LIVING IN THE REALITY OF THE BODY OF CHRIST BY KEEPING THE PRINCIPLES OF THE BODY
Message Two
The Oneness of the Body and the Function of the Body
Scripture Reading: Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; Eph. 4:4-6; 5:32
I. The Body of Christ is uniquely one universally—Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; Eph. 4:4a; 2:16a:
A. The Lord's recovery is the recovery of the oneness of the Body of Christ—4:4-6:
1. The Body can exist and survive only in oneness—Psa. 133:1.
2. The Lord is burdened to recover the oneness of the Body of Christ.
3. The practice of this oneness has been lost, but we wish to satisfy the Lord's heart to recover this oneness—John 17:21-23.
B. The unique oneness of the Body of Christ is "the oneness of the Spirit"—Eph. 4:3:
1. The Spirit is the essence of the Body of Christ; hence, the Spirit is the reality of the oneness of the Body of Christ—1 John 5:6; John 16:13.
2. This oneness was imparted into the spirit of the believers in Christ, in the regeneration by the Spirit of life with Christ as life—3:5-6; Rom. 8:2.
3. We need to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace with the transformed human virtues—Eph. 4:1-3.
4. The ground of a local church is the unique oneness of the Body of Christ, that is, the oneness of the Spirit—v. 3.
5. All the local churches need to be kept in the unique oneness of the Body of Christ—Rev. 1:11.
C. The genuine oneness of the Body is the processed and consummated Triune God, who mingles Himself with the believers—Eph. 4:4-6:
1. The processed and consummated Triune God mingles Himself with His chosen and redeemed people in their humanity, and this mingling is the genuine oneness of the Body of Christ.
2. Because the Body is such a mingling, the Body itself is the oneness.
D. The oneness of the Body of Christ is the oneness of the Divine Trinity; hence, the oneness of the Body of Christ is the enlarged oneness of the Divine Trinity— John 17:21, 23.
E. We are the church to be the Body of Christ not by being organized but by being enlivened, regenerated, and made alive with the Triune God as the oneness within us—Eph. 1:22-23; 2:4-5.
F. All the local churches are and should be one Body universally, doctrinally, and practically—1 Cor. 12:27; 1:2; 4:17.
G. Blending is the most helpful thing in keeping the oneness of the universal Body of Christ—12:24b.
H. The keeping of the oneness is the primary virtue of our Christian walk—Eph. 4:1-3.
I. All the believers should be in the divine and mystical realm of the pneumatic Christ and the consummated Spirit to be mingled with the Triune God for the keeping of the oneness—John 17:21-23; Eph. 4:3.
II. The function of the Body is to express Christ—1:22-23; 3:17:
A. The universally great Christ needs a Body to be His fullness, His expression— 1:22-23:
1. The fullness of Christ issues from the enjoyment of the riches of Christ—3:8.
2. Through the enjoyment of Christ's riches, we become His fullness to express Him—1:22-23:
a. The fullness of Christ is Christ experienced by us and constituted into us—3:8, 19.
b. The objective riches become the subjective fullness, and this fullness is the Body of Christ.
B. The Body of Christ is the extension and continuation of Christ on earth—Acts 9:4; 1 Cor. 12:12.
C. The purpose of us believers being members one of another in the Body of Christ is that we would live Christ and express Him together—Rom. 12:5.
D. The Body of Christ is Christ; if we would be in the Body, we must be made Christ—1 Cor. 12:12; Col. 3:10-11:
1. We are one Body in Christ, having an organic union with Him—Rom. 12:5.
2. In the Body Christ is all and in all—Col. 3:10-11.
3. The church as the Body of Christ comes out of Christ and is one with Christ— Gen. 2:22-23; Eph. 5:23-32.
4. There is only one thing in a believer that forms a part of the Body of Christ— Christ.
5. God is constituting us with Christ so that we can become the Body of Christ in reality and practicality.
E. The Body of Christ is the corporate Christ—1 Cor. 12:12-13:
1. In verse 12 the Christ refers not to the individual Christ but to the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ.
2. The corporate Christ is composed of Christ Himself as the Head and the church as His Body with all the believers as His members.
3. All the believers in Christ are organically united with Him (Rom. 12:4-5) and constituted with His life and element (Col. 3:4, 11) and have thus become His Body, an organism to express Him; hence, Christ is not only the Head but also the Body.
4. The Bible considers Christ and the church as one mysterious Christ; Christ is the Head of this mysterious Christ, and the church is the Body of this mysterious Christ—Acts 9:4-5; Eph. 5:32.