Learning to Administrate and Serve in the Church by Seeing how God Builds the Church

In order for us to know how to administrate and serve in the church as the Body of Christ, we need to be clear concerning the church being the one new man produced by Christ on the cross and the Body of Christ being one yet having many members.

Before we can do anything practically for the Lord in order to administrate and serve in the church, we first need to see a vision of the church, a vision of what God wants, how does He build up the church, and what materials He uses to build the church.

We want to learn to cooperate with the Lord for His church to be built up for the bringing forth of the one new man. For this, we need to have a clear view what Eph. 2:13-16, Col. 3:10-11, and 1 Cor. 12:12-13 speak about.

In Eph. 2 we see how the Gentiles and the Jews became one new man in Christ through His death on the cross. This one new man is a corporate man, not an individual man, and this man is Christ Himself, the Christ.

Christ broke down the middle wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles by abolishing the law of the commandments in ordinances on the cross. He reconciled us both in one Body to God through the cross, having slain the enmity by it.

In Col. 3 we see the new man who is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. Although we have put on Christ through baptism and although Christ is in us the one new man has not yet been manifested through us.

Yes, we were justified, reconciled to God and to one another, and we were made into one new man, but because we are still of the old creation, we still need to be renewed daily unto full knowledge.

We need to be like Paul, desiring to pursue Christ, know Him, and be found in Him, having a subjective knowledge and experience of Christ, so that our mind would be renewed and our whole being would become an expression of the one new man.

We want to know the Lord more and more so that the one new man may be renewed more and more, and so that the image of the Lord would be manifested more and more for the bringing forth of the one new man.

In this one new man these is no Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man – they all are on the cross, but Christ is all and in all.

When we truly see this light, when we realise that the church we want to learn to administrate and serve is just Christ Himself in His many members, we will have a great change in our service and work.

When the Lord’s light truly shines on us, the divine light kills the negative things, exposes what is in us, and causes us to see how to administrate and serve in the church as the house of the living God.

Christ Reconciled us and Created us into One New Man, which is Christ Himself, the Body of Christ

In 1 Cor. 12:12-13 as see that, even as the body is one and has many members – yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.

For also in one Spirit we were all baptised into one Body, whether Greeks or Jews, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.

No matter who we are by birth – Jews, Greeks, American, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Dutch, etc – and no matter what status we have – slave, free man, self-employed, businessman, brick layer, etc, we all have been baptised in one Spirit into one Body, and this Body is Christ.

By believing into the Lord and by being baptised we have been put into Him and we have been given to drink of the Spirit.

When we were outside of Christ we had many differences based on who we are, what our status was, etc, but now in Christ all these differences have been dealt with by the cross, and we are one with Christ, one with one another, and one in Christ.

On the cross all the things in the universe were terminated, and any kind of difference has been abolished on the cross and through the cross. Now we are in the one new man, which is Christ, and here Christ is all and in all.

Although we may look differently from the others and we may even speak differently or eat different kind of food, in the new man there’s no difference between us, for here Christ is all and in all.

By the cross and by our passing through the cross, Christ has reconciled His redeemed ones and created them in Himself into one new man. Therefore, when we are together and learn to administrate and serve in the church, we need to always do everything through the cross and by the spirit, seeking to minister Christ to one another.

If we pass through the cross, we will enter into the realm of resurrection, where the one new man is, and we will dispense life into one another. We have to do everything through the cross and by the spirit to dispense and minister Christ into others for the sake of the Body of Christ.

When we are together with the saints our first concern shouldn’t be to get things done but to minister Christ to one another so that Christ may grow in us for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. This is something we all need to learn and practice in our daily life and in our meeting life.

We need to realise that Christ is everything and everyone in the Body of Christ, so we should do everything through the cross and by the spirit so that we may be reconciled to God, we may reconcile others to God, and we may minister Christ to others for the building up of the church.

When we have such a life and service, we will know how to administrate and serve in the church as the house of God.

Thank You Lord for reconciling us to Yourself and creating us in Yourself into one new man. Hallelujah, all believers in Christ are part of the one new man, and here Christ is all and in all. Lord, may we have such a realisation in our daily life and in our learning to administrate and serve in the church. May we learn to do everything through the cross and by the spirit so that we may minister life to others for the building up of the church. May we let the cross deal with any differences, and may we just minister life to the saints!

Learning to Administrate and Serve in the Church by Seeing how God Builds the Church

If we prayerfully study the portions in Eph. 2:13-16, Col. 3:10-11, and 1 Cor. 12:12-13, we will realize what the church is, and we will learn from the Lord and from the apostle Paul how to administrate and serve in the church as the house of God.

All those who serve God in the church must first see what the church is, what the nature of the church is, what God intends to build, and with what God builds the church. Only when we are clear concerning these points can we administrate and serve in the church.

First of all, we need to have Christ revealed in us, and we must clearly see that Christ is our life. To administrate and serve in the church we need to live Christ, and we must realize that what we are and what we have in ourselves has been terminated on the cross.

When we serve or work, we should not do this according to what we have in ourselves, but by living Christ and ministering Christ. The only thing that should come out of us for the building up of the church should be Christ; Christ should be dispensed in our service and work in the church.

Also, we should not expect those with whom we serve to change in any way; we should not try to change them or correct them, but our only desire is that we all would gain Christ, be filled with Christ, and be fully gained by Christ.

The one result in our service and work for the Lord in the church should be Christ being produced in the church. As we are learning to administrate and serve in the church, we need to see only one result: Christ increasing in every member, so that we all would arrive at the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

Above all these and as we practice these things, we must pray; we must be men of prayer, those who bring before the Lord all the situations and people and things, so that He may be mingled with us and we may live Christ.

Much more can be accomplished by our prayer than by our work, so we need to be men of prayer.

Finally, we should not expect great results but simply pray and have faith, believing that God is able to do super-abundantly above all that we ask or think.

As we serve the Lord according to the vision that He has shown us by living Christ, ministering Christ, and seeking to have Christ wrought into others so that He may be lived out of them, His power will operate in us both the willing and the working, and God will fulfill His purpose.

Through the operation of the power within us, God can fulfill all these things; this is the administration of the church.

Lord, show us what is the church, what is the nature of the church, what God intends to build in this universe, and with what God builds the church. May Christ be revealed in us and be our life so that we may live Christ. May we remain on the cross to be terminated, and may not serve or work according to what we are or have in ourselves. Lord, may our living and serving in the church dispense Christ to others so that the saints may gain Christ and be filled with Christ. Amen, Lord, may Christ be produced in the church, and may Christ be lived out in all the saints!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, How to Administrate the Church, ch. 9 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking Christ as our Person and Living Him in and for the Church Life (2018 spring ITERO), week 8, How One Ought to Conduct Himself in the Church in Order to Bring Forth the One New Man.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # To be baptized in the Spirit / Is to get into the Spirit / And to be lost in Him. / To drink of the Spirit / Is to take the Spirit in / And have our being saturated with Him. / By these two procedures / We are mingled with the Spirit. / To be baptized in the Spirit / Is the initiation of the mingling / And is once for all. / To drink the Spirit / Is the accomplishment of the mingling / And is perpetual forever. (Song on, footnote 5 of 1 Cor. 12:13)
  # It is God’s intent and pleasure / That His Christ may live in me; / Nothing as an outward practise, / But Christ working inwardly. (Hymns #538)
  # Lord, I give You ground to make Your home in my heart. / Settle down and strengthen every inward part. / The unlimited Christ experienced by me, / To others I minister for Your glory. / In fellowship with You, my spirit employ, / Your unsearchable riches I would enjoy. / Not confine them within, myself to gild, / But with others share them, Your Body to build. (Song on, O Lord, You have from days of eternity)