God has blended the Body together, and He is adjusting, harmonizing, tempering, and mingling the Body together; for us to be blended we have to go through the cross and be by the Spirit, dispensing Christ to others for the sake of the Body of Christ.
This is so that God would carry out His will, which is to gain a Body for Christ to be His expression and enlargement on earth.
If we read the book of Ephesians we will realize that each chapter of this book unveils the mystery of God’s will (Eph. 1:9), the mystery of the Body of Christ as the organism of the Triune God, from a particular point of view.
In Eph. 1 we see that the Body of Christ is the issue of the dispensing of the processed Trinity and the transmitting of the transcending Christ.
The Father’s choosing and predestinating, the Son’s redeeming and calling us to make us His possession, the Spirit’s sealing and pledging, all these are not just causing us to be beneficiaries of His dispensing but they form us into His Body, the church.
The result and issue of the dispensing of the processed Trinity and the transmitting of the transcending Christ is the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all and in all, the expression of the vast and extensive Christ.
May the eyes of our heart be enlightened to see this One, to enjoy this One, and to be mingled with this One, entering into the possession of the vast territory of Christ and exploring all His riches!
In Eph. 2 we see that the Body of Christ is the masterpiece of the Triune God as the one new man (Eph. 2:10, 15-16).
We were dead in sins and offenses, but we have been saved, brought back to Him, and even brought into Him to enjoy full salvation in Him.
The result is that we are made into His masterpiece, His poem; in that poem we walk in Him, we do the good works in Him, and we are the one new man! This is the will of God in Eph. 2.
In Eph. 3 we see that the Body of Christ is the fullness of the Triune God by our being supplied with the riches of Christ and by Christ’s making His home in our hearts (Eph. 3:8, 14-19).
Christ is making His home in our heart and works all the riches of what He is into our being. We may be thinking about many other things, but something within us reminds us to turn to the Lord and call on Him, to ask Him to have mercy on us and fill us and spread in all our inner being.
As we pray in this way, we are strengthened into our inner man, and the Lord has a way to work His unsearchable riches into our inner being, into all the inward parts of our being.
He is making His home downward in our heart, and we ascend upward to Him, being drawn to Him to be able to apprehend with all the saints the dimensions of His being.
Eph. 4 shows us that the Body of Christ is the mingling of the processed Triune God with the regenerated believers so that this one Body is built up by the one ministry (Eph. 4:4-6, 11-16).
As a result of this one ministry, we are brought to hold Him as the Head, grow up into Him in all things, and out from Him we’re supplied as members, participate in the building up of the Body, and we take part in the ministry that builds up the Body (v. 12).
Our focus is that we want to be in the mingling of the Triune God with the tripartite man by our holding Him as our reality in all things.
In Eph. 5 we see that the Body of Christ is composed of the children of light to be the bride of Christ for the satisfaction of Christ (Eph. 5:8-9, 25-27).
As children of light we need to walk in the light, walk according to His heart and will; as we walk in the light, we are in the atmosphere of love and light, enjoying Him, in the sweetness of the shining light and the embracing love, to be prepared to be His bride.
In Eph. 6 we see that the Body of Christ is the corporate warrior of the Triune God for the defeating of God’s enemy (Eph. 6:10-20).
It is as the Body that we’re able to stand against the enemy and put on the entire armor of God, doing all to stand.
We can stand as a corporate David against the giant enemy Goliath; together, as today’s David, we seek and experience the Body, we put on the armor of God, have the ministry of intercessory prayer, praying at every time in spirit, and defeat the enemy! Amen!
Being Blended by Going through the Cross and by the Spirit, Dispensing Christ for the Body
According to 1 Cor. 12:24, God has blending the Body together; this word “blended” also means “adjusted”, “harmonized”, “tempered”, and “mingled”.
When we speak of blending in the church life we immediately think of visiting places to blend with the saints, and there may be international blending, national blending, regional blending, blending within the church with the different halls and districts, and blending among the groups.
All these are the framework of the blending, the practice of blending; however, there’s an intrinsic part of the blending, which is going through the cross and being by the Spirit, dispensing Christ to others for the sake of the Body of Christ.
The purpose of blending is to usher us into the reality of the Body of Christ, and then to help us to maintain that reality.
As we blend, we seek to find and bring forth the Body in its reality, which is God’s will; realize that this blending is to bring in the reality of the Body, which is an intrinsic matter.
In order for us to be blended in the Body life, we all have to go through the cross and be by the Spirit, dispensing Christ to others for the sake of the Body of Christ.
We shouldn’t only visit other places and seek to blend by going here and there with the saints; we need to enter into the reality of blending, which is to do everything by the cross.
We need to seek to have the Body of Christ being brought forth for the fulfillment of God’s will by seeking to be those under the cross.
For us to be through the cross is to be crossed out in our natural life and our preferences.
We may like to hang out mainly with those who match our natural background, those who have the same flavor as we do, and we like to do things in a natural way.
Our natural flavor needs to be crossed out. Our preferences and feelings need to be crossed out. We need to learn to do things not according to our feeling but through the cross and by the Spirit.
And our enjoyment of Christ needs to be not just for us but for us to dispense Christ into others.
When we go through the cross, we will be by the Spirit; we are one with Him in our spirit, and we can minister Him, flow Him, bring Him to others, enabling them to receive an element of God, and they are related to the Body through that dispensed element.
As we hold to our status as a member of the Body, living in the reality of the Body, not living in our natural life but being crossed out and cleaving to our spirit, we reach out to be related to the other members of the Body by dispensing Christ into them for the building up of the Body.
We need to realize that we are God-men who are doing things and having our being not only according to God’s heart but also according to the Spirit, who has been processed and consummated through death and resurrection.
We need to check whether or not we are doing everything in the Spirit and having our being according to the Spirit.
The way God harmonizes, adjusts, tempers, and mingles the Body together is by our going through the cross, being by the Spirit, and ministering Christ to others for the sake of the Body.
In such a blending our distinctions are gone, and we do not stand out from among others but rather we’re blended together.
May we learn to go through the cross and be by the Spirit, dispensing Christ to others for the sake of the Body of Christ!
May we not be for our interest and according to our taste but for the church, so that we may be blended together in reality!
Lord Jesus, we want to be blended in the Body life by going through the cross and being by the Spirit, dispensing Christ to others for the sake of the Body of Christ. We open to You, Lord, to be blended together in the Body in an intrinsic way. We open to Your adjusting, harmonizing, tempering, and mingling. May everything that we do not be according to our preference or taste but through the cross and by the Spirit! May we realize that we are God-men doing things according to the Spirit for the dispensing of Christ into others to build up the church as the Body of Christ!
Blending means that we Always Stop to Fellowship with Others when we’re about to Do Something
By our very human nature we are independent persons, and the world with its secular education and knowledge teaches us to be independent human beings.
However, when we were regenerated we were brought into the Body of Christ to be members of the Body who depend not only on the Lord as the Head but also on the other members in the Body.
Therefore, for us to be harmonized, blended, adjusted, mingled, and tempered in the Body life, we need to go through the cross and be by the Spirit, seeking to dispense Christ to others for the sake of the Body of Christ.
All the brothers and the sisters need to be crossed out; the co-workers and the elders must learn to be crossed out. Everything we do must be by the Spirit to dispense Christ, so that the Body of Christ may be built up.
This means that we need to fellowship; we need to always stop and fellowship with others when we’re about to do something.
As we fellowship – through the cross and by the Spirit, seeking to dispense Christ into others for the Body – we are tempered, adjusted, harmonized, and mingled in the Body.
When an elder or a co-worker want to do something, they should first fellowship about it with their fellow elders and co-workers.
Similarly, when we as saints in the church life want to do something, we also should first fellowship; we should fellowship with the Lord and then fellowship with our fellow saints in the Body.
When we stop and fellowship, we stop what we are and what we’re about to do and we allow the Lord to come in through the fellowship.
In our coordination in the church life and in the Lord’s word we need to learn not to do anything without fellowship.
As we’re learning to live in the reality of the Body of Christ by being through the cross and by the Spirit, we are brought into the fellowship with the Lord and with one another.
In the Body we have fellowship both with the Lord and with the saints; we enjoy a marvelous, rich, shining, radiant circulation of life in the Body of Christ, the circulation from the Head and from all the members of the Body.
In this fellowship we are made full, we are strengthened, we are supplied, and we become living members of the Body.
Today we all need to learn to stop and fellowship with others when we’re about to do something, until one day, a we live in this intrinsic practice of blending, we no longer need to “stop and fellowship” but rather we “continue our fellowship” in all things with the fellow members of the Body.
The blending is for the building up of the universal Body of Christ (Eph. 1:23) to consummate the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2) as the final goal of God’s economy according to His good pleasure (Eph. 3:8-10; 1:9-10).
We don’t have to “wait for the New Jerusalem”; rather, in the church life today we need to learn to do everything through the cross and by the Spirit to minister Christ for the Body, and in this way we touch the reality of the New Jerusalem today. Amen!
Lord Jesus, we want to live in the reality of the Body of Christ by doing all things through the cross and by the Spirit, seeking to minister Christ to others for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, we want to remain in the fellowship with the Lord into which we were called, and we want to stop and fellowship with the members whenever we’re about to do something. Keep us in the fellowship with the Lord and with the members of the Body, being blended in an intrinsic way, until we daily continue to fellowship with the Lord and with the saints about all things in the Body.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Rick Scatterday for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm,” ch. 6, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Will of God (2020 spring ITERO), week 4, Living a Life according to God’s Heart and Will.
- Hymns on this topic:
– God would have a group of people / Built together in His plan, / Blended, knit, coordinated / As His vessel—one new man. / God would come into this vessel / With His nature, life and ways, / Mingling Spirit with our spirits / For His joy and to His praise. (Hymns #1325)
– For the sake of Your Body, Lord, unveil our eyes, / Deal with self, all the ground to You we give. / Save us from independence and all natural ties. / Blend us all in Your Body to live. (Song on, From the Head to the Body)
– Freed from self and Adam’s nature, / Lord, I would be built by Thee / With the saints into Thy temple, / Where Thy glory we shall see. / From peculiar traits deliver, / From my independent ways, / That a dwelling place for Thee, Lord, / We will be thru all our days. (Hymns #840)
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