We Need to Practice the Church Life by Being Church-Conscious and Body-Conscious

All believers in Christ need to grow in life, be transformed, be matured, and arrive at a full-grown man for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. One of the most practical ways for our daily life to arrive at a full-grown man is to practice the church life in the consciousness of the one new man (see Eph. 4:13; Col. 3:10-11; 4:7-17).

If we read the book of Acts carefully we will realize that the early believers were church-conscious – everything they had and did was for the church. The whole book of Acts is filled with stories of how the church heard, rejoiced, sent the apostles out, was full of grace, etc. We need to be recovered to be church-conscious, so that we may do everything and give everything for the church.

Even higher than that, we need to have a consciousness of the Body of Christ – we need to be Body-conscious (see 1 Cor. 12:26-27; Rom. 12:15; Eph. 4:16; 2:21-22). We love the church and we live our life in the local church enjoying the Lord with all the saints, but our focus is the Body of Christ. We practice the God-ordained way to meet and to serve in the homes, in vital groups, and in the church life, but we have a consciousness of the Body.

Finally, we need to be conscious of the one new man – the universal one new man (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10-11). May the Lord enlighten us and bring us into a consciousness, a realization, of the church, the Body, and the one new man, so that we may practice the church life in the consciousness of the one new man for us all to arrive at a full-grown man for the fulfillment of God’s purpose!

All the Believers should be Church-Conscious

If you look at the general situation among Christians today we see that not many care for the church – they may “go to church” or “do church” once-or-twice a week, when it is convenient for them….but in the beginning it was not so.

If we read the book of Acts we clearly see that the believers were church-conscious. For them the church was everything, and they gave up everything for the church. It was not “that group meeting” or “this home meeting”, neither was it “a group of believers” – it was always “the church”.

When they did something, they did it church-consciously; when they met, they met as and for the church. Here are some of the verses mentioning the church and how much the believers were for the church (quoted from the Recovery Version Bible):

• Acts 5:11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all those who heard these things.
• Acts 8:1, 3 And Saul approved of his killing. And there occurred in that day a great persecution against the church which was in Jerusalem; and all were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles…But Saul was devastating the church, entering house after house; and dragging off men and women, he delivered them to prison.
• Acts 9:31 So then the church throughout the whole of Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it was multiplied.
• Acts 11:22, 26 And the account concerning them was heard in the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to pass through as far as Antioch,…And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it happened with them that for a whole year they were gathered in the church and taught a considerable number and that the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
• Acts 12:1, 5 Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some from the church in order to mistreat them….So then Peter was kept in the prison; but prayer was being made fervently by the church to God concerning him.
• Acts 13:1 Now there were in Antioch, in the local church, prophets and teachers: Barnabas and Simeon, who was called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen, the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
• Acts 14:23, 27 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church and had prayed with fastings, they committed them to the Lord into whom they had believed….And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared the things that God had done with them and that He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
• Acts 15:3-4, They therefore, having been sent forward by the church, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, telling in detail about the turning of the Gentiles; and they brought great joy to all the brothers. And when they arrived in Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared the things that God had done with them.
• Acts 15:22, 41 22 It then seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church to choose men from among them to send to Antioch together with Paul and Barnabas: Judas, who is called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,…And he passed through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.
• Acts 16:5 And so the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily.
• Acts 18:22 And coming down to Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church and went down to Antioch.
• Acts 20:17, 28 And from Miletus he sent word to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church….Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers to shepherd the church of God, which He obtained through His own blood.

We need to be recovered to what was there in the beginning, to God’s original intention and design for the believers – the church! The apostles went out by being sent by the church, and they visited the churches, strengthened them, and shepherded them. Everything we do should be for the church and in the church, and everything we have should be for the church!

Lord, enlighten the eyes of our heart that we may see the preciousness and importance of the church. We want to be church-conscious. Save us from being degraded Christians. Bring us back to the beginning, back to loving the church and caring for the church.

We Need to Be Conscious of the Body – we need to be Body-Conscious in One Accord

In the church life together with all the saints and individually we all enjoy Christ – He is the common portion allotted to all the saints, and He is all-inclusive. The Christ we enjoy both individually and corporately is the Head of the Body. The result of our proper enjoyment of Christ is that we become Body-conscious – we have a consciousness of the Body of Christ.

To enjoy Christ is to hold Him as the Head, and as we enjoy Christ we love the Body and we care for the Body. If we serve in the church life, we will do so with the Body in view, in coordination with the other brothers and sisters. We will realize that our move is their move, and what we do is the work of the Body.

It is only the Lord as the Head that can give us the consciousness of the Body, and once we have it, we will be aware of the other members and we will not do different things than them but rather we will join with other saints to speak, move, serve, and do everything.

On p. 24 in, One Body and One Spirit, Witness Lee said the following on this matter,

For the Lord’s move in His recovery both locally and universally, we all need to be Body-conscious in one accord and Body-centered in oneness. In one accord we should be Body-conscious. In oneness we should be Body-centered. In our consideration the Body should be first and the local churches should be second….What a shame it is for any local church to declare its autonomy! To teach that the local churches are absolutely autonomous is to divide the Body of Christ. All the local churches are and should be one Body universally, doctrinally, and practically.

We all need to be Body-conscious in one accord (see Acts 1:14; 2:46; 4:24; 15:25; Rom. 15:6). Our Christian life is not an individualistic life – we live in the church life, and we care for our fellow members, being full of feeling for the Body. When others weep, we weep with them; when others rejoice, no matter how we feel, we deny ourselves and rejoice with them.

We all are learning to deny our feeling and take the feeling of the Head to care for the Body, taking the Body of Christ as the rule in our mind, our thoughts, our words, and our actions. The Lord needs to recover this among us in all the local churches on earth today, so that we may live the church life with a consciousness of the Body, not being separate or disconnected from the other members of the Body of Christ.

When one member suffer, all members suffer with it (1 Cor. 12:26). There’s no more middle wall of partition – now we leave in peace in the church life through Christ, who is our peace (Eph. 2:14-16); we even let the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts (Col. 3:15).

We are all members one of another – just as the body is one and has many members, so the Body of Christ is one and we all, the many members, are one Body – yet we all have different functions (see Rom. 12:4-5).

Lord Jesus, keep us enjoying You and taking You in. We want to hold You as the Head by enjoying You, opening to You, eating You, and drinking You. Only You can give us a consciousness of the Body. We don’t want to live an individualistic life but a member life, dependent and in coordination with the other members of the Body. Praise You for putting us in the Body. We want to learn to live the church life with the consciousness of the Body in one accord for Your move on earth.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Andrew Yu’ speaking in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1969, vol. 1, “How to Meet,” (ch. 2), 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 9 / msg 9, Arriving at a Full-grown Man (3) Carrying Out the Stewardship of God to Present Every Man Full-grown in Christ and Practicing the Church Life in the Consciousness of the One New Man.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # In the church life we can see / We are God’s own family. / As we blend with the saints / We are built up in love, / His expression thus to be. / In the church we are home; / Here our joy has begun. / In this sweet fellowship / We are built up in love / As the many, yet as one.
  # Living in the Body, / Body life is known, / Living by the Spirit / Christ is fully grown; / By organic union / Members cultivate / Body-conscious living, / Age to consummate.
  # Riches of Christ we should enjoy / And then His fulness we will be; / Partaking of His very self, / His testimony men will see. / Riches of Christ are what He is / To us who are His members true; / His fulness is what we become / As body doth to man accrue.