Blended Together through the Cross, by the Spirit, with much Fellowship for the Body

God has blended the Body together (1 Cor. 12:24); we need to be blended together by learning to stop and fellowship with other saints before doing anything, and by doing all things through the cross and by the Spirit so that we may minister Christ to others.

This week in our morning revival we come to a new topic, Blending and the Reality of the Body of Christ.

We are currently going through a series of important and strategic points that are very weighty, and one of them is the matter of blending and the reality of the Body of Christ.

We are blessed people to be able to hear these things and speak these high truths.

The Lord has unveiled to us what is on His heart, and He keeps speaking to us.

What has been lost of the truth throughout the centuries is now being recovered and spread throughout the earth for the Lord to gain His pure testimony that expresses Him.

The Lord has been speaking to us again and again, and He is blending us together little by little, day by day.

As we are living in the physical realm, we also live in the divine and mystical realm, contacting the Lord, enjoying Him, and partaking of Him, living in fellowship with Him throughout the day.

The matter of “blending” is quite common among us, and we speak much concerning going to blend with the saints, going to a blending meeting, having a blending conference, and doing a blending trip.

We may even use such a term as going for a boba tea to blend or visiting a locality to blend, and this word “blending” may not be very significant to us, for we may use it in a secular way. Oh, Lord.

Today people in the world also promote blending very much, encouraging young people to study abroad and get to know different cultures, visit other countries, live in different places, see the world, etc. But this is not what blending according to the Bible is.

In 1991-1992 brother Lee spoke concerning the matter of having fellowship and blending together, and as he released the speaking concerning the God-ordained way, the practice of the vital groups, he came to the matter of blending in a more specific way.

For us to carry out a vital group and work out God’s economy, we need blending, for blending vitalizes us.

We are scattered and individualistic, separated from others, but we need to be blended; so we are grouped together in vital groups, and we’re vitalized by being blended.

Later in May of 1993, we had a conference among us that was a blending conference, where Brother Lee and 47 other brothers shared the messages; this was an unprecedented event, and it had never happened before.

It was quite an eye-opener, and it was the birth of the blending conference or our blending practice.

A year later in May 1994, Brother Lee shared on the matter of, The Practical Points Concerning Blending.

We may think that many practical points were released during this time, but actually, there were many principles that were touched for us to pray over and cooperate with the Lord to be blended.

Blending is not according to what we think in our natural mind; we need to see the blending in the deepest and most thorough way.

May we be saved from merely practicing blending in an outward way, in a social and superficial way; may we be brought on deeper with the Lord concerning the matter of blending so that we may cooperate with Him to be blended together in the reality of the Body of Christ today.

God has Blended the Body Together, and we Fellowship with the Saints before Doing things to be Blended Together

1 Cor. 12:24 says that God has blended the body together.

May we be saved from having a superficial understanding of blending, thinking that blending is something in the realm of socializing and meeting new saints in new circumstances and places.

In the Body of Christ, there are many members; some are stronger while others are weaker, some are beautiful while others are less comely.

Some members are in a higher position, seemingly more important, and others like the feet are in a lower position, seemingly less important.

But the eye cannot say to the feet that it doesn’t need them, nor can the ear say that, because he’s not the eye, it is not part of the body.

We cannot say that, because we’re not like brother so-and-so, we do not belong to the Body.

Those who seemingly have a lower place, not as nice and as good as those who are more comely, cannot say they don’t belong to the Body.

The members who are less comely need more comeliness assigned to them; hence, we cover them and assign them more beauty.

The members of the body which we consider to be less honourable, we clothe with more abundant honour.

God has blended the body together, giving more abundant honour to the member that lacked so that there would be no division in the Body.

The result of being blended together is that there’s no division in the Body; we are blended to be kept in the oneness of the Body and be saved from any division.

Blending is not just us getting together and having a good time; blending is in the light of the Body.

Although there are so many members in the Body with different capacities and positions, there’s no ground for division, for we’re being blended together.

Blending is not only high and deep but also very mysterious.

Our kind of blending may be quite shallow, for we may “blend” with those whom we like, we may get coffee with the saints we prefer to hang out with, and we may visit the churches we like to visit. Oh, Lord.

Blending is high and deep, and blending is very mysterious.

The word “blended” means “adjusted,” “harmonized,” “tempered,” and “mingled,” implying the losing of distinctions.

A carpenter takes a few pieces of wood – some long, some short, and he adjusts them to fit them together.

When we have an orchestra, the instruments don’t play what they want but they are harmonized by playing each the piece assigned to them to produce beautiful music.

A blacksmith takes a piece of iron and tempers it to make it steel; he puts it in the fire, then in cold water to quench it, and through heat and cold, cold and heat, the steel is strengthened. This is to be tempered.

Blending is a kind of tempering.

Blending is also a mingling; to be mingled can be likened to the hybrid fruits: you can enrich a certain species of fruit by mixing it with another kind of fruit, thus obtaining a richer fruit as the product.

Blending is rich, it is enriching and strengthening, and it is sweet, making all things so proper.

If we do not have the blending, we will be odd; we will not be that sweet or that strong.

Blending means that we should always stop in order to fellowship with others (Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 1:9; 1 John 1:3, 7).

Are we willing to stop and fellowship?

Sometimes in the church life or in the work we are very burdened to do something, we see a need and we’re ready to meet that need, but do we stop and fellowship?

We may be willing to do this and that, but we may not be willing to fellowship.

To fellowship doesn’t mean that we tell others what we want to do and seek their approval; to fellowship is to open our being to one another.

When we’re blended together, we are willing to stop and seek fellowship with others.

We don’t just do things according to our own desires or just according to the outward needs; we don’t do things because they are important to be taken care of, but we learn to fellowship.

We need to be blended together by learning to stop and fellowship with the saints the Lord put us with, opening ourselves to seek fellowship.

We should not do anything without having fellowship with other members; we shouldn’t just do things but seek to fellowship with the saints who are coordinating with us, because fellowship adjusts us, harmonizes us, tempers us, and mingles us.

We all long for fellowship in spirit so that we may be blended together.

Many times we are so isolated, so secluded; we justify ourselves by the things we do, not realizing that we’re like a castle with a strong, thick wall, protecting ourselves and not letting anyone touch us. May we open to the Lord in this matter and tell Him,

Thank You, Lord, for blending the Body together. Thank You for assigning more honour to the members that lack it so that the body may be blended together. We open to You, Lord. Blend us with the saints. Save us from merely attending meetings in a social way or visiting places to socialize with the saints without learning to fellowship. We long for fellowship in spirit so that we may be blended together in the Body! We open to You, Lord, that we may be adjusted, harmonized, tempered, and mingled. May any distinctions about us be removed and blended together in the Body. We want to learn to not do anything without fellowshipping with the other saints who are coordinating with us. Amen, Lord, may our fellowship with the saints adjust us, harmonize us, temper us, and mingle us. Oh Lord, may we learn again and again to just stop and fellowship with the Lord and with the saints so that we may be blended together in and for the Body!

Blending is not Social but the Blending of the Christ we Enjoy and Experience for the Building up of the Body

To be blended means that we are touched by others and that we’re touching others in the Body, and this is by going through the cross, doing things by the Spirit so that we may dispense Christ to others for the sake of the Body (Matt. 10:38; 16:24; Gal. 3:2, 5; Eph. 4:12).

When we fellowship with the saints, when we open in fellowship and receive fellowship from the saints, when we have genuine and transparent fellowship, the Lord has a way to touch us.

He touches our natural being, He exposes our peculiarities and defects, and we go through the cross and do all things by the Spirit.

We are not trying to outwardly rebuke others nor do others try to expose what’s wrong in us; we simply open to the Lord and to the saints to fellowship, and the Lord has a way to touch us.

Many times, however, we speak nice words to each other, patting each other on the back, saying that everything is okay and we’re doing fine; this is not genuine transparent fellowship.

The blending allows us to be touched by others and we can also touch others.

First, we go through the cross, and then we do things by the Spirit, with the result that we do all things to dispense Christ into others for the sake of the Body.

This is the litmus test of the blending; first, we need to be crossed out, passing through the cross, and then we need to exercise our spirit to do all things in Spirit.

And the goal is that we build the Body of Christ. Blending is not social but the blending of the Christ whom we as believers in Christ and as churches enjoy, experience, and partake of (see Rom. 16:1-16).

May we have an uplifted view of blending and realize that being blended together is the blending of the Christ whom the individual members, the district churches, the co-workers, and the elders experience, enjoy, and partake of.

We care for one another, we are interested in their situation, we know their case, and we want to minister Christ to them and to let them minister Christ to us.

We care not just for our welfare but even more for the welfare and success of the saints. Being blended together is for the building up of the Body of Christ.

In order for us to keep the oneness of the universal Body of Christ, we need to be blended together.

Blending is needed for the building up of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:20-21, 24; Col. 4:16).

Paul blended the churches together by asking the ones in Colosse to read the epistle he sent to the saints in Laodicea and vice-versa.

He didn’t prefer a particular church nor hide anything as a secret from one church; he blended the churches together.

Many times among us we do not blend; we meet in our local church and may visit a nearby church, but we may not blend with the saints.

We may not have much concern or consciousness of the saints, even though they may live not too far from us.

We may care only for our home meeting, our group meeting, our district, our hall, or our local church, but we may not care for other home meetings, other group meetings, other districts, or other halls or local churches. Oh, Lord!

For us to build up the Body of Christ we really need to be blended together not just by visiting other localities or going to blending conferences but by doing all things through the cross and by the Spirit so that we may dispense Christ into others for the building up of the church.

When we are blended together, we build up 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).

Lord Jesus, we want to be blended together for the building up of the Body of Christ. We open to You and to the saints so that we may be touched by You and by others as we go through the cross and do things by the Spirit. We want to do everything through the cross and by the Spirit, doing everything to dispense Christ for the sake of the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, how much we need the blending for the building up of the Body of Christ! Blend us together more this week! We want to keep the unique oneness of the universal Body of Christ and be saved from any division by being blended together! Amen, Lord, we don’t want to just socialize with the saints or outwardly visit other localities but even more, be blended together! May there be a blending of the Christ whom we as believers and as churches enjoy, partake of, and experience!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message 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, An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery Before His Appearing (2023 July Semiannual Training), week 4, entitled, Blending and the Reality of the Body of Christ.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The Factor of Blending for the Reality of the Body of Christ, outline via, The Church in Regina.
  – See the Body of Christ, See New Jerusalem, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The Reality of the Body of Christ, National blending conference in Brazil, via Spotify.
  – Knowing the Church as the Organism of the Triune God, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Members of the corporate Christ, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Coordination for the Reality of the Body of Christ, via, Living to Him.
  – Opening Word – The Factor of Blending For the Reality of the Body of Christ, via, Church in New York City.
  – The need of the blending for the building up of the Body of Christ, a portion from, Practical Points Concerning Blending, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
  – Blending and Churching Trip to South Korea, via, FTTMY website.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Oh, how we need the churches, / All of them, great or small! / We need their many portions / To profit us withal. / Yes, Lord, enlarge the churches; / We love their needs to bear. / Enlarge our hearts, Lord Jesus, / In fellowship and prayer. (Hymns #1265 stanza 2)
  – I long for fellowship in spirit, / That mingled with the saints I’ll be, / Long to be saved from independence / And to be built with saints in Thee. / I long for fellowship in spirit, / That opened shall my spirit be, / Long to be rescued from seclusion, / And with the saints to worship Thee. (Hymns #847 stanzas 1-2)
  – 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 stanza 2)