The purpose of the blending is to usher us all into the reality of the Body of Christ; the local churches are a procedure for God to obtain His goal, the reality of the Body, for He wants to gain a substantial expression of the reality of the Body in the local churches so that He may return. Amen!
As we dive deeper into the matter of the blending and how it relates to God’s purpose, even to the reality of the Body of Christ, we cannot but be amazed at God’s wisdom in this matter.
God doesn’t want merely that man here on earth would worship and serve an almighty God in heaven.
God Himself became a man; He was blended with man, and right now on the throne in the heavens is a God-man, Jesus Christ.
He went through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, and He blended God with man in every way.
When those around Him looked at Jesus, they saw a man, but God was being expressed through Him.
He spoke human words that others could understand, but God was conveyed through His speaking.
God was mingled and blended with man in this One.
Through His death on the cross, He nailed to the cross the ordinances, the differences, and everything that set us apart, and He created one new man in Himself.
Now we as believers in Christ, those who receive Him as our life and Savior, are growing in the divine life day by day, and we are being blended together in the Body of Christ.
On one hand, we grow in life by enjoying Christ as our life and life supply.
On the other hand, God is blending the body together, and we cooperate with His blending work.
He blends Himself with us by coming into us and mingling Himself with us. He wants us to be blended with God in every way.
And He works in us and around us to break us, grind us to powder, so that we may be blended with the saints in the Spirit, by having the Spirit being added to us in all our fellowship.
When we fellowship with the saints, when we go out for a coffee or visit another locality, we need to realize that we’re not just together in a social way but even more, we exercise our spirit to enter into the blending.
There are so many opportunities for us to blend, and blending is not just something outward but an inward reality in spirit.
In everything we do and say, we need to be through the cross and by the Spirit, seeking to minister Christ to others for the building up of the Body of Christ.
As we live the church life, we are blended together with God and with man to become a corporate meal offering for God to enjoy and for man to be nourished.
We are in the Local Churches as a Procedure to be brought into the Reality of the Body of Christ
We thank and praise the Lord for bringing us into the local churches, the local expressions of the one universal Body of Christ (1 Cor. 1:2).
However, we need to realize that, as much as we love and appreciate the local churches, they are the procedure for us to be brought into the reality of the Body of Christ (12:27).
When we speak of the local churches, we mostly refer to the physical aspect of the church life where there are meetings, many services, and many practical things to arrange and take care of.
But there is something within that animates and motivates and is expressed through all these things: the reality of the Body of Christ.
The Body of Christ is the very life of the church, the very life that constitutes the church.
Without that life, the church will just be a shell, something empty and outward. If there is no reality of the Body of Christ in a local church, that church is empty, void of life and meaning. Oh, Lord!
The reality of the Body of Christ doesn’t refer to the practicality of the Body of Christ, the many things we need to do, or even our coordination and fellowship to care for practical things.
Just as a human being has a body, an outward frame, which everyone sees and can touch, but it also has a reality, a soul, a person, a life within that animates that body, so the church as the Body of Christ as its life.
When you see a man 6 feet tall, having a head with neatly combed hair, two eyes, shaved face, ears, nose, etc, being dressed in a suit, having proper attire, you realize there’s much more than what meets the eye; there’s a person inside that man.
A dead person looks nice, and is properly dressed, but it has no life; there’s only a corpse, with no life or person within.
Today the church is like the outward frame of the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is the reality.
We may have a lot of meetings, a lot of arrangements, much fellowship and coordination to take care of things, and we may think we are okay; but where is the reality of the Body of Christ?
There are thousands of local churches all over the earth, but where is the reality of the Body of Christ?
Do we just live the church life and are involved in taking care of this and that, doing this and that, and going here and there, or are we also in the reality of the Body of Christ as we do all these things?
The Lord is not satisfied with merely having many local churches; He wants to have the Body of Christ in reality being expressed and manifested through the local churches.
![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. 1 Cor. 1:2 Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually. 1 Cor. 12:27](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/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-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. 1 Cor. 1:2 Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually. 1 Cor. 12:27")
We may speak in the meetings, we may take care of new ones, and we may even take the lead in group meetings and in the church life, but do we live in the reality of the Body of Christ? Oh, Lord Jesus.
May we realize that we need to be in the local churches as the procedure to be brought into the reality of the Body of Christ.
The highest peak in the Lord’s recovery that can really, practically, and actually carry out God’s economy is for God to produce not many local churches in a physical or outward way but an organic Body to be His organism for His corporate expression (Eph. 1:10, 22-23).
The goal of God’s eternal economy is not the local churches but the Body of Christ, even the reality of the Body of Christ being expressed in all the local churches (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:12, 16).
The local churches are the procedure God takes in this age to reach the goal of His economy, which is the building up of the Body of Christ.
As we live the church life in the local church where the Lord put us, we need to be brought into the reality of the Body of Christ.
However much we love the local churches, we need to realize that the churches are the Body, but they may not have the reality of the Body of Christ.
What the Lord is after and what we want to have today is the reality of the Body of Christ being expressed among us in the local churches.
May we open to the Lord concerning this matter and tell Him,
Lord Jesus, thank You for bringing us into the local church so that we may be ushered into the reality of the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy You with the saints, grow in life, be coordinated together, and enter into the reality of the Body in the local churches today. Save us from focusing merely on the outward things, the practical matters we need to take care of, but neglecting the reality of the Body. Bring us on with You. Grow in us. May we advance in the Lord and be blended and coordinated together in the Body of Christ so that we may be in the reality of the Body of Christ today. We want to arrive at the highest peak of the Lord’s recovery to carry out God’s economy by living in the reality of the Body of Christ in the local churches. Amen, Lord, gain an organic Body to be Your organism expressed all over the earth in the local churches!
The Purpose of the Blending is to Usher us into the Reality of the Body of Christ
God’s desire in this age is to gain the reality of the Body of Christ being expressed and manifested in the local churches.
The purpose of the blending is to usher us all into the reality of the Body of Christ (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; Eph. 2:16; 4:12; Col. 2:19).
By His mercy, the Lord brought us into the local churches in the Lord’s recovery, and we love being here in the church life, eating, drinking, and breathing Jesus with the saints.
It is so sweet and precious to be in a local church; it is here that we have found our home.
But we should not forget that the local churches are a procedure God uses to bring us into the reality of the Body of Christ.
The purpose of the blending is to usher us into the reality of the Body of Christ.
![And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him [to be] Head over all things to the church, Which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. Eph. 1:22-23 Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and [through] the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. Eph. 4:16 Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. Rev. 19:7](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/And-He-subjected-all-things-under-His-feet-and-gave-Him-to-be-Head-over-all-things-to-the-church-Which-is-His-Body-1-jpg.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him [to be] Head over all things to the church, Which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. Eph. 1:22-23 Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and [through] the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. Eph. 4:16 Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. Rev. 19:7")
We should love the local churches but even more we should treasure the blending, for blending ushers us into the reality of the Body.
If we see the Body and live in the reality of the Body, we will remain in the local church and we will seek to be blended with the saints.
But if we don’t see the Body and do not live in the reality of the Body, it will be easy for us to be offended by someone and it will be difficult to be built up with the saints.
The Lord has shown us the vision of the church and we appreciate the local churches, but we want to go on and be ushered into the reality of the Body of Christ.
We do not give up the local churches but rather, as we live the church life, we want to be blended with the saints the Lord put us with so that we may live in the reality of the Body of Christ.
If we cannot be blended with the saints in our local church, it will not be possible for us to be blended with the saints in other localities.
Some saints think that it’s easier for them to go and blend with other localities and even other countries, but it is not so easy to be built up with the saints in their locality.
But we need to open to the Lord and open to the saints to be coordinated, built up, and blended with the saints in the locality where He put us.
If we are blended with the saints in our locality, we will be prepared to be blended with the saints all over the earth.
May we climb up the highest peak in the Lord’s recovery little by little, day by day, so that we may arrive at the highest peak, the reality of the Body of Christ.
When we were saved, we arrived at the foothill of the mountain, and when we came into the local churches, we started climbing up the mountain.
May we arrive at the highest peak, the reality of the Body of Christ, to be one with the Lord and with the saints for His purpose.
Today the Lord urgently needs the reality of the Body of Christ to be expressed in the local churches, for unless there’s a substantial expression of the reality of the Body, the Lord Jesus will not return (Eph. 1:22-23; 4:16; 5:27; Rev. 19:7).
We thank and praise the Lord for the local churches, and we love to be in the church life; but we want to advance and be in the reality of the Body of Christ as we live in the local church.
We want to be blended with God and with the saints so that we may be ushered into the reality of the Body of Christ.
The Lord Jesus wants to return, but He cannot do it until He gains a substantial expression of the reality of the Body of Christ, which is the bride of Christ, for Him to come and end this age.
As we live the church life in the local churches, we may have many saints in “elementary school” (or primary school), “junior high school”, and “high school”, but where is the “university” and even the “master’s degree” and “PhD” that can educate people and bring them up to God’s standard in full?
May we be saved from remaining infants, being taught the same thing and drinking only the milk of the word; may we go on to maturity and be brought to maturity so that we may arrive at the reality of the Body of Christ.
As we practice the God-ordained way for us to live and serve in the church life by begetting, nourishing, teaching (perfecting) and building, may we seek not only to build up the church and perfect the saints but even more to enter into the reality of the Body of Christ!
May the Lord really gain the reality of the Body of Christ in the local churches in a substantial way by means of the blending so that He can return soon.
Lord Jesus, we want to arrive at the highest peak in the Lord’s recovery by entering into the reality of the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, we want to advance with You by growing in life, being built up together, and being blended in the Body to be ushered into the reality of the Body. Save us from merely living the church life in an outward way, being involved in the many activities of the church, and serving tirelessly without being in the reality of the Body. May we see Your urgent need to have the reality of the Body of Christ expressed in the local churches. Amen, Lord, gain a substantial expression of the reality of the Body of Christ in the local churches today so that You may have a way to return soon! Blend us together and gain the reality of the Body among us today! Come, Lord Jesus!
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 brother James Lee in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994- 1997, vol. 1, “The Practical Points concerning Blending,” chs. 1-2, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery Before His Appearing (2023 July Semiannual Training), week 4, entitled, Blending and the Reality of the Body of Christ.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– The eternal economy of God, a portion from, Practical Points Concerning Blending, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
– The Way of Blending and the Leadership in the Ministry in the Lord’s Recovery Today, article via, A Faithful Word.
– The Factor of Blending for the Reality of the Body of Christ, outline via, The Church in Regina.
– The intrinsic fellowship of the churches for their organic relationship, an outline for a recent blending conference.
– Blending and announcements via, Church in Hamburg.
– Leadership in the Lord’s Recovery, Part 3: Applying the Biblical Pattern of Leadership, article via, Shepherding Words.
– My Sweet Experience of Growing up in the Church Life, article via, Living to Him.
– The reality of the Body of Christ, a portion from, The High Peak of the Vision and the Reality of the Body of Christ, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
– What is the Body of Christ? Read more via, radio newsletters – the hearing of faith. - Hymns on this topic:
– Of Christ on earth today. / They are His testimony, / That He may have a way. / They are the golden lampstands / In cities far and wide. / They are His fighting army, / And His beloved Bride. / The churches, the churches, / Upon the earth today; / Lord, stir our hearts for Thy desire, / And build us, oh, build us, / Lord, we pray. (Hymns #1265 stanza 1 and chorus)
– Prone to be misled, I know it, / By my lofty thoughts of Thee, / Easy ’tis for self to seek Thee, / Yet not touch reality, / Oh, how much I need to find Thee, / In Thy members here below. / God eternal dwells among us, / Manifest in flesh to know. / Limit, Lord, my independence, / Let me to Thy Body turn; / Not just seeking light from heaven, / But the church’s sense to learn. / May we be the stones for building / Not the formless, useless clay, / Gain in us Thy heart’s desire / Corporately Thyself display. (Hymns #1225 stanzas 3-4)
– God would have a group of people / Built together in His plan, / Blended, knit, coordinated / As His vessel—one new man. / God would come into this vessel / With His nature, life and ways, / Mingling Spirit with our spirits / For His joy and to His praise. (Hymns #1325 stanza 2)
About aGodMan
Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994- 1997, vol. 1, “The Practical Points concerning Blending,” pp. 111-112
We thank the Lord that He has brought us into the local churches, but we need to advance with Him to enter into the reality of the Body of Christ through blending.
The Lord urgently needs the reality of the Body of Christ to be expressed in the local churches, for unless there’s a substantial expression of the reality of the Body, the Lord Jesus will not return.
AMEN👑
Cf. Rm 12:5
(Fn.”members”, cf. Eph.4:25)
Aaaaameeen!
Lord Jesus we treasure the local churches for the purpose of ushering us into the reality of the Body of Christ.
It’s good to know we are all members.
I enjoyed yesterday idea of being seeds of the one grain that died for us.
How we need to be ground into fine flour for the making of the bread.
Today’s reading was about understanding that more for me
Today God desires that we believers would be gathered together in the local churches and be blended to be ushered into the reality of the Body of Christ.
If we, as members, are to be in the Body, we must be those who meet in a local church on the ground of oneness, the ground of locality, just as the sanctified, called saints met in Corinth.
However, the local churches themselves are not the goal but the procedure toward the goal of the Body of Christ.
May the Lord save us from being separated and individual saints.
In this age, we pray that Jesus will gather many together in their localities to be the local churches.
The local churches are merely the procedure towards God’s ultimate goal — to usher us into the reality of the Body of Christ.
A local church needs to grow in life and be brought into the reality of the Bofy of Christ.
Begetting, nourishing & perfecting are steps towards the maturity required for the building of God’s house. May we never be content with merely being a local church.
We need to seek earnestly to be part of an organic Body which can be the reality of the one new man on Earth, a living organism with Christ as the Head and we saints as His faithful expression.
Hallelujah! 😃🙋🏽🙏 Amen!
Thank you for drawing us with Your loving kindness, giving us Your self as our meal offering. As we eat of You daily, may our Christian life be one that keep instep with the Holy Spirit as our leading. Thank You for becoming the perfect and sinless man to show us the way to the Throne of grace. You are the fresh oil on the table of thy love, now we can eat of You to become son’s of the fresh oil were there is no sin or natural affection only the humanity of Jesus mingled withe Spirit as the oil. “ hallelujah “
Amen brother.
Amen
Amen, Lord produce Your organic body. Make this our reality today
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
Amen brother!
The purpose of the blending is to usher us all into the reality of the Body of Christ. The local churches are the procedure to bring us into the Body of Christ.
Hallelujah! 😃
Amen Lord!
Increase Your life in us for the reality of the Body!
Blind us together for the goal of Your economy!
Amen. Lord bring us into the reality is the Body today.
This is a most enriching and enlivening post. We are to be blended together, as fine powder, into a perfect oneness. It is true, if you are feeling offended, you are not this fine powder yet. The offense is good, useful. It speaks of one’s condition, and helps grind us down to a more blendable consistency. Hallelujah.
Though we are happy to feel at home in our local church, it is in fact, not our home. We are going home, getting ready, and stretching forward, together, to this wonderful place. Home. Amen.
Brother, Let me start with the following question:
What is God’s heart desire?
The mystery of the Body of Christ based on His word in 1 Cor. 1:2 ; 12:27 and Eph. 1:22-23:
Buildings of many local churches are not the goal of God’s eternal purpose, but they are procedures to build His universal body fully.
The reality of His body is not expressed in the local Church.
We are the Body of Christ, and members individually.
Ameeen!!!
According to the revelation of the truth the church is the Body of Christ but the church may not have the reality of the Body.
Our physical body, like a local church is us but it is not the reality of our being.
The purpose of blending is to usher us into the reality of the Body as an organism not merely the church as a frame.
Praise the Lord brother that we are in the local churches as the procedure.
And in the local churches we carry out the procedures of the church work such as preaching the gospel, home meetings, small group meetings, and the church meetings.
All these procedures are four organic matters – begetting, nourishing, perfecting, and building to have the reality of the Body of Christ.
So ask the Lord to bring us into the actuality and practicality of the church life through the God ordained way in all the local churches to usher us into the blending and reality of the Body of Christ.
Praise the Lord He has blended the Body together.