Intrinsic Building Up and Fellowship

The intrinsic building up of the church for its organic function and the intrinsic fellowship of the church for its organic relationship. We has see the intrinsic essence and growth of the church is all together related to the divine life of God, which has been generated into our spirit and needs to spread for the churches organic existence and organic increase.

The intrinsic building up of the church is related to what Christ accomplished in His ascension. In ascension Christ lead us as a train of vanquished foes to the Father to be presented as a gift (Ephesians 4:8). The Father in turn gave us back to the Son and the Son gave us a gifts to His Body. The building up has everything to do with the gifted members. According to Ephesians 4 Christ gave some as apostles, prophets, evangelist, shepherds and teachers for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry unto the building up of the Body of Christ. Such perfecting is through the gifted members that all the members can enter into function; and without the functioning of each one part, each member there is not the adequate building up of the Body. The Body builds itself through the functioning of each one part. This is the intrinsic building up for the organic functioning. This is absolutely a matter in the divine life and with the divine life. All the perfecting is with the divine life and all the functioning is in the divine life.

The church also has an intrinsic fellowship which is the flow of this divine life (1 John 1:1-2). This fellowship is also call the fellowship of the apostles. It is a universal fellowship with the apostles and all the member of the Body of Christ. This fellowship is like the blood circulation in our body. No individual part of our body has into our blood circulation. All of our body shares the same circulation. In the same way all the churches share the same unique universal fellowship of the apostles for their organic relationship. This fellowship of the divine life joins all the churches together. Praise the Lord that in the Lord’s Recovery today we are being brought fully back to this unique universal fellowship of the apostles. What an intrinsic fellowship we can enjoy for our organic relationship.

Intrinsic Existence and Growth

The intrinsic essence for the organic existence of the church and the intrinsic growth for the organic increase of the church. The use of the word intrinsic is related to life.  Life is the intrinsic substance of the church, making the church an organism with an organic existence and increase. It is the eternal life of the Triune God that brought the church into existence with an intrinsic essence (John 12:24). Through regeneration we are made children of God (1:12) and the bride of Christ (3:29). This divine life was released through the death of Jesus Christ as a grain of wheat. In death the life of Jesus was release and imparted into His members (Luke 12:50). This life produces the Body of Christ (Ephesians 1:19-23). This life is the intrinsic essence for the organic existence of the church as the Body of Christ and the bride of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem.

Second the intrinsic growth for the organic increase of the church is through the increase of this life in the members (Colossians 2:19). This increase is the growth of God in us for the expression of the Triune God. We grow by drinking the guileless milk of the word and feeding on the solid food of the word (1 Peter 2:2). We need to be watered by the gifted members so that God can cause the growth (Ephesians 4:11-12). This intrinsic growth is of the divine life for the increase, multiplication of Christ as seen in the vine tree in John 15. This intrinsic growth is for the multiplication seen in fruit-bearing. Fruit-bearing is an issue of the flow of life being received by the branches causing the intrinsic growth producing the organic increase of the vine, fruit.

 

Knowing the Body of Christ

How do we knowing the Body of Christ?

First we need to know the oneness of the Body of Christ. The oneness of the Body of Christ is the Spirit. Ephesians 4:4 says “One Body and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling.” The oneness of the Spirit is the reality of the oneness of the Body of Christ. This oneness can be damaged and destroyed unconsciously if we are not careful to recognize three temptations we all face in life. Young people we need to be on guard against their pride, while those in middle age need to be careful of the temptation of heroism and the elderly need to stand against their opinions. These three things make the oneness an impossibility annulling the Body of Christ.

Second we need to know the Body by knowing the ground of locality. The Body of Christ is practically the ground of the local church. This makes all the local churches one in essence. However in existence the local churches must meet locally. This is necessary for the existence of the church. However we much never forget that all the churches are one in essence and are the practical expression of the one Body of Christ. The ground of locality is the ground of the oneness of the Body of Christ.  (Ephesians 2:21-22)

In Ephesians 4 we are told to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bound of peace. It is in the oneness that the Body of Christ is a reality. We need to keep this oneness by keeping the proper order in the Body by being subject to one another in the fear of Christ. We need the virtues of meekness, lowliness, long suffering and bearing one another in love for the practical keeping of the oneness of the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:2). Our keeping the oneness is a matter in love (v.2) and under the headship of Christ (v.15). Praise the Lord for the oneness of the Body of Christ!

Reality

The reality of the Body of Christ is the corporate living of the God-men. These God-men live a life of being conformed to the mold of the death of Christ by the power of the resurrection of Christ (Philippians 3:10). We are being brought out of the old creation and into the new creation by such a life of death and resurrection under the cross of Christ (Revelation 21:5). It is with the new creation that God is gaining His good pleasure the organic Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem.

This living issues from the processed Triune God mingling with the tripartite man. This mingling required God to first go through a marvelous process to incarnation, human living, death and resurrection to be consummated as the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the life-giving Spirit 1 Corinthians 15:45b). Now we are under going a process of regeneration, sanctification, transformation, conformation and eventually glorification (Romans 8:28-30). This process is the building of God into man and the mingling of God and man into one organic entity.

Christ is the model of this living as the firstborn Son of God. As the firstborn Son of God He has both divinity and humanity. This prototype is now the all-inclusive compound Spirit indwelling the believer for them to live such a life. This living requires our denying our self and living in the death of Christ by the power of Christ resurrection. For the reality of the Body of Christ we need Christ living in us and our living together with Christ in resurrection. It is no longer “I” but it is Christ that lives in us but we still live together with Him. This is only possible by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. In this Spirit we have death, resurrection, human living, humanity and divinity. Praise the Lord.

Blending

What is the purpose of blending in the Body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:18 says” But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, even as He willed” (RcV). Paul goes on to say in verse 24 “But God has blended the body together, giving more abundant honor to the members that lacked.” In order to see the purpose of the blending we need to see the need and significance of blending.

God in His eternal economy desires a Body for His increase and expression (Ephesians 1:23; 3:10). It is through the blending that God can gain the organic building up of the Body of Christ. Praise the Lord for the blending! This blending issues in the building up of the Body of Christ among the local churches. The local churches are the procedure for God to gain the reality of the Body of Christ.

Blending is in the divine life. This life has been received by every genuine believer of Christ. The blending in the divine life that we are talking about is not organizational, it is not a system or a unification of outward practices. The blending that issues in the Body of Christ must be related to the life of the Body, which is just Christ Himself. When this life is flowing in and through all the member of the Body they are brought into a sweet fellowship of life. This life is not only flowing it is also building as it flows (Ephesians 4:16).

The purpose of the blending is to bring us into the reality of the Body of Christ. As God-men living in the local churches we should be practicing to beget, nourish, teach and perfect for the building of the Body of Christ. For this we need to be blended. This requires us to deny the natural life and live by the resurrection life of Christ. Because the Body of Christ is absolutely in the resurrection life of Christ.

God’s goal is the building up of the Body of Christ. This Body is an organic entity. God is using the local churches as the procedure to reach this goal. It is for this reason that we need the blending. This blending is the reality of the Body of Christ.

http://www.ministrysamples.org/excerpts/THE-NEED-OF-THE-BLENDING-FOR-THE-BUILDING-UP-OF-THE-BODY-OF-CHRIST.HTML