The Reality of the Body of Christ
Message Three
Being in the Reality of the Body of Christ by Living in the Organic Union and in the Mingled Spirit
and by Being Conformed to Christ’s Death
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Rom. 6:5 For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection.
1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.
Phil. 3:10 To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death
Word of Appetizer
What’s the ultimate item of God’s continual working?
The focus, the center, of the Christian life is the Body, which is the high point of God’s revelation and the ultimate item of God’s continual working.
The Body is not an organization or a society but is altogether an organism produced by the union in life that we have with Christ. The actuality of the Body is the remaining in the organic union with Christ.
Spiritual Burden
The relationship that God desires to have with man is that He and man be grafted together and thus become one in an organic union.
God’s unique purpose is to mingle Himself with us so that He becomes our life, our nature, and our content, and we become His expression.
We must be those who live a crucified life by continually taking Christ’s death as the mold of our life; it is only by this kind of corporate living that we can have the reality of the Body of Christ.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
We enter into the reality of the Body of Christ by living in the organic union with Christ.
We live in the reality of the Body of Christ by living in the mingled Spirit; the Body of Christ is absolutely a matter in the mingled spirit; thus, to be in the reality of the Body of Christ is to live in the mingled spirit.
The reality of the Body of Christ is a corporate living of conformity to the death of Christ; in order to be in the reality of the Body of Christ, we need to be conformed to the death of Christ through the cross.
The Experience of Life
We and He have been organically mingled, blended, to become one in life; we and Christ are one wonderful, living entity; the divine Spirit and the human spirit are mingled as one within us so that we can live the life of a God-man, a life that is God yet man and man yet God; this is the reality of the Body of Christ.
Practice and Application
Our life should be conformed to the mold of Christ’s death by our dying daily to our human life to live the divine life;
We must be those who live a crucified life by continually taking Christ’s death as the mold of our life; it is only by this kind of corporate living that we can have the reality of the Body of Christ.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Rom. 12:4-5 For just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
I. We enter into the reality of the Body of Christ by living in the organic union with Christ
- The relationship that God desires to have with man is that He and man be grafted together and thus become one in an organic union; God desires that the divine life and the human life be joined together to become one life; this oneness is an organic union, a union in life—a grafted life.
- Romans 12 speaks of the Body from the angle of the organic union, from the uniting life, from a life that unites us together, not only with Christ but with all the other members of Christ; The actuality of the Body is the remaining in the organic union with Christ.
Key Verses (2)
Rom. 8:4 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.
1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.
Eph. 4:16 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.
II. We live in the reality of the Body of Christ by living in the mingled Spirit
- God’s unique purpose is to mingle Himself with us so that He becomes our life, our nature, and our content, and we become His expression.
- The Body of Christ is the enlargement of Christ, the God-man, the One who is the mingling of God and man.
- The Body of Christ is absolutely a matter in the mingled spirit; thus, to be in the reality of the Body of Christ is to live in the mingled spirit; the focus of God’s economy is the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit; whatever God intends to do or accomplish is related to this focus.
Key Verses (3)
Phil. 3:10 To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
2 Cor. 4:10-11 Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
III. The reality of the Body of Christ is a corporate living of conformity to the death of Christ
- To be conformed to Christ’s death is to take Christ’s death as a mold.
- In order to be in the reality of the Body of Christ, we need to be conformed to the death of Christ through the cross.
- Such a life of dying to ourselves and living to God is for Christ, the first God-man, to be formed in His many members, the many God-men, for the building up of His organic Body.
- We must be those who live a crucified life by continually taking Christ’s death as the mold of our life; it is only by this kind of corporate living that we can have the reality of the Body of Christ.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 There is an union in life, an organic union, between us and the Lord. —John 15:4-5
(Please illustrate that we have been joined organically to the Triune God with grafting.)
T2 It is rebirth, or regeneration, that has brought us into an organic union with Christ.—Rom. 6:4-5
(Please illustrate that when this organic union is accomplished and transpires within us
D2
T1 We are one Body in Christ —1 Cor. 12:27
(Please illustrate that the Body is the focus, the center, of the Christian life.)
T2 Remaining in an organic union with Christ. —John 15:4-5
(Please illustrate that we must remain in the organic union with Christ in order to actually live in the Body life.)
D3
T1 God’s purpose is to mingle Himself with us—Rom. 8:4; 1 Cor. 6:17
(Please illustrate that we live in the reality of the Body of Christ by living in the mingled Spirit.
T2 The Body of Christ is the enlargement of Christ, the God-man.—Eph. 1:22-23, 4:16
(Please illustrate that Christ is the beginning of the mingling of God and man, this mingling made the production of the Body of Christ, which is the church.)
D4
T1 The focus of God’s economy is the mingled spirit —1 Cor. 6:17
(Please illustrate that we live not only according to the conscience but according to the mingled spirit with experience.)
T2 The Body of Christ is absolutely a matter in the mingled spirit —Rom. 8:4; 12:4-5
(Please illustrate that the reality of the Body of Christ is in the mingled spirit with experience.)
D5
T1 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. —1 Cor. 6:17
(Please illustrate that the implications of this verse are marvelous and far-reaching.)
T2 To be conformed to Christ’s death is to take Christ’s death as a mold —Phil. 3:10
(Please illustrate that being conformed to Christ’s death should be our daily experience as believers with experience.)
D6
T1 Living a life of being conformed to the death of Christ through the cross—2 Cor. 4:10-11
(Please illustrate that the way of the Christian life is the way of the cross.)
T2 The turning point in living a life with Christ is the cross（Gal. 2:20）
(Please illustrate that without the cross we live, but not Christ with experience.)
