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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 12:26-27; 2 Cor. 11:28-29
In the coordination of the Body there are four important points: we need to be joined to the Head, we need to carry out our function, we should not step beyond our limit, and we need to submit to authority. These four points are closely related to coordination. Whenever we speak concerning the coordination of the Body, we must pay attention to these four points. If we neglect any of these points, we will have a problem in coordination.
Let us now consider what is meant by the consciousness of the Body. Although we cannot find this exact expression in the Bible, according to the teaching of the Bible and our experience, there is something called the consciousness of the Body. First Corinthians 12:26-27 says, “Whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually.” In addition, 2 Corinthians 11:28-29 says, “Apart from the things which have not been mentioned, there is this: the crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I myself do not burn?” These two references cover a scope that is both great and small. The smaller scope is presented in 1 Corinthians 12, which speaks of all the members suffering with a member who is suffering and of all the members rejoicing with a member who is glorified (v. 26). This clearly refers to the sense in the Body. This is easy to understand if we consider our body. If someone hits us on our ear, our ear feels pain, and the other members of our body also feel pain. It is not possible for only the ear to feel pain while the other members have no feeling. This is very easy to understand.
The greater scope is presented in 2 Corinthians 11:28-29, in which the apostle Paul speaks of his anxious concern for all the churches. His anxiety and even his weakness were a matter of consciousness. When a church was weak, the apostle felt it; when a church had problems, the apostle became anxious. The apostle felt this way concerning the churches and concerning the individual saints. He bore all the churches and had feelings for everything that happened to the churches.
The Epistles written by the apostle Paul, including Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and those addressed to individuals, show his keen sense toward the churches and the saints. Since he bore the churches and the saints, he could sense matters related to the churches and the saints. This is the consciousness of the Body. Second Corinthians 11 shows a great and broad consciousness; 1 Corinthians 12 shows a small and focused consciousness.
Concerning the consciousness of the Body, we need to begin with the sense of the spiritual life. We have spoken much concerning the sense of the spiritual life. We pointed out that the divine life within us has feelings, and our regenerated spirit also has feelings. This is based on Romans 8:6: “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” This verse clearly speaks of an inner sense. It is very simple to know whether a person’s mind is set on the spirit; we simply need to ask him if he has peace within. This peace is a matter of sense. If a person sets his mind on the spirit, he will sense ease, comfort, and peace within.
The divine life is truly a matter of sense. A person who sets his mind on the spirit will sense satisfaction, strength, brightness, freshness, and liveliness. This means that his inward being touches life. Whenever we set our mind on the flesh, we become dry and darkened within; this is death. Therefore, this is truly a matter of sense.
The divine life and our regenerated spirit have consciousness. Every form of life has a consciousness; anything without consciousness is not a living organism and has no life. As long as it is a living organism, the life in it has consciousness. The higher the life, the keener is its sense. We, the regenerated ones, have received the life of God, which has the keenest and richest feelings. Moreover, our regenerated spirit is not only mingled with the life of God; it is also indwelt by the Spirit of God. Our regenerated spirit is the three-in-one spirit referred to in Romans 8 — our spirit mingled with God’s life and with God’s Spirit. God’s Spirit enters into our spirit with God’s life and mingles with our spirit. Therefore, our spirit is not only a living spirit but also a strong and enriched spirit.
The sense of life in our spirit, or the spiritual sense, is keen and rich. This spiritual sense of life within us is often the standard for our spiritual actions and the test of our spiritual living. It tests whether we are living in the Lord or in ourselves and whether our mind is set on the spirit or on the flesh. There is no need for someone to tell us, because we have a sense within. We do not need others to tell us whether our speaking for the Lord is according to the spirit or according to the flesh; the sense in us will let us know. This sense can be compared to a thermometer. When we test ourselves with this thermometer, we will know where we are and our true condition.
Whenever we are calm and turn to our spirit to touch the sense within, allowing this inner feeling to touch our being, we will know where we are — whether we are according to the flesh or according to the spirit. This sense is crucial to our spiritual experience. Our spiritual progress depends on this spiritual sense. We cannot follow the Lord yet ignore this spiritual sense. This spiritual sense is different from the feelings in our soul. We should not take care of the human feelings in our soul; these feelings will confuse us. We need to take care of the sense of the divine life in our spirit rather than the human feelings in our soul.
We must care for the inner sense of life so that we can have peace within. If the inner sense of peace is absent, we have a problem. This is not something outward; it is inward. In everything we do, whether preaching the gospel, ministering the word, or doing good works, we should not be void of the inner sense of peace deep within us. Some saints have no peace; with their own effort they try to gain a sense of peace. Some people even try to fill themselves with different things in order to feel peaceful. However, all their efforts are vain and useless.
For example, a person with no peace may use excuses to make himself feel peaceful, even though he has a problem inwardly. This kind of effort is useless; it will not work, because the inner peace is something spontaneous. Anything that is of life does not require human effort, human help, or deliberate determination. We cannot produce peace; we should feel at peace naturally. This is the peace in Romans 8:6. The peace within some saints needs a helping hand. They are not at peace, but they use their reasons to try to give themselves peace. Their reasoning may work for two days or even two months, but it will not work forever. In the end there will be no peace. We have all had experiences related to this spiritual sense. We must take care of this sense.
We need to cultivate a consciousness of the Body by fellowshipping more with the Lord. Our inner sense will spontaneously be developed as we fellowship more with the Lord. Furthermore, if we add obedience to this fellowship, our inner sense will become keener and richer. When a feeling comes, we should closely follow that feeling. If the inner sense desires us to stop, we should stop; if it desires us to go, we should go. In this way our inner sense will become keen and enriched. Our inner sense is developed through our fellowship with the Lord and our obedience to Him. Therefore, we should always exercise this sense. This means that we must always use this sense when we touch spiritual matters.
For example, when the church is going to preach the gospel, in addition to moving with the brothers and sisters, we should take a further step and check the matter of our participation in this gospel preaching with our inner sense. In fellowship with the Lord, we need to ask how much ground He has in us and how much spiritual element is in our preaching of the gospel. We need to touch the matter of preaching the gospel with the sense in our spirit. Likewise, when we meet a brother, we should not merely contact him outwardly; we need to touch him in our spirit. We need to see whether he is speaking to us according to his natural man, his mind, or his spirit. We need to exercise the sense in our spirit to gain a sense of whether this person is humble and pure before God and whether God’s authority is in him. We need to touch these matters with our spirit. These are matters related to the exercise of our inner sense.
Regrettably, many brothers and sisters have never been trained to use their inner sense. For example, I may be a person who is interested in building houses. Even though I may have never studied civil engineering or contracted a project, I am interested in building houses. For this reason I am always interested in knowing how a building was constructed, paying special attention to the doors, the windows, the corners joining the walls, and the beams. I would also inquire if it was built with concrete and steel or wood and brick. Even though I do not have formal schooling in this field, my observation is quite accurate since I have been training my eyes in this matter. Similarly, this inner sense depends on our being trained.
As a further example, a person who is trained can give the accurate dimensions of a building simply by looking at it. He may say that the building is one hundred feet long and fifty feet wide. But an untrained sister might say that the same building could be as long as two hundred feet or as short as sixty feet. Sometimes we speak in this way; we either overestimate or underestimate because we have not been sufficiently trained.
Exercising our inner sense is like exercising our insight. Some people have keen insight; if we put gold in their hands, they can immediately say how much of it is pure gold. This is because they have been trained. Some businessmen are excellent in this matter. Suppose three items of the same product are placed in our hands: one is made in Hong Kong, one is made in America, and one is made in Japan as an imitation of the one made in America. They look the same to us. But those who are trained do not need to look; they can tell which one is made in Japan, which one is made in Hong Kong, and which one is made in America simply by touching the items. We cannot distinguish the difference, but they can distinguish clearly because they have been trained.
A brother has a son-in-law who is in the navy. Once he and his son-in-law were at the seashore watching for anything appearing on the horizon. Although the brother did not see anything, his son-in-law said that a naval ship was approaching. Since his son-in-law was trained in the navy, his sight was keen, and he could see what ordinary people could not see. After a while a naval ship appeared. This is a matter of exercise. Similarly, spiritual sense depends on exercise. Some brothers and sisters have never exercised their inner sense, never cared for it, and never cultivated it. Therefore, they are always confused regarding the Lord’s work, others, and even themselves. They do not care whether a word should be spoken or whether there is inward peace; they simply speak as they please. Such people are very rough and never care for their inner sense. Those who ignore their inner sense have not been trained and have not been opened; moreover, they do not have enough heart for God. A person who loves God and cares for the things of God has a heart for God and is careful, always being conscious of the things in God’s house as well as the situation of the brothers and sisters.
Everyone who serves God, everyone who serves sinners, and everyone who administrates the church must exercise to have a keen sense. If we do not exercise, we will not be of much spiritual use. We must admit that often the help we render to people is in faith; we do not need to be so clear. In fact, our being clear concerning the condition of people actually hinders us from helping them. At the same time, we cannot be foolish. When people come to us, we should be able to discern their condition in three to five sentences. Even if they describe a certain condition, our spirit should be able to sense their real situation. This kind of exercise is necessary. Although we are outwardly listening when we contact a brother or sister, inwardly we should be exercised to sense their true situation.
Several brothers and I were once fellowshipping with another brother who said that his wife was very good and that he was satisfied with their relationship. When we checked with each other later, two of us felt that this brother was happy and did not have any problems with his wife. However, my spirit sensed that there were problems. If you asked me how I knew, I would have been unable to answer. This can be compared with asking how we know that the food we are eating tastes good. This cannot be taught. We can only say that it tastes good.
Our inner sense is usually accurate. This is the reason some people say that you can fool a servant of the Lord in practical affairs, but you cannot fool him in spiritual matters. Spiritual matters are real; they cannot be faked, just as life cannot be faked. Everything else can be faked but not life; no one can pretend that he has a certain kind of life if he does not have that life. Life simply cannot be faked. A person’s spiritual condition before God is what it is; he cannot pretend to have a different condition. A person with a trained, spiritual sense has a keen sense. When people speak a few sentences with him, he can immediately discern their inward condition. They may speak concerning the east, but he knows that they actually mean west. They may say there is no problem, but he knows there is a problem. He knows man’s real condition, and no one can fool him; people can fool him in practical affairs but not in spiritual things. This is a matter of the inward sense. This sense originates from the Spirit of God and from God’s life in our spirit. This sense is called the sense of life, and it is also the consciousness of the Body.
The overflow of the life of Christ is the expression of the Body of Christ. The consciousness of the Body is the sense of Christ’s life within us. If we use this sense often, it will cause us not only to sense our own condition before the Lord but cause us also to sense others’ condition before the Lord and to be conscious of matters related to the Body. If we constantly exercise, cultivate, train, and use this sense, it will enable us to detect the problems in the Body.
In a newly saved believer this sense may enable him to sense only his condition and situation before God. If he pays attention to this sense, cultivating it by fellowshipping with God and obeying the inner sense, it will develop. He will be able to sense his spiritual condition and the spiritual condition of the brothers and sisters. This sense will gradually develop and increase to enable him to sense the condition of the meeting, the service in the church, and the Lord’s work. This means that this sense has been enlarged, beginning with himself and then reaching to others, the church, and the church meetings.
If we would pay attention to spiritual things, pursuing and learning gradually, we will have feelings when we come to the meetings. We will have a sense of whether a brother is choosing a hymn according to himself and whether a brother or sister is praying according to the Spirit. We will have a sense of whether a meeting has started and is proceeding according to the Spirit and whether the progression of the meeting has been interrupted and is in need of being recovered. Our sense will also be enlarged to the point of sensing whether a work carried out by the Lord’s workers is in the Spirit, that is, whether the Lord’s presence is with them. Moreover, we will also be able to sense whether the situation in the church, the responsibility of the elders, and the service of the deacons is spiritual and in life. The sense that has been enlarged in us will enable us to properly touch all these matters. This sense is the sense of the Body.
If we use and exercise this sense often and if we love God and care for the church, this sense will become the sense of the Body. We will sense when our fellow members are in difficulty, when they are weak, happy, or victorious in the Lord, and we will share the same feelings with them. We sense their burden so that their burden becomes ours, we sense their experience so that their experience becomes ours, and we sense their difficulties so that their difficulties become ours. In this way we will be in one Body.
When we exercise the consciousness of the Body, a good situation will develop. A member who is in a difficult situation will not bear his burden alone, but his fellow members will bear the burden with him. We will no longer pray for someone simply because he asks us; rather, we will pray out of the burden in the Body. Sometimes one person’s prayer is not enough; there is truly the need for the prayer of the Body, but this prayer is still spontaneous. For example, a person who is Body conscious can sense that a certain brother has a difficulty and a certain sister has a heavy burden. The sense of the brother’s difficulty is communicated into him, and the sense of the sister’s being pressed is also added to his spirit. He shares the same feeling with the brother and sister. This feeling presses him and forces him to go before the Lord to pray for the brother and sister. This intercession is an intercession that comes from the sense of the Body. There is such a thing in the Body that proves whether we are weak or strong inwardly and also proves the extent of our concern for the children of God, the members of Christ.
If we look at ourselves from this perspective, we must admit that our service is weak because our sense of the Body is weak and poor. We may see a brother who is pressed, yet the others who live with him have no feeling of being pressed. A sister might not be able to get through a crisis, yet none of those who live with her have the same feeling. This means that we are not normal in the Body; we have not yet touched the reality of the Body. This shows that the element of the Body is not adequate among us, and we do not live in Christ enough when we are together. Therefore, although we may be living together, we may not be conscious of others’ burdens. One may be fasting due to a spiritual crisis, yet others can be eating peacefully. This is an abnormal situation. This shows that there is a real problem, a great shortage, among us. We cannot match the sense of the Body; we lack the sense of the Body.
If our condition is proper, we should have a feeling of being troubled and pressed when a brother who serves with us is unable to get through a spiritual crisis or solve a spiritual problem. If a member is suffering, his fellow members should suffer with him. If he is suffering and we are not suffering, there is a problem with us. If our condition is normal, it should be that as he is suffering, we are also suffering; when he has a burden, we also have a burden; and when he is in a crisis, we are also in a crisis. When his crisis is over and his spirit is released, our spirit will be released; when he is happy, we will be happy. We will have the same feeling. This is the Body. It is not possible for the foot to feel comfortable while the hand is suffering; this can never happen. When a member of the Body suffers, all the members feel uncomfortable. It should also be like this when we serve together. When a person has a difficulty, everyone else should feel the same way; when a person rejoices, everyone also rejoices together. This is the normal condition.
If someone hits my hand, all the other members of my body can sense it. If they cannot sense it, something is wrong with my body. Many times when something is wrong among us, we still care only about ourselves, loving our particular work, guarding our attachments to the world, and tolerating the sins within us. Because of our self-consideration, our inner sense is suppressed, and even if we had a sense, we would ignore it. We often ignore the sense of the Body when it comes to us and forcibly suppress it, because we are busy taking care of our own situations. This condition is altogether abnormal.
We should not consider that our condition is normal simply because we do not quarrel much. We can still be quite short and lacking on the positive side. Many saints among us are in the midst of tremendous hardships, yet those who serve with them have no feeling for them, and no one bears the burden with them. We do not pray too much for them, and when we do pray, our prayers are superficial. We do not touch the burden, and we do not have a feeling of pain within. We do not have a sense of being troubled and pressed. This shows that our sense of being in the Body is not adequate and that we still remain in ourselves.
The sense of the Body is very mysterious. If we allow this sense to be enlarged, it will become a universal sense. Strictly speaking, this sense is already universal, but when it comes into us, we limit it. Christ’s life is universal, and God’s Spirit is also universal. Once this life and Spirit enter into us, we should have a universal sense. This sense is great and far-reaching, but when it enters into us, we limit it. At our salvation this sense caused us to realize our own condition. However, because we have not been broken very much, this sense cannot come out of us. Gradually, according to the lessons we learn, the more we are broken, the more this sense will increase so that we can begin to care for others, for the church, and for the Lord’s work. The more we experience the Lord’s breaking, learning the deeper lessons and being delivered from ourselves, the more we will discover that this sense is universal.
A British brother once told a story of coming to America to preach the gospel. As he was preparing to preach the word, he felt very uneasy, but because he did not know why, he tried to suppress this feeling. He tried to resist it through prayer and by the Lord’s blood, yet all his efforts failed. As he restlessly paced back and forth inside his hotel room, he suddenly had a sense and asked the Lord what it meant. He became clear within and prayed, “I will apply, by faith, the prayer of the brothers in London on my behalf.” As soon as he drew on the efficacy of that prayer, the uneasiness in him vanished. When he returned, he related this incident to the brothers in London, and they asked him when this event happened. According to the five-hour time zone difference between the east coast of America and London, the brothers in London told him that they sensed that he was having difficulty at the same time that he was being pressed and troubled. So they prayed for him in London. Although he was on one side of the Atlantic Ocean and the brothers in London were on the other side, they were connected by an inner sense and were able to know what he was experiencing in a distant place. Although outwardly no one could clearly explain the situation, they all sensed the same thing in the spirit. How sweet this is!
In 1900, when the Boxer Rebellion took place, many Western missionaries were persecuted and martyred for the Lord. Transportation and communication were not as advanced as they are today. When the persecution took place in China, there was a group of people in London who lived before the Lord and prayed whenever they met together. At that particular point they felt oppressed in their spirit, and they sensed it was related to an unusual matter. This sense of oppression was not ordinary but extraordinary. Although they could not explain this according to their spiritual experience, they sensed that the Body of Christ, which is His church, was troubled on earth. So they prayed to release the burden within them before the Lord. After a period of time, when the news from China reached Europe, they became clear. They calculated the date and the time and discovered that the time when they began to sense the strong oppression in their spirit was exactly when the Chinese Boxers began massacring the Western missionaries. Although they were far away in another land, in their spirit they sensed the persecution faced by the believers in China. This is the sense of the Body; this is a universal matter. Therefore, we should never despise the life that we have received. The sense in this life is a great matter. Regrettably, this sense has been restricted in us because of our own feelings and views. These have become a restriction within us.
For the time being, let us not even talk about the Eastern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere or even Europe and Asia. Let us merely take Taiwan as an example. The church in Tainan often has no feeling concerning what happens to the church in Taichung, and the church in Taipei has no feeling regarding what happens to the church in Tainan. When the church in Taichung receives a blessing, there is no rejoicing in the church in Tainan. When the church in Tainan has a revival, the church in Taipei is indifferent and is even a little jealous. Furthermore, the saints in Tainan may say, “Our revival this time is stronger than the revival in Taichung.” Then the saints in Taichung become unhappy when they hear this, saying, “Wait and see. In half a year the church in Taichung will be stronger than the church in Tainan.” Sometimes the saints may not say these words, but there are these feelings. Thus, there is no Body, and the sense of the Body is diminished.
Have we ever rejoiced for a local church other than our own? We are often shut up within ourselves, and when we see another local church being blessed, we do not rejoice with them. Even if we do rejoice, our rejoicing is stingy, not generous. After the saints in Keelung learn that Tamsui has a nice meeting hall, they may say, “Praise the Lord,” but they are not that happy. Even though the church in Sanchung has built a nice meeting hall, the brothers in other places do not feel very happy. Such things happen among us. This shows that we are not in the Body, and we do not have a sense of the Body experientially.
If we have the sense of the Body, whenever any member in the Body of Christ is blessed, regardless of whether it is our locality, we will be very happy because another church has been blessed. Regardless of whether it is our local church, as long as the saints have hardships or have been blessed, we will identify with them and feel the same hardship or blessing. If we can reach this stage, the sense within us toward the Body will be rich. It will no longer be local but extra-local. The supply to the Body of Christ from this kind of sense is indescribable.
If we can bring the universal riches to the Body of Christ, our usefulness to the Body is universal. Thus, we may serve in one place, but the effect is universal, not merely local. We are often shut up in ourselves. Even when we come out of ourselves, we remain in our locality and do not allow the Lord to enlarge us. The Body is universal, and the life within us is universal. The Spirit within us is universal, the sense within us is universal, and the supply is universal. It does not matter what locality is blessed. If the Body of Christ is blessed, we rejoice, and if the Body of Christ has a problem, we feel the pain. Like Paul, we should be able to say, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I myself do not burn?” (2 Cor. 11:29). We feel this way because the anxious concern for all the churches is upon us. This is not merely a matter of an individual member; it is a matter of all the churches. This sense will save us and cause the Body to be supplied.
