I.　The elders and responsible ones should take the lead to know the Body—Rom. 12:4-5; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4-6, 16:

A.　All the problems of the church today are due to ignorance concerning the Body of Christ—1:17-23:

1.　The biggest problem is not knowing the Body and not caring for the Body—4:4, 16.

2.　The way we behave ourselves in the church depends upon the degree of our seeing the Body—Acts 22:10; 26:18-19.

B.　We need to know the Body in life—1 John 5:11-12; Col. 3:4; 2:19; Rom. 8:2, 6,10-11; 12:4-5:

1.　The Body of Christ is formed by Christ as life in us; this life mingles with us to become the Body of Christ—1 John 5:11-12; Col. 3:4; 1:18; 2:19:

a.　The life in us is not a member life—it is a Body life.

b.　We are all one in this life; this oneness in life is the mystical Body of Christ—Eph. 5:30.

2.　Knowing the Body in life is the result of our experience of life and spiritual growth—1 John 2:12-14:

a.　In order to know the Body and touch the reality of the Body, we must progress in the experience of life and the growth of life—1 Cor. 3:1-2;14:20.

b.　Only after we have reached the fourth stage in the spiritual life can we know the mystery of the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:12-13, 15-16.

c.　In order to know the Body and live in the Body, we need to deal with the flesh, the self, and the natural constitution—Gal. 2:20; 5:24; Matt. 16:24:

(1).　If we still live according to the flesh and in ourselves and serve inour natural ability, the life of the Body, which is Christ Himself in us, cannot be manifested, and we cannot know the Body.

(2).　Only when the flesh has been dealt with, the self has been abandoned, and the natural constitution has been broken can we touch the reality of the Body—1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 4:4-6.

3.　Knowing the Body is a dealing with individualism; all those who do not know the Body are individualists—1 Cor. 12:14-22.

4.　The proofs that we know the Body are that we are unable to be individualistic, we can discern those who are not in the Body, and we recognize the authority of Christ the Head revealed in the order of the Body—v. 18.

5.　"We have to help the brothers and sisters to know that the life within theBody, the church, is Christ. This requires some who have a special ministryto do this work…It is a special work to help the brothers and sisters to know the life in the Body" (The Elders' Management of the Church, pp. 223-224).

C.　We need to know the Body in practice—vv. 20, 27; 15:58:

1.　A local church is an expression of the Body of Christ in a particular locality—1:2; 10:32b; 12:12-13, 20, 27:

a.　The one universal church—the Body of Christ—becomes the many local churches—the local expressions of the Body of Christ—Rom. 12:4-5;16:1.

b.　The unique Body of Christ is expressed as the local churches—Eph. 4:4; Rev. 1:4, 11.

c.　Every local church is part of the unique, universal Body of Christ, a local expression of the Body—1 Cor. 1:2; 12:27.

2.　If we know theBody in life andin practice, then in our consideration the Body will be first and the local churches will be second—Rom. 12:4-5;16:1, 4, 16.

II.　The elders and the leading ones should take the lead to keep the principles of the Body—12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; Eph. 4:4-6:

A.　The Body is one—Rom. 12:4-5:

1.　The Body can exist and survive only in oneness—Eph. 4:3-4.

2.　The oneness of the Body is the oneness of the Divine Trinity—John 17:21, 23.

3.　The keeping of the oneness is the primary virtue of our Christian walk—Eph. 4:1-3.

B.　The Body of Christ is Christ; thus, if we would be in the Body, we must be made Christ—1 Cor. 12:12; Col. 3:10-11:

1.　The church as the Body of Christ comes out of Christ and is one withChrist—Gen. 2:22-23; Eph. 5:23-32.

2.　There is only one thing in a believer that forms a part of the Body of Christ—Christ—Col. 1:18; 2:19; 3:4, 10-11, 15.

3.　The Body is the corporate Christ; Christ and the church are one corporateChrist, the Body-Christ—1 Cor. 12:12.

C.　The function of the Body is to express Christ—Eph. 1:22-23:

1.　The universally great Christ needs a Body to be His fullness, His expression—vv. 22-23.

2.　The purpose of the believers being members one of another in the Body of Christ is that we would live Christ and express Him together—Rom. 12:5.

D.　The work of the cross consummates with the Body andushers us into theBody—Eph. 2:16:

1.　The cross leads us to the Body and operates in the sphere of the Body.

2.　The self is the enemy of the Body; only when our self has been utterly dealt with by the cross are we able to touch the life of the Body and come to know the Body—Matt. 16:24-25; Rom. 8:13; 12:4-5.

E.　In the Body only Christ is the Head—Col. 1:18; 2:19; Eph. 1:22; 4:15:

1.　For Christ to be the Head means that only He has the authority in theBody—Col. 1:18; 2:19.

2.　Whatever we think, feel, and do must be under the authority of the Head.

F.　The divine fellowship is the reality of living in the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 1:9;12:13, 27:

1.　The divine fellowship is the flow of the divine life among and through all the members of the Body; the Body in a practical way is in the fellowship—1 John 1:3; Rev. 22:1.

2.　Fellowship tempers us, adjusts us, harmonizes us, and mingles us—1 Cor.12:24.

G.　We should always consider the Body, care for the Body, honor the Body, and do what is best for the Body—vv. 23-27:

1.　Whenever we do something, we must have a proper consideration for theBody and care for how the Body would feel about what we are doing.

2.　We should be concerned not for our individual profit but for the Body and the building up of the Body—Eph. 4:16; 1 Cor. 12:23-27.