THE FOURTH SERIES:
THE PATHWAY OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY
The Unique Work in God’s Economy
Message Twelve—The Fellowship and Blending of the Body of Christ
Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 12:24; 10:16-17; 2 Cor. 13:14; Rom. 14:3; 15:7-9, 25-33; 16:1-27; Eph. 4:3-6
I. The fellowship of the Body of Christ is the blending of the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 10:16 17; 12:24:
A. God has blended the Body together; the word blended also means adjusted, harmonized, tempered, and mingled; the Greek word for blended implies the losing of distinctions—1 Cor. 12:24.
B. If we would practice the blending, we should not forget the matter of fellowship; fellowship is the basis for blending; by practicing fellowship we will lay the foundation for the blending—1 Cor. 10:16-17.
C. We may come together without much blending because everyone stays in themselves; blending is not a matter of being quiet or talkative but a matter of being tempered; blending means to lose the distinctions—1 Cor. 12:13.
D. We must learn to serve in a blended way; blending requires us to be crossed out; blending requires us to be by the Spirit to dispense Christ and to do everything for the sake of His Body.
II. There is the need today for the fellowship among the churches; this fellowship is to keep the universal oneness of the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:3-6:
A. Just as the health of our physical body depends on the circulation of our blood, so the health of the Body of Christ depends on the fellowship of the Spirit; the Spirit today is the “blood” in Christ’s Body; the fellowship of the Body of Christ is simply the circulation, the current, of the Spirit—2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1; Eph. 4:4a.
B. Fellowship adjusts us, fellowship harmonizes us, fellowship tempers us, and fellowship mingles us; we should not do anything without fellowshipping with the other saints who are coordinating with us—cf. 1 Cor. 10:16-17.
C. Fellowship requires us to stop when we are about to do something; in our coordination in the church life, in the Lord’s work, we all have to learn not to do anything without fellowship.
III. The meal offering is a type of blending for the fulfillment of God’s economy—Lev. 2:1-16:
A. This type of blending is strongly referred to by the apostle Paul when he says that the church as the one Body is “one bread”—1 Cor. 10:17.
B. The meal offering in Leviticus 2:4 consisted of cakes made of fine flour mingled with oil; every part of the fine flour was mixed, or mingled, with the oil; that is blending—Lev. 2:1, 4-5.
C. In the meal-offering church life, we have to go through the cross and be by the Spirit, dispensing Christ to others for the sake of the Body of Christ; all of these points mean that we should do everything by fellowship.
D. In the divine fellowship and reality of the Body of Christ, we have the reality of all the elements of the meal offering: the fine flour (the humanity of Christ), mingled with oil (the Spirit of Christ), with frankincense (the resurrection of Christ), and with salt (the cross of Christ), having no leaven and no honey (no sin or any negative thing)—Lev. 2:1, 4-5, 11, 13.
IV. The blending of all the local churches should be as much as practicality allows, without boundaries of states or nations—1 Cor. 12:23-27:
A. None of the churches of the Body of Christ can be autonomous in relation to the other churches; in the church life we should not be divided by any kind of boundary; rather, all the local churches throughout the earth should be one—Col. 4:15-16; Rev. 2:1; John 17:11, 21-23.
B. If we would have the Lord’s blessing, we must be one in all parts of the recovery; in the spiritual element all the churches should be blended with one another for the manifestation of the reality of the Body of Christ—Psa. 133:3; 1 Cor. 12:12-13.
C. Among us we should have the blending of all the individual members of the Body of Christ, the blending of all the churches in certain districts, the blending of all the coworkers, and the blending of all the elders; then we will receive many benefits—1 Cor. 12:24.
V. We need to imitate the apostle to bring the local churches into the fellowship of the Body of Christ, and follow the apostle’s footsteps to bring all the saints into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ—Rom. 14:3; 15:7-9, 25-33; 16:
A. The last three chapters of Romans show us the blending and fellowship of the Body life brought forth through the apostle’s receiving the believers according to God and Christ in order to demonstrate, show forth, and maintain the oneness of the Body of Christ—Rom. 14:3; 15:7.
B. We need to follow the apostle’s excellent pattern of bringing all the saints into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ through his recommendations and greetings, which show both the mutual concern among the saints and the mutual fellowship among the churches—16:1-16, 20-25.
C. We must have the reality of the fellowship and blending of the Body of Christ; otherwise, regardless of how much we pursue and how simple and humble we are, sooner or later there will be problems, even divisions, among us—cf. 1 Cor. 1:12-13:
1. The unique relationship, fellowship, and blending of all the local churches should be as much as practicality allows, without boundaries of states, provinces, or nations.
2. The clustering and moving together of neighboring churches should be as much as possible, without the abolishing of the local administrations in business affairs.
3. All the local churches on the entire globe should be absolutely one by being in the oneness of the Spirit and in the one accord of our spirit, soul, and mind—Eph. 4:3-4a; Acts 1:14; Phil. 1:27.
VI. “The purpose of the blending is to usher us all into the reality of the Body of Christ. I treasure the local churches, as you do. But I treasure the local churches because of a purpose. The local churches are the procedure to bring me into the Body of Christ. The churches are the Body, but the churches may not have the reality of the Body of Christ. Thus, we need to be in the local churches so that we can be ushered or brought, into the reality of the Body of Christ” (The Practical Points concerning Blending, p. 10).