Search
Scripture Reading: Rom. 12:1-5, 11; 1 Pet. 2:5; 1 Cor. 12:18, 20, 24-27; Col. 3:9-15
God’s intention in the whole universe is to gain a Body for Christ. In the Scriptures this Body is also called a spiritual house and a priesthood (1 Cor. 12:27; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9). These different terms signify that we, the believers, have been regenerated into the Body, and now we need to be blended together and built up as one Body to fulfill God’s intention. When we come to the matter of serving the Lord, we all need to be very clear that we need the Body, and we need a heavenly vision concerning the Body. May the Lord grant us all such a vision that will bring us into a full realization that we need to be in the reality of the Body, even that we cannot serve without the Body, and, in fact, that we cannot live, we cannot exist spiritually in life, outside the Body. Only by such a heavenly vision of the Body can we be brought into the genuine service of the Lord.
Strictly speaking, in the New Testament the service is not touched clearly and definitely until Romans 12. In this chapter both the words service and serving are used. In Romans 12:1 Paul exhorts us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is our reasonable service. In verse 7 he mentions the service, and in verse 11 he speaks of serving the Lord as a slave. It is not until Romans 12 that the matter of service is so definitely revealed to us. From this chapter we can realize that, as Christians, our service to the Lord must be in the Body. The Christian service is not something individual; it is something corporate. The Christian service is something of the Body, in the Body, with the Body, and for the Body.
If we are going to serve the Lord, our service must be in the Body. We are burdened that all of us may be brought into this heavenly vision, the vision that no one can serve the Lord without the Body. All of our service must be in the Body because, as Christians, we all have been regenerated to be members of the Body. Each one of us is one member of the Body. Not one of us is a complete unit, a complete person, a complete being—not one of us alone is the Body. All of us have been re-created, regenerated, to be members of the Body.
The members of our physical body give us an illustration of how much every member needs the Body. It is impossible for the finger to be a complete unit by itself. Likewise, the eyes and the ears are not complete units. Every member needs the body, and every member needs to be attached to the body. The very part of the body we may consider the most beautiful would become terrifying if it were separated from the body. We appreciate the beauty of the human eyes, but if we saw some human eyes outside the body, we would be terrified. If they were detached from the body, not only would their beauty be gone, but their function also would be gone, and they would be useless.
Today there are many dear Christians who should have a genuine beauty in the Body. However, they do not have this beauty simply because they have been detached from the reality of the Body. Due to this one thing, the separation from the reality of the Body, certain members that should be beautiful and useful become terrifying and useless instead. This is the subtle work of the enemy.
God’s intention in the universe is to have a Body. You may use different words to express this one thing—the Body, the house, or the priesthood—but they signify one thing, that we, the regenerated ones, need to be blended together and built up as one Body. This is God’s intention. If we are going to serve the Lord, we need to be very clear about this one point.
First of all, we need the heavenly vision concerning the Body. In these days may our eyes be opened so that we all may be brought into a full realization of our need to be in the reality of the Body. May we realize that we cannot serve without the Body, and that we cannot even have a spiritual life outside the Body. Such a vision will capture us, wreck us, and spoil us for all the individualistic works, for all the independent services. We will be brought into a genuine service by the heavenly vision, by what we see of the Body. We all need to pray that we may see this vision.
For the Christian service we need the Body, and we need to see the Body. This is the first point we need to cover if we are going to speak about the service. I do believe that a good number among us have seen that there is no way, no base, no foundation, no ground, for any one of us to serve the Lord without the Body. We need the Body, and we praise the Lord that we have already been regenerated into the Body. The only thing we need today is the heavenly vision that will cause us to realize that we are already in the Body. We are in the Body, but we are short of the realization. We cannot gain such a realization of the Body by being taught. I do not trust in my teaching, and I do not believe that my teaching will work in this matter. However, I do look to the Lord, the Head of the Body, that He would grant you even a little glimpse, that your eyes would be opened to see the fact that you are in the Body. You are in the Body! When you see this vision, it will seem so foolish that you could have been a Christian for years without realizing that you are in the Body. You have been regenerated into the Body, and by a single glimpse of the vision, you will have the clear realization that you are in the Body.
Some of us immigrated to the United States from other countries and obtained United States citizenship. After we obtained the citizenship, we received congratulations from the president and from a number of government officials. However, we need to celebrate the fact that we are members of the Body much more than we celebrated the fact that we became citizens of the United States. We need to celebrate the “Body-ship” and rejoice that we have seen the Body and that we are in the Body.
It was a number of years after I was regenerated that I came into the realization that I was in the Body and began to appreciate the “Body-ship.” I was regenerated in 1925, but nearly seventeen years passed before my eyes were opened to see the Body. Between 1940 and 1942 I came into the realization that I was in the Body. For nearly seventeen years I had been a genuine seeking Christian, and I studied, searched, and even researched the Bible. Nevertheless, I did not have the realization that I was in the Body. When I saw the vision of the Body, the whole universe became a new heaven and a new earth to me. I had been in the Body already for some time, but I did not have the realization of the Body. We all need to see the reality that each one of us is a member of the Body. We are in the Body. Once you have seen the vision of the Body, you can never deny that you have seen it, just as once you have seen the city of Los Angeles, you cannot say that you have not seen it. We all need to see the vision of the Body.
After you see the Body, spontaneously you will ask, “Where is the Body?” There are many Christian organizations and many Christian groups. But where is the Body? Many Christians are still wandering because they have not seen the Body. They may talk about the Body life, but they have not seen the Body. Once they have seen the Body, they will raise the question, “Where is the Body?”
The question of where the Body is involves the matter of the ground of the church. Further Talks on the Church Life by Brother Watchman Nee covers the matter of the ground of the church in detail. I strongly recommend that you read and reread this book until you are very clear concerning the ground of the church. Then you will know where to find the Body. The matter of the church ground is very serious; it is something of life and death, not merely a matter of doctrine. I would even encourage you to read Further Talks over and over so that through it and through these messages you may be brought into the heavenly vision concerning the Body and the place where you can find the Body.
Suppose that we have seen the Body, we have found the Body, and we are in the reality of the Body. At this point we need Romans 12. This chapter was written for the purpose of telling us what we should do at this point. The first two verses of Romans 12 say, “I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.” First, we need to present our body. Then we need to have our soul transformed by the renewing of the mind. Eventually, we need to have our spirit burned and burning all the time (v. 11). The body needs to be presented, the soul transformed, and the spirit burned and burning, on fire all the time. You may have presented your body already, but you may be short of the transformation of your soul by the renewing of the mind. In addition, you need to be burning in spirit. Even so, there is something more.
If your eyes have been opened and you see the Body, if you have found the Body and realized that you are in it, it will be necessary for you to give up the self, to lose the self-life. The self is a real problem. The self is the real division, the real sin, and the real sect. If you have seen the Body, this vision will require that you lose your self-life, that you give up the self. Christians are divided because they are so much in the self. The self divides, but the spirit unites. Therefore, if we would give up the self, lose the self, and turn to the spirit, right away we would be in the reality of the Body. When you are out of the self and in the spirit, you are in the reality of the Body. It is necessary for us to give up the self, to lose the self. It is not adequate merely to know the doctrine concerning losing the self; it is necessary to lose the self in a practical way, to let go of the self-life. On this point we need more prayer. We need to pray, “Lord, be merciful to me in Your Body, that I may lose the self, that I may let go of my self-life.”
If you intend to argue with the church or with some of the saints about a certain point, you need to check yourself to find out whether your arguing has its source in the spirit or in the self. Your point may be right, but your motive may be wrong, and the instrument or means that you are using may also be wrong. The right thing must come out of the right source and be done by the right means. Merely for your point to be right is not adequate. It is necessary to have both the proper source and the proper means. The spirit is the proper source, and the spirit is also the proper means. If your arguing for a certain point has its source in the spirit and is done by means of the spirit, there is no problem with your arguing. Otherwise, you need to give it up. In the Body we all need to lose the self.
We may talk about oneness, but we all need to realize that the genuine oneness is nothing less than Christ Himself as our life in a practical way. Christ is the oneness, the unity. When I am living in Christ as my life and not in myself, I have the oneness, and I am in the oneness. When we all are living in Christ as our life, Christ is the oneness. If this is our situation, then we have the reality of the Body, and then we are also equipped for the service. Romans 12 stresses that without the Body we cannot serve, because each of us is only one member.
Peter tells us that the Body is the building, the house, and that we are living stones. “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). Without being built up, the living stones can do nothing, and they are useless. Stones that are not built up are useless. The stones need to be built up into a house that will be useful to God. This usefulness is the service, and this house is the priesthood.
Two different Greek words are translated into the English word priesthood. The Greek word translated “priesthood” in 1 Peter 2:5 and 9 means “a priestly body, a body of priests,” but the word translated “priesthood” in Hebrews 7 means “priestly office, priestly function.” The spiritual house mentioned in 1 Peter 2:5 is the priesthood, the priestly body, not the priestly office. Strong’s Concordance gives the meaning of this Greek word as a “priestly fraternity.” There is the need of a priestly body, a priestly group, to offer spiritual sacrifices. If we are not built up as such a priestly body, we are not qualified to offer anything to God. Therefore, if we are not built up, we are not qualified to serve. For the service we need the Body.
Here we need to go into more detail. The matters we are touching are not so simple. It is not sufficient to say that we have seen the Body and we are living by Christ as our life, and therefore we have the oneness and are in the oneness and in the Body. We have Romans 12, and we have 1 Peter 2, but we need to go on to 1 Corinthians 12, especially to take note of one word in verse 24: “God has blended the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked.” How much I appreciate the word blended. God has blended the body. We need to check ourselves to see how much we have been blended. We are all here together, we have seen the Body, we are in the Body, we are living in Christ and by Christ as our life, but we need to check ourselves to find out how much we have been blended together.
Those who cook know how to blend the different ingredients together in their cooking. To be blended means more than to be mixed together. The Amplified New Testament supplies several words for the word blended in this verse—adjusted, mingled, harmonized, and subtly proportioned the parts of the whole. In the practical application, to be blended means that a quick person needs to be put together with a slow one so that the quickness of the one is blended with the slowness of the other. Then in the Body there will be nothing too quick and nothing too slow.
In the church both pride and natural humility need to be mutually adjusted until only Christ is left. One brother may feel that he is very humble and that others are very proud. When his natural humility is adjusted, there will be nothing of his natural humility in the church. Some of the brothers and sisters find it very easy to stand up in the meetings to function, and others find it easy to remain in their seats and be quiet. These saints also need to be mutually adjusted. In these days I have a deep realization that I need more blending with all the saints. Whatever characteristic you may have, I need to be tempered with you in that matter. All of us need to be blended together.
Without the blending together, there is no way for us to be built up together. Without the blending, a quick person could never go along with a slow one, and there could never be any building between them. Without being blended, you could never be coordinated with others. One brother is too proud, but another is too humble. These two could never be coordinated together unless both of them are willing to be blended. God has not only set the members in the Body; He has blended the Body together.
In cooking, it is not sufficient merely to mix certain ingredients together to prepare a dish that has a pleasing taste. In the preparation of certain dishes it is necessary to blend the ingredients together to give them a delicious taste. All of us have been placed into the church here together, but the delicious taste will be lacking if we have not been blended together. God has placed the members, each one of them, in the Body, and He has also blended the Body together (vv. 18, 24). Our need today is not merely to be brought in and placed in the church here, but to be blended together with others of the Lord’s choosing who may be quite different from us in their dispositions. Time after time the Lord puts us together with just the right person for us to be blended in the Body.
Now we come to a particular phrase in Colossians 3:15: “You were called in one Body.” For years I read Colossians 3 without realizing that all the virtues mentioned there are for the Body life—compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering or endurance, forbearance, forgiveness, love, and peace. The phrase you were called in one Body clearly indicates that all these items are for the one Body, for the Body life. As Christians we have the natural concept that we need to be humble in our human living. However, according to the Bible, humility is not for the human life but for the Body life. Compassion is not for the human life but for the Body life. In the Body you need to have compassion. In the Body you need kindness, humility, meekness, endurance, and forbearance. We should not think that it is impossible for us to bear a particular brother or sister. Even though we may feel that to stay with that particular saint is like being put into death, we should not try to escape our situation. What the Lord requires is that our natural life be put to death. We need to remain where we are in order that we may bear and even forbear, so that we may take the cup our Father has given us. It may seem like a bitter cup, but it will become so sweet. It may seem to be a cup of curse, but it will become a cup of blessing. In this way we will see the Body life.
We should not think that it is easy for human beings to stay together. No matter how much we love one another, the longer we stay together, the more we will realize that we need not only endurance but also forbearance and forgiveness for the Body life. If we stay together to have the meeting life for a period of time, surely we will offend one another again and again. None of us could be so holy, so perfect, that we would not offend others. When the offenses come, we need to forgive one another. Instead of complaining, we need to forgive again and again. Colossians 3:12-13 says, “Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, inward parts of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering; bearing one another and forgiving one another, if anyone should have a complaint against anyone; even as the Lord forgave you, so also should you forgive.” I appreciate compassion more than mercy. Compassion is so tender. After compassion verse 12 mentions kindness, lowliness, meekness, and long-suffering. Verse 13 continues with forbearance and then forgiveness. Then you have love, and following love, peace. “Over all these things put on love, which is the uniting bond of perfectness. And let the peace of Christ arbitrate in your hearts, to which also you were called in one Body; and be thankful” (vv. 14-15). If you do not forgive others, you can never have peace. Instead of having peace, you will be troubled all the time. You will be disturbed by the offenses of others, and there will be no peace arbitrating within you. But if you forgive others and forget their offenses, if you love them no matter how much they offend you, you will have peace. You will simply receive whatever another does to you as something from the Lord for you, something that you need. You will not care for the offenses, but you will care for all the dear brothers and sisters. When you have such a love, peace will follow.
All the items in Colossians 3 are detailed expressions of Christ as life. With such an expression of Christ in a practical way, we have the Body life. Then we will be built up together and qualified to serve the Lord. Without the proper building up together, whatever we do to have some outreach, to preach the gospel, or to help other Christians, does not work. Only when we are qualified by being built up together will it be easy to bring someone to the Lord or to help other members. For the service it is necessary for us to be in the reality of the Body, to be built up, to be qualified, to be equipped. From our experience we know that the real equipment for us to fight the battle as the service to the Lord is to be built up in the Body.
