Knowing Life and the Church
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Message Six
Living in the Resurrection Life of Christ
under the Unique Headship of Christ
and Growing Up into the Head, Christ, in All Things
for the Reality and Building Up of the Body of Christ
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things—Col. 1:18.
But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ—Eph. 4:15.
Word of Appetizer
For the reality and building up of the Body of Christ, we need to grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things. What is the significance?
To grow up into Christ is to have Christ increase in us in all things until we attain to a full-grown man. We need to grow up into Christ in all things, that is, in every single thing, whether big or small.
Spiritual Burden
For the reality and building up of the Body of Christ, we need to live in the resurrection life of Christ under the unique headship of Christ and grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The church as the Body of Christ is an organism absolutely in the resurrection life of Christ.
Christ is the unique Head of the Body, the church, corporately and of all the believers individually; He is the Head directly of every one of us.
The reality of the Body of Christ is a group of God’s redeemed who have been made the God-men by God and who live not by themselves but by another life, which is the processed and consummated Triune God.
We need to grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things.
The growth of the Body is the building up of the Body.
The Experience of Life
The love in which the Body builds itself up is the love of God in Christ, which becomes the love of Christ in us, by which we love Christ and the fellow members of His Body. Love is the inner substance of God; when we enter into God’s inner substance, we enjoy God as love and enjoy His presence in the sweetness of the divine love, and thereby love others as Christ did.
Practice and Application
We must exercise our spirit to stay in His presence to absorb Him. We must spend more time in our spirit to adore the Lord, to praise Him, to offer thanks to Him, and to speak to Him freely. As you fellowship with Him in this way, you will absorb His riches, and He will add more of Himself into you. The more God is added into us, the more growth He gives to us.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death—Phil. 3:10.
I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me…—Gal. 2:20.
The Body of Christ—an organism absolutely in the resurrection life of Christ
The reality of the Body of Christ
I. The church as the Body of Christ is an organism absolutely in the resurrection life of Christ:
• When we live not by our natural life but by the divine life within us, we are in resurrection, and the issue of this is the Body of Christ.
III. The reality of the Body of Christ is a group of God’s redeemed who have been made the God-men by God and who live not by themselves but by another life, which is the processed and consummated Triune God:
• The reality of the Body of Christ is a corporate living of the conformity to the death of Christ through the power of His resurrection.
Key Verses (2)
And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead… —Col. 1:18.
But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ—1 Cor. 11:3.
II. Christ is the unique Head of the Body, the church, corporately and of all the believers individually; He is the Head directly of every one of us
A. The Head is a matter of authority; for Christ to be the Head is for Him to have all the authority in the Body.
• To be under the headship of Christ is to be absolutely under His authority.
• The authority to direct the Body and all its members rests with the Head.
B. Whether we are under the authority of the Head determines whether we know the life of the Body:
• The Body can have only one Head and can submit only to one Head.
• Christ is the unique Head, and we must submit to Him, honoring and testifying to the unique headship of Christ.
Key Verses (3)
But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, 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. 4:15-16.
Grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things
The growth of the Body is the building up of the Body
IV. We need to grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things:
• To grow up into Christ is to have Christ increase in us in all things until we attain to a full-grown man.
• We need to grow up into Christ in all things, that is, in every single thing, whether big or small.
V. The growth of the Body is the building up of the Body:
• The growth of the Body of Christ is the increase of Christ in the church, which results in the building up of the Body by the Body itself.
• We need to be brought into love as the inner substance of God for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 The Body of Christ is absolutely something in the resurrection life of Christ (2 Cor. 1:9)
(Please explain: the principle of resurrection is that the natural life is killed and that the divine life rises up in its place.)
T2 Every part of the Body is of the new creation (Phil. 1:19-23)
(Please explain: in our natural life and in the old creation, we are not the Body; we are the Body in the new creation germinated by Christ’s resurrection.)
D2
T1 Christ is the Head of the Body; we have to hold the Head (Col. 1:18; 2:19)
(Please the meaning of holding the Head?)
T2 Our relationship to the Head determines our relationship to the other members (1 Cor. 12:18, 27)
(Use your experience to explain that when we all hold the Head, we will hold to one another, and our relationship with the Body will be proper.)
D3
T1 The reality of the Body of Christ is a corporate living by the perfected God-men (Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a)
(Please explain that they are genuine men but do not live by their own life but by the life of the processed and consummated Triune God.)
T2 Paul lived a life conformed to the death of Christ (Phil.3:10; Gal. 6:14, 17; cf. footnote 1 on v. 17)
(Use Bible verses to explain that on this man, Paul, all men could see the mark and the image of the cross.)
D4
T1 To be in the reality of the Body of Christ is to be in the mingled spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; 12:12-13, 27)
(Please explain that to be in the mingled spirit is to be in the Body of Christ actually and practically.)
T2 Behave and act and live according to mingled spirit (Rom. 8:4)
(Use your experience to explain that I just need to behave and act and live according to this mingled spirit. If I do, I am living in the Body.)
D5
T1 Grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things (Eph. 4:15)
(Use your experience to explain that to grow up into Christ is to grow up into the Spirit.)
T2 Our growth must be in the Body (Col. 2:19)
(Please explain that in order to grow into the Head, we must surely be in the Body.)
D6
T1 He gives the growth by getting into us (Col. 2:19)
(Please explain that the more God is added to us, the more growth He gives.)
T2 The growth of the Body is the building up of the Body (Eph. 4:16) (Refer to Outline V)
(Please explain that the growth of the Body of Christ is the increase of Christ in the church, which results in the building up of the Body by the Body itself.)
