the Head. Those connections have to be restored in order for the hand to function properly as a part of the Body, and if it's not connected, it's no longer a part of the Body, but a disconnected piece of flesh. Those who choose to live as this disconnected piece of flesh choose to self-excommunicate from Jesus Christ.
     And what happens to disconnected pieces of flesh which are apart from the Head for too long? They dessicate. They decompose. They are disposed of.  In the first century, dead bodies which were tossed out went to the Valley of Hinnom where they were burned. As Jesus Himself said, "If anyone doesn't make their home in Me, they are tossed out like the branch, dry up, and are thrown into the fire where they are burned."
     Making mistakes is one thing. One makes a mistake, realizes it, learns from it, turns around and agrees with God that it was a mistake, and reconnects with the Head. Choosing to live in enslavement to one's own devices is another thing entirely for both baptized and unbaptized (and quite frankly is on another level of choice altogether for the baptized). As Paul described it in Philippians 3, "Whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, who are mindful about earthly things." There is simply no excuse for the "Christian" who, having experienced the Spirit of Christ, chooses to live disconnected from Him in enslavement to his own fear, anger, and bodily cravings; who chooses to refuse to submit to the Spirit of Christ's control, who refuses to cooperate with the Spirit of Christ so that it is He who acts and speaks producing that love, joy, peace, patiences, trust, kindness, goodness, courtesy, and self-control, all the personal attributes of Jesus Christ. There is no excuse for the person who knows Him by experience and then deliberately shuts himself off from Him, choosing to walk in his own devices, and not to walk as He walked in submission to His Father.
     Does God want this person back? Absolutely. Does He want this person to turn around? Absolutely. Will He welcome him back? Yes, but only if that person turns around and reconnects, submitting to and cooperating with the Spirit of Christ. It is simply impossible to commune when one self-excommunicates. It is functionally impossible to be connected to the Head when you consciously self-disconnect. You cannot have it both ways, and God is neither fooled nor made a fool of. There is no way to hide the reality of your connection to the Head from God, even if you're hiding it behind a facade of being a "Good Christian."
     We can only live as He taught and walk as He walked if we are connected to the Head, because it is only then that, like the hand, the foot, or the mouth, we can receive instructions and nourishment from Him and have the ability to carry them out.