Int’l Training for Elders and Responsible Ones (Spring 2013) The Experience, Growth, And Ministry Of Life For The Body Message Eight Living a Sacrificing Life in the Body and Ministering Life to the Body for the Growth of the Body Scripture Reading: Phil. 2:17; Rom. 12:1; 1 John 5:16a; 2 Cor. 4:12; Eph. 4:13-16; Col. 2:19 Outline Day 1 I. In the Body we need to live a sacrificing life—Rom. 12:1: A. The vine typifies the sacrificing Christ, the Christ who sacrificed everything of Himself, and out of His sacrifice He produced new wine to cheer God and man—Deut. 8:8; Judg. 9:13; Psa. 104:15a: 1. Christ is the wine-producer, sacrificing Himself to produce wine to cheer God and others; as the vine, Christ produces happiness for God and happiness for others— Judg. 9:13; Psa. 104:15a. 2. Under the Lord’s sovereignty, we may be put into situations where we need to sacrifice ourselves to make others happy— Rom. 12:1; Eph. 5:2: a. If in the midst of such a situation we contact the Lord, we will experience Him as the wine-producing vine, as the One who gives cheer to God and to others—Phil. 3:1a. b. The issue of experiencing Christ as the vine is that in Him, with Him, and through Him we become a vine that produces something to cheer God and man— Judg. 9:13. 3. If we contact the Christ typified by the vine and experience His sacrificing life, He will energize us to live a life of sacrifice, producing wine to make others and the Lord happy—Rom. 12:1; Eph. 5:2; 2 Cor. 1:24: a. In ourselves we are not able to live a life of sacrifice, for our life is a natural life, a selfish life; if we contact the Lord and experience His sacrificing life, He will energize and strengthen us to sacrifice for God and for others—Matt. 16:25; John 1:29; 20:22; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17; Phil. 4:13; Rom. 12:1; Eph. 5:2. b. The more we experience Christ as the vine with His sacrificing life, the more we will be energized to sacrifice ourselves to make God and others happy; we will bring happiness to those who contact us, and we will bring cheer to God—2 Cor. 1:24; 5:13a. Day 2 B. By experiencing Christ as the wine-producing vine and by being filled with Him as the new wine, we may become a drink offering in Him and with Him to cheer God and man—Gen. 35:14; Exo. 29:40-41; Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6: 1. The drink offering typifies not only Christ Himself but also the Christ who saturates us with Himself as new wine until He and we become one to be poured out for God’s satisfaction and for God’s building—Matt. 9:17; 2 Tim. 4:6; Gen. 35:14. 2. The drink offering is our experience of being made one with Christ to such an extent that He becomes us and that we become the same as He is in His sacrificing life—Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6. 1 John 5:16a; Rom. 8:2, 6, 10-11; Eph. 4:16: Day 3 II. As we live a sacrificing life in the Body, we minister life to the Body—1 John 5:16a; Rom. 8:2, 6, 10-11; Eph. 4:16: A. Everything we have is in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body; thus, our living should be in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body—v. 16. B. The Body is built up by the mutual supply of the members; God conveys life to the Body through every member—v. 16. C. One can supply the Body only with what he has received of Christ; the measure of our ministry is determined by the measure of Christ in us—vv. 15-16: 1. The only thing that is useful in the Body is the Christ who has been wrought into us, and only this can render the supply of life to others—3:16-17. 2. What we minister to the Body is Christ, and what the Body receives is Christ, because Christ is all and in all in the Body— Col. 3:4, 10-11, 15-16. Day 4 3. What we receive from Christ the Head, the Body spontaneously receives, for what is ours is the Body’s, and there is no need to struggle to pass it on— John 1:16; Eph. 3:2; 2 Cor. 12:9; 1 Cor. 15:10. D. Where there is the cross, there is the ministry of life; the way to be used to minister life to the Body is to let the cross operate in us in the normal course of our life with the Lord—2 Cor. 4:10-12: 1. It is an abiding principle of the Body that “death operates in us, but life in you”—v. 12. 2. Anything that God takes us through by way of the cross spontaneously brings an increase of life in the Body; what we go through in secret with the Lord is sufficient to minister life to the Body—Matt. 6:16-18; Col. 3:3-4. 3. The Body is ministered to by a communication of life, and life is communicated to the Body as death operates in us—2 Cor. 4:12. E. It is by inward reality that we minister life to the Body of Christ; the Holy Spirit will witness only to what is true and real— John 16:13; 1 John 5:6. F. Through the ministry of life, we serve the Body and contribute to the growth of the Body; when the life we receive from the Lord flows into the Body, the measure of the stature of the Body increases—Eph. 4:13-14. Day 5 III. We need to minister life to the Body for the growth of the Body—Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:15-16: A. God’s intention is to use the members of the Body of Christ as channels for Christ’s life to flow into the Body and to increase the measure of the Body through them—2 Cor. 4:12; Eph. 4:16. B. The growth of the Body depends on what comes out of Christ as the Head—vv. 15-16: 1. When the Body is supplied by holding the Head, the Body grows with the growth of God—Col. 2:19. 2. The Body grows out from the Head, for all the supply comes from the Head—Eph. 4:15-16. C. The growth of the Body depends on the growth of God, the addition of God, the increase of God, within us—Col. 2:19: 1. God gives the growth by giving Himself to us in a subjective way. 2. The more God is added into us, the more growth He gives to us; this is the way God gives the growth—1 Cor. 3:6-7. 3. Only God can give growth; only God can give us Himself, and without Him we cannot have growth—vv. 6-7: a. The addition of God into us is the growth He gives. b. For God to give us growth actually means that He gives us Himself— Rom. 8:11. Day 6 D. The growth of the Body is the building up of the Body—Eph. 4:16; Col. 2:19: 1. Ephesians 4:11-16 occupies a special place in the New Testament because it shows the mystery concerning the building up of the Body of Christ. 2. 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—v. 16; 3:17a: a. When Christ enters into the saints and lives within them, the Christ within the saints becomes the church—Col. 3:10-11. b. The Body of Christ grows by the growth of Christ within us and is built up this way—1:18; 2:19.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 20:22:05 +0000
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