Every local church should be a meal offering to satisfy God and to supply the saints day by day.
The meal-offering church life can be seen in the book of 1 Corinthians, where Paul speaks of the many items and aspects involved in the meal offering; even in Corinth, where there were so many problems, there was a meal-offering church life!
We should be encouraged, especially as we look at the situation of the local church in our locality.
As long as we learn to live Christ, deny the self and apply the cross, live in resurrection and are mingled with the Spirit, having no natural affection or evil things, our living Christ will become food for the saints.
Day by day we need to come to the Lord and contact Him, and we need to live one spirit with Him. As we do this, He mingles Himself with us, and He blends God with man.
All the ingredients of the meal offering are being wrought into us as we enjoy and experience Christ, and our living of Christ in a corporate way becomes a corporate meal offering for God and man to be satisfied.
God is hungry; He wants to eat and partake of the living of Christ out of the many believers in Christ, the many members of the Body of Christ.
What God is satisfied with is Christ; only Christ is God’s delight, and when Christ is lived out of His believers, the Father is satisfied and nourished.
Even more, just as the meal offering is not only for God’s satisfaction but also for man’s nourishment, so the church life as the corporate meal offering is not only for God’s satisfaction but also for man’s nourishment.
We all can testify that, when we see the saints living in spirit, we are not only encouraged but also nourished, and we feed on the Christ being manifested in the saints.
On one hand, a part of the meal offering was offered to God by being burned on the altar.
On the other hand, most of the meal offering was given to the serving priests for their supply.
As priests to God, we need to eat Christ as the meal offering, be constituted with Christ, live Christ, and become a meal offering for God to be satisfied and man to be nourished.
Others around us, both believers and unbelievers, are hungry; they want to see Christ being manifested and expressed.
When we live Christ, when we exercise our spirit to live Christ, we feed others with the Christ expressed through us. This strengthens others to also live Christ and express Him.
The Lord’s humanity becomes our humanity and His human living will be our human living by eating the Lord in His word. May we continue to eat the Lord.
The Meal Offering Church Life as seen in 1 Corinthians
![To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, [who is] theirs and ours..God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord...But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption...1 Cor. 1:2, 9, 30](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/To-the-church-of-God-which-is-in-Corinth-to-those-who-have-been-sanctified-in-Christ-Jesus-the-called-saints-2-jpg.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, [who is] theirs and ours..God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord...But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption...1 Cor. 1:2, 9, 30")
If we read the book of 1 Corinthians we may be struck by the problems that are in the church in Corinth, and we may think that such problems may not be in our local church today.
However, the church in Corinth is a genuine local church, and the meal offering church life can be seen in the book of 1 Corinthians.
Even in such a local church as 1 Corinthians, we see that the Lord has a way to gain the meal-offering church life in a genuine way.
In 1 Cor. 1:2, 9, and 30 we see that Christ is the man given to us by God. Christ is the man; this is the humanity needed for the building up of the church.
Christ is the man – He is the fine flour for the meal offering church life.
In 1 Cor. 16:13 Paul’s charge to the Corinthians is, “be a man” (literally).
This means that we should have the high, uplifted humanity of Jesus (9:26-27; 13:4-7) with the highest virtues.
The highest virtues of the uplifted humanity of Jesus are extraordinary love, boundless forbearance, unparalleled faithfulness, absolute humility, utmost purity, supreme holiness and righteousness, and brightness and uprightness.
Such human virtues are ours as we eat the humanity of Jesus in His word.
As we love the Lord and eat His humanity in the word of God, we will have a life of the highest virtues, having the humanity of Jesus expressed through us.
If we love the Lord and love His appearing, looking forward to His coming (His presence), we will be kept in the realm of having Christ as our humanity.
We can have such a humanity by loving the Lord.
The humanity of those who serve the Lord is safeguarded by their praying in the Holy Spirit to keep themselves in the love of God in order to love the Lord to the uttermost (Jude 19-21; 2 Tim. 4:8; Matt. 24:3, 37, 39; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; 1 Cor. 2:9-10).
We are kept in the realm of having Christ as our humanity for the meal offering church life by our daily offering ourselves willingly to the Lord in the splendor, the beauty of our consecration to be conceived as the dew to water Christ (Psa. 110:3).
May we be such ones. May we remain in the realm of loving the Lord and consecrating ourselves to Him so that we can have the humanity of Jesus infused in us and expressed through us.
May we be those who love the Lord and consecrate ourselves willingly to Him to water Him in the day of His warfare, so that our humanity may be preserved, elevated, uplifted, and resurrected to be the humanity of Jesus.
In order for our Christian life to be a meal offering, it must be a life with the highest humanity.
With regard to ethics, morality, self-control, wisdom, and love, we need to be a man. We need to be a proper human being, having the humanity of Jesus.
From the angle of self-control, we should be a man, having the highest humanity – the humanity of Jesus (1 Cor. 9:26-27).
From the angles of wisdom and love, we should be a man having the humanity of Jesus lived out from us (1:30; 13:4-7).
This is “fine flour”, the humanity of Jesus, for the meal-offering church life.
Lord Jesus, thank You for regenerating us with Your life and for making Your humanity available to us for our enjoyment. May we have the high, uplifted humanity of Jesus in the church life. Amen, Lord, may we have the humanity of Jesus with the highest virtues! May there be the expression of extraordinary love, boundless forbearance, and unparalleled faithfulness among us! We love You, Lord Jesus, and we love Your appearing! We look forward to Your coming. Keep us in the realm of having Christ as our humanity. May our humanity be safeguarded by our praying in the Holy Spirit to keep ourselves in the love of God! We love You, Lord Jesus, and we offer ourselves willingly to You in the splendor of our consecration to be conceived as the dew to water Christ!
The Church Life is a Mingling Living by Enjoying the Life-giving Spirit and Dying with Christ Daily to Live in Resurrection
![Were you called as a slave? Let it not concern you; but even if you are able to become free, use [your status as a slave] rather. For the slave who has been called in the Lord is the Lord's freedman; likewise the free man who has been called is Christ's slave...Each one, brothers, in what [status] he was called, in this let him remain with God. 1 Cor. 7:21-22, 24 But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me did not turn out to be in vain, but, on the contrary, I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me. 1 Cor. 15:10](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Were-you-called-as-a-slave-Let-it-not-concern-you-but-even-if-you-are-able-to-become-free-jpg.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "Were you called as a slave? Let it not concern you; but even if you are able to become free, use [your status as a slave] rather. For the slave who has been called in the Lord is the Lord's freedman; likewise the free man who has been called is Christ's slave...Each one, brothers, in what [status] he was called, in this let him remain with God. 1 Cor. 7:21-22, 24 But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me did not turn out to be in vain, but, on the contrary, I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me. 1 Cor. 15:10")
The meal-offering church life is a mingling living; it is a living of humanity oiled by and with the Spirit and joined to the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:4, 12; 3:16; 6:17).
It is not just a mingled living but a mingling living; daily, moment-by-moment, we need to remain in the mingling of God and man.
1 Corinthians has much to say about the Spirit.
1 Cor. 2:4 says that the speech and preaching of the apostle were in demonstration of the Spirit, and v. 12 tells us that we have received “the Spirit which is from God, that we may know the things which have been graciously given to us by God.”
1 Cor. 3:16 further says that we are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in us. We have the Spirit of God, and He dwells in us.
We can have the church life only by being one with the Spirit.
Our church life should be a life of humanity oiled by the Holy Spirit and with the Holy Spirit.
We need to remain in this mingling of the Holy Spirit with us so that we may have the meal-offering church life.
1 Cor. 6:17 further says that we are joined to the Lord as one spirit; our church life should be a living in the mingled spirit, where we are one with the Lord.
The grace of God that we are enjoying today is the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit (15:10, 45).
On the positive side, we need to enjoy being mingled with the Spirit through the exercise of our spirit.
On the negative side, we need to die with Christ to self daily so that we may live with Christ to God daily (vv. 31, 36; John 12:24-26).
We need to allow the death of Christ to operate in us and put the self to death so that we may live to God day by day.
We must demonstrate the power of resurrection by being one with God and having God with us in the status in which we are called (1 Cor. 7:24, 21-22a, 10-13).
In 1 Cor. 7 Paul charges the believers in Corinth to remain in the state in which they were called, and just live Christ, for the slaves are freed in the Lord.
Instead of emancipating the slaves (as a modern Christian would think), Paul encouraged the saints to remain in the state they are called in and just live Christ, demonstrating the reality of resurrection.
We are not called to change our status or to be “emancipated” humanly speaking; rather, we are called to glorify Christ by living a life that overcomes the state we are in.
It is by being one spirit with the Lord and remaining in this organic union with Him to allow the cross of Christ to deal with our natural man and experiencing the power of His resurrection that we can live Christ and manifest Him on the earth.
We must enjoy the crucified Christ as the solution to all the problems in the church (1 Cor. 1:9, 18, 22-23a; cf. Mark 15:31-32).
We must labor not by our natural life and natural ability but by the Lord as our resurrection life and power (15:10, 58).
We need to daily die to the self so that we may live with Christ.
Just die one day at a time. Take the crucified Christ as the solution to all the problems in our Christian life and church life.
In the church life we must experience the salt – the cross of Christ – dealing with and killing our natural life (1 Cor. 15:10; 12:31; 13:8a; 2 Cor. 5:16).
We need to be salted; in our daily life, in our daily living, in all the daily activities, and in all our relationships, the things we do, and the things we speak, we need to apply the cross of Christ by remaining in our spirit.
Lord Jesus, we want to live the church life by having a mingling living of humanity oiled by and with the Spirit and joined to the Spirit! Hallelujah, we are joined to the Lord as one spirit, and we can live in the mingled spirit day by day! Keep us in our spirit today, dear Lord. We want to enjoy the grace of God today by partaking of the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit! May we live in our spirit day by day. May we daily die with Christ to self so that we may live with Christ to God! Amen, Lord, we want to be one with God and live with God in the status in which we are called. Save us from humanly trying to emancipate ourselves; keep us one spirit with You in all situations! Hallelujah, the crucified Christ is the solution to all the problems in the church!
God Desires that Every Local Church be a Meal Offering to Satisfy Him and Supply the Saints day by day!
![Purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened; for our Passover, Christ, also has been sacrificed. So then let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth. 1 Cor. 5:7-8](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Purge-out-the-old-leaven-that-you-may-be-a-new-lump-even-as-you-are-unleavened-jpg.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "Purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened; for our Passover, Christ, also has been sacrificed. So then let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth. 1 Cor. 5:7-8")
1 Corinthians also speaks of keeping the feast of unleavened bread, which means that all the days of our Christian life we need to eat Christ as the meal offering.
We must enjoy Christ as our unleavened banquet – the life supply of sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5:6-8).
Christ is our unleavened bread and the feast for us to enjoy. He is absolutely pure, without mixture, and full of reality.
We need to eat Him day by day throughout our Christian life.
As we eat Him, we are constituted with Him, and we live because of Him (John 6:57).
We need to keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and evil but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The feast we need to keep is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is a continuation of the Passover (Exo. 12:15-20).
It lasted for seven days – a period of completion, which signifies the entire period of our Christian life, from the day we received the Lord to the day of our rapture.
Amen, day by day we need to eat Christ as the meal offering and partake of Him as the life supply of sincerity and truth, absolutely pure, without mixture, and full of reality.
Our entire Christian life needs to be a feast, an enjoyment of Christ as our banquet, the rich supply of life.
If we all keep the feast and eat Christ as the meal offering day by day, every local church will be a meal offering to satisfy God and supply the saints day by day. This is what God desires.
God desires that every local church be a meal offering to satisfy Him and fully supply the saints day by day.
This means that we eat not only Christ as our meal offering but also eat our church life, for the church life becomes a corporate meal offering. Hallelujah!
We can all testify that this is our experience in the church life.
We see so many patterns of saints who love the Lord, live Christ, and partake of Christ, and we not only appreciate their pattern but also feed on their living of Christ.
We “eat our church life”, for the church life becomes a corporate meal offering for our daily supply.
May the Lord gain such a church life among us. May we all eat Christ day by day as our feast so that the church life in our locality would be a corporate meal offering for God’s satisfaction and man’s supply!
Lord Jesus, we want to keep the feast all the days of our life! Amen, Lord, we take You as our banquet. We want to eat You as the life supply of sincerity and truth. You are absolutely pure, without mixture, and full of reality; we come to eat You and be constituted with You! Amen, Lord Jesus, may our local church be a meal offering to satisfy God and fully supply the dear saints! May we all eat Christ day by day as our meal offering so that we would corporately become a meal offering for God’s satisfaction and man’s supply. Yes, Lord, may we eat Christ as the meal offering and may we partake of the church life as the corporate meal offering!
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 the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Leviticus, msg. 16, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing, Experiencing, and Living the All-inclusive Christ for the Genuine Church Life (2023 spring ITERO), week 2, entitled, Enjoying Christ as the Reality of the Meal Offering to Have a Meal-offering Christian Life and a Meal-offering Church Life, Consummating in the New Jerusalem as a Great Meal Offering—the Ultimate Consummation of the Mingling of the Triune God with the Tripartite Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Thus within the church-life garden / There’s a fruit-producing tree / Full of life and so available to eat. / So be simple, don’t be hardened, / Drop your concepts—eat that tree! / Take in Jesus every moment—He’s so sweet! (Hymns #1237 stanza 3)
– How may we express such oneness, / be divine and shining too? / Hallelujah, eating Jesus is the way! / He’s the tree of life, the manna, / and the feast that’s ever new— / Hallelujah, we may eat Him every day! / We are one by eating Jesus! / We’re divine by eating Jesus! / How we shine by eating Jesus! / Hallelujah, eating Jesus is the way! (Hymns #1226 stanza 4)
– Let us drink Jesus till we see / That we are human, Jesusly! / Till rivers flood the barren ground / And quench the thirst of all around. / Drink, drink more of Jesus! / Drink, drink more of Jesus! / Why should we ever thirsty be / When we have His humanity? (Hymns #1146 stanza 2)
About aGodMan
In 1 Corinthians we also have the frankincense, that is, Christ in resurrection. In fact, one entire chapter, chapter 15, is devoted to the matter of resurrection. Paul gives us a word of encouragement. “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (v. 58). Our labor is not in vain because we are laboring not in our natural life but in the resurrection of Christ. Our labor for the Lord in His resurrection life will never be in vain. In chapter 7 Paul charges the believers to remain in the state in which they were called. “Each one, brothers, in what status he was called, in this let him remain with God” (v. 24). He uses the slaves as an example. “Were you called as a slave? Let it not concern you; but even if you are able to become free, use your status as a slave rather. For the slave who has been called in the Lord is the Lord’s freedman” (vv. 21-22a). Instead of doing a work of emancipation, Paul encouraged the believers who were slaves to remain in slavery, the state in which they were called, and live a life that can endure slavery and overcome it. The slaves have a particular opportunity to demonstrate the reality of resurrection and to glorify Christ by living a life that overcomes slavery. The worse this state [in which one is called] is, the more opportunity one has to live Christ…This is to be a man. We all can be men oiled with the Spirit and joined to the Spirit to be one spirit, and we can be fully in resurrection, manifesting the fragrance of the resurrected Christ. The salt—the fourth element of the meal offering—can also be found in 1 Corinthians. In writing to the Corinthians, Paul spoke regarding the cross of Christ and the crucified Christ. “Indeed Jews require signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified” (1:22-23a). Paul did not say that he preached Christ glorified…[or] miracles or wisdom—he preached Christ crucified. Life-study of Leviticus, pp. 145-149, by Witness Lee
I am so encouraged to see the church life as the meal offering in the book of 1 Corinthians!
We are a man and should have the uplifted humanity of Jesus. We are joined to the Lord in spirit and have the Spirit of God dwelling in us.
We must demonstrate the reality of resurrection by being one with God and having God with us in the status in which we were called.
We must enjoy the crucified Christ as the solution to all problems, and we must keep the feast of unleavened bread with the cross of Christ.
Lord Jesus make this experience our reality! Teach us to feed on you for your body and your manifestation on the earth!
What a revelation to see that in 1 Corinthians we can see the genuine church life as the corporate meal offering!
This requires us to “be a man” having the uplifted humanity of Jesus – the crucified and resurrected Christ – mingled with divinity, lived out in our daily life.
Such a proper life is characterised in ethics, self-control, wisdom and love, as the love of God constraints us and we await His appearing.
Yes and very true!
We are not ordinary people, but the called people, like Abraham to take part in His economy.
This can be fulfilled by living the fine humanity or the highest standard of humanity like Jesus.
This kind of life could be expressed by and with the life giving Spirit, the triune God, so that we could live the church life.
Praise the Lord for Meal offering !
Amen, brother, may the Lord bring us all to see that the church life is a meal offering, we are joined to the Lord in Spirit and have the Spirit of God dwelling in us.
We must enjoy the crucified Christ as the solution to all our problems and keep the feast of unleavened bread with the cross of Christ.
Ameeen!!!
The meal offering church life as revealed in 1 Cor where in this genuine typical church we still can see the fine flour, the oil, frankincense, and the salt.
The verses today show these 4 components of the meal offering.
Yes brother, we must be full-grown men.
This means to live the highest humanity in oneness with the Spirit in our spirit.
The real church life is a life of humanity “oiled” by the Holy Spirit and with the Holy Spirit.
May we remain in this oneness and in the resurrection life of our Christ by applying the cross to our old man all the time.