Search
In this chapter we shall consider some verses in 1 Corinthians 12. In verse 22 Paul says, “Much rather the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.” We may think that the stronger ones are needed and that the weaker ones are burdensome, but this verse says that the weaker ones are necessary. They are necessary for the building up of the church. In the local church, therefore, there is the need for the weaker ones.
In verse 24 Paul tells us that “God has blended the body together.” For the building up of the Body there is the need for blending. In order for God to blend the Body, the weaker members are necessary. Paul’s word here was not only according to the revelation he had received but also according to his experience. In his experience Paul realized that God needed the weaker members in order to build up the Body of Christ. We may think that if every member of the church in Anaheim were a Peter, a Paul, or a John, the church would be wonderful. Perhaps it would be wonderful, but it would not be blended. It would not be balanced. The Lord does not want a church that is extreme and unbalanced.
Continuing verse 22, verse 23 says, “Those members of the body which we consider to be less honorable, these we clothe with more abundant honor; and our uncomely members come to have more abundant comeliness.” If we consider that a certain brother or sister is less honorable, then we need to clothe that one with more abundant honor. This means that we need to beautify him by clothing him. All the weaker ones are worthy of our respect because they are needed. Likewise, all the seemingly less honorable ones need to be clothed with more abundant honor. After these members are clothed with honor, they will have more abundant comeliness.
With what are we to clothe the apparently less honorable members? We must clothe them with Christ. According to the book of Exodus, the tabernacle had four layers of coverings. These coverings typify Christ. Furthermore, all the textiles related to the Tent of Meeting are types of Christ in different aspects. In order to clothe others with Christ, we need to experience Him in a rich way as our clothing, covering, and beautification. Then we shall be able to clothe our brothers and sisters with Him.
Suppose a certain sister is inclined to argue with her husband. Furthermore, suppose her husband, a brother in the church, has a bad temper. In your eyes this brother and sister may not be very honorable. What should you do with them? Should you give up on them or criticize them? No. If you are faithful to shepherd them, you will clothe them with Christ by ministering Christ to them. It will not help to adjust this sister by teaching her to submit to her husband. In speaking to her about her habit of arguing with her husband, you need to care for Christ. You may say, “Sister, in our daily life we should not only follow the Lord Jesus but also live by Him as our life. If you argue with your husband, you are not living by Christ. Our desperate need today is to live by Christ.” Perhaps such fellowship will stir up that sister to pray that she may live by Christ. In her prayer she may ask the Lord to help her to live by Him in dealing with her husband. Through this kind of shepherding, the sister is clothed and beautified with Christ. Christ is ministered to her as her beautifying element. This is what it means to clothe the less honorable ones with the honorable Christ. This should take place continually in the Lord’s recovery. By being instructed how to take Christ as life and how to live by Him, we shall eventually overcome our habit of arguing or of losing our temper.
In verse 24 Paul goes on to say, “Our comely members have no need.” Those who are comely have no need and therefore do not require any particular care. In a sense, we may forget about them. Both the comely and uncomely ones are necessary. The difference here is that the comely ones have no need because they are already comely. The uncomely ones, on the contrary, need to be clothed with honor in order to have more abundant comeliness.
These verses speak of three kinds of members: the weaker ones, the less honorable or uncomely ones, and the comely ones. Which kind are you? Actually, we are not able to say whether we are a weaker one, a less honorable one, or a comely one. We should have no confidence in our estimation. I simply do not know what kind of member I am. However, I can discern when a particular brother is lacking in honor or comeliness. How can I be at peace as long as my brother has such a lack? I should not be at peace until I clothe him with Christ. If we all practice this, how different the church life would be!
We have pointed out that in verse 24 Paul speaks of the blending of the Body. To blend something is to make it balanced by dealing with the extremes. For example, we cannot drink water that is either boiling hot or ice cold. However, if hot water is added to cold water, the water will be the right temperature for drinking. In the local churches there are many different saints. Some are very spiritual; others are not so spiritual. The spiritual ones need to be blended with those who are not spiritual. Then the spiritual ones will be spiritual in a proper way. The weaker ones are necessary to test the genuineness of our spirituality. Sisters, if you are truly spiritual and if you have genuinely seen the oneness, I ask you to go to the weaker, less honorable sisters and see what you can do for them. You are so hot, but they are so cold. You are so honorable, but they are very uncomely. Because they are utterly without honor, they need to be beautified by you. If you do this, you will find that both you and they are needed. In the Body there is the need for blending. Even our spirituality must be blended. Through this blending, we shall find out how genuine our spirituality actually is. Our spirituality will be proved by God’s blending.
Do not expect every saint in the church life to be a spiritual giant. This will never be the situation in the church. According to the Bible, we all must be blended — the hot ones with the cold ones, and the spiritual ones with those who are not spiritual. In the proper church life there will always be the weaker members, the less honorable members, and the comely members. Nevertheless, because all are being blended together, these are not three divisions.
In verse 24 Paul also says that God has given more abundant honor to the member that lacked. Any group within the church that claims to be spiritual will always collapse. I have seen this take place several times and in several places. In my hometown of Chefoo a certain group of sisters thought that they were today’s Madame Guyons. They regarded themselves as the most spiritual ones, and they tried to help others to be like them. But their so-called spirituality was abnormal and a damage to the Body.
When Brother Nee was ministering in Shanghai on the matter of the Body, he emphasized the importance of seeing the Body. Certain co-workers testified strongly that they had seen the Body. However, none of them became a real help to the Body. Both those sisters in Chefoo and those co-workers in Shanghai violated the principle of the Body.
The healing of diseases or injuries in our physical bodies takes place mainly through nourishment. Suppose a certain part of your body is hurt or diseased. It is not possible to feed only this part of the body. On the contrary, you feed your whole body, and this part of the body will be healed. Do not think that the Body will receive some benefit if you select a few strong members of the Body and bring them together. No, the stronger ones and the weaker ones need to be blended together. God does not put all the weak ones into one group and all the strong ones into another group; instead, He blends them. It is wrong for the strong ones to group together.
If the strong ones group together, the result will be division. According to verses 24 and 25, God has blended the body together so that there would be no division in the body. If the shoulders were to come together, there would be a division in the body. Although you may have no intention of damaging the Body, you will frustrate the growth of the Body if you group yourselves together as stronger ones or more spiritual ones.
Verse 26 says, “Whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it.” A suffering member of the Body should not be left alone. Rather, the Body with all the members must bear the suffering along with this member.
The Body of Christ is not built up with only spiritual giants. On the contrary, the Body is built up with all the different members — the comely ones, the less honorable ones, and the weaker ones. This does not mean, however, that all the different members are arranged in distinct groups. No, all are blended together. When we are blended, the uncomely ones share comeliness with the comely ones, and the weaker ones are nourished and supported by the stronger ones. Then we have the Body.
We should never regard ourselves as spiritual or boast of what we have seen. Those sisters in Chefoo who claimed to be today’s Madame Guyons were actually not that spiritual. Likewise, the co-workers in Shanghai who claimed to have seen the Body actually did not see very much. Often our estimate of ourselves is not accurate. Because of this, we should not classify ourselves. Whatever we may be, we need to have fellowship with the saints and shepherd them. Do your best to take up the burden of caring for the saints. By caring for others, you will be tested. As you contact the weak ones, you will discover not only where they are but also where you are. Before contacting them, you may think that you are all right, that you know Christ and the church, and that you are wholly for the Lord’s recovery. But through your contact with the weaker ones, you may discover that you have no food to feed them, no medicine to heal them, and no clothing to cover them. In other words, you will be exposed and realize that so much of what you have is vanity.
First Thessalonians 5:14 says, “We exhort you, brothers, Admonish the disorderly, console the faint-hearted, sustain the weak, be long-suffering toward all.” This verse describes the church life.
In the church life the disorderly ones are necessary to prove our patience. Thus, we need to praise the Lord for the disorderly ones. We are told to admonish those who are disorderly. This is very difficult. If you admonish them too severely, they may be stirred up to fight with you. Admonishing the disorderly ones requires a great deal of prayer, experience, and exercise of the spirit. Whenever I have had to admonish the disorderly ones, I have had the sense that I was walking on thin ice over a deep river. It is not a simple matter to have the church life. If we pay no attention to the disorderly ones among us, God will send in even more of them to show us that we cannot ignore them. According to 1 Thessalonians 5:14, we must admonish them. The disorderly ones surely expose where we are.
First Thessalonians 5:14 also speaks of the faint-hearted or little-souled (lit.). Because some were born with a small soul, they are easily offended, disappointed, or discouraged. Others, on the contrary, were born with a large soul and can withstand a great deal of ill-treatment. Those with a small soul can bear hardly anything. Sooner or later in the church life you will meet some brothers and sisters who have little souls. If there were not this kind of person in the church, the Bible would not speak of consoling or comforting the little-souled ones. What will you do with them? You cannot neglect them. If you try to avoid them, the Lord will add many more like them. The little-souled ones are needed by the stronger ones.
Because the little-souled brothers and sisters cannot withstand hardship, we need to comfort them. We need to speak to them in a very kind way to keep from offending them. If a brother comes to you troubled because his wife is upset, do not say much to him and do not argue with him. Rather, tell him that you will pray for him. Instead of reasoning with the little-souled ones, you should comfort them. Reasoning will only hurt them. Our ability to comfort such a one depends altogether on how much we have experienced of Christ. If you have experienced Christ as the incense altar, you will be able to tell a little-souled brother that today Christ, our High Priest, is interceding for him and his problems. In this way you minister Christ to him. Do not try to comfort the little-souled with mere human words, but comfort him with the Christ you have experienced in various aspects. When a little-souled one is nourished with Christ, he will be comforted. Let us learn to comfort the little-souled ones with Christ.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:14 Paul also tells us to “sustain the weak.” In order to sustain the weak, or the infirm, we need to experience Christ as the boards, the pillars, and the sockets in the tabernacle. Because the weak ones are not steady, they need Christ to be their board, pillar, or socket. Such a Christ will make them strong in standing.
Finally, in this verse Paul tells us to be long-suffering toward all. Admonishing the disorderly, consoling the little-souled, and sustaining the weak require patience. The disorderly, the little-souled, and the weak exhaust our natural patience. Therefore, to shepherd such saints we need Christ as our patience.
Hebrews 10:24 says, “Let us consider one another so as to incite one another to love and good works.” According to this verse, we should consider not only ourselves but one another. Consider those who are discouraged and not coming to the meetings. If you consider them by visiting them or at least by calling them on the telephone, you will incite them to love and good works. Such inciting will increase the mutual love among us.
Hebrews 10:25 says, “Not abandoning our own assembling together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day drawing near.” This verse indicates that none of us should form the habit of staying away from the meetings. Rather, as we see the day approaching, we need to exhort one another.
Galatians 6:1 says that if someone is overtaken in some offense, we need to restore him with our spirit. This type of shepherding should be done not only by the elders but by all the saints. If we all do this, the church will grow.
The middle-aged ones care for the church as the Lord’s testimony directly. By shepherding, fellowshipping, teaching, consoling, and sustaining others, they will bear the burden for the Lord’s recovery today.
