Fully Accomplish our Personal Ministry: Minister the Christ Wrought into us for the Body

Although many verses in the New Testament show that the ministry in the New Testament is corporate, other verses indicate that the ministry is also personal; we need to fully accomplish our personal ministry by ministering the Christ constituted into our being into others for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. Amen!

Thank the Lord for His word. We can always come back to the word of God with a prayerful attitude to know God’s desire and His intention.

When the Lord Jesus was on earth, some Pharisees asked Him about divorce, for Moses gave them some regulations about it.

The Lord’s answer was clear, From the beginning it was not so.

From the beginning, God did not intend to have many “churches”, many “denominations”, or many “ministries” in the church as the Body of Christ.

God has only one Bible, one intention, one economy, and one plan; He only has one church and one Body.

But the enemy has used the well-meaning gifted ones throughout the ages to create division in the Body.

We need to come back to the divine revelation in God’s word.

Regarding the matter of the ministry, we clearly see in the New Testament the duality of the truth: there is one ministry in the New Testament, the new covenant ministry, and there are many ministers.

On one hand, each believer in Christ has a ministry, for they have a unique portion of Christ, a particular experience of Christ, and a vitally crucial function in the Body, and each member needs to fully accomplish his personal ministry.

On the other hand, there is one unique ministry, the ministry of the New Testament, and each believer in Christ has a part in this ministry, for the sum total of the individual believers’ ministries is the unique ministry of the New Testament.

This is all for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ, for God to have a corporate expression on the earth.

Our ministry from the Lord is not for us to build a large following and gain a good group of people who would become “our church” or the church in the name of our ministry.

Rather, all the ministries of the individual ministers, which we all are, are for the unique Body of Christ.

May we allow the Lord’s word to shine on us, expose anything of the degraded Christianity in us, remove what does not match Him, and bring us up-to-date with Him in this matter.

May we realize that, even though the general situation in Christianity is not in this way, we need to return to God’s word and practice and do all things according to the divine revelation in God’s word.

Our Personal Ministry is to Minister the Christ Constituted into us for the Body

In Acts 20:24 Paul refers to his ministry, his personal ministry; here he speaks of the ministry he received from the Lord. The ministry in this verse is the personal ministry.

We can all see in the New Testament that Paul the Apostle received a particular ministry from the Lord, for he had a unique portion and function in the Body of Christ.

He even said that he didn’t care for preserving his soul-life, whatever sufferings lay ahead, for he cared for finishing his course and the ministry which he had received from the Lord Jesus.

From the very beginning, when he was converted by the Lord to Himself, God spoke concerning his ministry, even of the suffering which he will suffer for the Lord’s name.

He suffered for the Lord very much, even to the end.

Paul’s ministry was his being; he didn’t just preach doctrines and teachings but he and Christ had become one, and he ministered the Christ constituted into his being to others (Eph. 3:17a; 1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Cor. 3:8-9; 4:1). W

hat he preached was what he was, for he ministered his very being to others.

Our ministry is not just what we learn from God’s word by our study of the word; our personal ministry, which we need to fully accomplish, is the Christ constituted into our being, for we minister to others not just teachings but our very being.

We are members of the Body of Christ, and as members, we minister life to others and receive others’ ministry of life.

We let the divine life flow in us, flow through our inner being, and flow out of us to others for their supply and edification.

Our ministry is simply to let the Lord flow in and out of us; this needs to be spontaneous, not deliberate, for we need to be an open vessel to the Lord for His inner operation and outward expression and flow.

We need to become one with the Lord. He and us must be one, for He is the One working and ministering, and we cooperate with Him.

Day by day in all our situations and things, in everything we do and say, we need to open to the Lord for Him to work Himself into us and constitute our inner being with Himself.

Like the apostle Paul, we need to be one with Christ and be constituted with Him so that our ministry would be the ministry of the Christ who has been constituted into our being.

Our ministry is our very being. We don’t minister what we are not; we minister what we are by our very constitution.

What we minister to others is the Christ who has been wrought into us.

How much of Christ has been constituted into us? How much did Christ make His home in our heart?

Only the measure of Christ that has been constituted into us can become our ministry.

The Christ who is constituted into our being can flow out to be our ministry.

May we be willing to pay the price for this so that we may have not just a gift, an eloquence, or an ability to do this or that for the Lord, but the ministry of life.

May we allow the Lord to work Himself into us day by day so that we may be able to minister the Christ wrought into us to others.

Having a gift is wonderful. But having the ministry of life is what we need in the church life.

May the Lord raise many young ones who have the ministry of life.

May we learn to be coordinated with the older generation who has been bearing the burden in the church life for many years and take on the Lord’s recovery by our ministering the Christ constituted into us for the building up of the church.

Acts 21:19 further speaks concerning Paul’s personal ministry, when he went to Jerusalem and related to the saints one by one the things which God did among the Gentiles through his ministry.

He was not glorifying himself; he simply gave a report of what the Lord was doing through his ministry among the Gentiles.

May we learn to open to the Lord day by day, in all the daily situations and things we go through, so that He may have a way to work Himself into us and constitute our inner being with Himself.

May our inner being be open to the Lord to be constituted with Him so that, when we speak or do something, we would minister the Christ who has been constituted into us for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we open to You. Work Yourself into us. Constitute us with Yourself. May our being be open to You throughout the day so that You may work Yourself into us a little more every day. Make Your home in our heart. Make every part of our heart be Your home. Amen, Lord, we want to be one with You. We want to minister the Christ who has been constituted into our being. May our preaching be filled with Christ. May we learn to minister our very being to others for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. Oh Lord, constitute our inner being with Yourself. We say Amen, come in, move in, and possess every part of our inner being. May we speak what we are. Save us from putting on a mask when we minister to others. Make Your home in our hearts a little more today. May our ministry be our daily living so that Christ may flow in us and flow out of us for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!

Fully Accomplish our Personal Ministry by Ministering the Christ Wrought into us for the Building up of the Church

In Col. 4:17 Paul speaks to Archippus to take heed to the ministry which he has received from the Lord, that he fulfills it.

Archippus had a ministry, and in the same principle, we all have a ministry.

Each one of us was given a ministry by the Lord.

Our ministry, however, is not for our own benefit or for others to appreciate us and form a group around us; our personal ministry is the ministering of the Christ wrought into us for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

All the ministries are for the Body.

May the Lord shine on us to expose any fallen and degraded element in our being and may we be pure in ministering to the Lord and to the saints.

In 2 Tim. 4:5 Paul charges Timothy to fully accomplish his ministry.

For Timothy to fully accomplish his ministry was for him to fill up the measure of his ministry.

Each one of us has a ministry, a personal ministry, and we need to fully accomplish our personal ministry.

We need to fill up the full measure of our ministry.

We may know what our ministry is, but we need to also know our measure.

It is easy to either function less than what we should or over function, taking over the function of others by our functioning more than what we should.

Thank the Lord, we are in the Body, and the Body builds itself up in love, even corrects and adjusts the function of some so that all the members can function in their measure.

We need to learn to fill up our measure in our function in the Body of Christ.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he did not go beyond his measure; he knew what his measure was, and he did complete it.

The ministry denotes the ministry of the word, which is to minister Christ in all His riches (Eph. 3:8) to both sinners and believers for the building up of the Body of Christ (4:11-12).

Our ministry is to minister Christ with all His riches, many of which have been wrought into our being, to others for the producing and building up of the church.

Especially today, in order to counter the trend of decline in the church (prophesied in 2 Tim. 4:3-4), we need such a ministry desperately.

What we need today is not some gifted ones who speak eloquently and are able to move others by their speaking about Jesus, who then later set up their own denomination or Christian group.

Christianity as a whole is littered with so-called Christian churches, groups, denominations, sects, and all kinds of ministries.

The Lord has one Body, just as we have one physical body.

In our physical body, each member has their own function and their own measure, but all the ministries of the members are for the body and under the heading up of the head.

When we speak, our mouth moves, our legs support us, our hands move and gesticulate, and many other members function.

Our mouth takes the lead, but our whole body cooperates and follows.

Similarly today in the church life, we need to fully accomplish our personal ministry by ministering the Christ wrought into us to others for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

We need to realize that the many ministries in the Body are not separate and individual but are all part of one corporate ministry, which is for the building up of the church.

This is why today we cannot accept ministries that build up a denomination.

They may be quite scriptural, they may have good works and many may join such a ministry, but we can accept only the ministry of the New Testament, the healthy teaching of God’s eternal economy, for only this ministry builds up the Body of Christ.

Thank the Lord that today we are under the ministry of the New Testament, the continuation of the ministry of the apostles.

Each one of us has a ministry, and we need to fully accomplish our personal ministry as part of the New Testament ministry for the church as the Body of Christ to be built up.

Lord Jesus, we want to fully accomplish our personal ministry by ministering the Christ wrought into us to others for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. Thank You for entrusting us with a ministry. Thank You for appointing us to the ministry. You are our source and You are our life. We want to enjoy You every day. We want to partake of Your riches in spirit by calling on Your name. Oh, Lord Jesus! Thank You for the ministry given to us by the Lord, which is to minister Christ to others for the Body of Christ to be built up. We pray for the recovery of the function of all the members in the Body of Christ so that we all may fully accomplish our ministry. We want to minister Christ in all His riches to both sinners and believers for the building up of the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, especially in these days when there’s a general trend of decline in the church, may we all fully accomplish our ministry for the church to be built up!

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, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” ch. 4, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Being a Vessel unto Honor, a Fully Equipped Man of God, by being Empowered in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus to Fully Accomplish our Ministry in the Unique Ministry of God’s Economy (2024 April ITERO), week 8, “Fully Accomplish Your Ministry”.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – What is the Ministry of the New Covenant? More via, The Hearing of Faith.
  – Christ in us – formed, settling down, magnified, a portion from, Life Messages, Vol. 1 (#1-41), Chapter 31, by Witness Lee.
  – How can we discern dissenting speakings? More via, Living to Him.
  – The power wrought in Christ producing the church, a portion from, Enjoying the Riches of Christ for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – 5 Metaphors that Describe Genuine Christian Ministers and Their Ministry, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – God wrought into us, a corporate matter, a portion from, Seven Mysteries in the First Epistle of John, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – Holy and Spiritual for God’s Building, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Brother Witness Lee’s Intrinsic Burden for Conducting the Semiannual Trainings, article via, Having This Ministry.
  – Life-study of Ephesians, Message 19: The Triune God Dispensed into Us and Wrought into Our Being, video message via LSM youtube.
  – The One Unique New Testament Ministry, via, Shepherding Words.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – It is God’s intent and pleasure / To have Christ revealed in me, / Nothing outward as religion, / But His Christ within to be. / It is God’s intent and pleasure / That His Christ be wrought in me; / Nothing outwardly performing, / But His Christ my all to be. (Hymns #538 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Christ to minister is service / Both to God and others too, / Christ, the surplus, e’er supplying, / Off’ring Him as service true. / Christ to minister is service / Both to God and others too, / Christ, the surplus, e’er supplying, / Off’ring Him as service true. (Hymns #912 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – To the lost world minister Christ, / Not just by word, but by life, / Imparting Christ by living deeds / To the poor souls living in strife. / To the lost world minister Christ, / By daily walk making Him known; / Imparting Christ by whom you live, / Share with all men what you own. (Hymns #922 stanza 1 and chorus)