When we’re Body-Conscious we Depend on the Body just as we Depend on Christ the Head

When we have a revelation of the Body of Christ and realize we are members of the Body, we will be Body-conscious; any individualistic thought and action will be ruled out, and we will depend on the Body in everything.

Our human life is an individualistic life, and as we grow up in today’s society, we are encouraged to be individualistic, we are taught to be individualistic, and we are rewarded if we are individualistic. But as believers in Christ, we cannot be individualistic; rather, we are members of the Body, and we must be Body-conscious in one accord.

We need to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the church life by practicing the one accord, so that the Lord may have a way to bless us for His move.

As members of the Body of Christ, we need to always consider the Body, care for the Body, honor the Body, and do what is best for the Body, for we cannot exist or live without the Body, and it is in and for the Body that we do everything.

As members of the Body, we depend on the other members and we appreciate the function of the other members, realizing that our function is necessary but the others’ function is also very necessary for the building up.

Just as in our physical body, in the Body of Christ there cannot be independence or individualism, for we all are members of the Body, and as members, we can’t live being detached from the Body.

We may not meet with the saints every day of the week, but in our spirit we are attached to the Body, we are supplied in the Body, and we grow in the Body.

Everything that we experience in our Christian life is for the Body and in the Body, and in a very real sense, if we want to see the Lord, touch the Lord, and express the Lord, we need to come to the Body, meet with the saints in the Body, and live in the reality of the Body.

When we see a vision of the Body, we will no longer be individualistic but rather, we will seek the Lord to have His feeling and thoughts concerning the fellow members in the Body, and we will learn to care for the Body and do everything in the Body even as the Lord does everything for the Body.

We live in the age of the church, and the unique work the Lord is doing today is to build up the church as His Body so that He would gain a reality of His Body built up on earth, and He would return and bring in the next age, the age of the kingdom.

When we are Body-Conscious, Individualism is Ruled out and the Self is Denied and Rejected

When we see the Body and are Body-conscious, realizing that we are members in the Body of Christ, our individualism is ruled out, and any individualistic thought and action are also ruled out.

The problem is that we live so much in the self, that the self is developed and is involved in everything, being expressed and coming out again and again in the church life.

The greatest enemy of the Body is the self, for the self is individualistic while the Body is corporate, in fellowship, and in one accord.

The greatest problem, the greatest frustration, and the greatest opposition to the Body is the self; when we are in the self, we don’t have the Body, and when we are in the Body, the self is denied.

In order for us to live as members of the Body and build up the Body, our self – our independent soul – must be denied and dealt with. What is the self? The self is simply the independent soul, the “I”, the independent “me”.

When we want to do something for the Lord or in the church life and we don’t first fellowship with the saints about it, praying and being in one accord, the self is expressed. When we are independent of the Body, we are in the self, and we don’t have peace.

Our yearning as believers in Christ is to be built up in the Body, but the hindrance is the self; for us to be built up and to build up the church, we need to deny the self, reject the self, and renounce the self.

The self must be renounced and denied in all things all throughout the day, so that we may live in the Body and be genuine members of the Body. Instead of being independent of the Body, we need to deny the self and learn to depend on the Body; being independent of the Body equals being independent of God, for God today is expressed and manifested in the Body of Christ.

When we are isolated from the saints, being independent of the Body, we will have a clear sense that we are independent of and isolated from God.

When we serve together in the church life, learning to coordinate and serve in one accord, we need to fellowship before we do anything. The need may be great, so having fellowship requires us to stop our being and pass through the cross so that the Spirit may flow in us and through us.

We need to put aside any agenda or intention, and simply open to fellowship in one accord; in fellowship with the saints, the cross operates in us, the Spirit flows and is manifested, and we all are learning to minister Christ to one another for the sake of the building up of the Body.

Just as the Father is versus the world (1 John 2:15), the Spirit is versus the flesh (Gal. 5:17), and the Lord is versus the devil (1 John 3:8), so the Body is versus the self, the individual.

May the Lord have mercy on us and show us a vision of the Body so that we may be Body-conscious in one accord, and so that our individualism be ruled out and the self is denied and rejected.

Lord Jesus, grant us a vision of the Body so that we may be Body-conscious in one accord, and any individualism be ruled out! Save us from living in the self as we live the Christian life and church life. May we cooperate with Your light exposing the self, and may we be one with You to condemn, reject, repudiate, and put the self aside. Show us, Lord, how independent we are in our self. Deliver us not only from our natural life but also from our individualistic life! Save us from the self into the Body of Christ!

We Depend on the Body just as we Depend on the Lord, the Head of the Body

Individualism is hateful in the sight of God, for individualism is being independent of the Body. Just as we cannot be independent from the Head, Christ, so we cannot be independent from the Body of Christ.

We need to realize that, as members of the Body of Christ, we should be dependent on the Body just as we are dependent on the Lord; in other words, we need to be dependent on the brothers and the sisters.

In Exo. 17:11-13 Moses depended on the fellow brothers in his prayer for Joshua to obtain the victory over Amalek; similarly, we need the support of the Body to maintain our prayer life. We need the supply of the Body and the support of the Body.

Similarly, Paul depended on the other members of the Body for his physical life; he depended on the fellow believers to lower him down in a basket and run for his life (Acts 9:25; 2 Cor. 11:33).

Watchman Nee has a wonderful portion on this matter,

The Head is Christ, and the Body is also Christ. Each member is a part of the life of Christ. If I refuse the help of my fellow-members, I am refusing the help of Christ. If I am not willing to acknowledge my need of them, I am not willing to acknowledge my need of Christ. Just as I cannot be independent from the Head, I cannot be independent from the Body. Individualism is hateful in the sight of God. What I do not know, another member of the Body will know; what I cannot see, another member of the Body will see; what I cannot do, another member of the Body will do. Therefore, I must allow the other members of the Body to minister to my needs. We must avail ourselves constantly of the fellowship of the Body, for it is our very life. Watchman Nee, The Mystery of Christ.

Even though this whole world and the trend in society is to be as independent and self-motivated as possible, we in the church life need to realize that we are members of the Body who are dependent on the Body just as we a dependent on the Lord.

As members, we need the function of the other members, and we need to constantly be in the fellowship of the Body so that we can go on with the Lord.

Just as our hand depends on the eyes to see, on the legs to walk, on the mouth to speak, and on the ears to hear, so we as members of the Body depend on many other members for our moving, walking, and going on.

Just as the hand depends on the arm, the shoulder, and many other members together with tissues, ligaments, and blood vessels to get the life supply, so we depend on the Body for the life supply we need to grow in life.

If we think that we can be Christians by ourselves we fool ourselves, for sooner or later all individualistic Christians will dry up. But when we live in the Body, we receive the supply of the Body, and even when we become sick or have a problem, the Body will supply us with whatever we need to go on with the Lord.

We really depend on the Body, for in the Body we are supplied, cared for, protected, and cherished.

We cannot live as an individualistic Christian; when we are individualistic we may think we are strong but we are defenceless to the enemy’s attacks, and we may think we are supplied but the supply is limited and will dry up.

It is out from the Head that we get our supply, and is through the function of each one part that we are nourished, supplied, and protected in our Christian life.

May we be delivered from the individualistic life in Adam so that we may live the Body life as members of the Body, and may we realize that refusing the help and supply of the fellow members is refusing the help of Christ through them.

Lord Jesus, grant us to realize how much we depend on the Body for our very existence and living as believers and members of the Body. May we not refuse the help of our fellow members but be open to receive the supply, nourishment, help, and covering in the fellowship of the Body. May we be dependent on the Body just as we are dependent on the Head, Christ. We treasure the supply of the Body. We treasure every member of the Body. We want to learn to live in the Body, receiving the supply, perfecting, and covering of the Body.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 44, “The Mystery of Christ,” ch. 99, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing Life and the Church, msg. 5 (week 5), Standing on the Unique Ground of the Church, Being under the Limitation of the Body of Christ, and Being Body-conscious in One Accord.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # As in a team we’d never / Act independently, / But in coordination, / Each would dependent be; / Not acting by our choosing / But following the flow, / Distraction never bringing, / The Spirit’s way we’d know. (Hymns #867)
  # Your faith in Christ helps me pursue; / My progress depends upon you! / As I seek Christ, with you in view, / My heart, full of prayers, is for you. / I live, if you stand firm in the Lord. / You live, if I stand firm in the Lord. / My going on is for you, / Your going on is for me, / Not sep’rate entities, / I need you saints desp’rately! (Song on being members in the Body)
  # Limit, Lord, my independence, / Let me to Thy Body turn; / Not just seeking light from heaven, / But the church’s sense to learn. / May we be the stones for building / Not the formless, useless clay, / Gain in us Thy heart’s desire / Corporately Thyself display. (Hymns #1225)