Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 1:2; 12:12-13, 27; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22; 4:16
Ⅰ
After we see the vision of the Body of Christ, we need to practice the church life according to this vision—Acts 9:4-6; 13:1; Eph. 1:17-23; 2:21-22.
Ⅱ
Anyone who wants to live in the Body in a practical way must be in the local churches—4:16; 2:21-22; 1 Cor. 12:27; 1:2:
A
The Body of Christ is manifested in the local churches; every local church is the manifestation of the Body of Christ in that locality.
B
Participating in the fellowship of the local church is participating in the fellowship of the Body of Christ—v. 9; 10:16-17; 11:23-26, 29.
Ⅲ
The local church is a procedure and not the goal; the goal of a local church is the building up of the Body of Christ—Matt. 16:18; 18:17:
A
The local churches are the procedure for God to accomplish the building up of the Body of Christ—Eph. 2:21-22; 4:16.
B
The local churches are the procedure to bring us into the Body of Christ.
C
We need to be in the local churches so that we can be ushered into the reality of the Body of Christ.
D
We should pay more attention to the Body of Christ than to the local churches.
E
In the Lord's recovery we are building the local churches for the building up of the Body of Christ, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem—v. 12.
Ⅳ
The practice of the God-ordained way in the church life delivers the believers from hierarchy, the papal system, and the clergy-laity system for the building up of the Body of Christ—Rev. 2:6, 15; Rom. 12:4-6:
A
God's intention in His economy is to have an organic Body built up for Christ— Eph. 3:9; 4:16.
B
The God-ordained way as revealed in the Bible is the proper practice of the church life against the papal and clergy-laity systems—Matt. 20:25-28:
１
The goal of the papal and clergy-laity systems is to annul the Body of Christ and to replace it with religion.
２
The recovery according to the Lord's mind is to bring His believers out of the papal system and the clergy-laity system and to replace these systems with the God-ordained way for the building up of the Body of Christ.
C
The begetting, nourishing, and perfecting are for God's building—16:18.
Ⅴ
As members of the Body, we need to have the consciousness of the Body and have a feeling for the Body—1 Cor. 12:25-26; Rom. 12:15; Phil. 1:8:
A
Whatever we do involves the Body; thus, in all that we do, we should care for the Body, taking the Body as the rule in our mind, thoughts, words, and actions—1 Cor. 12:12-27.
B
Whenever we are about to do something in the church life, we need to consider how the Body might feel about what we intend to do—2 Cor. 8:21.
Ⅵ
The blending of all the local churches should be as much as practicality allows, without boundaries of states or nations—1 Cor. 12:23-27:
A
None of the churches of the Body of Christ can be autonomous in relation to the other churches—Col. 4:15-16; Rev. 2:1a, 7a.
B
In the church life we should not be divided by any kind of boundary; rather, all the local churches throughout the earth should be one—John 17:11, 21-23.
C
If we would have the Lord's blessing, we must be one in all parts of the recovery—Psa. 133:3.
D
In the spiritual element all the churches should be blended with one another for the manifestation of the reality of the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 12:12-13.
E
In this age God is working to obtain the Body of Christ, not merely the church in a locality or the church in a country; He wants to obtain the church in the entire universe—Eph. 1:22-23:
１
We need to be universal Christians with a universal view for the universal Body—vv. 17-23.
２
Whoever cannot be blended with others will eventually be disqualified by the age.
３
We need to see the light, be broadened in our view, realize that we are in God's eternal economy, and allow God to have the Body of Christ on earth—4:16.
Ⅶ
One of the tests of a genuine local church is that it should have fellowship with all the other local churches—Acts 2:42; 1 John 1:3:
A
In a proper local church, the administration of the church is local, but the fellowship of the church is universal—2 Cor. 13:14.
B
The fellowship among the churches is the fellowship of the Body of Christ.
C
Every church should be open to the other churches; if a church isolates itself from the other churches, it becomes a local sect—Col. 4:15-16.
D
The local churches should fellowship with all the local churches on the whole earth to keep the universal fellowship of the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 10:16:
１
Any local church that does not keep this universal fellowship of the Body of Christ is divisive and becomes a sect.
２
A genuine church remains in the Body; a sect is a group of believers who divide themselves from the Body.
Ⅷ
As members of the Body, we must allow ourselves to be limited by the other members and not go beyond our measure—2 Cor. 10:13:
A
A basic requirement for the growth and development of the Body is that we recognize our measure and not go beyond it—Rom. 12:3, 6a; Eph. 4:7, 16.
B
When we go beyond our measure, we go beyond the authority of the Head and interfere with the order of the Body.
C
We all should move and act according to how much God has measured to us, staying within the limits of God's ruling, God's measuring—2 Cor. 10:13.
Ⅸ
Whatever we do in our locality or universally for the other countries should be done in a full realization that we are building up the Body of Christ; thus, we should always keep a view of the Body—Eph. 4:16.