Our Heavenly Father, as we gather together in
the name of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus,
it is the cry of our heart that
Thou wilt once again reveal Thy Son to
us, because we do need Him, we have
tasted Him, and it has increased our hunger
for Him.
O Father, we are beat by Thy Spirit.
Thou wilt reveal Him, and all that is
about Him to us.
Give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation,
and enlighten the eyes of our heart, that
we may know Him, and to know Him
is life eternal.
O Father, we gather here this afternoon.
Thou dost know how we do depend upon
Thyself, because it is impossible for us to
know Thee, unless Thou dost reveal Thyself, and
how we praise and thank Thee that it
is Thy good pleasure to reveal Thy Son
in us.
And on the basis of this we come
here.
We ask Thee that we may not hear
what man has to say, but we may
hear what Thou hast to say concerning Thy
Son, and concerning Thy purpose.
O Lord, we ask Thee to anoint us
with Thy holy ointment, both a speaker and
a hearer, that we may be taken up
by one Spirit.
O Lord, we look unto Thee, we desire
to see Thee, and to give glory to
Thyself.
We ask in the name of our Lord
Jesus.
We have been fellowshipping together on this main
thought of fullness.
We find that this is the thought that
was uppermost in the heart of the Apostle
Paul when he wrote this letter to the
Colossians.
It is the mind of the Spirit in
drawing our attention to this thought of fullness.
The purpose of God concerning His own people
is a thought of fullness.
He never wants us to stop short of
that, and be contented with anything less than
fullness, which is His thought concerning us.
And we have also mentioned that this fullness
of God is found, and can only be
found, in God's Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
For all the fullness of the Godhead dwells
in Him, and nowhere else.
And then we have seen the Word tells
us, and ye are complete in Him.
I think we have no question, no doubt,
that all the fullness of the Godhead has
its permanent home in Christ.
I believe we all agree to that, we
all believe that, and we all can accept
that, even though sometimes unknowingly we may act
differently, yet at least we can acknowledge that
all the fullness of the Godhead does dwell
in Christ.
But when we come to the next clause,
and you are complete in Him, you are
made full in Him, I think here we
have some problem.
All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in
Christ.
It is a fact, an eternal fact, and
we don't doubt it.
But here it says, you are complete in
Him.
Not you shall be completed in Him, or
you will be completed in Him.
You should be completed in Him, but you
are complete in Him.
As if it is already a fact.
If all the fullness of the Godhead dwells
in Christ, then that fullness also dwells in
us, because Christ dwells in us.
You are complete in Him.
Why?
It is because of our union with Christ.
He in whom dwells all the fullness of
the Godhead is now in us, and we
are in Him.
We are united in one.
And because of this union with Christ, all
that is His is ours.
His fullness is our fullness.
Nothing less.
It is all here.
On the basis of our union with Christ
is this fullness made full in us.
But on the other hand, so far as
our experience is concerned, we may find difficulty.
As to our position, as to our union
with Christ, this is true.
But when we come down to our daily
experience, when we meet many things, affairs, when
we are put into different circumstances, when we
are faced with different problems, and difficulties, and
needs, we begin to feel that we are
not full.
Quite contrary.
We find that we often feel ourselves as
empty, little, weak, insufficient, unable to cope with
our situation.
We are not experiencing the fullness that is
in Christ.
The fullness of His love.
Yes, very often when we meet difficult brothers
and sisters, we find that our love seems
to be tacit beyond our measure.
We can only love those who are lovely.
And everybody loves those who are lovely.
But when God puts some difficult brothers or
sisters together with us, we find it is
pretty, pretty hard.
Our love is not full and overflowing.
We can bear with them sometimes, but for
us to be kind to them, and even
to love them to the fullness, we find
short of it.
You remember Peter came to the Lord and
said, if my brother sin against me seven
times, and I forgive him seven times, will
that be enough?
We know that it is a very difficult
thing with Peter.
For Peter to forgive his brother seven times
is quite a big thing.
I often wonder, when Peter came to the
Lord and said, if my brother offended me
seven times, I often wonder whether it was
Peter who offended his brother.
Because it seems to me that his brother
Andrew is so good natured.
And Peter is of such nature that he
can easily offend people.
And when he offends people, he will think
that he is offended.
Have you ever met such kind of people?
Maybe you can find him in yourself.
Peter thought that his brother offended him.
Because his brother did not go his way.
Probably he was very impetuous, quick and fast.
And his brother could not go along with
him as fast as he was.
And he was unhappy.
He thought that he was offended.
All right, I forgive you.
Very generous.
And then for seven times he did that.
But when he came to the eighth time,
or before the eighth time come, he wanted
to be prepared for the eighth time.
So he asked the Lord now, was that
enough?
If the Lord said it is enough, then
when the eighth time come, he will get
his chance.
So here brothers and sisters, you find that
Peter, he found that his love even towards
his own brother was very limited.
It was not full.
And in many similar situations, we find that
our grace is not sufficient.
Our power is weak.
We find in many situations that we are
not made full in him.
It doesn't seem to be a reality, a
fact.
According to our position, because of our union
with Christ, we are complete in him.
All his fullness is ours.
His love is ours.
His kindness is ours.
His grace is ours.
His life is ours.
His power is ours.
Everything that is his, which is always full,
is ours and is full.
That is our position.
But when we come to experience, you find
it is a different story.
It is by way of the cross that
we enter into the progressive experience of the
fullness which is in Christ.
Every occasion, every problem, every difficulty, every situation,
whether it is a difficult brother or difficult
sister, whatever it may be, all these are
actually under the hand of the Spirit of
God.
The Spirit of God orders and arranges all
our happenings in order that through all these
things we may learn the lesson of the
cross.
And as we learn the lesson of the
cross, we experience the fullness that is in
Christ.
Is it not true that sometimes when your
love is tested beyond your measure, before it
reaches beyond your measure, it is your love.
You experience what you have in yourselves.
You may have quite a lot, seven times,
but when you are tested beyond your measure,
you are exhausted of your own resources and
you can only cast yourself upon the Lord
and look to him and say, Lord, unless
you love through me, I just cannot love
anymore.
Dear brothers and sisters, very often you find
this is the very time when you begin
to experience the fullness of his love.
It is by way of the cross that
we enter into the experience of the fullness
of Christ and this is a gradual, progressive,
painful process.
Are we willing to go this way of
the cross?
This afternoon, God willing, we will like to
fellowship together on the recipient of the fullness
of God.
We know from the letters to the Colossians
that by Christ all creative things is to
be reconciled to God.
And some versions, as I mentioned before, instead
of the word him, to reconcile all things
to himself, that is to God.
Some versions put it to reconcile all things
to itself, that is to the fullness of
God.
Having made peace by the blood of his
cross, by him whether the things on the
earth or the things in the heavens, and
you in particular, who once were alienated and
enemies in mind by wicked works, yet now
has it reconciled in the body of his
flesh through death.
Of course, some versions put has he.
But some versions say has it.
In other words, the fullness.
Reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present your holy and unblameable and
irreproachable before it, before God's fullness.
It is true that by Christ all things,
whether the things in heaven or the things
on the earth, all things shall be reconciled
to God.
Will be brought back to the fullness of
God.
The day shall come when all things shall
manifest the glory of God.
Because the knowledge of the Lord shall fill
the earth as waters fill the sea.
Everything shall speak of the glory of God.
And everything shall reflect the fullness of God.
Everything shall be brought back to God's fullness.
Instead of presenting a picture of vanity, of
waste, of emptiness, of corruption, we will find
that one day all things shall be reconciled
to the fullness of God.
And we are looking forward to that day.
But man especially, and you, man in a
very special way, will be reconciled to God's
fullness.
Why?
Because man is not only the vessel of
the fullness that is in Christ.
Man is also the instrument in God's hand
to bring all things to the fullness of
God.
You remember in Romans chapter 8, we mentioned
that yesterday?
In Romans chapter 8 it says that all
things are now under vanity.
Verse 20.
For the creature has been made subject to
vanity, not of his will, but by reason
of him who has subjected the thing.
I do not know how you interpret this
verse, or interpret this hymn.
But to my understanding, now if I am
wrong, I am open to correction.
To my understanding, you find here the whole
creation has been made subject to vanity.
One day.
All the created things enter into vanity.
It was put under vanity.
It became purposeless.
How did the creation enter into vanity?
Not of its will.
The mountains, the rivers, the birds, the fishes,
the animals, the flowers, all the created things
enter into vanity.
Was made subject to vanity.
Not of its will.
They did not want it.
The birds say they did not want it.
The flowers say they did not want it.
The mountains say they did not want it.
The rivers say they did not want it.
None of these created things wanted to be
subject under vanity.
Not of its will.
But by reason of him who has subjected
the thing.
To my understanding, I think the hymn here
is man.
Is Adam.
Because man sinned against God.
Sin entered into the world by one man.
And because of that, the whole creation entered
into vanity with that man.
After God had created man, God had put
the heaven and the earth and the sea
into the hand of man.
That man shall have dominion over the house
of the air, the fishes of the sea,
and all the creeping things and animals on
the land.
Man was made the ruler of this world.
So when man sinned against God, he brought
all things with him into vanity.
All the created beings were not willing for
that.
They were not happy about that.
But they could not help it.
Because they were brought into corruption through man.
Therefore, the whole creation is now hoping for
one thing.
And their hope is that the creature itself
also shall be set free from the bondage
of corruption into the liberty of the glory
of the children of God.
Because it was through man that the whole
creation was brought into bondage of corruption.
And their only hope is also in man.
That one day when the sons of God
shall be manifested, when he shall bring many
sons into glory, and when that day comes,
the whole creation shall be liberated and shall
be brought into the fullness of God.
So dear brothers and sisters, the whole creation
is groaning today.
The whole creation is in travail, waiting for
the appearing of the sons of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, if this is the
meaning, this is the sense of Romans 8,
then we find man is in a very
peculiar position in his relation with the fullness
of God.
The whole creation entered into the fullness of
God or is brought, will be brought into
the fullness of God in a passive way.
It is not by their will that they
enter into bondage.
Neither shall it be by their will that
they enter into the fullness of God.
They are being brought into the fullness of
God in a passive way, mechanical way, but
not with man.
Not with man.
We find that it is through man's will
that he brought himself into vanity.
And in life manner you will find that
it is through the cooperation, the active cooperation
of man with God, that he may not
only be filled with the fullness of God,
but may be used by God to bring
all things to the fullness of God.
This is the difference.
We do not enter into the fullness of
God in a mechanical way, in a passive
way, but man enters into the fullness of
God in an active, cooperative way.
This is the difference.
And it is also through man that all
things shall be brought back to the fullness
that is in God.
Of course we know that this man is
first found in Christ.
There you'll find when Christ came to this
world it is said in him all the
fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.
This is first true in Christ.
In Christ you'll find he is filled full
with the fullness of the Godhead.
And it is by his cross that he
releases the fullness of God to us.
This is true first in Christ.
But this is to be continued by his
body.
By his body.
Because Christ is the head.
He is a corporate person.
And if it is true with the head,
it shall be true with the body.
So this afternoon we hope that we may
go over a little over this.
The body of Christ.
The fullness of him fulfills all and more.
May we read a few fragments of the
Bible.
Colossians chapter one.
Colossians chapter one verse eighteen.
And he is the head of the body.
The assembly.
Verse twenty six.
The mystery which has been hidden from ages
and from generations but has now been made
manifest to his saints to whom God will
make known what are the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the nations which
is Christ in you the hope of glory.
Chapter two.
Verse six.
As therefore he have received the Christ Jesus
the Lord walk in him rooted and built
up in him and assured in the first
faith even as he have been taught abounding
in it with thanksgiving see that there be
no one who shall lead you away as
a prey for philosophy and vain deceit according
to the teaching of man according to the
elements of the world and not according to
Christ for in him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and ye are complete
in him.
Verse 19.
We omit the word not.
Make it positive.
Holding fast the head from whom all the
body minister to and united together by the
joints and bandages increases with the increase of
God.
Chapter three.
Verse nine.
Do not lie to one another having put
off the old man with his deeds and
having put on the new renewed into full
knowledge according to the image of him that
has created him wherein there is not greek
and jew circumcision and uncircumcision barbarians kitten bondman
freeman but Christ is everything and in all.
We know that the apostle Paul in a
very special way has been given the knowledge
of the mystery of Christ.
He tells us himself both in the letter
to the Ephesians and the letter to the
Colossians he said that if you have read
my letter what I have written you can
see that I have been given grace to
know the mystery of Christ.
That mystery which has been hidden throughout the
ages and generations.
Nobody knows anything about it.
It is there in the heart of God
even before the foundation of the world and
yet throughout the ages and the generations nobody
has received any revelation concerning this mystery but
he said by the grace of God this
mystery is made known to me.
It is called the mystery of Christ.
Now what is this mystery of Christ?
What is the mystery that has been hidden
throughout the ages and the generations but now
is revealed to us through the apostles and
the prophets and in a very special way
through the apostle Paul.
What is this mystery?
Of course Paul used different expressions to describe
this mystery.
For instance in Ephesians he said that we
you the Gentiles you who are of the
nation you who were aliens outcast no part
in God but now you are made joint
heirs joint body and joint partakers of the
glory and in Colossians he said what is
this mystery?
It is a mystery the glory of the
richest of the glory of this mystery in
the nations which is Christ in you the
hope of glory.
Now he tries to use various expressions but
dear brothers and sisters I do not know
but personally I feel there is one word
that seems to be able to sum up
what Paul desires to present before us as
to this mystery of Christ and this is
a very special word that Paul uses.
You do not see this in others writing
but you find this word especially prominent in
Paul's writings and that word is the body.
Body.
What is the mystery of Christ?
The mystery of Christ is his body.
That is the mystery.
He is saying that if the body sums
up all that Paul's desire to communicate to
us concerning that mystery which is made known
to him the body.
Before we try to see what this body
really means I think we have to go
back to the very beginning because in the
very beginning of the history of man you'll
find that the sea thought of the body
is already there because it is not by
chance but it is conceived in the thought
of God even before the foundations of the
world.
We go back to the book of Genesis
and there you'll find in the first chapter
God said let us make man in our
image after our likeness and God created man.
It says in verse 27 and God created
man in his image in the image of
God created he him male and female created
he them.
This is a great mystery.
God created man in his image.
If you put a capital letter to this
man it may help us to understand.
This is man.
The man of God's heart.
The man.
God created man capital letter in his image
and then he says in the image of
God created he him Small letter.
Him.
Adam.
Was created in the image of God.
Now of course it's not a perfect and
exact image.
Only Christ is the exact image of the
invisible God.
But anyway Adam was created in the image
of God.
If you like you can put it in
another way.
Adam being created in the image of God
has the fullness of God in him.
Now of course we know Adam is imperfect
but we want to use him as a
type.
So let us for the time being say
this that in the image of God was
Adam created.
And in him dwells all the fullness of
God.
That is man.
The male in small letter.
And then the Bible tells us male and
female created he them.
According to the thought of God the man
in God's thought is not an individual being.
The man in God's thought is a corporate
being.
The male alone who bears the image of
God and who may be filled with the
fullness of God is still not a man
of God's heart.
It must be a corporate being.
Male and female.
And when you put male and female together
you find a man at the God's own
heart.
Dear brothers and sisters.
You find that God put Adam to sleep.
God said it is not good for man
to be alone.
God put man to sleep.
And then God opened his eyes and took
out something.
In some version He said one of his
ribs.
And some people tell us it is something
that came out of him.
God took something out of Adam and built
the rib into a woman.
And then God woke Adam up and led
the woman to Adam and when Adam saw
the woman Adam immediately said Now this is
bone of my bones and flesh of my
flesh.
And they became one.
Now of course we know that Adam and
Eve is just a type.
A shadow.
They are significant.
But not too significant.
The real relationship is shown in Christ and
His church.
If you turn to Ephesians chapter 5 you
will find that.
Here you will find Christ is the man.
The male.
The husband.
And the church which is His body is
the woman.
Christ the Son, the eternal Son is the
exact image of the invisible God.
In Himself all the fullness of God.
And that is complete and perfect.
That is Christ.
But God said it is not good for
man to be alone.
Oh dear brothers and sisters.
It is not good for Christ to be
alone.
Not in the sense that Christ lacks anything
in Himself.
Because all the fullness of the Godhead dwells
in Him.
He is not lacking anything.
But according to the purpose of God something
needs to be completed.
It is not good for Him to be
alone.
Yes Christ is full of the fullness of
the Godhead.
But it is not good for Him to
be alone.
God said I will make Him a woman.
And we all know the story God put
Christ to sleep.
There on the cross our Lord was put
to death.
And out of His thigh flowed water and
blood.
And that life, that blood that came out
of Christ, God used this to build a
woman.
To build the church.
To build His body.
Adam in a sense is the head.
And Eve is His body.
They are one man.
And here you will find Christ is the
head.
Because He is the source, the spring, the
governing principle, the supplier, the ruling power.
Christ is the head.
But out of the richest, the fullness of
the head, the body is built.
In order that the body may share the
fullness in the head.
And may be used to express.
So dear brothers and sisters, you will find
that it is God's will.
That the fullness in Christ will be shared
by the body which is His church.
If only we pause for a moment.
And then we try to go back to
our history.
Dear brothers and sisters, we cannot but be
amazed at the mercy of God.
Now who were we?
Even in this short letter to the Colossians,
Paul made it very clear who we are.
We had offended God.
We had sinned against God.
We were not perfect.
We were not good people.
But we had offended against God.
Offenders.
Criminals in the eyes of God.
And yet, He forgave us.
We were alienated.
Enemies in our mind by wicked works against
God.
Not only we have offended Him, but we
became His enemies.
Now dear brothers and sisters, this is always
true.
Always true.
The one who offends people, makes the offended
His enemy.
It shouldn't be that way.
If you offend anyone, you are the guilty
person.
And yet somehow you are so twisted in
your mind that you make Him the guilty
person.
That is human life.
It's a distortion.
We have offended against God.
And yet, we consider God our enemy.
We were enemies to God.
We hated Him.
Our mind was darkened.
Our heart was hardened.
This was our situation.
Our condition.
And yet, He had quickened us together from
death.
And has given us a new life.
That we may be joined to Him in
one spirit.
Now brothers and sisters, who were we?
We were a people under the curse of
the Lord.
There was no hope in us.
And yet, He took the handwriting away.
Put it out of the way.
Nailed it to the cross.
That we may have free access to His
throne of grace.
What mercy!
And we were captives by the power of
darkness.
We had no liberty, no freedom.
We were under oppression.
And yet, He set us free.
That we may triumph in Christ.
Now brothers and sisters, if only we go
back and remember what we were once upon
a time.
And what grace and love and mercy has
brought us to Him.
We cannot but bow and worship Him.
The One who so loved us and gave
Himself for us.
It is marvelous that we should be His
body.
That we should be the vessel of His
fullness.
That we should experience His fullness.
And that we should express to His fullness.
It is marvelous.
But more than that, when you think of
the fact that it is not just one
man or one woman or one person who
is saved and delivered and equipped and filled
and be brought into such privilege.
But when you think that we who are
many, of so many different differences, and yet
He has brought us together and has made
us one body.
That is too marvelous to be described.
It is not that you, one person, are
the body of Christ.
It is that we, the many, all who
are redeemed, all who have been brought into
the kingdom of the Son of God's love.
Now all of us, God has put us
together and has made us one body.
We are members one of another.
A body.
That is marvelous.
Before the day of Pentecost, we find a
hundred and twenty disciples gathered in that upper
room.
They were praying, preparing themselves for the coming
of the Holy Spirit.
There you'll find a congregation of a hundred
and twenty individual Christians.
Their spirituality is an individual spirituality.
With a hundred and twenty spiritual people gathered
together in that room, praying and waiting.
That must be a wonderful sight.
But that is not wonderful enough.
When the Spirit of God came upon them,
they were baptized by one Spirit into one
body.
In other words, you'll find it is not
a congregation of a hundred and twenty individuals,
but it is a body of a hundred
and twenty members.
There is a great difference.
You may gather a hundred and twenty people
together to become a congregation.
And if these hundred and twenty people do
love the Lord, and they are quite spiritual,
well we may imagine that they must be
able to have a good time.
They can pray together and they can talk
together and they must have a good time.
But this is not what God wants.
What God wants is these hundred and twenty
individuals shall be joined together into one body
of a hundred and twenty members.
And all these members are members one of
the other.
One body.
It is in that one body that the
fullness of Christ dwells and is expressed.
Dear brothers and sisters, the thought of God
is always a corporate thought.
God is not after spiritual men and women
as individuals.
No matter how spiritual you are, you are
limited.
If we want to know the length and
the breadth and the depth and the height
of Christ, of the love of Christ, we
have to apprehend it with all the things.
That is God's will.
God is not looking for spiritual giants being
themselves.
God is looking for a body.
A spiritual body.
A mystic body of Christ.
A body with many members.
But all these members are joined together, organically
united together into one.
And it is in that body that the
fullness of Christ fills.
Dear brothers and sisters, where can you find
the fullness of Christ?
You can find something of Christ in some
believers.
For instance, you may find faith in Abraham.
You may find patience in Job.
But if you want to find the fullness
of God, where can you find it?
Abraham said, it is not in me.
I know a little of God, but it
is not in me.
And Job said, it is not in me.
Where can we find the fullness of Christ?
It is neither in you, nor in me,
nor in anybody.
But it is in us.
Oh dear brothers and sisters, God's thought is
a corporate being.
A new man, Christ the head.
And we the many, the body.
And we are to contain His fullness.
Ephesians chapter 1 said, The church which is
His body, the fullness of Him who fills
all and in all.
That is where you will find the fullness.
And there you will find it is neither
Greek, nor Jewish.
Neither Mormon or Freeman.
Neither Barbarians or Scythians.
Neither circumcision or uncircumcision.
But Christ is everything and in all.
We have so many differences.
This known when we are eating at the
table.
By our skin we are all yellow in
that table, around that table.
But by our nationalities, there are two nationalities
there.
A little girl is born in this country
of Chinese ancestors, but is born in this
country, so she is an American.
And she is very proud of being an
American.
You shall see how she is proud to
be an American.
And my wife and I were there too.
And we were naturalized Americans.
Not real, naturalized.
But the rest were Chinese.
So one brother begins to say, well we
have two nationalities around this table.
The Americans and the Chinese.
But I say no.
Neither Chinese nor Americans.
Dear brothers and sisters, in this world you
find so many distinctions.
And these distinctions make up this world.
If you take these distinctions away, the world
is taken away.
People make great pride in these distinctions.
You may look down upon people belonging to
the other group or other distinction, but you
talk to them and you find that they
are looking down upon us.
We take great pride in these distinctions that
make us what we are.
Jews.
Greeks.
It is not just a matter of, oh
he is a Jew, he is a Greek.
No.
You find that this being Greek and being
Jew is deep down in the life of
man.
It tells a lot.
Racial distinctions.
National distinctions.
Social distinctions.
Bombing and treatment.
Barbaric and scathing.
Culture.
Civilized and uncivilized.
Uncultured.
People who do not know how to use
knife and fork and spoon.
Circumcision and uncircumcision.
With different religious upbringings and etc.
Now dear brothers and sisters, just think for
a moment.
All these differences, these natural differences.
And yet the Spirit of God baptized us
into one.
Outwardly these distinctions continue.
My skin is still yellow.
Yet inwardly it cannot be found.
Because there is neither Jews nor Gentiles.
But Christ is all and in all.
I do not see in my brother a
yellow skin.
I see in my brother, I do not
see in my brother an uneducated person.
I see a man in Christ.
Oh dear brothers and sisters, when we think
of what God has done in us as
individuals, it is wonderful.
Sometimes I wonder.
Like Paul said, I am what I am.
He is wondering about himself.
I am what I am.
What I am by the grace of God.
Oh brothers and sisters, it is a wonder.
And yet the wonder of wonders is when
we think God has put us together into
one body.
And there the fullness of Christ.
We are the recipients of the fullness.
Oh dear brothers and sisters, if you want
to know anything about fullness, you have to
find out your brother and sister.
You cannot live alone.
The fullness of Christ is in the body.
And it is by this body that all
things wondrous shall be brought into the fullness.
First of all, dear brothers and sisters, we
need to ask God to give us a
body consciousness.
Yes, we are conscious of Christ.
I often feel that our consciousness of Christ
is not sufficient.
Very often our self-consciousness overcomes our Christ
consciousness.
And this can be easily illustrated.
When dear brothers and sisters come together for
prayer, you find that many brothers and sisters
are so conscious of themselves, they just cannot
pray.
Or they may be so conscious of others
that they cannot pray.
Our consciousness of Christ is not enough.
Oh that we may be conscious of Christ.
If we are conscious of Christ, then we
are free from our many bondages.
But dear brothers and sisters, we need also
to be conscious of the body.
Are you an individualist?
We are all born individuals.
Are you seeking for spirituality?
What is the motive behind your pursuit of
spiritual things?
Is it that you may become a spiritual
judge?
There is no place of individualism in the
body of Christ.
It is true we do not lose our
identity, our individual identity, we do not lose
that.
We are never losing.
And yet that spirit of individualism must be
cut off by the cross.
Oh dear brothers and sisters, it is very
difficult.
It is very difficult.
We are so individualistic.
My idea, my way, my thinking, my opinion,
my wisdom, my experience.
And my and me is always the best.
And we try to dominate all the others.
Oh dear brothers and sisters, yes we say
we need Christ.
Oh yes we need Him.
Without Him we can do nothing.
Yes, that is true.
But does it ever come to our mind
that we need our brothers and sisters?
How often we feel that if we do
not have our brothers and sisters we can
go faster.
They are a trouble to us.
And how we hope that our brothers and
sisters will move away and leave us alone.
Then we can go on very fast spiritually.
Dear brothers and sisters, do we have that
consciousness that we need our brothers and sisters?
Oh we need them.
Without Christ we cannot live.
Without our brothers and sisters can we live?
We will be in barrenness, in dry ground,
in desert.
Oh we need our brothers and sisters.
And it is only among our brothers and
sisters that we find the fullness that is
Him.
So first of all dear brothers and sisters,
may the Lord so enlighten our understanding and
open our hearts that we may see the
body.
God wants a body.
The Son, Christ, the Head, needs a body.
I can never forget when our dear brother
Lance Lambert, once Lance Lambert when he was
speaking to the young people, he used an
illustration.
And that illustration just stick with me.
And if you know brother Lance Lambert you
know that he is very expressive.
Not like me.
He said when you come to a home
and you knock the door.
Now somebody comes out and opens the door
for you.
And when you meet that person you ask
may I come in?
And he said if that man standing there
just said you may go, you may come
in.
You are not too sure whether he really
wants you to go in or not.
But if that man when he said now
yes yes please come in and he used
his hand and gesture and just tried to
pull you in, you know he wants you.
So he used that illustration to tell us
that it needs a body to express the
Head.
Dear brothers and sisters, how true that is.
Christ the Head needs a body to express
Himself.
And when that is expressed there is no
more doubt.
You know what he means.
Dear brothers and sisters, Christ requires
a body to contain His fullness and to
express that the world may see He is
sent by the Father.
But it takes the body to do that.
Are we conscious of the body?
Do we desire to see that body grow?
Are we living in the body?
To have the body idea in your mind
is one thing.
But to live in the body is another
thing.
And it is by living in the body
that you really know the fullness.
Are we open to that?
Do we see the need of that?
This is God's need.
It is more than your need and my
need.
It is God's need.
Oh how Christ nourishes and cherishes His body.
That He may complete and perfect His body.
And when the body is perfected then the
body will be led to Him and be
wedded to Him.
And this is what you find in Eve.
Eve is the body.
The body is built.
And when it is built it is led
to Adam and is joined to Adam.
So Ephesians chapter 5 tells us today we
are His body.
But when the body is completed then we
shall be presented to Christ and be His
bride.
Oh how important is this body of Christ.
How can we live in the reality of
this body?
I will just briefly mention two things.
First, if we really want to see the
body and live in the body we must
first of all hold fast the head.
You cannot have the body if you are
not holding fast the head.
If we do not hold fast the head
the whole body disintegrates.
This head.
Out from the head the whole body are
united into one.
Oh dear brothers and sisters we need to
know more of the headship of Christ.
We as individual members we need to know
what it meant by Christ being the head
of everyone.
And if we want Christ to be our
head we have to cover our own head.
That is the reason why in Romans chapter
12 it says present your bodies a living
sacrifice.
We must present our bodies a living sacrifice.
And that is we must lay ourselves on
the altar.
Give up our rights to Christ.
And when we do that in Romans 12
it continues with a body appears.
In Romans chapter 12 verse 1 present your
bodies in the pronouns.
Every one of us must present our bodies.
And in verse 4 and verse 5 it
tells us another body comes into view.
It is singular.
The body of Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters if we desire to
see the body of Christ and to live
in the body of Christ first of all
we must each be subjected to the headship.
And this not only as individuals but wherever
God has sovereignly put us together there in
our midst we must learn to know the
headship.
You are not the head.
I am not the head.
None of us is the head.
Christ is the head.
We must hold fast the head.
That is the first thing.
And then the second thing.
We must learn how to be related to
one another.
And because we are all related we can
minister to one another.
Dear brothers and sisters the greatest need among
God's people today is relatedness.
If it is second to the headship of
Christ.
Relatedness.
We are like those hundred and twenty believers
before the day of Pentecost.
We can be together and yet we are
unrelated.
Each may be very spiritual.
When you look at different brothers and sisters
you can find no fault with them.
Oh sometimes when I see the brothers and
sisters and try to count one by one
I say this is a good brother, that
is a good sister, this brother is good,
that brother is good.
When I look at each one of them
they love the Lord.
They all love the Lord and they are
all good.
But somehow somehow all these good brothers and
sisters, spiritual brothers and sisters when you put
them together lots of trouble, lots of problems.
Can you say this is because of this
bad brother?
Now he is the cause of everything.
No.
You cannot say that.
It seems as if everybody is involved.
It is just as beautiful.
You may have a congregation of hundred and
twenty members but it is a congregation.
Unrelated.
And because they are unrelated therefore they cannot
minister one to another.
And the fullness of Christ is not true.
But on the other hand if you find
a company of believers by the grace of
God the cross works in their midst.
The cross has cut this off and cut
that off.
They may not be very spiritual as spiritual
as in other places and yet you find
these brothers and sisters all being brought together
in such a relatedness.
Oh this can only happen when the cross
is working.
Dear brothers and sisters very often we find
brothers and sisters have been together for years
and through all these years many times we
are thinking of pulling apart.
We just cannot go on together.
We are always at odds with each other.
We cannot agree.
We fight.
We quarrel.
We try to roll up our beds and
move.
But somehow we cannot move.
No matter how we stick together.
The God has brought us through deep waters
and out of such experiences our relatedness began
to be forced.
Oh we began to see how we need
one another.
Even the most difficult one.
And usually the most difficult one is myself.
We need each other.
And brothers and sisters in that way we
are organically united.
It is not by agreement.
We are forged into one.
And there you find in proper relationship we
are ministering one to another according to the
gift that he has given us.
And dear brothers and sisters when that happens
the body shall be increased with the increase
of God.
And this is what God wants.
It is in the body that the fullness
of Christ is excellent.
Dear brothers and sisters may we be
enlightened.
May we see the need.
It is not good for him to be
alone.
He needs a body.
And we are his body.
And may we truly be his body.
And may we know the reality of living
in the body of Christ.
And this will constitute our testimony.
Will two or three of us lead us
in prayer?