We’re Speaking the Same Thing from Different Angles for the Building up of the Body

Because the Body of Christ is one yet has many members, every member of the Body has his own ministry, and each personal ministry is for the building up of the Body; we all are speaking the same thing from different angles, depending on our enjoyment and experience of Christ. Amen!

If we read the New Testament we do not see any two disciples having the same exact ministry; each one has their own ministry, but their individual or personal ministry is for the building up of the church, for God to have a corporate expression.

For example, the Lord Jesus had His ministry, and none of us had the same ministry as He did.

However, we all participate in the ministry, for we are members of the Body of Christ.

In our human body, each member has their own function, and even though some members look very much like other members, each has their own particular function.

When we speak something, our mouth is exercised to utter words, but at the same time the heart is functioning, the blood circulates, we are breathing, our hands are moving, our feet are supporting us, and many other members function.

It is not just that the mouth is moving and the rest are standing still; every member functions in their measure, under the coordination of the head, and there’s an expression of oneness, for we are a human being, a person, who expresses something that he desires and feels and wants.

Similarly in the Body of Christ, each member has a particular function; when we exercise our spirit and function in our measure, we accomplish our own ministry.

However, just as in the human body the mouth doesn’t just take the lead in everything and does everything, neglecting the other members and becoming its own thing, so in the Body of Christ no member should do everything, carry out his own ministry, and do his own thing apart from the Body.

The Body of Christ needs to be properly built up by the functioning of all the members of the Body. Every member functions.

Every member has a ministry. Every member has a measure of his ministry.

When every member functions in his measure, there’s a beautiful oneness and coordination.

Because we all have the same life – Christ is our life – and the same person – Christ is our person, we all speak the same thing, but we speak it from different angles.

Whatever the Head decides, thinks, wants, desires, and intends, we as the Body are attuned to Him and speak it – each from our own angle, through the prism of our experience and enjoyment.

What a sight this is, to see all the members of the Body of Christ functioning in their measure, each according to its own portion and in its measure, for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ!

May the Lord recover this among us today in the church life!

Every Member has his own Ministry part of the Ministry of the Body for the Building of the Body

We can never stress this enough, for today the situation in Christianity is in decline to such an extent that most Christians are church-goers while some are “gifted” and over-function while others listen.

Even worse, as Paul has warned us in 1 and 2 Timothy, people today “choose their own church” and listen to the ministry of their own choice. Oh, Lord!

May we return to and remain in the healthy teaching of God’s New Testament economy.

May we see that the New Testament ministry is the service of the Body of Christ.

Because the Body of Christ has many members, every member has his own ministry (Eph. 4:11-12).

It’s not just the gifted ones that have their own ministry but every member, as they grow in life and are being perfected, function in their measure to carry out their own ministry for the building up of the church.

In our physical body, our eyes have their function, our ears have a different function, and every member of the body has their own function, their own ministry.

According to the members, there are many ministries, for each member has their own ministry; however, according to the Bible as a whole, there is just one ministry (1 Tim. 1:12).

Yes, there are many ministries, if we speak from the side of the members of the Body.

But at the same time all these ministries are part of and for the unique ministry of the New Testament for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Our personal ministry, however, is not just for ourselves to build up something for our benefit or following; it is for the Body of Christ.

We cannot have a ministry independent from the Body.

The Lord may allow a particular ministry to flourish and bear fruit, and many may join this particular person or ministry; however, as long as they are not in the Body and for the Body, this is not what God desires.

What God desires in this age is to build up the church as the Body of Christ.

Our personal ministry – the member ministry – is part of the ministry of the Body for the building up of the Body.

The Body has a corporate ministry, and all the members of the Body have their individual ministries; these ministries, however, are for the Body and in the Body.

May the Lord save us from separating our personal ministry from the ministry of the Body.

May we never think that our problems are just our own, and that we need to sort them out ourselves, nor should we think that our ministry should be accomplished by ourselves and for ourselves.

We are members of the Body; the Lord has saved us not just for us to be Christians but to be members of His organic Body.

He has placed us together with some saints, and He wants to build us up as the local church, and He needs to have a way to flow among us and knit us together.

We all need to let the Lord perfect us so that we may carry out our own ministry for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

As each member functions in his measure, the whole Body is built up and knit together in love.

Every member is needed. The function of every member is necessary.

We all are members, we all have a function, and we all need to accomplish our ministry in and for the Body.

The New Testament ministry is the service of the Body of Christ, not just the service of some gifted members.

Lord Jesus, thank You for putting us in the Body as members of one another. Thank you for appointing us to the ministry. Thank You for giving us our personal ministry which we need to fully accomplish. Thank You for placing us together with some saints where we can grow together, be built up together, and be knit together in love for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, we want to keep growing in You day by day. We want to enjoy and experience You in all things, and we want to fully accomplish our ministry. We pray for ourselves and for all the saints, Lord, that all the members of the Body will carry out their ministry for the building up of the church. May we all accomplish our ministry for the ministry of the Body. Praise the Lord, all the ministries of the members of the Body added together to equal the corporate ministry, the ministry of the Body, for the building up of the Body! Amen, Lord, may we all function in our measure in the Body and for the Body!

Speaking the Same Thing from Different Angles for the Building up of the Body

1 Cor. 1:10 is a wonderful yet mysterious verse, for here Paul beseeches us to speak the same thing, that we are attuned in the same mind, and we would have no divisions among us.

How can we all speak the same thing? Are we supposed to speak the same words, use the same language, and be all the same?

Each one of us is different; we each have our own ministry, and we have our own experience and enjoyment of Christ.

To speak the same thing is to speak the healthy teaching of God’s eternal economy from different angles.

For example, the first four books of the New Testament are four biographies of the same one person, Jesus Christ, but from different angles.

Each of the Gospels speaks of the same person but from different angles.

Matthew wrote the Lord’s biography from the angle of kingship, emphasizing the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the heavens, and in his gospel, Christ is the King-Savior.

Mark wrote his gospel from the angle of service, stressing the Lord as the Slave-Savior coming to serve us and serve God.

Luke wrote the Lord’s biography from the angle of redemption through the proper humanity, emphasizing the Lord’s human virtues and divine attributes, and he presents Christ as the Man-Savior.

Finally, John wrote his gospel from the angle of Christ’s deity, stressing that Christ is the God-Savior, being one with God, being God Himself, and being everything to us as God incarnated to be a man.

The four Gospels speak of the same one person, the wonderful person of Jesus Christ, but they all speak from different angles.

Similarly, after the Lord’s death and resurrection, Peter, John, and Paul each spoke of the same one thing, but each had his own angle, emphasizing particular matters related to the same one thing – God’s New Testament economy.

Some of the disciples were clear concerning God’s economy, while others – like James – we not so clear; however, each one had their own ministry, speaking the same thing from different angles.

All the ministries of the apostles and disciples were for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Today the Lord needs many such ministers who are perfected to speak the same thing – the ministry of Christ as life into man for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ – from many different angles.

Each one of us has our own ministry, our set of circumstances and environments, our disposition, our temper, and our course before the Lord.

Each one of us enjoys and experiences Christ as life, and we pray that the Father would strengthen us into our inner man so that Christ would make His home in our heart (Eph. 3:17).

We have our failures and our successes, and we have our own mentality which is slowly being saturated with the word of God as we spend time with the Lord in His word.

Our mind is renewed; our way of thinking is being changed and transformed, and our inner being is slowly being reconstituted with God, so that we may have the mind of Christ.

Our daily enjoyment and experience of Christ together with our prayerful study of God’s word and being in the ministry, under the hearing of the faith, produces a ministry in us.

Each one of us has a ministry.

The Lord will raise up and has to raise up many more to carry out the unique ministry, where we all are speaking the same thing from different angles (2 Cor. 4:1).

We all are speaking not just the low Gospel of how God loves us and wants to save us from eternal perdition but how God in Christ as the Spirit comes to us as life and as everything to us for our enjoyment so that He may gain the church as the Body of Christ.

We all have a part in this ministry, which is the one ministry with different functions, different angles, and different aspects (Rom. 15:6; Rom. 15:5; Phil. 2:2; 4:2).

As we carry out our ministry, we are not following a man or imitating anyone; however, we are ministering the same thing.

We don’t follow a man; we follow the vision of God’s eternal economy.

We don’t imitate a man nor do we use the words of a man; we remain in the healthy teaching of God’s eternal economy, allow the healthy words to dwell in us and constitute us, and something comes out of us as a ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ.

As we carry out our ministry, we are speaking the same thing – God’s New Testament economy – for the church to be produced and built up.

It is so good to see so many saints who share various aspects or angles concerning Christ as life for the building up of the church in His riches!

We are learning from one another and we all are ministering Christ as life and as everything for the building up of the local churches.

This is what the Lord is recovering today, and this is our commission, our burden, and our ministry.

How blessed we are to have a part in this ministry!

How blessed we are to be speaking the same thing from different angles so that we may accomplish our ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ!

Lord Jesus, thank You for constituting something of Christ in our being for the building up of the church. We open to You, Lord. We give You our day today. Work Yourself into us. Give us the portion of grace we need today. Constitute us with Yourself. We want to enjoy and experience You in the details of our daily living. Amen, Lord, may we all enjoy and experience Christ for the building up of the church! May we all speak the same thing from different angles, emphasizing the enjoyment and experience of Christ for the church! May all believers in Christ speak the same thing for the building up of the church! Amen, Lord, may we see that we all have a part in this ministry, which is one ministry with different functions, different angles, and different aspects! May we fully accomplish our ministry by speaking the same thing – God’s New Testament economy – for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ! Oh, what a blessing it is for us to have a part in this ministry!

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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,” pp. 321-323, 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:
  – We Are Members of the Body of Christ, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The pneumatic Christ in the Gospel of John, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Author Spotlight: Who Is Watchman Nee? Article at, Bibles for America blog.
  – With one heart and one mouth speaking the same thing, a portion from, One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee.
  – The indwelling, pneumatic Christ as revealed in the Epistles of Paul, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Witness Lee and Watchman Nee, Two Ministers with One Ministry, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The building up of the Body, a portion from, New Believers Series: Body of Christ, The #24, Chapter 1, by Watchman Nee.
  – Why do some leading ones advise the saints not to read writings that attack the local churches and the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee? More via, Living to Him.
  – The Building Up of the Body of Christ, Message 4: The Body of Christ Building Itself Up in Love, video message via, LSM Youtube channel.
  – Can You Be in the Local Church But Not in the Body? Read more via, A Faithful Word.
  – The One Unique New Testament Ministry, via, Shepherding Words.
• 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 stanza 1)
  – By Thy life and by its flowing / I can grow and be transformed, / With the saints coordinated, / Builded up, to Thee conformed; / Keep the order in the Body, / There to function in Thy will, / Ever serving, helping others, / All Thy purpose to fulfill. / In my knowledge and experience / I would not exalted be, / But submitting and accepting / Let the Body balance me; / Holding fast the Head, and growing / With His increase, in His way, / By the joints and bands supplying, / Knit together day by day. (Hymns #849 stanzas 2-3)
  – All the saints of Christ are / Members every one; / All coordinating / Into oneness come. / Though the gifts are many, / Yet the Spirit one; / Many too the functions, / But one Lord, the Son. (Hymns #854 stanzas 1-2)