The church life is a life of labouring on Christ, producing Christ, and bringing the Christ we enjoy and experience to the meetings of the church to exhibit Christ.
Whenever we believers in Christ come together, we should come with the Christ we have experienced and enjoyed as the surplus to be offered to God and exhibited to the whole universe; this means that daily we need to labour on Christ in our personal life to obtain a rich portion of Christ – both for ourselves and for the building up of the church. Amen!
Each believer in Christ has a unique portion of Christ, a portion that is necessary and needed for the building up of the church.
However, if we do not enjoy the Lord, if we do not contact the Lord day by day in all our situations and environment, we will not have a portion of Christ to share with the saints in the meetings of the church for the building up of the church.
The enemy has worked throughout the ages to do two things: to cause the Lord’s people to not love the Lord with the first love and to discourage them from functioning in the meetings.
What we have today in Christianity is a clergy-laity system in which some who seem to be more qualified and burdened speak and speak and speak, while the others listen and take notes, then go home and that’s it. Oh, Lord.
In the church life, it should not be so.
We need to be recovered by the Lord to His original intention in having the church and in practicing the church life in mutuality.
Every believer in Christ is a member of the Body of Christ, and each member has their own portion that is vitally necessary in the Body.
Some may say that, since they are such a small member with such a small function, it is OK for them not to function, for no one will notice and no one will appreciate.
If our little pinky finger stops functioning, the rest of the body will still function, but the entire body will be aware that the pinky finger is not working, and the whole body will suffer.
The Body of Christ has suffered very much throughout the ages due to the fact that so many members of the Body did not function.
Some think they function by singing and giving glory to God because they have a good voice, while others think that they function in the Body by doing this or that practical matter or by giving money to the church or to different missionaries.
The main way we function in the Body to build up the church, as seen in 1 Cor. 14, is not speaking in tongues or the exercise of gifts but prophesying, that is, speaking for the Lord and speaking the Lord forth.
This means that in our daily life, we need to labour on Christ by enjoying and experiencing Him, and we need to bring the surplus of the riches of Christ to the meetings of the church to worship God, eat together with the saints, and supply others.
Amen for labouring on Christ, producing Christ, and exhibiting Christ!
Bring the Christ we Experienced and Enjoyed to the Meetings of the Church to Exhibit Christ
In Deut. 12:11 the Lord commanded His people to bring the tithes and firstfruits to the place that He chooses, and there they should offer them to Jehovah, share them with the ones who are poor, and also share them with the priests and Levites.
This is a type of how our Christian meetings should be.
In our meetings in the church life, no matter what kind of meeting we have, we need to come with the Christ we experienced and enjoyed.
Whenever we come together to meet with the saints, no matter what kind of meeting we are having, we should bring our portion of Christ, that is, bring the Christ we have experienced as a surplus to be offered to God and exhibited to the whole universe and also to the enemy, putting him to shame (John 4:23-24; Eph. 3:10, 17; 4:15).
When we do this, our meetings will be enriched and strengthened, because they are full of Christ, and the riches of Christ are displayed and manifested in all the saints. Amen!
The Lord needs to recover such meetings among us in the church life today, and we want to cooperate with Him to have such meetings in mutuality.
We want to express Christ not only in the building up of the church but also in the church life, in all the meetings of the church.
When Christ is expressed through us and we speak Christ to one another, we will bear the testimony of being united and built up in Christ to be an expression of Christ.
May we all bring something of Christ to the meetings of the church to offer to God.
We can do this if we daily labour on Christ, that is, if we daily contact the Lord by exercising our spirit in all kinds of circumstances and situations.
If we are labouring on Christ faithfully and diligently, there will be a portion of Christ that is gained by us and stored to be offered to God for His satisfaction and to the saints for their supply.
If we daily labour on Christ, we will have something of the riches of Christ to bring to the meetings of the church so that we can offer to God and also give to the saints for their enjoyment.
In this way, Christ will be expressed as the rich content of the church life.
For example, when we come to the Lord’s Table meeting, we should not only sing some hymns related to the remembrance of the Lord but even more, pray and praise the Lord with our experience and enjoyment of Christ.
We should not only declare the hymns with an exercised spirit but offer the Christ we have enjoyed in prayer to God, praising Him for the rich Christ we have enjoyed and partaken of during the week.
And when we come to the portion of giving the Father the worship He desires, we should continue to worship Him with the Christ we have enjoyed and that has been wrought into us.
May we daily labour on Christ to gain Him, and may we learn to contact the Lord in all our situations so that we may experience Him and have a surplus of Christ to bring to the meetings of the church.
When we all bring our portion of Christ and speak of the Christ we experienced during the week, our meetings will be enriched and strengthened, for they will be full of Christ (Col. 3:4, 10-11).
Such a church life will be an exhibition of Christ, an expression of Christ (Eph. 3:21).
May we be those who practice this, that is, bring the surplus of Christ to every meeting to exhibit Christ (v. 8).
May we daily enjoy Christ in our living and come together to exhibit Him (1 Pet. 1:8).
We cannot put on a performance in the meetings; we cannot speak or declare what we don’t have, and we should not pretend to have something we do not have.
May we daily exercise our spirit to contact the Lord and experience Him, and may we bring the Christ we experience to the meetings of the church to offer to God for His satisfaction!
Oh, may the church life be filled with Christ, with the Christ we enjoyed and experienced, the Christ that flows out from the innermost being of the saints!
Lord Jesus, we love You! We open to You. We come to You again and again to enjoy You and experience You. We don’t want to lose touch with You. Keep us in the sweet enjoyment of the indwelling Christ in all the daily things of our life. Oh Lord Jesus, we just want to gain more of You and for You to gain more of our being for Yourself. We want to gain a surplus of Christ, a rich portion of the Christ we enjoy and experience, to bring to the meetings of the church for the corporate exhibition of Christ. Amen, Lord, may we all come to the meetings of the church with the Christ experienced by us as the surplus to be offered to God! Yes, may there be a rich surplus of Christ flowing out of all the saints in their speaking in the church meetings so that God may be satisfied and Christ may be exhibited! Oh Lord, amen, gain this among us. Recover such a proper church life among us, a church life that is filled with the riches of Christ flowing out of all the saints!
The Church Life is a Life of Labouring on Christ, Producing Christ, and Exhibiting Christ
The proper church life is a life of labouring on Christ, producing Christ, and bringing the Christ we experienced to the meetings of the church to exhibit Christ.
This should be proper and normal among us today in the church life. We need to realize that, whenever we come to the meetings of the church, we should not come with empty hands.
In the Old Testament the children of Israel were told numerous times by God that, when they come together three times a year to Jerusalem for the feasts, they should not come empty-handed.
Rather, each one of them needed to bring something.
They had to labour on the good land diligently and faithfully, and take some of the produce of the good land to bring to God for His satisfaction, to the priests and Levites for their supply, and to also share with the poorer ones in the land for their supply (Deut. 15:11).
![And this shall be the priests' rightful due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: They shall give the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach. You shall give him the firstfruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your fresh oil, and the first shearing of your sheep. Deut. 18:3-4 For the needy will not cease [being] in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, You must open your hand to your brother, to the poor one with you and to the needy one with you in your land. Deut. 15:11](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/And-this-shall-be-the-priests-rightful-due-from-the-people-from-those-who-offer-a-sacrifice-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "And this shall be the priests' rightful due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: They shall give the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach. You shall give him the firstfruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your fresh oil, and the first shearing of your sheep. Deut. 18:3-4 For the needy will not cease [being] in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, You must open your hand to your brother, to the poor one with you and to the needy one with you in your land. Deut. 15:11")
Many times we have to admit that we’re the poor ones, so we come to the meetings to be fed by others who have richly fed on Christ and who bring their rich portion of Christ to the meetings.
But we all need to grow in life and take the responsibility of being a believer in Christ to labour on Christ day by day.
We need to daily contact the Lord not only to supply our needs, not only for us to live Christ and express Him, but even more, for us to have our hands full of Christ, that is, to have a surplus of Christ.
Then, when we come to the meetings of the church, we will have a rich produce of Christ to share with others also.
In order for us to have proper Christian meetings, we need to contact the Lord daily in our personal life, and then, we come together in the meetings of the church with the realization and understanding that we are coming to exhibit Christ and share Christ with others (1 Cor. 14:26). Amen!
When we do this, we will be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are, thus apprehending Christ with all His riches and universal dimensions (Eph. 3:18).
When we come together, we don’t just catch up with the saints, talk about our situation, or seek to know others’ condition; we bring a surplus of Christ to offer to the saints.
There must be a surplus of Christ that is in our hands as we come to the meetings of the church so that we may offer this Christ to God for His satisfaction, and also offer this Christ for others’ supply and nourishment.
Deut. 18:3-4 says that the priest had to get the shoulder, the firstfruits of the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil, and the first shearing of the sheep.
And the best of what we have is reserved for the Lord. When we harvest the field of Christ, we need to reserve the firstfruits for the Lord. Amen!
For this, we need to daily be labouring on Christ, seeking the Lord in all things and contacting Him again and again concerning all things.
We need to come to Him concerning our problems and also open to Him from deep within for Him to dispense Himself into us.
If we are labouring on Christ diligently, we will not only bring forth enough to satisfy our own needs but also acquire a surplus to meet the needs of others, and the best of what we have experienced will be reserved for the Lord.
This will make us acceptable to the Lord, and He will be pleased with us.
This should be our church life, a life lived in the good land for God to have His house and His kingdom.
Our Christian life should be a life in which we’re continually labouring on Christ, producing Christ in a mass way, and having a rich harvest of Christ to bring the surplus of Christ to the meetings of the church to share with others and to worship God.
We need to apply the Lord to all our situations.
No matter how much we fail, we need to still come to Him and contact Him, even bring Him our failures and mistakes, confessing in His light and walking in the light (1 John 1:7, 9).
We need to apply the blood of Christ and be cleansed and washed, and we need to go on enjoying the Lord.
We need to let Him deal with our self, our flesh, and our natural man, and on our side, we simply cooperate with Him by turning to Him and saying Amen to His shining.
Then, when we come together, we bring something of Christ for the corporate worship of God and for the supply of the saints.
We worship God not only individually but even more, corporately, with all the children of God by enjoying Christ with one another and with God.
When we all bring our portion of Christ, offering to God and laying before the saints the Christ we experienced and enjoyed, we will have a rich church life.
May we have a church life in which all the saints are labouring on Christ, producing Christ, and exhibiting Christ.
Whenever we meet with the saints, we need to offer the surplus of His plentitude to God as food and to the saints as their supply, to thus exhibit Christ.
Amen, may we bring His surplus to the church for Him to be exhibited and for the saints to be richly supplied!
Lord Jesus, recover the proper church life among us. Recover the church life in which all the saints are labouring on Christ, producing Christ, and bringing their surplus of Christ to the meetings of the church for the exhibition of Christ. Amen, Lord, we pray for our church meetings to be filled with the exhibition of Christ! May the Christ we experienced and enjoyed throughout the week be brought to the meetings of the church and be displayed for Christ to be exhibited! Oh Lord, we want to diligently labour on the rich, all-inclusive Christ in our daily life to not only bring forth enough for us to satisfy our own needs but also acquire a surplus to meet the needs of others and offer the best to the Lord! Amen, Lord Jesus, may all the saints faithfully labour on Christ to reap a rich harvest of Christ so that they would have a surplus of Christ to offer to God and also to the saints for their enjoyment!
Read and enjoy this article in Romanian – citiți acest articol în limba română via, Viața de biserică este o viață în care ne ostenim asupra lui Cristos și Îl etalăm pe Cristos.
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 Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” pp. 344-345, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good land for the Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, for the Reality and the Manifestation of the Kingdom, and for the Bride to make Herself Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 Winter Training), week 11, entitled, The Surplus of the Produce of the Good Land and the Corporate Worship of God the Father in Truthfulness.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– The goal of the church meetings – to exhibit Christ in all the saints, a portion from, Lesson Book, Level 5: The Church—The Vision and Building Up of the Church, Chapter 17, by Witness Lee.
– Lord, Dispense into me for New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– Examples of the meetings in the New Testament, a portion from, Lesson Book, Level 5: The Church—The Vision and Building Up of the Church, Chapter 17, by Witness Lee.
– Why Believers Need Spiritual Companions, via, Bibles for America blog.
– Message 4: Our Need to Labor on the All-inclusive Christ to Have the Produce to Exhibit Christ in the Church and to Have a Surplus of Christ to Bring to the Church Meetings for the Corporate Worship of God Our Father, sharing by Mark Raabe, video message.
– My Experience Growing up in the Church Life with Spiritual Fathers and Mothers, via, Living to Him.
– Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ— “a Land Flowing with Milk and Honey”… a video message via, Heavenly Foods.
– 12 of My Favorite Witness Lee Quotes from the Recovery Version, via, Holding to Truth.
– Our Need to Labor on the All-Inclusive Christ (R.K.), via, Joseph’s Storehouse.
– Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ—“a Land Flowing with Milk and Honey”—and Bringing the Surplus of the Riches of Christ to the Meetings of the Church for an Exhibition of Christ and the Corporate Worship of God, outline via, Church in Markham. - Hymns on this topic:
– Whene’er we meet with Christ endued, / The surplus of His plenitude / We offer unto God as food, / And thus exhibit Christ. / Let us exhibit Christ, / Let us exhibit Christ; / We’ll bring His surplus to the church / And thus exhibit Christ. (Hymns #864 stanza 1 and chorus)
– In daily walk and in our meetings too, / Christ is the center, Christ is everything; / ’Tis not for form nor doctrine good and true, / But ’tis for Christ alone we’re gathering… / By all the hymns and prayers we offer here, / Christ the reality we would express; / All the activities in fellowship— / Christ thus in operation manifest. (Hymns #863 stanzas 1 and 5)
– Do you see them in the meetings, / Lifting up their voice on high, / Every brother, sister sharing, / Christ the Lord to magnify? / Do you hear them all pray-reading, / Breathing in the living Word? / Praying, praising, drinking, feeding, / How they all enjoy the Lord! (Hymns #1257 stanzas 2-3)
About aGodMan
Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” pp. 344-345
Dear brother, whenever we come together – regardless of what kind of meeting we are having – we should come with the Christ experienced by us as the surplus to be offered to God and exhibited to the whole universe and to the enemy, putting him to shame.
This means that we need to labour on Christ, that is, we need to exercise our spirit to enjoy Him day by day and in every situation.
Then, when we come together, we will have a rich content of Christ to be exhibited.
Amen. We meet together to exhibit Christ produced in us.
Enjoying Christ before and mutually with God, enjoying Him by labouring on him day by day.
Not to come empty handed but with the Christ experienced by us contributed to others
Amen, our mouth shut up defeats us and wins the devil’s smile, so why not open battle and chase him all the while!!
Whenever we come to the meetings to worship the Lord, we should not come with our hands empty
We need more than just a little of Christ to satisfy our need, we need to produce enough of Him so that there will be a surplus remaining for others, for the poor and the needy!!
Praise the Lord! 🙌😃🙋🏼🙏
https://youtu.be/QsARXZg-JsQ?si=vK3KfwGqZJapcGLF
Amen! We must not come empty-handed to the church meetings.
We must produce a surplus for all the saints.
To apprehend with all the saints how amazing Our Lord is.
My enjoyment was seeing that we shall appear 3 times a year in the place of his choosing!
We shall not appear empty-handed!
Our life should be a life of continually labouring on Christ.
We need to ask the Lord to change our concept.
To worship God with Christ doesn’t mean to worship Him individually but collectively with all the saints.
This is why we need more than just a little of Christ.
We need a surplus to meet the needs of others, with the top portion reserved for God.
This very much depends on our daily labour on Jesus.
May the Spirit operate in our being and gain in us the willingness to labour diligently & faithfully day after day until the Lord takes us… Amen!
We will exhibit Christ by the exercise of our spirit in order that we may labour joyfully & diligently. Oh, what a life!
Amen Lord, we agree. Keep us in the enjoyment of you.
For our church meetings to be enriched and strengthened we need to enjoy Christ daily.
Then when we come to the meetings with our enjoyment and experience of Christ, with such a rich surplus, there will be such a rich exibition and exultation of Christ. Hallelujah!
However, if we do not have personal times with the Lord, labouring on Him as we contact Him throughout each day we will be short of Christ and may even be present in the meetings but with wrinkled and smileless faces.
6/5/24 The Surplus of the Produce of the Good Land and the Corporate Worship of God the Father in Truthfulness (Week 11, Day 3)
Both the tabernacle and the offerings show that Christ is the content of the church, and the church is the expression of Christ. On the one hand, the church is always in the process of being built up. On the other hand, the church life is a life of meetings. In other words, the church building is one thing, and the church life is another thing.
The tabernacle typifies mostly the building aspect, and the offerings typify mostly the life aspect. We always come together to express Christ, who is our content, in many aspects. These aspects are typified clearly by all the offerings. The offerings are for the church life, and the church life is a life of meetings.
The meetings are the most important virtues of the life of God’s people. The life of the people of God is a life of meetings, and the most important and central thing in all the meetings is to offer Christ in many different aspects. The different kinds of offerings are types of the different aspects of Christ. Thus, the center of the life of God’s people is the Christ offered to God. The central thing in the meetings is the different aspects of Christ as the offerings, so Christ is the center of our church life.
The people of Israel had been brought into the good land, and the good land had been allotted to them in lots as their particular portion. God has given Christ in “lots” to us as our portion. Colossians 1:12 says, “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.” Colossians reveals that Christ is our portion as our inheritance just as the land of Canaan was to the children of Israel. Each of us has a portion of Christ.
All of the children of Israel had received a portion of the good land but they need to labor on it in order to reap a harvest. Out of their harvest, they would then prepare for their offerings to be brought to their meetings to offer to God. Those who worked harder would also prepare a surplus for them to share with others.
The Lord instructed the people of Israel that they must come together to worship Him at least three times a year ~ on the Passover, on the time of Pentecost, and on the Feast of Tabernacles. Then, He told them that whenever they come together, they should not come with their hands empty. They must bring something in their hands to Him, an extra produce, a surplus, of the good land.
Deuteronomy15:11 says, “For the needy will not cease being in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, You must open your hand to your brother, to the poor one with you and to the needy one with you in your land.” This verse shows us that the people should bring their surplus to be shared with the poor and the needy.
Deuteronomy18:3-4 also say, “And this shall be the priests’ rightful due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: They shall give the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach. You shall give him the firstfruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your fresh oil, and the first shearing of your sheep;” These verses show us that they should also provide for the priests who are serving in the tabernacle.
Finally, according to Deuteronomy 12:11, “Then to the place where Jehovah your God will choose to cause His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I am commanding you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the heave offering of your hand and all your choice vows which you vow to Jehovah.” This verse shows us that, above all, the best of the surplus must be reserved for the Lord (Deu 12:11). When they harvested the field, they were to reserve the firstfruits for the Lord. When the cattle were brought forth, the firstborn was for the Lord.
Like the people of Israel, we, the church, had received a portion of Christ, as the All-inclusive Good Land, and we need to labor on Him so that we would enjoy Him and experience Him; then, we would have something to bring to the church meetings, something to be shared with others, and something to be offered to God. Our meetings would become an exhibition of Christ to the whole universe and a shame to the enemy of God.
HWMRW11D3
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴”
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
Youtube:
https://youtu.be/VmTbmOSo-Xs
Rumble:
https://rumble.com/v4zpo33-bring-the-christ-we-experience-to-the-meetings-to-exhibit-christ.html
A very good hymn that goes very well with this sharing is, Let us exhibit Christ!
You can sing along via Hymnal.net here
https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/864
and listen to it via Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R8tm5f9D3I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXTbu5UI9kE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG6xn-eOjm4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaD5IWsp6ZE