Christ the Head, Church the Body #3

Will you please turn to 1 Corinthians 1 Corinthians chapter 12 We'll read from verse 12 through verse 27 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 12 For even as the body is one and has many members but all the members of the body being many are one body, so also is the Christ For also in the power of one spirit we have all been baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks whether Mormon or free and have all been given to drink of one spirit For also the body is not one member but many If the foot said because I am not a hand I am not of the body is it on account of this not indeed of the body?

And if the ear said because I am not an eye I am not of the body is it on account of this not indeed of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where the hearing? If all hearing, where the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them in the body according as it has pleased him But if all were one member, where the body? But now the members are many and the body one The eye cannot say to the hand, I have not need of thee or again the head to the feet, I have not need of thee But much rather the members of the body which seem to be weaker or necessary And those parts of the body which we esteem to be the more void of honour these we clothe with more abundant honour And our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness But our comely parts have not need but God has tempered the body together having given more abundant honour to the part that lack That there might be no division in the body but that the members might have the same concern one for another And if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it And if one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with it And if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it And if one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with it You are the body of Christ and each one of you is the body Let us have a word of prayer Dear Lord, we do rejoice in thy presence to be with us We pray Lord, as we are here in thy presence that thou will once again speak to us Lord, we pray that our hearts may all be open to thee that thy word may really fall into good ground and will bear fruit a hundredfold for thy glory We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Amen By now I think everybody knows that our theme is the head and the body Christ the head, the church the body I have been asked, why do we choose this theme?

Brothers and sisters, as we are approaching the end of all things it is time for us to return to the beginning because the end is for the beginning What God has purposed in himself before the foundations of the world shall all be accomplished at the end So it is but right for us who live in the end time to go back to the very beginning not only to see whether we know what is in the beginning but also to be before the Lord to see if the end will reach the beginning Before the foundation of the world God has purposed in himself according to his good pleasure that all things will be summed up in Christ Jesus This is the mystery of God a mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages but thank God that now it has been revealed to us by the Holy Spirit and then also before the foundation of

the world God purposed a purpose in Christ Jesus and according to that purpose that God would give his son a bride to share everything with him and that is also a mystery it is called the mystery of the Christ it has been hidden throughout the ages but thank God it has now been revealed to us by the Holy Spirit through the holy apostles and prophets so this is the very beginning in the very beginning there is such a glorious purpose and in that purpose there is Christ and with Christ the church as a matter of fact the whole bible is this revelation I remember when I was young I was told that if we catch a vision of Christ and the church if we catch a vision of Christ and the church then the whole bible is an open book to us because the whole bible tells us of Christ and his church so dear

brothers and sisters we feel that it is very important when we are coming to the very end that we should be reminded of what was in the beginning and what is it that God is really after and how much this is real in our lives we mention about Paul's heavenly vision on the road to Damascus he saw a vision and that vision changed his whole life it changed his direction it changed his goal it gave him strength enabled him to endure hardship that is one thing that explained his whole life and his whole ministry and towards the end he could testify he said oh King Agrippa I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision now dear brothers and sisters we mention already that this heavenly vision is not just for Paul it is a vision that is given through Paul to all of us and what is it that Paul saw

in that heavenly vision he saw Christ the glorious one Jesus of Nazareth is now the Lord and Christ of all and as he saw Jesus as Lord he capitulated completely to him and allowed Jesus to really be the Lord of his life and brothers and sisters we need to see this vision we need to see that Jesus is Lord he is the Lord of all and he is the Lord of our life and if we really see it in our spirit then we cannot help but yield our whole life to him and allowed him to be Lord of our whole life and brothers and sisters after he saw Jesus as Lord then he found out that this Lord is related to a number, a great number of people because the Lord said Saul Saul why do you persecute me and Saul touched the members of the body of Christ he touched the head because the head and the body are one so on

the road to Damascus he also caught a vision of the body of Christ and as he entered into the city of Damascus he also learned the reality, the relatedness of the members of the body of Christ how he received help from another member of that body and by the help of another member he came to the knowledge of God's will for him so the body is not a theory to him but it is very real to him so dear brothers and sisters we too need to catch that vision we need through Christ to see the body never see the body without Christ if we try to see the body without Christ it is no longer a body it is something else it is only in Christ that we see the body and we need to live in that body so this is why we feel we need to fellowship together on this theme now my part is on the body but again I want to

remind brothers and sisters that we consider the body only within the context of the head the first morning we mentioned about body vision we need to catch a vision of the body because God's purpose for us is not just personal and individual God's purpose for us is corporate we tend to be very individualistic brothers and sisters even in spiritual pursuit we also pursue along the line of individual how can I be spiritual? we want to be a spiritual giant we want to be a monument for people to look at and admire but this is not God's purpose God's purpose is corporate He wants us to see the body and we are members in that body that will deliver us from our individualism and that will enlarge our horizon and the second morning we consider this matter of body calling we find that vision and

calling are together when God in His mercy gives us a vision then with that vision God always has a calling for us so when we see this vision of Christ and the church then we find that we are called into that vision calling makes our vision practical and calling is nothing but call to enter into the vision that we see because vision is not just something abstract something so heavenly that it is something you cannot touch vision is very practical and it is being practiced in the calling so our calling and vision are actually one we are called into that vision so that we may be part of that vision and that vision becomes real in our lives and we mentioned also that many are called but few are chosen we are all called to be the body of Christ you know our natural concept about calling is

not only personal but also a concept of what to do if I am called what I am called to do but brothers and sisters this is secondary the primary in our calling is we are called to be we are called to be the body of Christ and it is only being the body of Christ and within that you find there are things to be done and everything that is done is for this body so we need to see this that we may respond to our calling and as we respond to our calling then we will be chosen that is to say that the calling will be real in our life now this morning we would like to go a little further and that is body principle we know that we are called to be the body of Christ now we must remember that the body of Christ is not just a figure of speech we often think of the body of Christ as a metaphor a figure

of speech here is my human body and God used this human body to tell us what the body of Christ is about but the body of Christ is not really real it is just a figure of speech a kind of explanation but if you read the word of God you will find the word of God never put the body of Christ as a figure of speech the bible when it mentions the body of Christ it does not say it is our human body it says it is the body of Christ for instance in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 22 and 23 God has made Christ to be head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all and in all it does not say the church which is like a body the fullness of him who fills all and in all it is the church which is the body of Christ so do not take this term the body of Christ as just a

kind of descriptive figure of speech now to those who do not have revelation before we receive any revelation from above that is the way we look at the body of Christ we look at the body of Christ the church is like our human body but it is not really real it is just a way of speaking to describe something but dear brothers and sisters if you receive revelation from above then you begin to see that the body of Christ is so real it is even more real than our human body or to put it in another way our physical body is just a figure of speech to the body of Christ we know that spiritual things are real physical things are not so real you may feel it is very real but you know physical things are temporary and they are changing all the time so they are not so real but when you come to

spiritual things you know they are real because they are the substance not the shadow you know that they are eternal you know that they never change so spiritual things are the real things therefore our Lord said I am the true vine you look at the vine is it real? physically yes but it is not real because the vine will fade away but our Lord said I am the true vine and that vine is forever and we are the branches and our relationship with him will never change it is permanent it is eternal it is everlasting dear brothers and sisters how real are spiritual things and everything physical is just a type, a shadow of these spiritual things but we need revelation for that because with our naked eyes we see the physical as real the spiritual are unreal but thank God when God opens our inner

eyes and begin to see what is in the spiritual realm then we begin to realize that only the spiritual are real all the physical will pass away they will just remind us of what the spirituals are so dear brothers and sisters the body of Christ is not a metaphor the body of Christ is so real that we need to use our physical body trying to describe it and for this reason we find how we need revelation may God give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation to the full knowledge of God and this is what we all need now brothers and sisters if it is the body then it cannot be an organization it must be an organism it must be living it is not something dead you know when we think of the church what really is our understanding probably to most people the church is an organization it is something that

we can organize something that human beings can bring it into being but dear brothers and sisters whatever man made is dead it is mechanical it is technical but only what God has done it is an organism it is living I remember many years ago when I was visiting England I visited Westminster Abbey and we know Westminster Abbey was very famous and so I visited that place and do you know what my impression was when I left now Westminster Abbey was supposed to be a church but when you visited Westminster Abbey you find that you walk over plates that bears the name of the dead and you find in different corners there are coffins there and even on the wall there are plates of those famous men who have died so after my visit to Westminster Abbey I thought well this is not the church of the living

God this is the church of the dead it is an organization it is an institution it is a religion it is not real, it is not living and you do not sense the presence of the Lord there but you sense the presence of many who have died it really gives you a weird feeling brothers and sisters what is the church it is the body of Christ it is living it is the church of the living God it is not something dead it is not something man can organize it is not an institution now it does not mean because it is an organism not an organization therefore there is no order and we think of an organization how we organize it and we lay down some rules and regulations so that that organization can run very smoothly so that the organization can run very easily if there are no rules and regulations then how can

the organization function so you know that everything is done from the outside and you put these rules and regulations upon an organization so that it can run smoothly now when you think of an organism we often say well an organism is not an organization and does it mean that because it is not an organization therefore there is no order because it is not an organization therefore there is no order no, actually you will find the order in an organism is even stricter than the order in an organization you will find that the order in an organism is even stricter than the order in an organization what is put upon what is put upon cannot be compared to what is inborn because an organism has certain principles that are inborn because an organism has certain principles that are inborn and these

principles or when they say these laws are not something that you try to put upon and try to carry them out mechanically technically carrying these things out no, you find that in a living organism there are certain laws, certain principles that are born with it is within and it is something you need to discover and to follow and if you follow these principles then the organism will be healthy if inadvertently you violate these principles then you corrupt your body so dear brothers and sisters as we are talking about this matter of the body of Christ because it is a living organism there are certain principles, certain laws that are within that organism and we need to know these principles otherwise probably we will unconsciously violate them and in violating them we are actually

destroying the body so I hope brothers and sisters can understand this now this morning we would like to mention several of these principles but remember these principles or laws are not something put upon the body but remember these principles or laws are not something put upon the body they are not something imposed upon the body these are something that is naturally or super naturally born within so all you need to do is to discover them you do not invent them you discover them and you follow them and if you do you will find a very healthy body number one the first principle of the body is life I think this is very evident because it is not an organization in an organization life is not something involved but if it is a body immediately you think of life we are born into the body dear

brothers and sisters how are we in the body can we join it now with an organization you can join it any organization you need to join it and they may lay down certain conditions for your joining but the wonderful thing is this in the body of Christ there is no way to join it you have to be born into it he that is born of the spirit is spirit unless we are born again we do not see the kingdom of God but if we believe in the Lord Jesus if we believe in his name then we are given the right to be children of God we are not born of blood, not of flesh but born of God so thank God that this body of Christ is to be born into you remember in John chapter 19 when our Lord Jesus was crucified of his disciples John was the only one there and after our Lord passed away because the next day was

Sabbath so according to their custom nobody should be on the tree during the Sabbath because he that is on the tree is cursed so all these who are crucified had to be taken down so the soldiers came and they broke the bones the leg bones of the two robbers because these robbers were very strong and so they were not dead yet so their bones had to be broken to speed them to death but when the soldier came to the Lord he noticed that the Lord was already dead but to make sure that he was really dead so instead of breaking his bones he did not break his legs this is actually what the prophet said a soldier took a spear and stabbed our Lord and most likely it reached his heart and out of his broken heart blood and water came out John saw this and he witnessed this he said what I witnessed is

true he made it very emphatic as if it was something most important now why is it so? it is because our Lord Jesus with his side broken and out of the side came out blood and water blood for the remission of our sins and water to give us life because he poured out his life like water brothers and sisters with the blood and water God made the church these are the materials for the church so here you will find our Lord Jesus because of his death his blood was shed his life was released that our sins may be forgiven and we may receive his life and with that life we become the body of Christ so brothers and sisters when you think of the body of Christ first of all you see the principle of life everything of that body is life there is no death in it it is resurrection life death has been

overcome because our Lord has entered into death robbed death of his power and he came out of death and he holds in his hand the keys of death and hating he is the living one so dear brothers and sisters you will find that is what the body of Christ is the body of Christ is built on the principle of life and it is not just any kind of life it is the life of Christ or to put it in another way the body of Christ is made of Christ himself he is the one who brings the body into being and that is the reason why in 1 Corinthians 12 though the body is one yet there are many members though the members are many yet there is one body so also is the Christ brothers and sisters we are told and probably we ourselves have discovered when you read this verse the body is one but have many members many

members but one body we will say so also is the church that is what the church is the church is one body but many members but the Holy Spirit says so also is the Christ why is it so? because the body is none other but the extension of Christ himself he is the substance of the body do not think that this is just a theory this is a very very basic important principle what is the body of Christ? is it you and me? people say well we know the church is not a building we know the church is not an organization but what is the church? oh we say the church are those called out ones gathered together that is the church now is it right? right and wrong it is right in one sense because the church is the called out ones gathered together the church is different from the world it is a people that God

has called out of the world and they gather together unto the name of our Lord Jesus where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in their midst that is the church that is true but brothers and sisters if you go a little deeper you will find that this is not absolutely true why? because in the church you not only find Christ there you find you there too you find you there too and you are the problem you are the problem if it is only Christ there there will be no problem if it is only Christ there there will be no problem but we look at today's church there are problems everywhere is there a problem with Christ? of course not of course there is no problem where does the problem come from? it comes from you and me so brothers and sisters strictly speaking what is the

church? the church is the Christ without you and me many years ago brother Sparks and myself and brother Frankie we were all speaking in a conference and if you know brother Sparks you know with him everything is spiritual don't touch the earth if you touch the earth you defile it and I was trying to explain the church so I turned to brother Sparks I said brother Sparks you have to forgive me because I am going to use a formula you know with him formula is taboo but I have to use it as an illustration so this is what I said I said what is the church? suppose there are only three Christians on the earth Peter John and James oh they are good now when you put these three men together can you say this is the church? it is a gathering of two and three Peter, John and James is that the church?

oh we said no that is not the church the church is the Christ in Peter plus the Christ in John plus the Christ in James equal to the church is it right? don't hesitate you are being wise no what is the church? the church is the Christ in Peter minus Peter plus the Christ in John minus John plus the Christ in James minus James Peter to the Christ now that is the body of Christ do not think that in the body of Christ you shall find you me and Jesus oh you know when Peter on the mount of transfiguration said it is good to be here let me make three tabernacles one for you one for Moses and one for Elijah now even though we don't have the tabernacle we three will just sleep on open air but we will be there because it is very good and when Peter said that God dismissed Moses and Elijah they saw

no one but Jesus only brothers and sisters that is the church so you find that the church is not something that we can take very lightly it is not something we can play with what is the church it demands that we allow the cross to cross us out so when we come together the cross should already do its work so what we bring in is nothing but Christ himself why is it there is so much noise in the church so much the noise the sound of hammers the sound of iron why is there so much the sound of hammering it is because we bring ourselves together with Christ we have not the secret dealing before that so the church the body of Christ is a serious matter how we need the cross to work in our life that it will be life Christ only now that is the first principle anything that is not of life corrupts

the body anything that is not of Christ destroys the body brothers and sisters we need to repent before the Lord how often we violate the first principle of the body how we need to be in fear and trembling lest we bring ourselves into the church second the second principle of the church is the Holy Spirit you find in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13 for in one spirit we were baptized into one body whether Jews or Gentiles whether you are a Jew or a non-Jew a Mormon or a Freeman and we are all made to drink of one spirit dear brothers and sisters how comes that we are the body of Christ we know that when the word became flesh and tabernacle among men full of grace and truth that is to say God the Son as the word he came into this world and he took upon himself a human flesh and in that

human flesh in that incarnated body he lived for 33 years and in that body he spoke and he worked in that body he accomplished the redemptive work but then our Lord was buried and on the third day he was raised from the dead and after 40 days he ascended up to heaven but 10 days later on the day of Pentecost when 120 of his believers were gathered together in that upper room in Jerusalem they had been praying together for 10 days and on the day of Pentecost suddenly a sound like hard breathing someone was breathing very hard and the breath swept over the whole room and filled the whole room and then you find tongues like fire fell upon the heads of the 120 and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit now as our brother already mentioned usually when we think of Pentecost we are all

attracted by the sound and the sight and we want to see the sound and the sight repeated and we thought that was Pentecost but no these are just secondary and they change all the time but what is the real meaning of Pentecost it is explained in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13 in one spirit you were baptized into one body how do we become one body 120 individuals how can there be 120 members of one body it is a tremendous transformation how does it come about in one spirit they were baptized into one body and they were all made to drink of the same spirit so dear brothers and sisters you find the very formation of the body of Christ is through the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit dwells in that body so far as this body is concerned from the very beginning to the very end you will find

that it is the Holy Spirit that leads the way if you read the New Testament you will find it is very strange because we are supposed to assemble according to the word of God we who are called out have to be gathered together we need to meet together it is not good that we do not assemble we should be together but it is very strange the New Testament does not tell us how to meet the only place you can find is in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 other than that you find God does not tell us how to meet why is it so? because the Holy Spirit is there He is the one who is guiding and leading He will teach us what to do so you find there is no rule or regulations being given there is no program program for us God says meet together now how do we meet? if you do not believe the Holy Spirit that He is

present He is representing Christ then we are lost so brothers and sisters you will find because of this even though mentally we believe that the Holy Spirit is here but as a matter of fact we do not think He is here so therefore we have to work it out therefore we have to work it out work it out ourselves we have to write it down into a program we have to write down some rules and regulations so that everything can move smoothly we do not see the authority of the Holy Spirit you know the opposite of the Holy Spirit is the flesh so if we are not following the Holy Spirit then we are following the flesh and if we follow the flesh it is death if we follow the Holy Spirit it is life and peace if we follow the Holy Spirit it is life and peace the Holy Spirit is the spirit of life He is the

law of the spirit of life He is the one who brings Christ into us He is the one who begets us with the life of Christ He is the one who glorifies Christ in us He is the one who teaches us of Christ He is the one who transforms us according to Christ He is the one who guides and leads us as we meet together He is the one who directs our functionings Brothers and sisters you will find it is the Holy Spirit this is the principle of the body or how we neglect the Holy Spirit even though today people seem to be seeking the Holy Spirit but forgive me to say this what they are seeking is not the Holy Spirit they seek the power of the Holy Spirit they do not seek the person of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit they just want his power they do not want his control Brothers and sisters I can go a

step further they are not even seeking the power of the Holy Spirit they are seeking an experience they are seeking the speaking of tongues and I believe in the speaking of tongues but do all speak in tongues? speaking of tongues is not the sign of the Holy Spirit so the Holy Spirit as the divine person is neglected dear brothers and sisters how we need to pay our respect to the Holy Spirit not only in our daily life we need to learn to obey the teaching of the anointing within us because this is the only way we can abide in Christ but even in this body life how we need to be guided by the Holy Spirit how we need to wait for him to guide and lead us as to what we should do this is holding fast the head because the head is represented in us by the Holy Spirit and that is what the body is

all about so let alone really have mercy upon us and see that how much we need to know the Holy Spirit as the divine person that will transform your life that will transform our assembly life if it is not the Holy Spirit then what is it it is the flesh so how we need to deny our flesh in the church today we find so much flesh there your flesh my flesh your opinion my opinion your will my will brothers and sisters we see flesh all over we do not see the Holy Anointing so we need to seek the Lord and follow the principle of the Holy Spirit because this is the principle of the body of Christ and then thirdly the principle of the body is love God is love if it is Christ if it is the Holy Spirit then he will shed abroad that love within our hearts brothers and sisters what the Lord is looking

for in the church is love you know in the early church they have such a good testimony because when the world look at them they see how they love one another brothers and sisters is this our testimony you know today in the church the church is almost like a court here you find we argue we reason with another we accuse and defend defend thank God but the church is a family it is a household of God and in a household you find love is the principle and brothers and sisters this is not just love of any kind not our natural love you know our natural love has its limit but it is the love of God oh how we need to be filled with the love of God and when the love of God fills our heart then we cannot but love Him and love one another you know our Lord Jesus on the night of His betrayal He loved

His own and loved them to the uttermost then He expressed His love by washing His disciples' feet then He gave us a new commandment love one another as I have loved you dear brothers and sisters what God is looking for in us is that first love you may give God anything, everything if there is no love you will be rejected His word to the church in Ephesus is you have all these things but you do not have you have lost your first love I oppose you you need to repent brothers and sisters all that we may ask the Lord to fill us with love you know in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 it says knowledge pops up love fills up how we seek for knowledge but knowledge pops up some of the Corinthians they had knowledge they knew that there is only one God therefore all these idols are nothing so if you go to

the temple and eat those things that offer to idols you can freely eat because they are nothing offer to nothing is nothing you offer these things to idols idols are nothing so these things are nothing but they have this idea so they just do it not knowing that they stumble some weak Christians because these these believers they were formerly idol worshippers because these believers were formerly idol worshippers their conscience was disturbed by these things inside them was not peaceful so here you see knowledge fills up but only love fills up Paul said if for my brother's sake I have to forgo meat I will forgo meat so Paul said if it is for the sake I should not eat meat so I will not eat meat I am not saying that there is something wrong with meat but it is because for the love of the

brethren so dear brothers and sisters the principle of the body is love that is the reason why you find in 1 Corinthians our brother mentioned last night Corinthians chapter 12 speaks of the body and chapter 14 speaks of the body while walking and chapter 13 speaks of love this is the more excellent way I often think it is a very strange thing we usually say Corinthians chapter 13 speaking is a chapter on love love in general no because it begins with love suffers long that is very negative so you say this is not telling us of love in general it tells us of love in the church in the church the first expression of love is to suffer long you say I suffer enough in society in society so now I come to the church that I can really enjoy beware you will find you will suffer more in the church

than in the world because the church the world they do not know God so when they do something wrong to you you understand they don't know but in the church you brothers and sisters especially big brothers and big sisters you do this to me unforgivable how can you bear this I cannot suffer this but what is love love suffers and suffers long and is kind you will be paid it with kindness isn't that what our lord did on the cross they said away with him away with him crucify him and the lord said father forgive them for they know not what they do this is the spirit of Christ which is love so dear brothers and sisters let's see that love will fill the house when you are really filled with the knowledge of God you are filled with his love that you will find in Ephesians chapter 3 number four

the principle of the body is holiness God is holy therefore we need to be holy what is holiness what stands opposite to holiness we said C stands opposite to righteousness then what is the opposite of holiness the opposite of holiness is the world that is the commonness holiness means set apart for God means separated dear brothers and sisters this body of Christ is separated from the whole world the world has never seen such a body God called people out of the world gathered them together into one body and that body is characterized by holiness completely separated wholly devoted to the Lord under the headship of Christ that is holiness but today we find how the world has invaded the church we find the church adopts all the ways of the world and you cannot even distinguish what is of God

what is of the world probably there is more world in the church than in the world itself more worldly dear brothers and sisters this is corrupting the body of Christ so we need to be before the Lord see if we have bring the world into the church and dilute the purity of the church in Ezekiel chapter 43 it says this is the law of the house from the top of the mountain all around the border are holy holiness is the law of the house so dear brothers and sisters we need to see the body of Christ as a holy body under a holy head and that is what God the Lord is doing with us He will wash us by the water with the word that we may be sanctified that there will be no spot no wrinkle or any of such sort and will be presented to Him a glorious church without spot or wrinkle holy without blemish

number five the principle of the church is unity one body many members but one body so dear brothers and sisters how important it is that we diligently keep the unity of the spirit in the uniting bond of peace that is Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1 how can we walk according to the calling wherewith we have been called we need to diligently keep the unity of the spirit what is the unity of the spirit one body one spirit one hope of our calling these three are related to God the Holy Spirit one Lord one faith one baptism these three are related to God the Son one God and Father of us all that relates to God the Father so you find that our unity is in God our unity is not in man man cannot be united but our unity is in God and God has already given us that unity it is called the unity of the

spirit we all are in one body we all are being baptized into one body by the Holy Spirit and the hope of the body is one because when the body is fully grown then it will become the bride of the Lamb this is our hope we all share this and we have one Lord our Lord Jesus Christ one baptism we are baptized into his name and one faith we believe that he is the Christ the Son of the Living God and we share together and we have one God and Father to the world God is God but not Father but to us he is God and Father we all share the same Father we share the same spirit same Christ and same God we are one oh brothers and sisters what God has given to us is so precious that we need to keep it diligently do not allow it to slip away and if we stand on it and in spite of all differences we continue

to fellowship with one another sharing Christ with one another then the day shall come when we shall arrive arrive at the unity of the faith and of knowledge of the Son of God the faith it came from the one faith from the one faith in verse 3 it is one faith in verse 13 it is the faith one faith is our basic faith that is we believe Jesus is Christ the Son of the Living God that is we believe Jesus is Christ the Son of the Living God the faith is the faith that was once delivered to the saints it includes all the truth in the Bible one day we will arrive at that unity we will understand all truth just the same we will experience the Son of God just the same today we experience Christ differently aside from the basic experience of regeneration we have various degrees of experiencing Christ

but one day we will arrive there we haven't arrived there yet but we will arrive there if we diligently keep the unity of the Spirit do not reject one another continue to share one another with the Christ that you know then one day we will arrive we will grow up we will be matured so dear brothers and sisters it is very important to see the unity of the body is Christ divided number five the principle of the body is coordination number six the principle of the body is coordination one body but many members we need to see the variety in unity that is the wonder of God you know in the world you cannot arrive at unity without uniformity but God can reach the unity with variety and variety brings in fullness every one of us as a member of the body of Christ is different do not try to copy one

another do not desire to be the other one do not look at yourself too lowly nor too highly but to be sober minded so brothers and sisters then we will appreciate each other and we will work together help one another for the building of the house of God and finally number seven the principle of the body is submission as we submit as the body is submitted to the head so this spirit of submission will be carried throughout the body you know in Ephesians chapter five verse twenty three we usually when we have a marriage we usually quote this passage husband love your wife wife obey your husband but we forget there is a verse before it and that actually introduce what follows it says submit to one another in the fear of Christ submit to one another and out of that submission then the order in

the family will be established so dear brothers and sisters when we come together as one brother said when you come to the church do not try to find how many will be under your authority but when you come to the church see whom you should submit to the spirit of submission when this prevails in the church you know all the members of the body submit to one another and because of this an order is established so these are the few principles that we would like to mention this day that the body of Christ may be a healthy body let's pray Lord how we praise and thank Thee that Thou has called us to be the body of Christ we thank Thee that Thou has already put within us these laws these principles we pray Lord that Thou will allow us to discover these laws and will follow these laws that a body

may be built up and Thou mayst be glorified in the name of our Lord Jesus Amen