Seeing that Every Member of the Body of Christ is an Indispensable Gift to the Body

Christ is the Giver of gifts for the building up of the organic Body of Christ; each member of the Body is an indispensable gift to the Body, constituted by Christ in His ascending and descending in us to subdue us, conquer us, and fill us, even fill all things in us. Amen!

This week we come to the topic, The Giver of Gifts and the Constituents of God’s Armour, based mainly on Ephesians chapters 4 and 6.

The greatest prophecy in the Bible is the one uttered by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 16:18, I will build My church. This is still being carried out. Christ is still building up His church. And He does this in us and through us, the many members of the Body of Christ.

Each one of us is a gift given by Christ to His Body so that we may build up the church as the Body of Christ.

This week we want to see how Christ is the Giver of gifts – and the process He went through in order to produce and give the gifts to His Body, and we also want to see Christ as the constituents of God’s armour.

We may think that only Christ is qualified to build up the church as the Body of Christ, and we are partially right; Christ builds up the church, but He does it in and through the gifts He gave to the Body, which is each believer in Christ.

We may think that the many items of the armour of God need to be put on us one by one so that we may fight the spiritual warfare, and we are partially right, for Christ Himself is the reality of the armour of God. Every part of God’s armour is Christ Himself.

We need to experience, enjoy, and express Christ as the constituents of God’s armour. This makes us fighting members of the Body of Christ for the dominion of God to be expressed on the earth.

May we be those who enjoy and experience Christ as the Giver of gifts so that we may become the building members of the Body of Christ for His expression corporately.

And may we experience, enjoy, and express Christ as the constituents of God’s armour so that we may become the fighting members of the Body for His dominion.

This is the ultimate fulfilment of Genesis 1:26, where we see that the Lord wants to gain a corporate expression and representation on the earth through the one new man.

As the one new man in this universe, we are created in Christ according to the image of Christ to express Christ and represent Him. Praise the Lord!

Every Member of the Body of Christ is an Indispensable Gift to the Body of Christ

Ephesians 4:7-16 presents to us Christ as the Giver of gifts for the intrinsic building up of the organic Body of Christ. This building up of the Body is by the giving, the dispensing, of the divine grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Every member of the Body of Christ is an indispensable gift to the Body of Christ (v. 7; 1 Cor. 12:14-22; Rom. 12:4-5). Each one of us as believers in Christ are a gift to the Body of Christ, and we are indispensable to the Body.

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul likens the mystical Body of Christ to our physical body; the Body of Christ is the reality, and our physical body is just a picture of that reality – not the other way around. We need to see that the Body is one yet has many members.

The Body of Christ is not just one member who functions and the rest quietly listen; the Body is composed of many members who all function, each in their measure, according to the gift given to them by God. We all need one another, for each one of us is an indispensable gift to the Body.

If the foot should say, Because I am not a hand, I’m not of the body, it is not that because of this that he’s not of the body. Similarly, if the ear should say, Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body; it is not that because of this, it is not of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? The body is composed of many members, and God has placed the members of the body, each one of them, in the Body, even as He willed.

The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor can the mouth say to the feet, I have no need of you. Rather, the members of the body which seem to be weaker are all the more necessary.

This is a picture of the reality happening in the Body of Christ. Each member of the Body of Christ is an indispensable gift to the Body. Each member of the Body has a particular function in the Body which no one else has, and we need the function of all the members.

On the one hand, we need to realise that our function in the Body is necessary, even critical for the building up of the Body, and we should not despise our function. On the other hand, we should not minimise others’ function, nor should we covet their function.

May we prayerfully read the Bible, especially the portions in 1 Cor. 12:14-22 and Rom. 12:4-5 to realise that we are members of the Body of Christ.

Paul clearly saw a vision of the Body right after his conversion, for he was blinded by the divine light for three days, and then a member of the Body came to him – Ananias, and he said, Saul, brother!

By being born again with the divine life, we become members of the Body of Christ, and we are brothers and sisters with the saints.

Saul used to be a persecutor of the church, seeking to kill and destroy the followers of Jesus, but the Lord had mercy on him, and he had a conversion to Christ. Now he was a brother in the Lord, and he was a member of the Body. He depended on the Body in all things.

One time, the whole city wanted to find him and put him to death, but the brothers lowered him down in a basket through the wall of the city for him to escape (Acts 9:25; 2 Cor. 11:32-33). We all are “basket cases” – we need the brothers to rescue us and cover us, and we are part of the brotherhood that helps other brothers.

We all depend on the Body of Christ. Just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one Body in Christ and individually members of one another.

We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us by Christ.

In Eph. 4:7, the grace of Christ is our enjoyment and supplies the gift; in Rom. 12:6, the gifts differ according to the grace that is supplied to them.

As we enjoy God in Christ as the Spirit, we have a certain gift, certain skills and abilities, which unconsciously and spontaneously come forth from us to build up the church as the Body of Christ.

May we enjoy the Lord day by day and have an increase of the gift given to us by God so that we may function in the Body of Christ.

The gift of Christ is a person constituted with Christ’s life and element dispensed into him by the Divine Trinity (2 Cor. 1:15).

As we enjoy the Lord as grace, even our coming to other saints to visit them will be a visitation of grace. We will labour, yet not us but the grace of God which abounds to us.

Each gifted person has a measure, and the divine grace is given, dispensed, into him according to that measure (Eph. 4:16; cf. Rom. 12:3). May we be sober-minded and not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think.

We may know many things and we may even be able to speak many things, but if we think we have a higher portion than the elders or even than the apostle Paul, we are not sober-minded.

Each one of us has a ministry, which we need to accomplish, and each one has a measure; the divine grace is given and dispensed into us according to that measure.

Lord Jesus, thank You for making us gifts to the Body of Christ. Hallelujah, every genuine believer in Christ is a member of the Body of Christ, an indispensable gift to the Body! Amen, Lord, may we realise that we are members of the Body of Christ with a particular function for the building up of the Body! May we see that our function is very much needed for the building up of the Body! We open to You, dear Lord, and we want to enjoy You today. We want to be constituted with the life and element of Christ. Dispense Yourself more into us today. We open to Your divine dispensing. Constitute us into functioning members of the Body of Christ. Oh Lord, we do not want to neglect our spiritual gift given to us according to the measure of grace. Keep us enjoying You until we function in our measure for the building up of the Body! Hallelujah, each gifted person has a measure and we have the divine grace given to us and dispensed into us according to that measure!

Christ Ascended and Descended, Led Captive those Taken Captives, and Constituted us as Gifts to His Body

We may look at ourselves as believers in Christ and we may think that we are so weak, we don’t experience or know Christ that much, so how can we be an indispensable gift to the Body. But we need to look away from ourselves – just look to the Lord and to what He has done for us!

Ephesians 4:8 tells us that Christ, having ascended to the height, led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men. The height in this portion in Psalm 68:18 refers to Mount Zion (vv. 15-16), symbolising the third heaven, where God dwells (1 Kings 8:30).

Psalm 68 implies that it was in the Ark that God ascended to Mount Zion after the Ark had won the victory (Num. 10:35); this portrays how Christ has won the victory and ascended triumphantly to the heavens. Wow! This is amazing!

Through this universal traffic and in His ascension, Christ led captives those who had been taken captive by Satan and made them gifts to His Body (Eph. 4:8-11). Amazing!

Christ travelled; He is the journeying Triune God. He travelled from the heavens to the earth, from the earth to Hades, from Hades back to the earth, and from the earth to the third heaven. By this universal traffic, the gifts have been given to the Body of Christ.

He travelled not only to the earth but even more, to the lowest parts of the earth, Hades itself, and from there back to the earth, and from the earth to the third heavens.

When He travelled in this way, especially when He travelled into His ascension, after defeating Satan, Christ took Satan’s captives – that’s us – and brought them as a victorious conqueror in a train of vanquished foes to the Father.

He marched before the Father with a train of captives, presented these captives to the Father, who in turn gave them back to Christ as gifts. Then, Christ gave all these captives as gifts to His Body for the building up of the Body. Hallelujah!

What a victorious celebration this procession must have been! This is real: it is non-fiction, it is what happened in the spiritual realm at the time of the Lord’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.

We all were captives of Satan, for we were taken captive by Satan before we were saved by Christ’s death and resurrection (Luke 4:18).

But in His ascension, Christ led us captive, that is, He rescued us from Satan’s captivity and took us to Himself (Psa. 68:18). Hallelujah!

In His ascension, Christ led us, the believers in Christ as His captives, to be in His train of vanquished foes and made us gifts to His Body.

Now each one of us as believers in Christ is a gift to the Body of Christ, even an indispensable gift to the Body.

How wonderful it is to know that we who were once Satan’s captives were delivered from Satan’s captivity and brought to God by Christ in a train of vanquished foes to be made gifts to the Body of Christ!

We are trophies given to the Father, and we are gifts to the Body of Christ. Amazing!

Now Christ is celebrating His triumph over us, His vanquished foes, and He is leading us as His captives in a triumphal procession in His move for His ministry to build up His Body (2 Cor. 2:14).

Thanks be to God who always leads us in the triumph in the Christ and manifests the savour of the knowledge of Him through us in every place.

This is something that happened to us not only once, when Christ ascended, but even more, something that we should experience day by day.

In order for us to be in reality gifts to the Body who build up the Body, we need to let Christ ascend and descend within us, capture us and vanquish us, and fill us with Himself so that we may be constituted as gifts to the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:9-10).

In Himself, Christ doesn’t need to ascend and descend; He is steady and immovable.

But in us and with us, He came into us to be with us, and when we are down, He is down with us so that He may encourage us and lift us up. And when we are up, especially when we are not sober-minded concerning what we are and who we are, He is with us to bring us down. He does a lot of travelling within us.

He fills all things through His universal travelling, and as He travels within us, he also fill us with Himself.

May we allow the Lord to be with us, speak to us, uplift us, and bring us down as He sees fit. May we allow the Lord to subdue us and vanquish us. May we even ask Him to never let us win but that He would defeat us all the time.

When we are subdued by the Lord by giving Him more ground in our being, He constitutes us as gifts to His Body, and we can minister life to others in the Body.

But if we remain whole, if we are not dealt with, and we do not let the Lord defeat us and capture us, we cannot function, for we do not have the gift of grace and our measure is very small.

May we open to the Lord and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, thank You for making us indispensable gifts to the Body of Christ by Your universal travelling and by filling all things! Hallelujah, Christ descended to the earth, then to Hades, and He ascended to the earth and then to the third heavens to fill all things! Praise the Lord, through His universal traffic and ascension, Christ led as captives those who had been taken captive by Christ and made them gifts to His Body! Wow, Lord, may we see that we were led captive by Christ in His ascension, for He rescued us out of Satan’s captivity and took us to Himself! Hallelujah, in His ascension we believers in Christ were led to the heavens as the captives of Christ in His train of vanquished foes to be made gifts to the Body! Amen, Lord, we praise You and we open to You! May You ascend and descend in us, and may You capture us and vanquish us so that we may be constituted as gifts to the Body! Oh Lord, may we allow You to defeat us and fill us so that we may be gifts to the Body, functioning in our measure for the building up of the Body!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 340, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2) (2024 December Training), week 24 (msg. 12), The Giver of Gifts and the Constituents of God’s Armor.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – For ’tis God’s eternal purpose / That the Church His vessel be; / He intends that all our service / Build His Church continually. / All the gifted persons given / To the Body by the Head / Are to aid the Church’s building, / That to fulness she be led. (Hymns #914 stanzas 2-3)
  – With the power of Thy Spirit, / Still we need the gifts to share, / That as members we may function / And Thy testimony bear. / By Thy Spirit’s full outpouring, / Lord, impart the gifts we need, / That the building of Thy Body / With Thy blessing might proceed. (Hymns #271 stanza 4)
  – Church of God, beloved and chosen, / Church of Christ for whom He died, / Claim thy gifts and praise the Giver, / Ye are washed and sanctified. / Sanctified by God the Father, / And by Jesus Christ His Son, / And by God the Holy Spirit, / Holy, Holy, Three in One. (Hymns #825 stanza 1)