How Did the Early Believers Meet in 1 Corinthians 14:26?

    Tradition isn't always a good thing especially when it causes people to deviate from the truth in God's word. This was really apparent to me when I was reading some of E. H. Broadbent's book The Pilgrim Church.   I noticed hat God always kept a group of believers who faithfully followed the practices of the New Testament church revealed in Acts.

    I thought about this when I was reading the chapters in the Life-Study of 1 Corinthians  that covers Chapter 14. In thees verses I saw a window into how the early church actually met. My favorite verse in this chapter is verse 26 which says:  What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.  Let all things be done for building up. I liked what Witness Lee shared on pages 564-565 in chapter 63 of the Life-Study of 1 Corinthians on this verse.  Here's just one part:    

"Before coming to the meeting, we should prepare ourselves for the meeting with things like these from the Lord and of the Lord, either through our experience of Him or through our enjoyment of His Word and fellowship with Him in prayer....In verse 26 the word "has" is very important.  According to Paul, whenever we all come together to meet, we should have something.  Paul does not say "shall have" or "should have" he speaks in the present tense to denote the fact and says that we have something, that each one of us has something.  Furthermore, he does not say that just a few have, that many have, or that most have; he says that "each one has" something" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 1 Corinthians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1981, Print). 

What I see here in 1 Corinthians is a lot different from what I've seen in many churches today.  In the church I went to when I was a kid, I saw one man doing almost everything.  It touches me that as believers and members of the Body of Christ, we all have a responsibility to come to the Lord, read the Bible, and receive something that we can share with other believers to encourage and strengthen them.  

Here's a link so you can listen to any of the programs on the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee that are on the book of  1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.

Other Blogs on the Life Study of 1 & 2 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians:
How did the Lord Solve the Problem Among the Believers in 1 Corinthians?
The Fellowship of the Believers in 1 Corinthians 1:9
What is God's Farm in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
What is God's Building in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
From the Life-Study of 1 Corinthians - How Do the Believers Build With Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones in 1 Corinthians 3:12?
Seeing the Revelation of the Body in 1 Corinthians 12
How Did the Early Believers Meet in 1 Corinthians 14:26?

2 Corinthians:

How Can You Be Like A Letter of Christ in 2 Corinthians 3:2?

What are the Sufferings For in 2 Corinthians 4:7-15?
How Does Transformation Happen in 2 Corinthians 3:18?
From the Life-Study of 2 Corinthians - Did You Know Pressures Cause Renewing in 2 Corinthians 4:16?
Why Do Believers Need to Be Reconciled in 2 Corinthians 5:18?
Giving in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9
Why Didn't the Lord Remove Paul's Thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9?

Seeing the Revelation of the Body in Corinthians 12

     Did you know that our physical body is the best illustration of the Lord's spiritual Body?  Even Paul thought so because in 1 Corinthians Chapter 12 he compares these two together.   And I liked it when Witness Lee brought this out in chapter 57 of the Life Study of 1 Corinthians:  

"Now we must go on to see that with the Body there is the need of the different functions.  If my physical body did not have any functions, the body would not be able to do anything.  However, in every member of my body there is a function.  The function comes out of the gift of each member.  The finger, the hand, the arm, and the shoulder all have their gifts.  Every member of our body, no matter how small or unimportant it may seem, has a gift.... By means of the functions of all the members of the body, the body is able to work" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 1 Corinthians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1981, Print).

    Then in Chapter 58 he shares how all the spiritual gifts are not for the individuals but for the building up of the Lord's Body.  For example, our feet have the gift of walking, but they don't do this just for themselves.  In the same way our eyes have the gift of seeing, but they do this for the benefit of our entire body. 

    It is amazing to think about these parallels in relation to the Lord's spiritual Body. I like the expression Witness Lee uses in this message to describe the apostle Paul--Body conscious. I really like that expression because it shows Paul's view of the spiritual gifts was not  individualistic.  Paul's view was that all the gifts of the believers should be for the building up of the Body of Christ.  

Here's a link so you can listen to any of the programs on the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee that are on the book of  1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.

Other Blogs on the Life Study of 1 & 2 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians:
How did the Lord Solve the Problem Among the Believers in 1 Corinthians?
The Fellowship of the Believers in 1 Corinthians 1:9
What is God's Farm in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
What is God's Building in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
From the Life-Study of 1 Corinthians - How Do the Believers Build With Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones in 1 Corinthians 3:12?
Seeing the Revelation of the Body in 1 Corinthians 12
How Did the Early Believers Meet in 1 Corinthians 14:26?

2 Corinthians:

How Can You Be Like A Letter of Christ in 2 Corinthians 3:2?

What are the Sufferings For in 2 Corinthians 4:7-15?
How Does Transformation Happen in 2 Corinthians 3:18?
From the Life-Study of 2 Corinthians - Did You Know Pressures Cause Renewing in 2 Corinthians 4:16?
Why Do Believers Need to Be Reconciled in 2 Corinthians 5:18?
Giving in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9
Why Didn't the Lord Remove Paul's Thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9?

Life Study of 1 Corinthians - Do You Understand 1 Corinthians 6:17?

   Some verses in the Bible are hard to get. I don’t think I ever would have understood 1 Corinthians 6:17 on my own. In Message 39 Witness Lee shares that one day the Lord opened up this verse to him and then he says that  seeing this truth greatly affected his ministry afterwards  (1 Corinthians Life Study, Page 348-349).  And I would also say that as a believer knowing this truth has affected my own Christian life.

This paragraph touched my heart: 

We the believers are joined to the Lord as one spirit.  This is a great mystery, perhaps the most mysterious matter revealed in the Bible.  Who can explain such a mystery?  Can you explain how it is possible for us to be one spirit with the Lord?  Although we cannot explain it, we can surely experience it.  Often I pray in the morning, 'Lord, thank You for another day in which to practice being one spirit with You.' What a wonder sinners such as we can be one spirit with the Lord!  The more we consider this matter, the more we realize how wonderful it is...We need to experiment and learn how to be one spirit with the Lord in our speaking and in all that we do (Page 349-350).

   I really like the illustration given in the beginning of this message because it  points out that in John 15 the Lord depicted the union of our spirit and God's spirit to that of the union of  branches and a vine.  This life connection between God's Spirit and our human spirit (Zechariah 12:1; Romans 8:16). causes God's supply of grace (which is just like sap) to flow into our spirits and hearts and give us just what we need in every situation.


Other Blogs on the Life Study of 1 Corinthians:

What Can Solve All the Problems Among the Believers?

What is the Best Illustration of the Believer's Fellowship?

God's a Farmer

What is God Building?

What Does It Mean to Build God's House With Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones?

Last year I started re-reading the Life Studies of the New Testament. If you click on the Life Study tab, you can find other titles that may interest you.

From the Life-Study of 1 Corinthians - How Do the Believers Build With Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones in 1 Corinthians 3:12?

    I read a sentence in a Life- Study of 1 Corinthians that made me think: "In the building of the church we ourselves are used as materials" (Lee, Witness. Life- Study of 1 Corinthians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1981, Print). Based on Paul's word in 1 Corinthians 3:12 Witness Lee asks his readers in chapter 32 of the Life-Study of 1 Corinthians if they are wood or gold, grass or silver, stubble or precious stone. 

    Most of us he admitted would have to say that we are in a process much like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Just like this transformation process changes the caterpillar into a butterfly, spiritual transformation changes our wooden nature into gold, our grass into silver, and our stubble into precious stones!  Isn't that incredible?!  Sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in the cocoon with nothing much happening. 

      I liked this excerpt on page 280 because it shares in such a clear way how we can become these precious materials that God can use: 

In order to build with these materials, we ourselves must be constituted with them. We need to be constituted of the Father's nature [gold], the Son's redemption [silver], and the Spirit's transformation [precious stones]. This means that we must be constituted of the Triune God. When we receive Him, when we take Him into us by drinking Him and eating Him, when are transfused with Him and by Him, the very Triune God--the Father, the Son, and the Spirit--comes into us to be our element and substance. This causes a metabolic process to take place within us by which a new element is added and an old element is discharged. Another name for this process is transformation (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 1 Corinthians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1981, Print).

      Then he shares that when we call on the Lord's name, praise God, pray over the word, sing, worship, attend gatherings with other believers, fellowship with others, we receive the Triune God into us. That's what adds the element of God into us that CAN transform us. To me this means that to build with gold, silver, and precious stones is not to build the church with something of ourselves, but it is to build up the church with what we've enjoyed of God
each day!


Here's a link so you can listen to any of the programs on the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee that are on the book of  1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.

Other Blogs on the Life Study of 1 & 2 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians:
How did the Lord Solve the Problem Among the Believers in 1 Corinthians?
The Fellowship of the Believers in 1 Corinthians 1:9
What is God's Farm in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
What is God's Building in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
From the Life-Study of 1 Corinthians - How Do the Believers Build With Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones in 1 Corinthians 3:12?
Seeing the Revelation of the Body in 1 Corinthians 12
How Did the Early Believers Meet in 1 Corinthians 14:26?

2 Corinthians:

How Can You Be Like A Letter of Christ in 2 Corinthians 3:2?

What are the Sufferings For in 2 Corinthians 4:7-15?
How Does Transformation Happen in 2 Corinthians 3:18?
From the Life-Study of 2 Corinthians - Did You Know Pressures Cause Renewing in 2 Corinthians 4:16?
Why Do Believers Need to Be Reconciled in 2 Corinthians 5:18?
Giving in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9
Why Didn't the Lord Remove Paul's Thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9?

Do You Know What is God's Building in 1 Corinthians 3:9?

    What is God building in this universe?  The Lord Himself told His disciples in Matthew 16:18 "...and upon this rock I will build My church..."  This building is brought up again in 1 Cor 3:9  "...you are God's cultivated land [or farm], God's building."  

   Following this verse Paul gives us some warnings starting with not laying any other foundation except Christ who is the unique foundation of God's building.  In chapter 28 of the  Life-Study of 1 Corinthians on page 251 Witness Lee shares more on what this building is all about: 

 "Based upon the revelation given in chapters one and two, Paul in chapter 3 points out to the Corinthians that God's goal is to have a building, the temple, for His habituation.  It is not God's intention to have a group of wise men or philosophers.  God's goal is to have the church...In order to reach this goal, God must have the church first as a farm to grow the materials for the building" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 1 Corinthians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1981, Print).

When I read the Life-Studies of John, I learned that in his opening word John reveals reveals that the Lord's life is for producing God's building. This is in the post What's the Focus of the Gospel of John? Witness Lee has shared many times that you can see the thread of life and building throughout the entire Bible. 

Blog Update 11-10-13:  For the past few months I've been reading the Life-Studies of Ephesians, and they unveil the seven aspects of the church.  You can read about that in the post What's the Focus of the Book of Ephesians?

Here's a link so you can listen to any of the programs on the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee that are on the book of  1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.

Other Blogs on the Life Study of 1 & 2 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians:
How did the Lord Solve the Problem Among the Believers in 1 Corinthians?
The Fellowship of the Believers in 1 Corinthians 1:9
What is God's Farm in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
What is God's Building in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
From the Life-Study of 1 Corinthians - How Do the Believers Build With Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones in 1 Corinthians 3:12?
Seeing the Revelation of the Body in 1 Corinthians 12
How Did the Early Believers Meet in 1 Corinthians 14:26?

2 Corinthians:

How Can You Be Like A Letter of Christ in 2 Corinthians 3:2?
What are the Sufferings For in 2 Corinthians 4:7-15?
How Does Transformation Happen in 2 Corinthians 3:18?
From the Life-Study of 2 Corinthians - Did You Know Pressures Cause Renewing in 2 Corinthians 4:16?
Why Do Believers Need to Be Reconciled in 2 Corinthians 5:18?
Giving in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9
Why Didn't the Lord Remove Paul's Thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9?

What is God's Farm in 1 Corinthians 3:9?

    Have you ever considered that the believers are like a farm?  Well that is exactly what 1 Corinthians 3:9 says:  You are God’s farm, God’s building.   My father grew up on a farm, and I spent a lot of time there, and through that I learned a lot about farm life.  The main thing I saw is everything revolves around the crops! 

    Because of that I especially enjoyed how in chapter 22 of the Life-Study of 1 Corinthians  Witness Lee gives a connection between farms and God’s people.  First he points out that the church presented in 1 Corinthians is not one of organization, but obviously one of life, and is just like a farm full of growing things. Here’s an excerpt that I liked on page 197 that explained that:

We become members of the church not by the way of joining a social organization, but by being planted….It is a very significant matter to be a plant on God’s farm.  There is no need on the farm for a teacher to instruct the plants.  A plant does not need anyone to tell it what to do or how to grow (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 1 Corinthians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1981, Print).

 Water is definitely a major concern on a farm.  And one of the important points in this message is how as fellow believers on God's farm, we are not only growing, but also helping to water our fellow brothers and sisters so that they also can grow.  As Paul makes clear in this chapter, eventually what we grow on this farm is what we build God's house with. You'll find out about that in the post below, What is God's Building in 1 Corinthians 3:9?

Here's a link so you can listen to any of the programs on the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee that are on the book of  1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.

Other Blogs on the Life Study of 1 & 2 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians:
How did the Lord Solve the Problem Among the Believers in 1 Corinthians?
The Fellowship of the Believers in 1 Corinthians 1:9
What is God's Farm in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
Do You Know What is God Building in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
What Does it Mean to Build in 1 Corinthians 3:12 With Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones?
Seeing the Revelation of the Body in 1 Corinthians 12
How Did the Early Believers Meet in 1 Corinthians 14:26?

2 Corinthians:

How Can You Be Like A Letter of Christ in 2 Corinthians 3:2?
What are the Sufferings For in 2 Corinthians 4:7-15?
How Does Transformation Happen in 2 Corinthians 3:18?
Are You Under Pressure?
Why Do Believers Need to Be Reconciled in 2 Corinthians 5:18?
Giving in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9
Why Didn't the Lord Remove Paul's Thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9?

The Fellowship of the Believers in 1 Corinthians 1:9

  Do you know how fast your blood circulates? A few years ago I saw these amazing facts from my husband's work newsletter.  I cut them out and put them in my journal for that year.  And here they are: 

1. Every day your heart pumps 2,100 gallons for blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels.
2. It takes 24 seconds for a drop of blood to circulate through your body and return to your heart. 
3. To make all this happen, your heart beats over 100,000 times a day when you're resting.  
4. During exercise a well trained heart can pump several times its resting output. 

I thought about all these facts as I was reading Chapter 14 in the Life-Study of 1 Corinthians because Witness Lee compares the circulation in the Body of Christ to the circulation in our human body.  This has fascinated me because it shows how real the connection is between all the members of the Lord's Body on this earth. This is from pages 124-125:

I doubt that there is in any language an equivalent for the Greek word for fellowship, koinonia. This word implies oneness and also a mutual flowing among the believers.  When we enjoy fellowship with one another, there is a flowing among us...Perhaps the best illustration of fellowship is the circulation of blood in the human body. In a very short period of time the blood makes one complete circuit.  Life depends on this circulation. Just as there is the circulation of blood in the human body, so there is a spiritual circulation, called the fellowship, in the Body of Christ (Lee, Witness. Life- Study of 1 Corinthians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1981, Print).  

I like that these messages underscore again and again how God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, and this fellowship unites all the believers together. What an inspiring picture!

Here's a link so you can listen to any of the programs on the Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee that are on the book of  1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.

Other Blogs on the Life Study of 1 & 2 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians:
How did the Lord Solve the Problem Among the Believers in 1 Corinthians?
The Fellowship of the Believers in 1 Corinthians 1:9
What is God's Farm in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
Do You Know What is God Building in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
What Does it Mean to Build in 1 Corinthians 3:12 With Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones?
Seeing the Revelation of the Body in 1 Corinthians 12
How Did the Early Believers Meet in 1 Corinthians 14:26?

2 Corinthians:

How Can You Be Like A Letter of Christ in 2 Corinthians 3:2?
What are the Sufferings For in 2 Corinthians 4:7-15?
How Does Transformation Happen in 2 Corinthians 3:18?
Are You Under Pressure?
Why Do Believers Need to Be Reconciled in 2 Corinthians 5:18?
Giving in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9
Why Didn't the Lord Remove Paul's Thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9?

What Can Solve All the Problems Among the Believers in 1 Corinthians?

     Does the book of 1 Corinthians seem complicated to you?  It may look like it's just Paul hashing through a number of problems the believers were having in the church in Corinth.  

View of the San Juan Islands

   Well I really appreciate the insight Witness Lee shares in his Life-Study of this book because without it that's probably all I'd see.

   This is actually my third time reading through the Life-Studies of 1 Corinthians, and what makes this book special for me is that it was my starting point in 1986 for reading through the New Testament Life-Studies.

    
I like this excerpt on pages 35-36 in chapter 4 because it puts together why Christ should be the unique focus of all the believers:

In the first nine verses Paul lays as the foundation Christ, the unique center. In this unique center we have a unique and all-inclusive fellowship and enjoyment, the fellowship of Christ.  In 1:10 Paul begins to deal with the eleven problems found in 1 Corinthians.  In dealing with all these problems, Paul makes it very clear that the unique solution to all problems in the church is Christ and His cross (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 1 Corinthians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1981, Print).

 I noticed in my reading that brother Lee kept underscoring how  Paul in the midst of all these negative situations kept focusing the believers on Christ. In fact in chapter 5 of the Life-Study of 1 Corinthians he lists 19 aspects of the all-inclusive Christ that Paul reveals in this epistle!  

   Here's a link so you can listen to any of the programs on the Life-Study of the Bible with Witness Lee that are on the book of  1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.

Other Blogs on the Life Study of 1 & 2 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians:
How did the Lord Solve the Problem Among the Believers in 1 Corinthians?
The Fellowship of the Believers in 1 Corinthians 1:9
What is God's Farm in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
Do You Know What is God Building in 1 Corinthians 3:9?
What Does it Mean to Build in 1 Corinthians 3:12 With Gold, Silver, & Precious Stones?
Seeing the Revelation of the Body in 1 Corinthians 12
How Did the Early Believers Meet in 1 Corinthians 14:26?

2 Corinthians:

How Can You Be Like A Letter of Christ in 2 Corinthians 3:2?
What are the Sufferings For in 2 Corinthians 4:7-15?
How Does Transformation Happen in 2 Corinthians 3:18?
Are You Under Pressure?
Why Do Believers Need to Be Reconciled in 2 Corinthians 5:18?
Giving in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9
Why Didn't the Lord Remove Paul's Thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9?