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Scripture Reading: John 1:42; Matt. 16:18; 1 Pet. 1:3, 23; 2:2, 5; 3:4, 21; 5:2-4, 5b, 10
In this chapter we will consider the building of the church revealed in the experience and writings of Peter. Although we may already know Peter quite well, I have a burden to help us to know him more, to know him in a deeper way. Among the early apostles who established the churches, Peter was the first. He was not the first who was brought to the Lord, but he surely was the first who was commissioned to establish the churches (Matt. 16:19). He was also the first who spoke to lead many to salvation for the building of the church (Acts 2:14-41). Peter was the first apostle to establish the churches, and Paul was the last one in the New Testament to establish the churches. Some may ask where we would place the apostle John. The New Testament reveals that not long after the churches were established, they became damaged, or broken, like a torn fishing net. Thus, John was needed as a mender. John’s ministry was a mending ministry. After the church “net” was broken, God commissioned John with his ministry of life to mend the tears. Hallelujah for these three wonderful apostles! One began, the next completed, and when their work became damaged, the third came in to mend it.
Of the three great apostles — Peter, Paul, and John — in this chapter we will cover only the first one — Peter. We will cover Paul and John in the following chapter.
Peter began the building of the church. Many Christians take Peter as a good example for gospel preaching. They often quote Acts 4:12, where Peter says, “And there is salvation in no other, for neither is there another name under heaven given among men in which we must be saved.” It is not wrong to quote this verse for gospel preaching; on the contrary, it is wonderful. However, people nearly always neglect the first word in this verse, and. This word being at the beginning of the verse points to the foregoing verse, verse 11. Thus, when we quote Acts 4:12, we must not forget the word and, which refers us to verse 11. Acts 4:11 says, “This is the stone which was considered as nothing by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.” This verse does not speak of Christ as the Savior of God’s people but of Christ as the cornerstone of God’s building. Thus, the gospel concerns not only a Savior but also a stone.
Our Savior is a stone. This stone was considered as nothing by the builders. The Jewish builders were supposed to be building God’s house, but Christ, the living stone, was rejected by them (1 Pet. 2:4). They put Him aside, but He has become the head of the corner, the cornerstone of God’s building (Eph. 2:20). A cornerstone is placed at the corner of two walls. Wherever two walls meet, a strong stone is needed to join them together. The Gentile believers and the Jewish believers are two walls of God’s building that are joined by Christ as the cornerstone. Thus, Christ is not only the Savior but also the cornerstone for God’s building.
Preachers in Christianity frequently refer to Acts 4:12, but they rarely mention verse 11. Many who have been in Christianity for years have never heard a gospel message telling them that Christ is not only the Savior but also the stone. Christ is the Stone-Savior. If He were only the Savior, He could meet our needs, but He could never fulfill God’s purpose. God’s eternal purpose is not merely to save a group of fallen sinners but to build His eternal habitation with His saved ones. Therefore, in order to fulfill God’s eternal purpose, Christ needs to be both the Savior for the salvation of sinners and the stone for God’s building. Actually, His salvation is for God’s building.
The builders mentioned in verse 11 are the religious builders. It is not only the Jewish builders who put this stone aside; even the so-called builders in Christianity put this stone aside. Christianity preaches a poor salvation without God’s eternal purpose. It is not a rich salvation but a scarce salvation, one that delivers people out of hell but has nowhere to place them. Christianity tries to place people in a heavenly mansion, but there is no such thing in the Bible. God has no intention to place us in a heavenly mansion. Rather, God is building us into the New Jerusalem. Christianity misses the destination of salvation; they do not have the purpose of God in His salvation. The purpose of God, the destination of God’s salvation, is the New Jerusalem, God’s eternal building. Hence, God’s Son, the Lord Jesus, is not merely the Savior; He is the Stone-Savior.
Peter, the first great apostle, was used by God to begin the building of the church. Peter was an apostle to the Jewish people. Thus, Peter represents the Jewish wall. However, for God’s building to be complete, there was the need for another wall. Hence, there was the need of another apostle, the apostle to the Gentiles. Therefore, the Lord raised up Paul. Paul was raised up to build the Gentile wall to complete God’s house. This was the reason that God raised up Peter and then Paul (Gal. 2:7-8).
In Acts 15 the Jewish believers were dissenting toward Paul (vv. 1-2). It seems that they were saying, “Paul, you have been bringing in many unclean Gentiles without circumcising them. We accept you as a believer, but we cannot agree with your bringing in the Gentiles without circumcising them or charging them to keep the law. We cannot go along with you in this.” There was such a dissension. However, Peter, who was undoubtedly a man of God, charged the Jewish believers to receive the writings of Paul as they received the rest of the Scriptures. In 2 Peter 3:16 he says, referring to Paul, “As also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these things, in which some things are hard to understand, which the unlearned and unstable twist, as also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” It seems that Peter was telling the Jewish believers not to dissent from the apostle Paul but to receive what he wrote as Scripture. Through the receiving of both Peter’s and Paul’s writings, the universal habitation of God, composed of the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers, could be built up.
Not long after the building of the church began with Peter and Paul, the church became damaged. Hence, there was the need of John’s mending ministry. John’s ministry was neither Jewish nor Gentile but heavenly, because John brought everything back to the beginning. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Verse 4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” In the beginning there were no Jews and no Gentiles, but there was the Word. In this Word there were not teachings, doctrines, ordinances, and rituals, but there was life. To keep the Jewish rituals is to be in Leviticus, the third book of the Bible. John, however, brought us back to the first book, Genesis, where we see the tree of life (2:9). The Epistles of Paul reveal that Jewish religious teachings and Greek philosophy had crept in to damage the church. The church was greatly damaged by these two elements. Because of this, God raised up John to mend the holes and repair the damage. John mended not by fighting against Jewish teaching and Greek philosophy but by saying, “In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God...In Him was life...And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality” (John 1:1, 4, 14). The Word was not full of doctrines and philosophies but full of grace and reality.
Although I came from a heathen land, China, I was born and raised in Christianity. From my youth I heard preachers, pastors, and ministers speaking concerning Peter, preaching that the Lord called Peter to be a fisher of men (Matt. 4:19). This is certainly true, but I never heard one preacher say that the Lord made Peter a stone. The first time Peter contacted the Lord, the Lord did not tell Peter that He would make him a fisher of men. The Lord spoke this word to Peter in Matthew 4:19, which is a record of the second time Peter contacted the Lord. Peter was called by the Lord twice because, like us, he was weak in his faith. The first time Peter came to the Lord, the Lord said to him, “You are Simon, the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which is interpreted, Peter)” (John 1:42). The name Peter means “a stone.” Hence, the first time Peter came to the Lord Jesus, the Lord immediately promised Peter that He would make him a stone. However, Peter did not stay with the Lord. Instead, he went back to his old profession, fishing. Thus, in Matthew 4 the Lord went to the seashore where Peter was fishing and called him again. This second time, the Lord said that He would make Peter a fisher of men. Thus, being a stone precedes being a fisher of men.
Later, when Peter was following the Lord, the Lord asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (16:15). Peter took the lead to answer, saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). The Lord replied to him, “I also say to you that you are Peter” (v. 18). It seems that the Lord was saying, “Do not forget the new name that I gave you; you are a stone.” This must have been the reason that when Peter was older, in writing his first Epistle, he told the believers, “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (2:5). Thus, we can see that when Peter first came to the Lord, he was impressed that he would be made a stone. Later, when Peter was with the Lord, the Lord reminded him that he was a stone. Eventually, when Peter stood before the leaders of the Jews, he told them not only that Jesus Christ, the rejected One, is the Savior but also that He is the cornerstone (Acts 4:11-12). Peter preached Christ not only as a Savior but also as a stone.
Christ is the Savior for our salvation, and He is the stone for God’s building. Christ meets our need by being the Savior, and He fulfills God’s purpose by being the stone. Christ saves us for God’s building; He has no intention to save us for heaven. The Bible tells us that eventually heaven will be vacated. Revelation 21:2 says, “I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” Many Christians are trying to go up to heaven, but God is preparing to come down to earth. Thus, these Christians are trying to go in the opposite direction from God. We must see that our Savior is a stone. It is not that He is the stone so that He can be the Savior; rather, it is that He is the Savior so that He can be the stone. In other words, the building is not for salvation; salvation is for the building. We have been saved for God’s building, not for going to heaven.
Noah was charged by God to build the ark (Gen. 6:13-14). The New Testament believers are charged by God to build the church (1 Cor. 3:10, 12; 14:12, 26; Eph. 4:12, 16), which will eventually consummate in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2, 9-10). In each locality many dear saints are building the church by leading new ones to salvation, helping them to be transformed, and fitting them into the building. Although these saints may not be conscious of it, their labor is the building of the New Jerusalem. I expect that one day when we are in the New Jerusalem, we will recognize those whom we brought into the church and realize that we built them into the New Jerusalem. Some in Christianity may not accept this word. They may even consider it to be heretical, but this is what is revealed in the Bible. This is not a traditional Christian teaching; it is the heavenly vision. When we see one another in the New Jerusalem, we will realize that what we were building in the churches was the New Jerusalem.
God did not build the ark by Himself; neither will God build the church by Himself. God built the ark through the building of Noah. Today the Lord is building the church through our building of the church. Many saints who love the Lord and give everything for the church life do not realize it, but they are building the New Jerusalem. The ark that Noah built was merely a type. The New Jerusalem is the final ark, the eternal ark. Today we are building the final ark, which will save us from the present evil age in the old heaven and the old earth and usher us into the new age in the new heaven and the new earth.
I am bold to say this because in the Lord’s recovery we have seen the vision of the church. As a result, we know what the Lord is doing today, and we know what we are doing today in His recovery under His vision. We are not blindly preaching or ministering, trying to help others while we ourselves do not know where we are going. We have a clear goal, the New Jerusalem. Therefore, we have the full assurance and the boldness to say in faith that our building of the church today is the building of the New Jerusalem for God’s eternal purpose. Peter saw this vision, for in his preaching on the day of Pentecost, he indicated that Jesus Christ is not only the Savior for the salvation of God’s chosen ones but also the stone for God’s eternal building.
Now we need to see how we fallen, sinful, polluted, and contaminated human beings can become precious stones for God’s building. In order to become such precious stones, we first must be regenerated, born again. First Peter 1:3 says that we have been regenerated through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This indicates we have been identified with Christ, just as the eight persons in Noah’s family were identified with the ark. Because they were in the ark, they were one with the ark. Wherever the ark was, they were, and whatever the ark experienced, they experienced. The ark’s history was their biography; the ark’s life was their life. For us to be regenerated through the resurrection of Christ means that we are identified with Christ — we were put into Christ and are one with Christ.
Verse 23 tells us that we have been regenerated with an incorruptible seed, which is the living and abiding word of God. The word of God is the word of life. In regeneration the divine word of life comes into us as a seed of life. We now have this seed in us. We are each like a plot of soil. Soil can never produce a carnation flower if it does not have a carnation seed sown into it; it can be only a plot of soil. It can never be living, full of life, and full of beauty. No amount of teaching concerning what a proper plant should look like can ever cause a plot of soil to produce a plant. Many teachers, such as Confucius, have taught man for centuries how to be proper and virtuous, but this teaching has not worked. Nothing of life or beauty has come forth from all this teaching. Jesus came not to teach but to sow Himself as the seed of life into man. Matthew 13 clearly reveals that the Lord Jesus came as a Sower to sow the seeds of life (vv. 3-8, 37). These seeds are the word of God, the Lord being in this word as life (vv. 19-23; Luke 8:11).
Peter was not naturally a wonderful person. It might have been that when he was young, he was a naughty boy. Nevertheless, when Peter came to the Lord, without Peter’s knowing it, the Lord sowed Himself into Peter. Then when the Lord resurrected, the seed within Peter germinated. After the Lord’s resurrection Peter became another person. He was no longer a naughty boy but a great apostle. Thus, he was able to stand on the day of Pentecost to subdue thousands. The old Peter could not have done that. However, the seed that had been sown into him three years earlier was in blossom on the day of Pentecost. We all have such a glorious seed within us that is growing and will blossom. In some it has begun to blossom already.
In order to become precious stones for God’s building, we also must drink the milk of the word so that we will grow. First Peter 2:2 says, “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation.” Regardless of our age, we all need to be like newborn babes. Newborn babes do not know how to do anything other than to drink milk. Day and night they are drinking. As newborn babes, we should all have an appetite to drink the milk of the word. It is by drinking milk that newborn babes are able to grow. Likewise, we must drink the milk of the word in order that by it we may grow. We should come to the Bible not mainly for teachings but mainly to drink the milk, to take in the nourishment, that we may grow. The growth of a human being never comes from teaching. Growth comes from only one thing, that is, nourishment. Mothers know that in order for their children to grow, the children do not primarily need teaching. If children are given only teaching, they will become thin and unhealthy. However, if children are fed with much nourishing food, they will be happy and will grow.
In the local churches in the Lord’s recovery everyone has a pleasant, happy, and bright face. Several visitors have asked me, “What happened to these people?” Some have said to me, “When I went into one of your meetings, everyone was glowing. Did they all win valuable prizes?” There are no material prizes for the saints to win, but every morning they receive the prize of Christ. They receive Christ as their nourishment. Others have asked me, “Brother Lee, you are an old man. Why are you so happy every day? You are like a young man.” At times I have replied, “Please do not call me an old man. I am not old; I am young because of the nourishment I receive from the Word day by day.” I have been drinking the milk from the fountain of the Word for over fifty years. By now I am very familiar with this fountain. Many times even when I am not looking at the physical Bible, I am still drinking. After I speak a message, my wife is often surprised and says to me, “I did not see you open the Bible once this week. Where did such a wonderful message come from?” I answer, “I open the Bible within me a hundred times a day.” Others do not see this, but the Lord as the Spirit with my spirit sees it. When I am drinking from the inner fountain, the Lord Jesus is always happy, and I am therefore happy as well.
The milk we drink makes us grow. Eventually, by this growth we become different persons. By the growth of a carnation seed, a blossoming carnation flower is produced. Outwardly, I am a Chinese man, but within me something is blossoming; something is living. When we see one another, we should not look at the earthen vessel but at the blossoming Christ.
Moreover, this growth issues in building. The more we drink the milk of the word, the more we will desire to contact the saints. This is my experience. Today I find that without the dear brothers, I simply cannot live. The more we grow, the more we desire to be one with the saints. This is building.
The building of the church is not carried out by organization or by a disorderly “piling up”; it is entirely a matter of organic growth. The members of our physical body were not systematically organized, nor were they merely put together without any particular order. Rather, they have grown together organically. It is for this reason that our body cannot be divided. Likewise, the proper church life in the Lord’s recovery is not something organized or piled up but something that grows up. It is absolutely different from Christianity or any kind of religion. It is the growth of Christ corporately. The Lord desires that the church be built up not by teaching but by the nourishment of the milk and the solid food in the word (1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:12-14).
First Peter 3:4 mentions “the hidden man of the heart.” Perhaps we have never realized that in our heart there is a hidden man. Some may think that this hidden man is Jesus, but according to this verse, it is “a meek and quiet spirit.” Within our heart is our spirit. Our spirit is the hidden man of our heart. In order to be transformed into precious stones, we need to take care of this hidden man.
We should not primarily take care of what we think. I may say something that offends you, and the devil may use this offense to stir up your thinking. Some may be offended when I say that today we are building the New Jerusalem by building up the local churches. They may think, “This bothers me. I graduated from the top seminary, but I was never taught this. I have heard many preachers, but I never heard such a thing. I cannot swallow this; I cannot take it.” If some are troubled by this word, it is because I am speaking from the spirit, but they are thinking in their mind. Therefore, it is as if we are on two different planets. Because I am on the “planet” of the spirit, and they are on the “planet” of the mind, it is impossible for us to be one. Hence, we should not stay in our mind. Rather, we all need to come to our spirit.
In Revelation 1:12 the apostle John says, “When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.” The golden lampstands in this verse signify the local churches. In order to see the churches, we need to turn. To turn is to change one’s angle, direction, or destination. I may say that my head has seven holes, counting my eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth. If you are standing behind me, however, you may disagree with me, saying, “This brother is telling lies. He says that his head has seven holes, but I see no holes.” You see no holes because you are facing my back. If you would turn to see my face, you would see that my head indeed has seven holes. Many of us have been drugged, doped, and befuddled by the traditional concepts of Christianity. As a result, we may not know where we are. Therefore, we need a turn in order to change our direction, to change our angle. We need to drop all the traditional concepts and turn to our spirit to see the churches as we have never seen them before.
Many saints have told me that the first few times they heard me speak, they inwardly condemned me and fought against me. However, something deep within them would not let them go. They did not know why, but something within them always said Amen to my speaking. When they went home, something in their mind said to them, “You are foolish. You are simply following a man. Besides, if you are going to follow a man, why not follow one from the West? Why should you follow a man from China? You might be deceived by him.” Nevertheless, when the time of the next meeting came, something deep within them told them to go. Their mind said, “I should not go. I will stay home.” However, something else within troubled them and stirred in them, not giving them peace to stay home. Eventually, in spite of the continued protesting in their mind, they came to the meeting. This “something within” that caused them to come to the meetings was the inner man of their heart, their spirit.
Jesus came not from a place of high regard but from the despised city of Nazareth. Nathanael said, “Can anything good be from Nazareth?” (John 1:46). To carry out His recovery in this age, the Lord went to the poor land of China. Some may ask, “Can anything good come from China?” Nevertheless, the Lord sent me from China to the United States, a country steeped in a long history of traditional Christianity. Though some in Christianity may oppose the Lord’s recovery, no opposition can defeat us, for we are on the Lord’s side. As long as we are in the Lord’s recovery, we are on His side — we are identified with Him. We simply need to take care of the hidden man in our heart, our human spirit, which is where the Lord Jesus is. Today the Lord Jesus is with our spirit, the hidden man of our heart (2 Tim. 4:22). We need to listen to Him there, not to our mind, which is filled with traditional concepts. We need to forget about our traditional concepts and turn from our mind to our spirit. Then we will have the full discernment to know if what we hear is of the Lord or not.
In order to be transformed into precious stones for God’s building, we also need to be separated from the world. First Peter 3:20b says that by entering into the ark, “a few, that is, eight souls, were brought safely through by water.” The eight persons were saved by entering into the ark, which typifies the redeeming Christ. However, according to this verse, the eight persons were saved also by water. This indicates that the waters of the flood, which were a judgment to the crooked and perverted generation, were a saving to the eight persons, saving them not from God’s judgment but from the corrupted generation. The judging water separated them, brought them out of that evil generation, and ushered them into a new age. Thus, their passing through the flood waters signifies resurrection.
First Peter 3:21 says, “Which water, as the antitype, also now saves you, that is, baptism, not a putting away of the filth of the flesh but the appeal of a good conscience unto God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” The saving mentioned in this verse is not a saving from hell or a saving from our flesh, as in Romans 8, but a saving from the present evil age, which is condemned by God. Christians today argue about the proper form of baptism but miss the true significance of baptism. To be baptized is to pass through the judging water to be separated from today’s evil generation. The waters of the Red Sea, which also typify the waters of baptism, on the one hand, judged the Egyptian army and, on the other hand, separated the children of Israel from Egypt (Exo. 14:22-29). After passing through the Red Sea, it would have been difficult for the children of Israel to return to Egypt, because the sea blocked the way. If we see the real significance of baptism, we will never go back to the world after we are baptized. The waters of baptism are the waters that judge the world. We might have loved the world in the past, but we have been saved from the world, not by the ritual, the rite, of baptism but by the reality of the resurrection of Christ.
First Peter 2 reveals that we need to be nourished by the word in order to grow. Chapter 3 reveals that we need to turn to the hidden man of the heart, our spirit, and that we need to be separated from the condemned world, that is, saved through water. Chapter 5 reveals that we need to flock together (vv. 2-4). All sheep need the flock. Some animals do not like to stay with others of their kind, but sheep always like to be flocked together. If a sheep does not like the flock, perhaps this is a sign that it is actually not a sheep but a wolf. First Peter 2:5 mentions our being built up. Practically speaking, this building up is the flocking together in chapter 5. To be flocked together is to be built together. We should never be individualistic. We always need to flock together.
The final item that we need for our transformation for God’s building is God’s grace. First Peter 5:5 says, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Verse 10 mentions “the God of all grace.” God is the God not merely of one kind of grace but of all kinds of grace. Grace is God as our enjoyment and our supply. We all need the gracious supply from our all-sufficient God. May the Lord’s grace be with us all. By His grace we will grow, by His grace we will flock together, by His grace we will be transformed, and by His grace we will be built up together. We all need to give ourselves to experience this grace, for by it we will become God’s building and thus fulfill God’s eternal purpose.
