«　WEEK 7　DAY 3　»

　　1 Cor. 12:20 But now the members are many, but the body one.

　　Rom. 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.

　　Every Christian.... is only a member. If he does not have the other members, he will not survive. In the Body all the members must be joined together before they can become the Body. All the members in the Body are related to one another, and they cannot be separated from one another. Between the members there must be a mutual supply and a mutual relatedness. Only then can the members survive. If a Christian lives an independent life, sooner or later he will weaken and dry up…. In order to go on with the Lord, we must recognize His supply for us in the Body and avail ourselves of it…. The whole Body is built up through the interdependence among the members…. Romans 12:3 says, "Not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think." We should not think too highly of ourselves…. Those who think highly of themselves and despise other members will end up in trouble sooner or later. In the Body of Christ everyone is a member and nothing more than a member. Hence, no member can live without the other members, much less despise them. (The Mystery of Christ, pp 19-20)

　　Meeting is God's Ordination for the Believers

　　since the church is the assembly called out by God from the world, it should meet continually. Meetings enable God's called out congregation to be supplied, established, and perfected, that the goal of God's calling this assembly may be accomplished. [Hebrews 10:25 says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” Here the assembling of ourselves together refers to our Christian meetings. God has ordained the way in which every living thing in the universe should exist. God's ordination is the very law by which a particular species lives. If the living thing obeys that law, it will survive and be blessed. God is the same toward us who have believed in Christ. God's ordination for us,….is the meetings. As water is to the fish, and air to the birds, so are the meetings to the Christians…. The Christians must maintain their spiritual existence and living by the meetings.

　　Every kind of life has its own characteristic, and usually, many characteristics. The spiritual life we believers have received, being the life of God in us, also possesses many characteristics. For example, the hatred for sin and the separation from sin are characteristics of this life. The desire to draw near to God and the willingness to serve Him are also its characteristics. One of the many characteristics of our spiritual life is to flock together, to meet together. John 10:3 and 16 show us that since we are saved, we are the Lord's sheep. The characteristic of the sheep's life is to flock together and to dislike isolation from the other sheep. Hence, the Bible says that we are not only the Lord's sheep, but even more, His flock (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2). In order to be a sheep which shares in the blessing of the flock, we must meet together with the flock. The characteristic of the spiritual “sheep life” within us requires this of us. (Life Lessons, Vol. 2, pp 90-91)

　　The way of meeting revealed in the Bible is to enliven us, to revive our spirit, and to inspire our organic function and to inspire our initial gift received from God. This initial gift is God's divine life, and this divine life will grow up as the life growing up in the infant. The more this life grows, the more function will be developed, enabling him to see, to hear, to speak, to work with hands and to walk with feet…. The saints grow by this way, and the growth of the saints is the building up of the church. (Messages Concerning Life and Practice, Vol. 2, pp77-78)