Scripture Reading: Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4, 16; Col. 2:19
Ⅰ
God's economy is to produce a Body for His Son; this Body fulfills God's desire for His expression and the destruction of Satan—Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12, 27; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4, 16; Col. 1:18; 2:19; Gen. 1:26-28.
Ⅱ
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—Rom. 12:4-5; 16:16; 1 Cor. 1:2; 12:27; Eph. 1:23; 4:16; 5:27, 30; Rev. 19:7.
Ⅲ
The work of the Triune God in us is to produce and build up the Body of Christ—Eph. 3:16-21; Rom. 8:11; 12:4-5.
Ⅳ
The ministry of the new covenant is for the producing of the Body of Christ; without the new covenant ministry, there is no possibility to bring forth the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 12:12-27; 2 Cor. 3:6, 8-9; 4:1; 5:18.
Ⅴ
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; 1 Cor. 1:2; 12:12-13, 27.
Ⅵ
We need to touch the reality of the Body and realize the glorious fact that the church is the Body of Christ—Eph. 1:22-23.
Ⅶ
The Body is the governing law of the life and work of the children of God—4:4, 16; 1 Cor. 12:4-6, 12-13, 27.
Ⅷ
Christ in Himself is the Head, and Christ in all of us is the Body—Rom. 8:10; 12:4-5; 2 Cor. 13:5; 1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 3:17; 4:15-16; Col. 1:18, 27; 2:19.
Ⅸ
All the problems of the church today are due to ignorance concerning the Body of Christ—Eph. 1:17-23:
A
The biggest problem is not knowing the Body and not caring for the Body— vv. 17-23.
B
The way we behave ourselves in the church, the ministry, and the work depends upon the degree of our seeing the Body—Acts 22:10; 26:18-19.
Ⅹ
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—Eph. 4:4-6, 16:
A
We need to know the Body in life—1 John 5:11-12; Col. 3:4; 2:19; Rom. 8:2, 6, 10-11; 12:4-5:
１
The Body of Christ is formed by Christ as life in us; this life mingles with us to become the Body of Christ—1 John 5:11-12; Col. 3:4; 1:18; 2:19:
ａ
The life in us is not a member life—it is a Body life.
ｂ
We are all one in this life; this oneness in life is the mystical Body of Christ—Eph. 5:30.
２
Knowing the Body in life is the result of our experience of life and spiritual growth—1 John 2:12-14:
ａ
In order to know the Body and touch the reality of the Body, we must progress in the experience of life and the growth of life—1 Cor. 3:1-2; 14:20.
ｂ
Only after we have reached the fourth stage in the spiritual life can we know the mystery of the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:12-13, 15-16.
ｃ
In order to know the Body and live in the Body, we need to deal with the flesh, the self, and the natural constitution—Gal. 2:20; 5:24; Matt. 16:24:
⑴
If we still live according to the flesh and in ourselves and serve in our natural ability, the life of the Body, which is Christ Himself in us, cannot be manifested, and we cannot know the Body.
⑵
Only when the flesh has been dealt with, the self has been abandoned, and the natural constitution has been broken can we touch the reality of the Body—1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 4:4-6.
３
Knowing the Body is a dealing with individualism; all those who do not know the Body are individualists—1 Cor. 12:14-22.
４
The proofs that we know the Body are that we are unable to be individualistic, we can discern those who are not in the Body, and we recognize the authority of Christ the Head revealed in the order of the Body—v. 18.
B
We need to know the Body in practice—vv. 20, 27; 15:58:
１
A local church is an expression of the Body of Christ in a particular locality—1:2; 10:32b; 12:12-13, 20, 27:
ａ
The one universal church—the Body of Christ—becomes the many local churches—the local expressions of the Body of Christ—Rom. 12:4-5; 16:1.
ｂ
The unique Body of Christ is expressed as the local churches—Eph. 4:4; Rev. 1:4, 11.
ｃ
Every local church is part of the unique, universal Body of Christ, a local expression of the Body—1 Cor. 1:2; 12:27.
ｄ
If we know the Body, in our consideration the Body will be first and the local churches will be second—Rom. 12:4-5; 16:1, 4, 16.
２
In the Lord's recovery there is only one work—the work of the Body; what we are doing today is not our personal work but the work of the economy of God—the building up of the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 15:58; 16:10; Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:4, 12, 16.