In order for us to live in the reality of the Body of Christ together with the other members of the Body, we all need to have the consciousness of the Body of Christ; in the Body, there can be no independence or individualism but rather, we treasure the Body, we are members, and we depend on the other members.
On one hand, we want to become the overcomers whom the Lord needs in this age to carry out His economy; on the other hand, the overcomers live in the reality of the Body, and all they do is in and for the Body.
The overcomers are not special people; they are believers in Christ who see God’s need, join themselves to God in His Word, and pray for the Lord to carry out what He desires.
Actually, all believers in Christ need to be overcomers, normal believers in Christ, those who are perfected and matured, who live in the reality of the Body of Christ.
There must be a group of overcomers in the church life, the “Zion in Jerusalem” so that there would be the strengthening, uplifting, and enriching of the church life.
And the reality of the Body of Christ is nothing else but the corporate living by the perfected God-men, the overcomers; such a living is not by their life but by the divine life, even by the resurrection life of Christ, being conformed to His death, to express Him.
The Lord Jesus had such a living; He constantly denied Himself, put Himself aside, and did not do His own work, did not speak His own word, and did not seek His own glory.
Rather, everything He did, said, and worked was in oneness with the Father, taking the Father as His source and living by the Father’s life, doing the Father’s work, and speaking the Father’s word, while seeking the Father’s glory.
Such a God-man life is in us; we have Christ living in us today, and we can live by His life so that we may live in the reality of the Body of Christ.
For God to carry out His economy for the building up of the Body of Christ and the destruction of the enemy, God needs the overcomers; these are those who cooperate with God to build up the Body of Christ so that the bride may be prepared and the Lord may return.
May we be such ones. May we have a daily life that matches the Lord’s desire, and may we have the consciousness of the Body of Christ, living in the reality of the Body day by day and even moment by moment.
Living in the Reality of the Body by having the Consciousness of the Body of Christ, for we are members of the Body
How can we live together with other members in the reality of the Body of Christ? It is by having the consciousness of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:24-27; 2 Cor. 11:28-29).
When we first see Christ, we realize we are sinners, and we are saved by faith in Him; when we see the revelation of the Body, we are saved from our independence and individualism to live a member life in the Body of Christ.
The vision or revelation of Christ saves us from sin and ourselves into a consciousness of Christ, this wonderful One. Similarly, when we see the Body of Christ, we will acquire a certain consciousness of the Body.
We will realize that we are members of the Body of Christ, and even in our aspiration of being produced as the overcomers, we will do this with the consciousness of the Body.
It is not deciding that from now on we will do everything for the Body that we have a change; rather, when we see the Body, we spontaneously live differently, and we relate to other members of the Body in a particular way, for there’s a Body-consciousness in us.
When brother Watchman Nee taught about the Body, he said that, whatever we do and say, we have to consider how the churches would feel about it; we need to consider how does the Body feel about what we do, say, and work.
We don’t exist by ourselves with no other believers or members around; rather, we are members of the Body, and we cannot think selfishly.
We should have a consciousness of the Body, considering how would other members of the Body feel if we say a certain thing or behave in a certain way if we do a certain work or go to a certain place. We cannot be individualistic or independent.
The adamic life is individualistic, and it is independent; even though in Adam we share the same life, there’s no fellowship among us – because we love being individualistic, by nature.
We all commit sin, we all take our own way, and we are apart from one another.
However, in Christ, all that is individualistic is ruled out, for when we received the divine life, this life is the life in and of the Body of Christ.
When we see a vision of the Body of Christ, we are delivered from our individualistic life, for we realize that we are members of the Body, and Christ is the head of the Body.
Just as purity is versus uncleanness, holiness is versus being common, victory is versus defeat, the Spirit is versus the flesh, Christ is versus Satan, the kingdom is versus the world, and glory is versus shame, so the Body of Christ is versus the individual, versus being individualistic.
Once we see the Body of Christ, we are free from individualism. We need to see a vision of the Body of Christ and realize we are members of the Body; this will deliver us from individualism, and we will live with the consciousness of the Body of Crist, for we are members of the Body.
In the Body of Christ, there can be no independence or individualism, for we all are members of the Body, and members can’t live in detachment from the Body (1 Cor. 12:27; Rom. 12:5; Eph. 5:30).
However, if we still can live separate from the Body or still live by ourselves independently, without seeking fellowship in the Body, we carry on in our independent way and we don’t really see the Body. Oh, Lord!
May the Lord deliver us from our independence and individualism by a clear seeing – even a continual seeing – of the Body of Christ, so that we may live with the consciousness of the Body of Christ!
Lord Jesus, save us from our independence and individualism by a clear vision – even a continual seeing – of the Body of Christ. May we live no longer as individual Christians but as members, having a consciousness of the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord Jesus, thank You for making us members in Your Body, and as members we can’t live in detachment from the Body. May we have such a consciousness in us in regards to the other members of the Body, considering how would the other members feel if we do this or go there. Oh Lord Jesus, may we all have the consciousness of the Body of Christ in order to live together with the other members of the Body in the reality of the Body of Christ!
Seeing that we are Members of the Body, we live in the Body and for the Body, Treasuring the Body and Honoring the other Members
When we see that we are members of the Body of Christ, our living with all that we are and have will be in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body.
This is the kind of person that God is looking for today; may the Lord save us and deliver us from individualism by a clear vision of the Body of Christ.
For us to have the consciousness of the Body of Christ is not for us to have a list of things that we can or can’t do, neither is it something we need to be reminded about.
A consciousness of something comes from a clear and deep seeing and experience of that thing.
In ourselves, we only care for ourselves and for our own things; we don’t have the consciousness that what we do affects the Body of Christ.
The consciousness of the Body of Christ is a different kind of thinking, a different feeling, something that comes not by being taught by others but from seeing the Body of Christ and realizing we are members of the Body.
We need to continually see that we are members of the Body, and we will continually and increasingly live in the consciousness of the Body as members.
How do we know that we are in the reality of the Body? It is by our actions, activities, and decisions we take; if we can still do this and that without having fellowship with other members, this will hurt the Body of Christ and it becomes something negative for the Body. Oh, Lord!
May we be saved from living an independent and individualistic life, and may we be brought into a vision of the Body of Christ!
May we be saved from hurting the Body, wounding it, and marring the church of God by our not living in the consciousness of the Body of Christ!
May our living with all that we have be in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body.
If we truly see that we’re members of the Body, we will treasure the Body and honor the other members, for we realize that we’re just members, and nothing more than a member (1 Cor. 12:15, 21, 23-24; Rom. 12:3; Phil. 2:29; 1 Cor. 16:18; Judg. 9:9).
When we realize that we’re members of the Body of Christ, we will also realize that we can’t live without the other members, much less despise them.
We may see a little member, a weak one, but we will not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, for we need everyone’s portion and function.
In the Body of Christ, all the believers are members, and there’s no high or low – there’s no hierarchy here, for everyone is a member and nothing more than a member.
Just as in our physical body, some members have a greater measure or a greater function, but all members are needed, and none of them is useless in the body.
No member of the Body can live without the other members; the problem, however, is that we either despise our function for not being so great and thus covet others’ function, or that we despise others’ function and consider us being very important.
We may either think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, while despising others, or we may be jealous of other’s function and despise ourselves, looking down on what we are and can do as members. Both such attitudes are wrong, for all members of the Body are needed.
When all the members of the Body function in coordination, we can see the beauty of the entire Body of Christ.
Every member of the Body has a function, and all the functions are for the building up of the Body.
The function of one member is the function of the whole Body, and no matter how small a member is in the Body, his function is needed.
So we shouldn’t imitate other members or be covetous of their function (1 Cor. 12:15), neither should we despise other members, thinking that we are better and more useful (v. 21).
Our living should be with the consciousness of the Body of Christ, realizing that every believer is a member of the Body, and every member is indispensable. Even a little pinky finger is so useful to scratch the itchy ear; no matter the apparent size or function of a member, all members are needed.
Hallelujah, we are members of the Body of Christ – we are nothing more and nothing less than members of the Body! Amen, Lord, thank You for putting us in the Body as members; we treasure the Body and we honor the fellow members of the Body. We cannot live without the Body, and we cannot do anything without having fellowship with the Body. Thank You Lord for giving us all a function in the Body. Save us from imitating other members or being covetous of them. Save us from despising the function of other members in the Body. May we realize that every believer is a member in the Body of Christ, and that every member is indispensable! Amen, Lord, may we live the church life with the consciousness of the Body of Christ together with all the other members in the Body!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 44, “The Mystery of Christ,” chs. 96-98, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life, the Church Life, the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord (2020 fall ITERO), week 6, Entering into the Intrinsic Significance of the Reality of the Body of Christ — the Highest Peak in God’s Economy and the Top Revelation of the Bible.
- Hymns on this topic:
– As members of the Body / Christ we would manifest, / Each learning how to function / His fulness to express; / We would not be spectators / But each as members move, / None bringing death or damage / But each our profit prove. (Hymns #867)
– Lord, to know Thee as the Body, / Is my desperate need today, / Oh, to see Thee in Thy members, / ’Tis for this I long and pray. / No more just to know Thy headship / In an individual way, / But to see Thee incarnated, / As the Body-Christ, I pray. (Hymns #1225)
– Serve and work within the Body, / Never independently; / As the members of the Body, / Functioning relatedly. / As the members we’ve been quickened / Not as individuals free; / We must always serve together, / All related mutually. (Hymns #913)
