Know the Supply of the Body
I am convinced that in our present situation we need a drastic deliverance. Men are naturally rebellious and individualistic. They are unwilling to hand themselves over. But today for the Lord’s sake we are willing to lay down ourselves. This is the meaning of the term "hand over," a term we have adopted in dealing with our present circumstances. (We hope people would not view it as traditional terminology.) Some may find themselves unable to hand themselves over to the Lord. But if they try, we believe that as soon as the sacrifice is on the altar, the altar will sanctify the sacrifice. It is similar to the situation in which some say they cannot believe because they have too many problems; yet as soon as they believe, all their problems are resolved; they now exercise their faith in Jesus in spite of their doubt and problems. The same shall be true in this matter of handing over: if only a person is willing, God will do the work. Now if anyone has a problem in handing himself over to the Lord, let him ask a few in the local church to help him. And as he makes a positive move, God too will move.
Let us be clear that the "handing over" we are talking about today is not only an individual "handing over," it is a "handing over" through corporate fellowship. It is not as though man attempts to lay himself on the altar and God attempts to accept him. Not so. The fact of the matter is that whether this is a trying or a real handing over, God will always accept. By handing over oneself, one commits himself to the body of Christ. But in turn the body serves as a great protection. In time we shall see what loss we suffer if we do not live in the reality of the body, for the supply of ministry is there. Being separated from the body separates a person from the supply of ministry.
The Book of Acts tells us that when Paul was in Athens "his spirit was provoked within him" (17.16). But when Silas and Timothy arrived in Corinth, he immediately received encouragement (18.5). This that Paul experienced can be likened to the way you sense supply when a certain brother passes by or when a new brother comes to the meeting. Sometimes just having certain brethren sitting there, even without the need of their speaking to you, you receive spiritual supply in ministering the word of God.
Because we are a body—even the body of Christ, therefore we naturally affect one another. We cannot comprehend how this mutual influence works, but we sense a special intimacy with the Lord or experience some unusual sensation. This is because in the body of Christ there is a supply. Indeed, the life of the body is that supply. Let not any brother or sister be a waster of this body supply. Instead, let all of us learn well to recognize the body and our relationship to it. For if there be any failure or wastefulness on our part, such will be largely due to our being individual Christians rather than coordinated members of Christ’s body.
In 1900 at the time of the Chinese Boxer Uprising, many Christians, as noted earlier, were martyred. Now it so happened that during the initial stages of the Uprising, the Churches throughout the world had begun sensing that something dramatic and most alarming was about to happen. Many were pressed in their spirit for a number of days and felt the need to pray. One such believer was Miss Margaret Barber who was in England at the time. She has since testified how deeply distressed she had been in her spirit and how she had felt the urge to pray. Such a sensing for the need to pray by so many around the world had not come from the knowledge of seeing and hearing; its origin had arisen instead from the reality of the body of Christ. Very soon thereafter came the brunt of the Boxer Uprising in China and the subsequent martyrdom of literally tens of thousands of God’s people there. Who would dare to say that the faithful martyrs of that day did not receive a supply as a result of such a worldwide prayer ministry in the body of Christ?
When any part of the body is sick, all other parts of the body rise up together to deal with the sickness and to help this sick member. Just so, in the body of Christ there is a supply that is available to any needy members. The life of the body of Christ is not an empty set of words. It is a reality. Many consider the Church to be nothing but a mystical, abstract entity; they do not realize that this entity we call the body of Christ is a reality. 1 Corinthians 11.29 mentions this very matter of discerning "the body." Here, this phrase has two meanings: (1) the body of the Lord; and (2) the body of Christ the Church. Here it simply mentions the body, without specifying the Lord’s body or the body of Christ. And hence, it points on the one hand to the Lord’s own body and on the other hand to the body of Christ which is the Church. This body has the Lord’s own riches and it also has the riches of Christ. Every Christian, being in the body of Christ, receives the supply of the Lord’s grace as well as the supply of the Holy Spirit (see Phil. 1.19). Nevertheless, the great lack among Christians today is in not knowing the supply of the body of Christ. May the Lord show us the reality of this body that we may know its supply.
