The reality of the body of christ
Message Two
Living in Resurrection for the Reality of the Body of Christ
Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 1:8-9; Rom. 8:28-29; Phil. 3:10-11; 2 Cor. 4:16; 1 Cor. 15:58
I. In order to live in resurrection, we must see the unveiled truth concerning Christ's resurrection:
A. Christ in His humanity was begotten by God in His resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God as the Head of the Body-Acts 13:33; Rom. 8:29b.
B. All the believers of Christ were regenerated by God the Father through the resurrection of Christ for the producing of the church as His Body, His reproduction-1?Pet. 1:3; John 12:24; 1 Cor. 10:17.
C. Christ as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit-15:45b.
D. Without these major items of the Lord's resurrection (the firstborn Son of God, the many sons of God, and the life-giving Spirit), there would be no church, no Body of Christ, and no economy of God-cf. Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 4:4.
II. The budding rod signifies that Christ, the resurrected One, should be our life, our living, and the resurrection life within us and that this life should bud, blossom, and bear fruit to maturity-Num. 17:8:
A. After the children of Israel rebelled, as recorded in Numbers?16, God commanded the twelve leaders to take twelve rods according to the twelve tribes of Israel and put them in the Tent of Meeting before the Testimony (17:4); then He said, "The rod of the man whom I?choose shall bud"-v. 5.
B. All twelve rods were leafless, rootless, dry, and dead; whichever one budded was the one chosen by God; here we see that resurrection is the basis of God's selection and that the basis of service is something apart from our natural life; thus, the budding rod signifies our experience of Christ in His resurrection as our acceptance by God for authority in the God-given ministry.
C. The principle to every service lies in the budding rod; God returned all the eleven rods to the leaders but kept Aaron's rod inside the Ark as an eternal memorial; this means that resurrection is an eternal principle in our service to God-vv.?9-10:
1. Resurrection means that everything is of God and not of us; it means that God alone is able and that we are not able-Phil. 3:10-11.
2. What we can do belongs to the natural realm, and what is impossible for us to do belongs to the realm of resurrection; a man must come to the end of himself before he will be convinced of his utter uselessness-Matt. 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27.
3. If a man has never realized his own inability, he can never experience God's ability; resurrection means that we cannot make it and that God is the One who has done everything-cf. 2?Cor. 1:8-9; 4:7.
III. In order to be in the reality of the Body of Christ, we need to be absolutely in the resurrection life of Christ:
A. The church is absolutely of the element of Christ, absolutely in resurrection, and absolutely in the heavenlies-1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 2:6; cf. Gen. 2:21-24.
B. The golden lampstand, typifying the church as the Body of Christ, portrays Christ as the resurrection life, growing, branching, budding, and blossoming to shine the light-Exo. 25:31-40; Num. 17:8; Rev. 1:11-12.
C. 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:
1. We all need to be discipled by the Lord to be divine and mystical persons, living the divine life by denying our natural life-cf. John 3:8.
2. Anything that is carried out in the natural life, even if it is carried out scripturally, is not the reality of the Body of Christ-1 Cor. 3:12.
VI. In order to live in resurrection, we must know, experience, 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. Although the living God can perform many acts on man's behalf, the life and nature of the living God are not wrought into man; when the God of resurrection works, His life and nature are wrought into man-4:16:
1. God is not working to make His might known in external acts, but He is working to impart and work Himself into man-Gal. 4:19.
2. God uses the environment in order to work His life and nature into us-2 Cor. 4:7-12; 1 Thes. 3:3.
3. In order to live in resurrection and be constituted with the God of resurrection, we must be conformed to the image of Christ as the firstborn Son of God through "all things"-Rom. 8:28-29; Heb. 12:10; Jer. 48:11.
4. The primary purpose of suffering in this universe, particularly as it relates to the children of God, is that through it the very nature of God may be wrought into the nature of man so that man may gain God to the fullest extent-2 Cor. 4:16.
5. As we pass through afflictions, there needs to be a continual renewing taking place in us day by day so that God can accomplish His heart's desire to make us the New Jerusalem-Ezek. 36:26; 2 Cor. 5:17; Rev. 21:2.
C. In order to live in resurrection, we must be renewed day by day by being nourished with the fresh supply of the resurrection life-2 Cor. 4:16:
1. The real Christian life is to have the God of resurrection added into us morning and evening and day by day-Col. 2:19; Rom. 8:10, 6, 11.
2. In order to receive the renewing capacity of the divine life in resurrection, we need to contact God, open ourselves up to Him, and let Him come into us to be a new addition into us day by day-Phil. 2:13; 3:10-11:
a. We are renewed by the cross, the Holy Spirit, our mingled spirit, and the word of God-2 Cor. 4:10; Titus 3:5; Eph. 4:23; 5:26.
b. We need to be revived every morning-Matt. 13:43; Prov. 4:18.
c. We should come to the Lord's table in the principle of newness by forgiving others and seeking to be forgiven-Matt. 26:29; 5:23-24; 18:21-22, 35.
3. The killing of the cross results in the manifestation of the resurrection life; this daily killing is for the release of the divine life in resurrection-2 Cor. 4:10-12.
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:
1. After being put aside by God for forty years, Moses learned to serve God according to His leading and to trust in Him-Exo. 2:14-15; Acts 7:22-36; Heb. 11:28.
2. After becoming a complete failure, Peter learned to serve the brothers by faith and with humility-Luke 22:32-33; John 18:15-18, 25-27; Matt. 26:69-75; 1 Pet. 5:5-6.
3. The sevenfold intensified life-giving Spirit honors only the things in resurrection; if we do any work that is not in resurrection, the life-giving Spirit will never honor it-1?Cor. 15:58; 3:12.