What the believers need today is NOT more knowledge concerning Christ and the Body of Christ but a revelation of Christ and His Body. In the spiritual realm whenever we see something, when we see the Body of Christ, for example, we enter into the reality of the thing we see. Only God can give us a revelation of what the Body of Christ is.
If we truly see that we as believers in Christ are members of the Body and if we see what our function in the Body is, we will be delivered from any self-consciousness and we will be Body-centred!
The Body of Christ is simply Christ in us – nothing of ourselves but Christ being wrought into us and constituted into our being. The church as the Body of Christ is the corporate Christ – Christ in all His believers composes the church, and anything that is not of Christ cannot be part of the church.
When we were saved by God at the time of our regeneration, we became members of the corporate Christ, the Body of Christ. Now we need to live such a member life – not an individualistic life, not a self-centered life, but the Body life. And this is possible when we see the revelation of the Body – when we really see it, we enter into it, and our whole being and living is governed by it!
If we truly see our position in the Body of Christ, it is as if we were saved the second time!
The Difference Between Being a Christian and Being a Member of the Body
When we read the New Testament we realize that Christ is both the individual Jesus Christ the Nazarene who lived in time and space, died, resurrected, and ascended, and the corporate Christ, Christ plus the church. So when the Bible says that we are the church, the Body of Christ, it refers to the corporate Christ.
When we take the bread at the table meeting, we partake of the Body of Christ. The church is nothing else but Christ Himself in all His believers, the corporate Christ. The divine life all genuine Christians have is not an individualistic life but a corporate life – it is a member life.
There is a difference between being a member of the Body of Christ and being a Christian. Being a Christian can refer to being an individualistic person while being a member refers to being in and for the Body of Christ.
Just as purity is versus uncleanness, holiness is vs commonness, victory is vs defeat, glory is vs shame, Christ is vs Satan, the Spirit is vs the flesh, the Father is vs the world, so is the Body of Christ vs. the individual. In the Body of Christ, you cannot be individualistic.
We need to be not merely Christians (Christ-followers) but also Body-conscious and Body-centred, so that we may be freed from being self-conscious and self-centred. We all believers in Christ are members of the Body of Christ – we are members one of another (Rom. 12:5).
Just as the human body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body – being many – are still one body, so also is the corporate Christ, the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12). Hallelujah, we are not merely Christians but members of the Body of Christ!
Our Need for a Revelation of the Body of Christ
Many people read the Bible, and many Christians understand what the Bible says. It is easy to understand what the Gospels speak of, and if you’re smart and apply yourself to the reading and understanding of it, you will grasp the fact that the book of Ephesians speaks of the church.
What we need today is not more knowledge – we need a revelation! We need revelation to know the Body of Christ and to enter into the realm of the Body. Only God can grant us revelation, and only by seeing the Body can we enter into the reality of the Body.
The Body of Christ is not a teaching or a doctrine but a reality and a realm. The Body of Christ is not a concept to grasp and live by but a life. It is only a revelation from God that will usher us into the realm of the Body – and only then will the Body of Christ become our experience.
We need to open to the Lord and be before Him concerning this, allowing Him to shine on us and reveal to us His Body. When we see the Body of Christ, when we realize that we are members of the Body, we will no longer be proud. We will be content with our portion in the Body, we will honor the other members, and we will treasure the Body.
When we see the Body of Christ, we will realize that only Christ in us is a part of the Body, and we will pray for more growth in the measure of the stature of Christ in us. When we see the Body we will begin to apprehend with all the saints what the universal dimensions of Christ are, and we will enjoy and know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ (Eph. 3:16-19).
When we have a clear revelation of the Body of Christ, we will not despise ourselves and our function so as to covet others’ function but we will function in our measure for the building up of the Body. Also, we will not be proud, considering ourselves to be all-inclusive, but we will need the function of the other members in the Body.
When we see the Body of Christ, we will not imitate others’ function nor will we desire to be like others; we will realize that our function in the Body is needed for the building up of the Body.
If we truly see our position and function in the Body of Christ it would be as if we were saved a second time! When you are saved the first time, you are saved from sin, the world, and the power of darkness. But when you are saved the second time by seeing the Body of Christ, you are saved from the self! How much we need to see a clear revelation of the Body of Christ!
Lord Jesus, thank You for regenerating us not only to be Christians but MEMBERS of Your Body! Cause us to SEE the Body and SEE our position in the Body. Save us from living an individualistic life – we want to live a member-of-the-Body-life! Save us from our self by giving us a clear revelation of the Body of Christ. Dear Lord Jesus, we pray for our seeing the Body – give us a clear revelation of what it means to be a member in the Body of Christ. Lord, we open to You – shine on us and reveal this to us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration (besides the Word of God and my Christian experience): bro. Ed Marks’ speaking in this message 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, Entering into the Fourth Stage of the Experience of Life to Arrive at a Full-Grown Man for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose, week 2 / msg 2, The Fourth Stage of the Experience of Life (1) – Knowing the Body.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Oh, the church of Christ is glorious, and we are part of it— / We’re so happy that the Lord has made us one! / There’s a Body in the universe and we belong to it— / Hallelujah, for the Lord has made us one!
# As for the church, I need / Thy revelation more, / The Body-life to know, / Thy wisdom to explore. / I long to be unveiled, / In everything made clear, / No more to be deceived / Or to my pride adhere.
# The Lord has put me in the Body, / He has made a member out of me; / I’m leaving all the things on the tree of knowledge, / And learning how to eat the living tree. / Well now I’m taking in much more of Jesus! / He’s put me on His farm here just to grow, / We’re only here because we love our Jesus, / We stand as ONE so all the world will know.
# When all Thy members self forsake, / Thy glorious Body, Lord, is known; / When of Thy Person we partake, / The one new man is shown. / The church life is the one new man / In every local church expressed; / Thy Body is a corporate man, / One Person manifest.
In truth, just like the wall that has been built by the joining of these stones, the body of God will progress only when it is united. This is a spiritual law, you have given a very good example of a stone wall, and you have defined this Bible verse very well. God bless you.
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