Ⅱ
The Lord’s recovery is for the building up of the Body of Christ; thus, to know the Body is the proper recovery of the Lord—1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 4:16; Col. 3:15:
A
The church takes the Body of Christ as its organic factor; without the Body of Christ, the church is lifeless and is a mere human organization—1 Cor. 1:2; 12:12-13, 27.
B
The Body is the intrinsic significance of the church; without the Body, the church makes no sense and has no meaning—Rom. 12:4-5; 16:1, 4, 16.
C
Love covers and builds up, so love is the most excellent way for us to be anything and to do anything for the building up of the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 8:1b; 12:31b; 13:1-8a, 13.
D
The elders should shepherd one another and love one another to be a model of the Body life; the elders need to love one another, their wives need to love one another, and they need to love one another’s children—John 21:15-17; 1 Cor. 13:4-8a.
E
If we would have the reality of the Body of Christ, we must allow Christ to make His home in our hearts; the reality of the Body is the inner experience of the indwelling Christ—Eph. 3:16-17a; 4:16; Col. 1:27; 3:4, 15.
F
The Lord urgently needs the reality of the Body of Christ to be expressed in the local churches; unless there is a substantial expression of the Body, the Lord Jesus will not return—Eph. 1:22-23; 4:16; 5:27, 30; Rev. 19:7.
G
The Lord needs the overcomers to carry out the economy of God to have the Body of Christ and to destroy His enemy; without the overcomers the Body of Christ cannot be built up, and unless the Body of Christ is built up, Christ cannot come back for His bride—Eph. 1:10; 3:10; Rev. 12:11; 19:7-9.
Morning Nourishment
1 Cor. 12:27 Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually.Eph. 4:16 Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.
Corporately, the many sons of God [produced in resurrection] are the church; organically, they are the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is the church, the house of God, the kingdom of God, and the bride, the counterpart, of Christ. In each aspect the church takes the Body of Christ as its organic factor. Without the Body of Christ, the church is lifeless and is a mere human organization. Without the Body of Christ and, therefore, without the life of Christ, there cannot be the house of God, which is constituted with the children born of God the Father, and there cannot be the kingdom of God, which is the realm of God’s life. Without the life of Christ, there also cannot be the bride of Christ who, as His counterpart, must match Him to be a couple with Him. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The Governing and Controlling Vision in the Bible,” p. 286)
Today’s Reading
We need to see the way Paul presents the Body of Christ in Ephesians 1. Paul says that God raised up Christ, seated Him in the heavens, subjected all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church. Right away in the following phrase he says, “Which is His Body” (v. 23a)…. This indicates that the Body is the church’s intrinsic significance. The church without the Body means nothing. In Greek the word for church is ekklesia, the called-out ones coming together. But the significance of this gathering is the Body.In the recovery today, … if we consider ourselves as individual churches or as individual believers, we are through. We should consider ourselves as one Body. If the parts of our physical body would keep their own jurisdiction and be autonomous, our body would be finished. But thank the Lord that all the members of our physical body are submissive to one another so that our body can act and operate smoothly.
Brother Watchman Nee [and I]…always behaved, acted, and took action in the recovery as one Body. This is why the Lord’s recovery could exist on this earth over these past approximately seventy years. We do not have any organization to keep anything, but the recovery is still here. The recovery is still existing and has been kept by the principle of the Body.
The Body is the intrinsic significance of the church…. The church makes no sense without the Body. But Hallelujah, there is the Body! Without the Body the church makes no sense, but with the Body there is the intrinsic significance of the church.
What is the difference between the church and the Body?… We can use an apple tree as an illustration…. The church is the frame, like the apple tree, and the Body of Christ is the very organic essence of the church, just like the apples are the very organic essence of the apple tree. These two are one. The church is the frame for existing. The Body of Christ is the very organic contents for people’s satisfaction. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ,” pp. 548-549)
Ephesians 3 says that we are strengthened into the inner man, that Christ makes His home in our heart, and that we are filled (not covered or clothed) unto all the fullness of God, that is, the very being, essence, and element of God…. It is through this inner experience of the indwelling Christ that we apprehend with all the saints the unlimited measure of Christ, and it is by this that we are built up. (CWWL, 1965, vol. 1, “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” p. 94)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” ch. 8; Fellowship concerning the Work of the Lord’s Recovery, Section 3