Search
Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 1:2, 10-13; 3:3-12, 16-17; 12:18-27; 14:12
In the previous chapter we said that the church needs not only to be edified but also to be built up, which is a step further than being edified. In this chapter I feel that I should address this matter more emphatically. I really hope that after these messages God’s children will all be able to see the need for the church to be built up and that they will have a deep feeling that no matter how much edification they have received in the past, they cannot become a dwelling place to satisfy the mutual need of God and man if they have not been built up.
Among the apostles’ Epistles in the New Testament, there are two that are concerned particularly with the building of the church. These two books are Ephesians and 1 Corinthians. Several portions listed at the beginning of this chapter are taken from 1 Corinthians, a book which speaks very much about the building of the church. The same is true with respect to the book of Ephesians. The matter of building is mentioned in a particular way in chapters 2 and 4. For instance, chapter 2 speaks about our being redeemed and points out that we are being built together in the Lord into a dwelling place of God in spirit (v. 22). This indicates that the reason we were saved by God is so that He can build us into His dwelling place. Chapter 4 goes on to say that after His ascension Christ gave various gifts for the building up of the Body of Christ (vv. 8, 11-12), which is the dwelling place of God mentioned in chapter 2. With respect to Christ, the church is being built up to be His Body, because Christ has committed Himself to the Body. With respect to God, the church is being built up to be the dwelling place of God with God Himself dwelling in it. Therefore, in order to be both the Body of Christ and the dwelling place of God, the church first has to be built up. Hence, as saved ones, we all need to be built up before we can become the dwelling place of God. Moreover, all the gifted persons who work for God need to see that the gifts given by God are all for the building up of the Body of Christ. Therefore, they must always do the work of building, not merely the work of edification.
However, today the children of God lack the view of building. Almost all those who zealously pursue the Lord think that they will be all right as long as they love the Lord, stay away from sin, forsake the world, have more fellowship with the Lord, and learn to live before the Lord. They also think that it is enough if they live a sanctified and victorious life to please the Lord. Please remember that this is altogether according to the concepts of individual spirituality and edification. Brothers and sisters, please consider your Christian life. Is this not your condition? You thirst after Christ, pursue Christ, and learn some amount of practical dealing. However, if you seriously check the goal of your pursuit, I am afraid that from the beginning to the end it is for your self-edification. I am afraid you never have had the view that you need to be built together with your brothers and sisters. No doubt, sometimes you may feel that you need to be humble, gentle, loving, forbearing, and considerate when you are around the brothers and sisters. But the reason that you have this kind of concept is simply because you think that if you do not behave in this way, you will have problems getting along with them. You may have never considered the need to be built together with all the saints.
Not only are God’s children like this in general, even those who work for the Lord today have very little view of building. Often they think that it is good enough to preach the gospel and save some souls and do not think that they have to care about whether or not there is the building. They also think that everything is all right as long as they lead people to love the Lord and pursue after Him and that they do not have to be bothered about whether or not there is the building. Therefore, the goal of their work is merely to lead people to be saved and to be spiritual. Their only concern is how they can help people to know the Lord, to pursue spirituality, to serve the Lord, and to live for the Lord. They never consider the matter of the building of the church or God’s desire to have a house among the saints. They lack the vision of building.
This is the condition of Christianity today. In any of the larger cities on earth you can see a number of Christian organizations and a great number of Christians. Not only are there nominal Christians, but there are also many genuinely saved Christians and even many who love the Lord and pursue after the Lord. However, if you have the vision, if you have seen what God wants to have in eternity, you will sigh and say, “Today on the earth it is hard to find a church that has been built up. It is hard to see a group of Christians who are being built up in a locality as a spiritual house in which God can dwell.”
I have had this experience of sighing before, but I have to confess that my feeling then was not deep enough. Now, after traveling abroad as the Lord led me to do and after having some contact with God’s children from place to place, amazingly this feeling became deeper and deeper within me. Every time I arrived at a certain place, the Holy Spirit seemed to say, “Look at the situation of Christianity here! Look at the condition of the Christians here! You see people who are saved, who love the Lord, who pursue after the Lord, who live for the Lord, and who pay attention to being spiritual, but can you see a dwelling place here in which I can rest? Is there a group of believers who have been built up into a spiritual house?” At a certain place the Holy Spirit even asked me, “Can you see two saved persons here who are truly being built together?” When I was faced with such a question within, I could only sadly answer the Lord, “No, Lord!” I also said to the Lord, “There is Christianity here, and there are Christians here. There are those who love You, those who pursue You, and those who pay attention to being spiritual, but I cannot see two persons who are built together.”
Forgive me for describing to you a little bit of the situation of one place. After I arrived there, a brother invited another brother and me to dinner. While we were eating, I observed that the two of them were really humble, gentle, and loving toward each other. The host brother treated us very well and showed us much love, and the brother who was invited with me was very polite. Both of them were quite cheerful. However, after the dinner when we sat down to have some conversation, I noticed that these two persons seemed to be on the two opposite poles of the earth: one was on the North Pole, and the other was on the South Pole. They simply could not agree on anything. The one on the North Pole tried to pull me to the North Pole, whereas the one on the South Pole wanted to draw me to the South Pole. Both of them wanted me to agree with their respective opinions. I felt very awkward. Since I could not play politics with them, I just kept silent, saying nothing for or against either side. Later, when the brother who was the guest had left, the host brother said to me, “Brother Lee, you do not know this person. You see that he seems very spiritual when he talks, but his hidden condition is very poor.” Then he went on to tell me many stories about that brother. A few days later I saw the other brother who had been the guest. As soon as he saw me, he said, “Brother Lee, the other day when the three of us were together, it was not so easy for me to speak, but now that I am with you alone, I have a few words to tell you. Oh, that person is really bad!” Then he went on to tell me many things about that brother. A few days later the second brother invited the other brother and me for dinner. When they were together, they were again so polite and gentle. One said, “I am really not good.” The other one said, “Brother Lee, this brother’s condition before the Lord is wonderful.” When I saw the situation, I felt disgusted within me. I said in my heart, “You are altogether leprous! On the previous occasion when you invited me for dinner, I did not know you and your real inner condition, so I did not feel too bad. But now the leprosy within you has become manifest. You criticize each other, and you are unhappy with each other. Yet today you put on a show for this occasion. On the surface this one commends that one, and that one compliments this one, but you both feel entirely different within. This is altogether a pretense. This is leprosy. God has absolutely no way among you, and He will not be able to have any building among you.” Therefore, since that time I have had a very deep feeling: “Where is God’s dwelling place? Where can we find two persons who are built together?”
Once someone asked me, “Brother Lee, Matthew 18 says that wherever two or three pray together in one accord, the Lord is there in their midst. Two or three of us have been praying together and meeting together here, but why is it that there is not much of the Lord’s presence among us? Why is it that we do not have much of the Lord’s blessing in our midst?” I then asked the brother, “Do you think you are truly in one accord?” When I asked this, the brother could not answer me. I think many of us know many stories like this. The saints may seem to be in one accord while they are praying, yet when they are practically serving together, it is altogether a different story; they are neither of one heart nor of one mind. For instance, when three people kneel down to pray together for the gospel, one of them prays, “O Lord! Save the sinners and manifest the power of the gospel”; then the other two both say Amen. This is genuinely a situation of one accord. But when they get up from their knees to discuss how to preach the gospel, they cannot be one. The three of them have three opinions. One of them says, “Since the weather is so hot, I think it is better to preach the gospel at 6:30 a.m.” Another one says, “No, the most appropriate time is 7:30 p.m.” Then the third one says, “I think 4:30 p.m. is the best time.” As a result, the three of them come to a deadlock. The one who suggests 6:30 a.m. usually gets up very early in the morning. The one who suggests 7:30 p.m. always goes to bed very late at night and has difficulty getting up in the morning. And the one who suggests 4:30 p.m. does not have to work in the afternoon. Hence, the three seem to have the same heart, but they are not of the same mind. They cannot even agree on the time to preach the gospel. Sometimes brothers like this come and ask me, “Brother Lee, what do you think?” If I were asked this question about this situation, I would say, “This is hard for me. I can have only one view; I cannot have three views. Thus, in my opinion, half past midnight is the most suitable time.” It seems that I am joking, but my intention would be to give them a feeling that neither their views nor my view matters. Whenever we come together, all our individual opinions must be laid aside. It does not matter what I think but what the Lord thinks. All our “I think’s” cannot build the church.
Brothers and sisters, where can we see the building today? Let me speak a few words in a direct and simple way. Please remember that God’s presence, God’s power, God’s blessing, God’s light, and God’s grace are given to those who have been built together. Wherever there is a church that has been built together, there will be God’s presence, God’s power, God’s light, God’s rich blessing, and God’s grace. And if there is no building, there will not be any of these blessings of God.
For instance, in a certain place you may see eight to ten brothers and sisters who have been raised up by the Lord. These ones just live before the Lord. They may not seem to know anything, but they are in one accord. Although they may not be able to present the truth well or preach the gospel clearly, they are all in one accord. Therefore, they have God’s blessing and are able to bring people to the Lord. When others come into their midst, they can sense the Lord’s presence. However, in another place there may be some who are eloquent in giving messages and competent in preaching the gospel, but there is not the real one accord among them, and they are not built together. Amazingly, places with this kind of situation usually have only a few people who have been newly saved and brought to the Lord. The preaching in such places may be very appealing, but very few come to listen to it, and even fewer receive it. When you go there, you do not have the sense that the Lord is there, and you cannot see the Lord’s presence. I think that all the brothers and sisters have had this kind of experience in the past. We must see that the Lord’s presence lies with our being built together.
I would like to repeat that when I went abroad this time and traveled through many places, I could not see many churches that had been built up. There were those who were saved, those who loved the Lord, and those who were zealous, but there were not those who had been built together. The thing that grieved me the most was that in those places what I mostly saw was disgruntlement, dissatisfaction, and disharmony. It was difficult to find any place with a condition of being built up.
At the same time, in various places I often met children of God who asked me, “Brother Lee, where should we go?” What they meant was, “Where should we go for meetings?” In nearly every place I was asked this question. It was difficult for me to give them an answer because I really could not see any place where there was the building. You look at one place, and there are opinions. You look at another place, and there is criticism. It is not easy to find a single place that is harmonious and built together. Therefore, it was hard for me to point out to them a place to which they should go, a place where there is God’s house. If you ask me where Christianity is, almost anywhere we go, I could point out to you where there is a place of worship in Christianity or a place where Christians meet. However, if you ask me, “Since we are God’s children, where is the place that is our home? Where can we go to find rest? Where is the presence of God? Where is the blessing of God?” I really cannot answer these questions. Why not? I cannot answer these questions because it is not easy to find a built-up church.
We must see that all that matters is whether or not we have been built up. It is not a question of giving messages, nor is it a question of gifts. Rather, it is a question of whether or not there is a group of people who have been built by God into a spiritual habitation in which God can dwell. When people come into the midst of such a group, they not only sense the presence of God but also feel the warmth that is there. In addition, they feel that such a place is their spiritual home, a place in which they can rest. Brothers and sisters, is this the condition of the place where you are, the place where you meet? If it is not, then the place where you are definitely lacks building. I believe that these words are enough to show us that today what is needed most in every place is a builded church.
Today in any major city there are thousands of Christians. In addition, there are gospel activities throughout the earth and believers everywhere. However, it is difficult to find even one place where there is a group of God’s children who are being built into the house of God. We must not blame others, saying that they do not want to be built up. Neither should we say that there are no workers of God who are helping them to be built up. We cannot shirk our responsibility. Every one of us is responsible for the building; every one of us needs to be built up. I tell you, brothers and sisters, your most urgent need right now is to be built up.
I believe that by now we are clear that building and edification are vastly different. Although building includes edification, edification is not necessarily building. We may have been edified but not built up at all. Sometimes we see brothers and sisters who have been edified very much. Yet often the result is that the more they are edified, the more independent they become; the more they are edified, the more peculiar they become; the more they are edified, the more they despise others; and the more they are edified, the more they distance themselves from others. I have seen a good number of people who are like this. The more they receive this kind of edification, the more they become secluded and divisive. Therefore, if edification is not for building, it is of no benefit to the church. On the contrary, often it even damages the church.
Hence, as those who work for the Lord, we have to be very careful. As we are ministering to the children of God, if our edifying of the believers only produces this kind of independent person, then our work is a complete failure. All the brothers and sisters who are co-workers need to seriously ask themselves what the goal and purpose of their work is. If we do not have the vision of building, I am afraid that the more we work and the more we edify people, the more the church will lack the building. For example, when a builder wants to build a house, he has a definite goal, and he also has a blueprint in his hand. He not only knows that he is building a house, but he also knows what kind of house he is building. Only with this understanding can he work according to his goal. He knows that the house needs doors and windows, so he takes some materials, including wood and glass, and makes them into doors and windows. This may be considered his work of edification. Then he sets these doors and windows into the house. This setting is the building. Thus, we can see that all the edification is for the building. When a builder is working, he has a goal, and he works toward this goal.
Suppose there is another builder who wants to build a house, yet he is making a table. May I ask you, is his work useful for the building of the house? He may work much harder than the previous builder. He may be more meticulous and able to build the unseemly pieces of wood into a very nice table. Nonetheless, let me ask you all, can you build this table into or onto the house? You cannot put it on the foundation, neither can you place it on the roof. You cannot use it either as a door or as a window. Yet the table standing there seems to be more beautiful than everything else. It seems to be saying, “Windows, none of you are as pretty as I am; doors, none of you are prettier than I. I am stronger than any one of you.” Do you see this? The table built by the builder becomes a problem to the building of the whole house. Naturally you will say that no builder would do this, but today many of those who work for the Lord are certainly like this. They are truly zealous for the work and genuinely zealous in edifying people, but they edify the brothers and sisters and make them into so many beautiful individual tables. The other brothers and sisters may be like broken doors, broken windows, broken beams, and broken pillars. Although they are unseemly, they can still somewhat be put together and built into a house as a dwelling place. However, the one who is a table, though very pretty, is all alone and is not built with others. Therefore, with respect to the building of the church, he is altogether useless. Moreover, he is often the cause of problems.
Forgive me for saying that I am afraid that for some brothers and sisters all their progress and all the edification they have received is this kind of edification. I am also afraid that many co-workers also edify people in this manner when they go forth to work. I have reiterated that if we do not have the picture of building before us and if we do not have the building of the church as our goal, then I am afraid that the work that we do will be this kind of foolish work. The more we work, the less the church is built up.
Let me illustrate this. Suppose a brother is going to a certain place to work for the Lord, and he only sees that he is going there to help the brothers and sisters to be spiritual. He says, “Oh, the people there are fleshly; I want to go and help them so that they all may become spiritual. I myself have learned the lesson of the cross in a serious way, so when I go to help them, I will also lead them to know and receive the cross. The goal of my work is to lead people to be sculptured by the cross.” Therefore, after this brother goes to that place, he speaks about the cross every day. Since he works in this manner, surely a group of people will be edified by him and will follow him to learn to take the cross every day. However, this brother never helps them to see that being dealt with by the cross is for the building of the church. Hence, although these saints learn lessons of the cross, there will be very little building of the church.
After a while this brother may go to another place, and another co-worker will come to this place. This newly-arrived one will say, “No one among you has learned the lesson of having fellowship with the Lord, and no one here knows how to live before the Lord. Now that I am here with you, I will help you in the matter of having fellowship with the Lord.” Therefore, the first message he gives is on fellowship, and the second message is still on fellowship; every message is on fellowship. On the platform he tells people that besides fellowship everything is useless. Regardless of the kind of merchandise you sell, there always will be some customers. Therefore, after he has stayed there for a period of time, some brothers and sisters will be helped by him to live daily before the Lord. Then those who previously received the dealing of the cross will say, “How can you have proper fellowship if you only have fellowship but have not been broken?” And those who have just learned the matter of fellowship will say, “How can you be broken without learning the matter of fellowship?” Therefore, everyone will have a problem within. Those who learned to fellowship with the Lord will not respect those who received the dealing of the cross, and those who received the dealing of the cross will have no admiration for those who learned to fellowship with the Lord. Perhaps you would say that it is not possible for those who have truly been broken to show disrespect toward others. In theory this is correct, but in actuality it is quite common for those who have been broken by the cross to not respect others.
Then after another period of time a brother who specializes in “knowing Christ” will come to this place. He will say, “Oh, merely speaking about fellowship or about the cross will not do, you must know Christ. Only Christ is all and in all. Therefore, we must let Christ have the preeminence in all things.” Hence, he specifically does the work of “knowing Christ.” From the beginning to the end everything is Christ. Eating is Christ. Drinking is Christ. Praying is Christ. Reading the Bible is Christ. Everything is Christ. I say again, regardless of what you sell, some people will buy it. No matter what kind of message you preach, some people will receive it, especially if you speak about a subject as precious as the glorious Christ. Therefore, eventually there will be a third group of people in that place. They will be the ones who receive the messages on knowing Christ. With them, every day is Christ, every moment is Christ, every matter is Christ, and everywhere is Christ, Christ, Christ! However, those who learned the cross will be bothered when they hear about “knowing Christ,” and those who learned the matter of fellowship also will be uncomfortable when they hear about “knowing Christ.” The first group will then criticize them and say, “You have to be dealt with by the cross before you can live out Christ.” The second group will say, “You need to live in fellowship with the Lord, and then you can touch Christ. How can you know Christ outside of fellowship with Him?” Those who pay attention to knowing Christ will then refute these words and say, “The goal of the cross is to gain Christ, and fellowship is also for us to gain Christ. Therefore, Christ is the unique goal of everything. Christ is all!”
Here you see how problems arise. I would like to tell you, before these three co-worker brothers went to that locality, the brothers and sisters there were not so clear about many things. They did not know the cross, know the fellowship with the Lord, or know Christ. All they knew was to serve together. Nevertheless, their serving in ignorance was in harmony, and there was also the Lord’s presence. When you went into their midst, there was warmth, and you felt that the Lord was among them. However, since those three persons with special gifts went there to work for a period of time, that place has three groups of people who have been edified: one in the matter of the cross, a second in the matter of fellowship, and the third in the matter of knowing Christ. However, now when you go into their midst, you have a feeling that it is winter there — everything is cold and withered. While they are breaking the bread, someone who has learned the matter of fellowship stands up to pray, “Lord, now we are having fellowship with You before this table.” But those who have learned the cross do not say Amen, neither do those who have learned Christ. After a while one who emphasizes knowing Christ rises to pray, “Lord, here we see that You are everything. You are the bread, and You are the cup. When we enjoy these things, we enjoy You.” Yet those who have learned fellowship and those who have received the cross neither appreciate this nor say Amen. A moment later one of the ones who take the cross also stands up to pray, “O Lord! Here we see Your death. This is an all-inclusive death. We have all died together in You.” However, those who have learned Christ do not say Amen, and neither do those who have learned the matter of fellowship. Deadness and coldness are all that you touch there.
Do not think that my illustration is an exaggeration. It is true that some of the co-workers who go out to work have genuinely edified others, but at the same time they have also damaged the church. You may have carved out a little horse or a beautiful little monkey, or you may have produced a few tables and chairs of various sizes, but the house is gone. Originally, the materials that you used were beams, doors, windows, and part of the foundation of the house, but you thought that they were too rough and unseemly, so you wanted to give them a little edification. Eventually, while it seems that you have edified the saints, you have also torn down the entire house. You have edified many individual saints, but through your edifying work you have caused the entire church to collapse.
This matter is very serious. I ask you all, did the edification you receive have the building in view or was it merely for your individual spirituality? This is a big question. I also would like to ask the brothers and sisters who are co-workers, when you help people by edifying them, is it for their individual spirituality or for the building of the church? This is also a big question.
Today many speak on 1 Corinthians, using it to present the matter of edification. However, I would like to ask God’s children, when the apostle wrote 1 Corinthians, was it written for the edification of individuals? No! The apostle’s emphasis was not on the edification of individuals but on the building of the church. At the time the Epistle was written, the most shameful thing in the church in Corinth was that the believers there had allowed Satan to do a work of tearing down among them. Satan caused them to not speak the same thing, to not be of the same mind, and to strive with one another. They said, “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ” (1:10-12). Consequently, they were divided, and there were strifes among them. This was altogether the result of the wiles of Satan. Therefore, the apostle wrote a letter to deal severely with their abnormal situation. The apostle seemed to be saying, “Today the Lord does not care for the spirituality of individual saints but for the building up of the whole church. Your condition is altogether fleshly! As God’s fellow workers, we come here to work among you, not to edify you so that you may be spiritual individually, but to help you to be built together to be an inhabitable house. We help you to know the cross and to know Christ, not for your individual spirituality but altogether for the building up of the church.”
Moreover, the apostle says that as a wise master builder he had laid a foundation, which is Jesus Christ, and that another would build upon it. He says, however, that every man should take heed how they would build upon it. Would they build with gold, silver, and precious stones? Or would they build with wood, grass, and stubble (3:10-12)? The goal of the apostles’ work was absolutely not for individuals to become spiritual but for the church to be built up into a house, a dwelling place.
In 1 Corinthians 3 the apostle also says, “You are the temple of God” (v. 16). Unlike in 6:19 where Paul says that our body is a temple of God, in this verse the temple does not refer to our body individually. Rather, it denotes the church as the house of God. Therefore, in 3:17 he goes on to say, “If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him.” This means that if anyone destroys the house, the church, of God, God will destroy him. When some in the church in Corinth said, “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ,” they were tearing down the temple of God and destroying the house of God. In response to this, the apostle said that he and his fellow workers went out to work for the building up of the church. Hence, 1 Corinthians was written not merely for the edification of individuals but even more for the building up of the church. Therefore, in chapter 12 the apostle seemed to be saying, “You are the Body of Christ. Even though the body is one, it has many members; no one member can be without the other members. The eye cannot say that it does not need the hand, nor can the head say that it does not need the foot. Even the weakest member has its function, and even the most uncomely member has its place. In the Body of Christ you are members one of another, and all the gifts you have received are for the building up of the Body. It is a pity that although there is an abundance of gifts among you and you are not behind in any gift, those gifts cause you to have divisions and contentions. Consequently, there is no building up but tearing down.”
In chapter 13 the apostle seemed to say, “All these gifts of yours, as sounding brass and clanging cymbals, neither edify others nor build up the church. I would rather that you did not have these things. My desire is that you would have love, because only love can join others to you. Only love builds. Gifts divide you, whereas love joins you.” Then in chapter 14 he says that if the Corinthian believers would like to have spiritual gifts, they should seek to excel for the building up of the church (v. 12). Therefore, we can see clearly that the apostle’s emphasis in writing this Epistle was not on individual spirituality but on God’s building. The apostle’s work was altogether based on the blueprint laid out before him, that is, the dwelling place of God. It was with this as his goal that he led people to know the cross and to be spiritual. He did not merely lead people to take the cross, neither did he only lead them to be spiritual. All his work had the building as its goal. What a pity it is, however, that today many use 1 Corinthians merely for their personal spirituality or for helping others to be spiritual. I say again, what causes me the greatest pain is that all who receive this kind of help only seem to become individually spiritual and cause the church to suffer and be torn down. If you take a closer look, you can see that many who pay attention to individual spirituality eventually lose God’s presence and blessing. If there are many people in a locality who continually pay attention to personal spirituality, eventually that church will be divided and torn apart.
May the Lord be merciful to us so that we may see that today what He needs is not for individuals to be spiritual but for the church to be built up. Please do not misunderstand my words. I absolutely acknowledge that personal spirituality has its value before God. Each one of us must learn to live before the Lord and to be broken by the cross that we may all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. But please remember that personal spirituality should not be for individuals; rather, it should be for the building of the church. The problem today is that many people pay attention to and care for personal spirituality only; they do not care for the building of the church at all. This is really the deceit of the enemy. Once we focus on our personal spirituality, our self will come in and will have the ground. Once we come to this stage, seemingly we are most spiritual; actually we are full of self. We seem to be persons who receive the breaking of the cross the most, but actually we are the most difficult to be broken. In any group of Christians the person who is most difficult to be broken is the one who pays the most attention to personal spirituality. Such a one hopes to be personally spiritual and to help others to be spiritual as well, but instead the result is that he is the one who is the most difficult to be broken. Although he continually talks about the breaking of the cross, he is the hardest person to be broken by the cross. May the Lord be merciful to us and grant us to see that we do not need mere edification; instead, we need building. We do not need individual spirituality; instead, we need the building of the church. Any spirituality that we may need must also be for the building of the church.
