At the home meeting last night we were enjoying something regarding Being a Member in the Body and Needing the Fellowship in the Body, and I was reminded again of the fact that we all need a fresh vision of the Body of Christ! The Body of Christ is NOT a physical thing, and is not just “all the Christians in the world”; the Body of Christ is an organic entity in the divine and mystical realm composed of Christ the Head and all the believers in Christ as the members!
When we see that we are simply a member in the Body – and nothing more, nothing less – our whole Christian life will change. We will not consider ourselves greater than others nor will we be jealous of other’s portion. When we see the Body, we will realize we have a function which no one can replace – we will honor our portion and we will not be jealous of other’s portion.
Today many of us still compare ourselves to others and consider that others’ function may be greater / more needed than ours. Many believers in Christ consider that their function in the Body is so small – so they don’t function! But as small as you think that your function is in the Body, it is vitally and necessarily needed!
Every member of our body, as small as it is, is crucially needed! We need to be those who exercise our spirit to enjoy the Lord in a daily and moment-by-moment way – and then we will function in a normal way, in touch with the Lord! We don’t need to desire others’ functions, nor do we need to disregard our own function – we just need to function in the measure that God has given us!
When we see that we are members of the Body, we will realize our need of fellowship. A member is not “alone” in the Body, and no member of the Body can exist by itself. As members in the Body of Christ, we cannot act independently. The flow of life in the Body is spontaneously bringing us into fellowship with other members – we need others’ portion, others’ prayers, and we need the fellowship with the other members!
What does it mean to have fellowship? To have fellowship means that I NEED HELP from the other members in the Body of Christ! We cannot pray by ourselves – we need at least 2 or 3 other saints we can get together with to pray for certain matters! In the principle of the Body, we cannot and should not take care of some new believers by ourselves – we need to fellowship and pray with other saints and do this together!
Even such simple and seemingly trivial actions (which we all KNOW HOW to do them and we CAN do them by ourselves) as cooking for the meetings, bringing the saints to the meeting, serving the saints, cleaning after the meetings, washing dishes, cleaning the meeting hall, cutting the grass, arranging the chairs, etc – we need to learn to FELLOWSHIP and pray first with the other saints, and then do something together!
To fellowship is to have the realization that we are short, we are inadequate, and we need the Body of Christ! When we see that we are members in the Body, we will realize how much we need the fellowship with the other members of the Body of Christ! How much we need to receive help from the other members!
I am so glad that this is not a doctrine and this is not even something “good” that we all should practice – rather, this is a reality that takes place in us when we see the Body of Christ! When we see the Body, we will simply realize how much we depend on the other members of the Body that the Lord has put around us!
Even though it may seem simple and normal for us to do things by ourselves, when we see the Body, we will bring more and more things into the fellowship of the Body so that whatever we do would be in the Body and in the fellowship! Saints, without fellowship we cannot go on!
You may be confused or uncertain about your future – or you may be certain of what your future holds, but you still have fellowship with the saints and you pray together for this… We need the help of the brothers and the sisters, and we need to open to fellowship with the other members of the Body of Christ!
[sharing inspired by brother Watchman Nee in the fellowship recorded in General Messages, Vol. 37, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee]
Lord, grant us a vision of the Body of Christ! May we see that we are just members in the Body! We are nothing more and nothing less than a member in the Body of Christ! O, Lord, may we not neglect our function! We want to function in our measure – the measure that You have allotted us! Amen! And show us, Lord, our need for fellowship! Save us from being individualistic! We really need the other members of the Body of Christ! We don’t want to stay away from the fellowship! O, Lord, grant us such a governing and controlling vision of the Body of Christ!
