XVII.　The Body has its proper order—1 Cor. 12:14-22:

A.　God has placed all the members of the Body even as He willed:

1.　Each one of us members has our own place in the Body of Christ; it is assigned by God and should be accepted by us— 1 Cor. 12:18.

2.　Since such as assignment is according to God's will, every member is necessary—vv. 21-22.

B.　Every member has a definite place, a definite assignment, and a definite position; every member has a particular portion with which he serves the Body of Christ:

1.　Each member has his own characteristics, and each has his own capability; these characteristics constitute the place, position, or ministry of each member—Rom. 12:4-8.

2.　No one can change the position of any member of the Body.

C.　We need to know the order of the Body, which is God's assigned pattern in the Body:

1.　We must be willing to be limited to our measure—Rom. 12:3, 6.

2.　As soon as we go beyond our measure, we go beyond the authority of the Body and move out from under the anointing; when we go beyond our measure, we interfere with the order of the Body.

3.　To think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think without a sober mind is to annul the proper order of the Body life—Rom. 12:3.

D.　The authority in the Body is the authority of the Head flowing throughout the Body—Col. 2:19; Eph. 5:23-24:

1.　God requires us to come directly under not only the authority of the Lord but also the authority of those who represent His authority in the Body—1 Tim. 5:17a; 1 Cor. 3:10a; Eph. 5:24a; Heb. 13:17.

2.　Any desire on the part of a believer to exercise authority is contrary to the life of the Body—3 John 9; Matt. 20;26-28; 1 Pet. 5:3.

3.　Submission is one outstanding characteristic of those who are familiar with the life of the Body—Eph. 5:21; 1 Pet. 5:5.

XVIII.　Mutuality is the characteristic of the Body, and the functioning of the Body is mutual; thus, our relationship in the Body is one of mutuality and interdependence:

A.　All the members of the Body mutually affect one another—Phil. 1:8; 1 Cor. 12:26.

B.　The fellowship in the Body involves not only receiving help from other members but also giving help to other members—1 Cor. 16:18; 1 John 5:16.

C.　The Body is built up by the mutual supply of the members and through the interdependence among the members—Eph. 4:16:

1.　In the Body life, we need to admonish the disorderly ones, console the little-souled, uphold the weak, and be long-suffering toward all—1 Thes. 5:14.

2.　The church meeting is a “one another” meeting, a meeting of mutuality; a church meeting has the stamp of “one another” upon it—Heb. 10:24-25; 1 Cor. 14:26, 31; Acts 2:46.

XIX.　The divine fellowship is the reality of living in the Body of Christ:

A.　The divine fellowship is the flow of the divine life among and through all the members of the organic Body of Christ—1 John 1:3; Rev. 22:1.

B.　The Body in a practical way is in the fellowship.

C.　Just as the circulation of the blood is the fellowship of our body, the circulation of the Spirit is the fellowship of Christ's Body; the Spirit today is the “blood” in Christ's Body—Eph. 4:4; 2 Cor. 13:14.

D.　God has blended the Body together—1 Cor. 12:24:

1.　The word blended means adjusted, harmonized, tempered, and mingled, and implies the losing of distinctions.

2.　Blending means that we should always stop to fellowship with others.

3.　Fellowship tempers us; fellowship adjusts us; fellowship harmonizes us; and fellowship mingles us.

4.　We should not do anything without fellowshipping with the other saints who are coordinating with us; fellowship requires us to stop when we are about to do something.

5.　To be blended means that you are touched by others and that you are touching others, but you should touch others in a blending way.

6.　Blending requires us to be crossed-out; blending requires us to be by the Spirit to dispense Christ and to do everything for the sake of His Body.

XX.　We should always consider the Body, care for the Body, honor the Body, and do what is best for the Body—1 Cor. 12:23-27:

A.　The recovery is for the Body, not for any individual or merely for any individual local church—1 Cor. 12:14; Rom. 12:2, 4-5.

B.　The local churches are not the goal of God's economy, but a procedure to reach God's goal, which is the reality of the unique Body of Christ.

C.　Whenever we do something, we must have a proper consideration for the Body; we need to consider how the Body would feel about what we are doing.

D.　We need to be Body-conscious, Body-centered, not self-centered.

E.　We need to be rescued from self-seeking back to a concern for the Body, that we might no longer be for our individual profit but for the building up of the Body.