Oneness in Christ

We have ministered much concerning Vertical Movement, the Now-Realm, and the life- realm – in short, the Lord ministering through His many-membered Body. One thing that has hindered His ministry through the Church is the lack of our oneness in Christ. I believe most of us understand the need for oneness in the Body of Christ, but that understanding is on a much lower level than it should be. Too many are trying to be an individual channel for the Lord. Actually, there can only be one channel – the Body of Christ.

The Body of Christ is made up of many members and each member has his particular function, but that function must be found within the oneness of the Body of Christ. When that function is as an individual it is a position and a position leads into error. When it is a function within the Body of Christ, it operates under a commission from God. There are “diversities of gifts,” “differences of administration,” and “diversities of operation” (I Corinthians 12:4, 5, 6). But these diversities and differences only function correctly within the Body of Christ. We must learn to think and function as members of the Body of Christ. In other words, our identity must be found in the oneness of the Body not separate from it, even as Jesus Christ laid down His individuality to take it up again as a many-membered Christ.

John 10:17-18 Therefore does My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again.
18 No man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.

We cannot function properly as long as we maintain our individuality apart from the Body of Christ. Jesus laid His life down that He might take it up again as a many-membered Christ. Likewise, we must lay down our individual identity so that we can take it up again in the many-membered Body of Christ. You don’t just lose your individualism, but you find the ultimate of what you can be in Christ. If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. Matthew 16:24-25.This opposition to oneness in Christ is a great enemy. People oppose it even when they don’t realize they are doing it. They can even talk about oneness while at the same time opposing it. The opposition comes from the self-preservation instinct of our adamic nature.

When you are having individual experiences in the Lord, individual battles and dealings, individual revelations, etc., you are maintaining a position, and there are no positions in the Body of Christ. Paul said, There should be no schism in the Body; but that the members should have the same care for one another. And whether one member suffer, all members suffer with it; or one member honored, all the members rejoice with it. I Corinthians 12:25-26. One might say, “But I must have my personal or intimate relationship with the Lord.” You will never have the personal or intimate relationship with the Lord until you are one with the Lord in His Body. You will never enter His Life-Realm until you enter it as a member of the Body. The Life-Realm is reserved for the Body of Christ.

You don’t realize how much your soul-flesh is opposed to the oneness of the Body of Christ. Jesus prayed for us concerning this oneness in John 17:20-21: Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their Word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, are in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou has sent Me. God, help us to realize just how important this is, so that we will willingly cross our flesh to become one with the Lord.

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