Scripture Reading: Col. 1:18; John 11:25; Phil. 3:10-11; 2 Cor. 1:8-9; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 15:58
Ⅰ
The church as the Body of Christ is an organism absolutely in the resur-rection life of Christ—Col. 1:18:
A
The church as the Body of Christ is a new creation in Christ's resurrection and is created by the resurrected Christ—Matt. 16:18; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 1:19-23; 2:6, 21-22.
B
The Body of Christ is in resurrection, that is, in the Spirit, in the pneumatic Christ, and in the consummated Triune God—John 7:39; 2 Cor. 3:17; Matt. 28:19.
Ⅱ
In order to be in the reality of the Body of Christ, we need to live in the resurrection life of Christ—John 11:25:
A
The reality of resurrection is Christ as the life-giving Spirit—20:22; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
B
When we do not live by our natural life but live by the divine life within us, we are in resurrection; the issue of this is the Body of Christ—Phil. 3:10-11.
C
Anything that is carried out in the natural life, even scripturally, is not the reality of the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 3:12.
Ⅲ
Resurrection is an eternal principle in our service to God—Phil. 3:10-11:
A
That which passes through death and still remains is resurrection.
B
Resurrection is something that has come out of death and that is beyond the natural realm.
Ⅳ
In order to live in the resurrection life of Christ, we must know, expe-rience, and gain the God of resurrection—2 Cor. 1:8-9:
A
God is working through the cross to terminate us, to bring us to an end, so that we will no longer trust in ourselves but in the God of resurrection—v. 9.
B
When the God of resurrection works in us, His life and nature are wrought into us—4:16.
C
The killing of the cross results in the manifestation of resurrection life—vv. 10-12:
１
The putting to death of Jesus destroys the natural man, the outer man, and the flesh, with the result that the inner man is given the opportunity to develop and be renewed to live out the resurrection life.
２
All the work that the Lord is doing on us is to destroy our outer, natural man so that we can live out the life of Christ from within us; this is the deepest thought in the New Testament concerning the life of a Christian—v. 16.
３
We need to be one with the Lord, take Him as our life and person, put our-selves aside, and be obedient unto death so that the resurrection life of Christ may live out from within us—John 12:24-26.
４
Remaining in the death of Christ and being conformed to His death is a profound principle of the Christian life—Rom. 6:4-5; Phil. 3:10:
ａ
When we remain in the death of Christ, we experience the power of Christ's resurrection—v. 11; Rom. 8:11; 2 Cor. 1:8-10; 4:14.
ｂ
The more we die with Christ in this way, the more His resurrection power will be manifested in us and the more we will live in the reality of the Body of Christ—John 11:25.
D
Our natural strength and ability need to be dealt with by the cross to become useful in resurrection for our service to the Lord—Phil. 3:3.
E
The budding rod signifies our experience of Christ in His resurrection as our acceptance by God for authority in the God-given ministry—Num. 17:8:
１
The budding, blossoming, fruit-yielding rod signifies the resurrection life of Christ.
２
The leadership among God's people must be Christ Himself as the resur-rection life, which buds, blossoms, and bears almonds to feed God's people— v. 8.
Ⅴ
We need to experience the resurrection life of Christ as the power that enables us to overcome money and material possessions; giving money and material things in resurrection is a strong indication that we are under God's administration in resurrection and have overcome the possession of material riches—Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35; 1 Cor. 16:1-3.
Ⅵ
If we would live by the resurrection life of Christ for the reality of the Body of Christ, we need:
A
To allow the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead to dwell in us and saturate us with the divine life and thereby give life to our mortal, dying body so that it may be enlivened to carry out God's will—Rom. 8:11; 12:2.
B
To live under the discipline of the inner life and appreciate the grace in life more than miraculous power—2 Tim. 4:20.
Ⅶ
If we live by the resurrection life of Christ for the reality of the Body of Christ, we will be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord—1 Cor. 15:58:
A
Our labor for the Lord in His resurrection life with His resurrection power will never be in vain, but will result in the fulfilling of God's eternal purpose through the preaching of Christ to sinners, the ministering of life to the saints, and the building up of the church with the experiences of the processed Triune God as gold, silver, and precious stones—cf. Isa. 49:4.
B
This labor will be rewarded by the returning Lord in the day of the resur-rection of the righteous—1 Cor. 3:14; Matt. 25:21, 23; Luke 14:14.