God’s great will is to have the believers in Christ practice the Body life, that is, to have the living of the Body of Christ by the believers in the organic union with the Lord.
God’s great will has three main aspects: first, it is to have a Body for Christ to be expanded, enlarged, and expressed; second, it is for Christ to replace all the offerings and be everything to all of God’s people; third, it is for the Body life to be practiced on earth, for the living of the Body of Christ to be carried out.
For us to live according to the great will of God, that is, to be according to God’s heart and God’s will, we need to be the David of today, those who have a heart for Him, a heart according to Him, a heart that matches Him.
As we have this kind of heart, we realize that what He wants is the Body of Christ, and He wants this Body in reality; the blending brings in the Body of Christ in reality.
For Him to have the Body, for God to have a mutual dwelling place with man in reality, we need to take Him as our unique offering; we need to apply Him and enjoy Him in every circumstance, juncture, interaction, and situation.
In the Body of Christ with Christ as our everything, we can enjoy Him as our all, and we live the church life, the life of the Body, together with all the saints.
When we see that God’s will is to get the Body of Christ and for the Body we have to take Christ as our everything, we can live in the church life; the church life that we live is in the reality of the Body of Christ.
As we have the Body life, as we practice the Body life, and as we live the Body of Christ in all the local churches, we really fulfill God’s great will.
God doesn’t only have a great will and that’s it; He Himself became a man and went through a process for His will to be accomplished.
God became a man through incarnation, and Christ offered Himself on the cross as the replacement of all the offerings to become the unique offering that is pleasing to God.
In His resurrection He imparted Himself into all His believers to regenerate them with God’s life and make them members of the Body of Christ.
All genuine believers in Christ are members of Christ’s Body, and they can take Christ as the reality of all the offerings to practice the Body life in the local churches, thus fulfilling God’s great will.
God’s Great Will is to have the Believers in Christ Practice the Body Life
According to Rom. 12, the great will of God is to have the believers in Christ practice the Body life.
The book of Romans is on the Christian life, and there are many aspects of the Christian life that are presented there.
However, the direction, the goal, the weight, and the destination of this book is the Body life in ch. 12. The Body life is the top point; among the thousands of words in the Bible, the Body should stand out as the biggest word.
Most Christians, however, have missed and lost this point in the Bible – the church is the Body of Christ.
In Rom. 12 we see how we as believers in Christ can live the Body life.
First, we must present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice to do the will of God, that is, to practice the Body life (v. 1).
Then, we need to present our soul by not being conformed to this age but being transformed by the renewing of the mind so that we may prove the will of God which is good and well pleasing and perfect.
The will of God is for us to practice the Body life by presenting our body for the church life and our soul for the renewing. Then, we must exercise our gifts in the Body life (vv. 4-8).
For us to carry out the great will of God we need to practice the Body life; we must preach the gospel, have home meetings to nourish the new believers, have small group meetings to perfect the saints, and learn to prophesy.
We shouldn’t think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, but we should think as to be sober-minded, as God apportioned to each a measure of faith.
We all have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, so we need to prophesy, serve and be faithful, teach and be faithful in teaching, exhort others, give in simplicity, lead in diligence, and show mercy in cheerfulness.
We need to let love be without hypocrisy; we should abhor what is evil and cling to what is good.
As we read Romans 12 we realize that for us to practice the Body life we should live a life of the highest virtues; these are not in our natural human life or love, but of the divine life and love by being burning in our spirit (vv. 9-21).
For us to practice the Body life we need to present our body, have our soul renewed, and be burning in our spirit. If we are such persons, we will have the practice of the Body life by living a life of the highest virtues by God’s divine life and love.
May we be those who present our body as a living sacrifice for the church life, allow the Lord to renew our soul, and be burning in spirit to live a life of the highest virtues by the divine life in our spirit for the practice of the church life.
Lord Jesus, we present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice to do the will of God, that is, to practice the Body life! We open all the parts of our soul to You, Lord, to be transformed through the renewing of our mind so that we may prove the perfect and good will of God! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit and want to be burning in spirit, serving the Lord, as we practice the Body life! May we have a life of the highest virtues by God’s divine life and love in our spirit!
We Practice the Body Life by remaining in the Organic Union with the Lord in Spirit
In Rom. 12:4-5 we see that we are one Body in Christ, having an organic union with Him; this union makes us one in life with Him and with all the other members of His Body.
How can we live the Body life? It is by remaining in the organic union with the Lord. How can we practice the Body life?
It is by realizing we are one with the Lord organically and by living in this organic union with Him.
These two words “in Christ” in Rom. 12:5 indicate the organic union; in Christ always implies the thought or the fact that we are organically one with Christ.
How can we get into Christ? We were born in Adam, but we were reborn in Christ; by being regenerated with the divine life, we have been transplanted into Christ.
The Body of Christ is organic, not an organisation; we are members of the organic Body of Christ, and we live the Body life and practice the great will of God when we remain in the organic union with the Lord in our mingled spirit.
In our spirit we have the divine life, the life that unites us with Christ as one spirit, and it also unites us with all the other members of Christ.
We need to realize that the Body of Christ is not an organisation or a society; the Body is a matter of life, and as long as we remain in the organic union with Christ, we are in the Body.
Whenever we are not in the organic union with Christ, when we don’t live in the mingled spirit by being one with the Lord, we are not in the Body life in a practical way.
We need to check with ourselves from time to time to see if we are in the organic union with the Lord; when we do this, we will realize that occasionally we are in the organic union, but most time we are not there.
This is why the Lord told us in John 15 that we need to abide in Him; when we abide in the Lord by remaining in the organic union with Him in our mingled spirit, we enjoy all His riches, we are supplied, and we live in the Body life in a practical way.
May we realize our organic union with the Lord and abide in the Lord day by day.
We have already been joined to the Lord as one spirit; in our spirit we are one with the Lord, and there is an intimate organic union between us and Him.
We simply need to remain in this organic union, remain in the Christ who abides in us, and we will be in the Body and will practice the Body life in reality.
But if we don’t remain in the organic union with the Lord, we are not in the Body in reality.
This is why sometimes in the meetings we are enjoying the Lord and we speak the word of God, but then right after the meeting when we meet with someone, we may have some gossip, free talk, or loose conversation.
In one instance we abide in the Lord, and in the other, we leave the organic union with the Lord.
Our loose talk and gossip are a strong sign we have left the Body because we have left the organic union with the Lord.
The Body of Christ is held together and made real in the organic union with the Lord.
When we’re abiding in the Lord, when we remain in the organic union with Christ, we are just living in the Body; when we do not remain in the organic union, we do not practice the Body life.
The Body is held together by the organic union, and the organic union keeps the Body in its reality.
As we take Christ as our all in all, as the replacement of all the Old Testament offerings, in our new creation experience, we remain in the organic union with the Lord, and we are kept and sustained in the living and reality of the Body of Christ, one with Him as the Head and one with all the other members.
When we remain in the organic union, we are in the Body, but when we’re not in this organic union, we’re practically not in the Body. How much we need to pray and ask the Lord,
Lord Jesus, keep us in the organic union with You so that we may live and practice the Body life today! Save us from leaving the organic union. May we choose to abide in You and let You abide in us for the sake of Your Body, Your corporate expression. Hallelujah, we are organically one with Christ – He is joined to us and we are joined to Him as one spirit! May we remain in the Lord, abide in Him, and never leave the organic union with Christ, so that we may practice the Body life!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Rick Scatterday for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1980, vol. 1, “Perfecting Training,” chs. 23-24, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Will of God (2020 spring ITERO), week 4, Living a Life according to God’s Heart and Will.
- Hymns on this topic:
– No more in vain need we struggle, / Trying the way in to find. / Praise God—we’re in Him already, / Hallelujah, abiding in the vine. (Hymns #1162)
– He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. / Our life is a life that’s in organic union. / As a branch is in the vine, / Grafted, His life and mine intertwine. / Lord, I am joined to You! (Song on, He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit)
– Living in the Body, / Body life is known, / Living by the Spirit / Christ is fully grown; / By organic union / Members cultivate / Body-conscious living, / Age to consummate. (Song on, The Central Line in the Bible)
