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Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:15-16
III. The perfected saints directly building up the Body of Christ — Eph. 4:15-16:
А. Holding to truth in love:
1. God’s New Testament economy.
2. The all-inclusive Christ.
3. The church as the Body of Christ — an organism.
B. Growing into Christ the Head in all things:
1. Through acknowledging the headship of Christ.
2. Letting Christ increase and grow in us, His members, in every inward part.
C. Out from the Head:
1. All the Body causing the growth of the Body of Christ:
а. Through every joint of the rich supply — every specially gifted part of the Body of Christ for the supplying of every member of the Body of Christ.
b. And through the operation in the measure of each one part (each member of the Body of Christ).
2. All the Body being built together:
а. Being fitted together — all parts of the frame being fitted together into one structure.
b. Being knit together — all the other parts being joined to the frame and knit together into one Body.
3. The Body of Christ building itself up:
а. In love — in the element and sphere of the divine love.
b. A direct building up — all the members of the Body of Christ directly building up the Body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:12-16 occupies a special place in the New Testament because it shows us the mystery concerning the building up of the Body of Christ. Without these few verses we would not know how to build up the Body of Christ. First, we must say that to build up the Body of Christ is not to build up a congregation. A congregation is an organization, but the Body of Christ is an organism. An organism is altogether a matter of life, whereas an organization has no life. For example, a table is framed together from pieces of wood. It is just an organization; it does not have any life within. A robot may do all kinds of things, but it is still an organization; it has no life. On the contrary, I stand here not as an organization but as an organism. My whole being is a story of life; every part of me is of life. Some think that since the church is a congregation, it must be an organization. However, immediately after Paul mentions the church in Ephesians 1:22, he says in verse 23 that the church is the Body of Christ. Some Bible expositors have considered the Body of Christ to be a metaphor. But the Bible says explicitly that the church is the Body of Christ. It is not a metaphor but a fact. Christ is the Head, and the church is His Body. Since the Head is an organism, the Body must also be an organism. Hence, organization has no place in the church.
Some may ask, “Since there are elders in the church, is this not an organization?” Apparently it seems to be an organization, but actually the eldership is not an organization. The elders are such not by their position but by their degree of life in the Lord. This is why 1 Peter 5 charges the elders to shepherd the flock of God among them, not lording it over them but becoming patterns of the flock (vv. 1-3). This shows us that in the church the elders are there not by organization but by their life; they are to be the patterns of the flock. A sheep is a very communal animal; the whole flock follows the leading of one head sheep. The elders are the head sheep. On the one hand, the elders are like the shepherds. But actually, the Lord did not ask them to be the shepherds. Rather, He charged them to be the head sheep, taking the lead in everything. Hence, this is not organizational but organic. It is not based on arrangement but on life. For example, while I am speaking here, not only does my mouth move, but my whole being — hands, head, eyes, feet, and the whole body — moves as well. When one part of the body is sick, the whole body cares for it. This is not by arrangement, nor is it artificial. Rather, it is something organic.
Some have said that the local church is an autonomous congregation: each should be governed by itself, and all the localities are separate. Seemingly, this saying is correct. Actually, it is wrong because each church is not an individual body. The Body is the sum total of all the churches added together. In a body one cannot carve out any autonomy. If the shoulder, the arm, the hands, the head, the chest, and the legs separate themselves into autonomies, the body is completely dismembered. Even though superficially we may distinguish the different parts of the body, the blood circulation within them cannot be separated. Two weeks ago we were visiting an elderly sister just as a middle-aged sister came to treat this one’s leg pain with acupuncture. It was so wonderful that by putting the needle in the sister’s finger, the pain in her leg was gone. This tells us that the human body is organic and is an integrated whole. Also, 1 Corinthians 12:26 says that when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Hence, a body cannot be divided, and none of its members can be independent and autonomous.
When we say that the church is organic, we do not mean that it is an organism composed of our natural life. Rather, it is an organism composed of the life in our spirit, which is Christ Himself. The resurrected Christ is the life-giving Spirit. This Spirit enters into us who have received Him. Hence, within us we have the same life and the same spirit. In this one life we become organic, being joined together as one. The problem now is that we have two lives within us. One is the original natural life; the other is the Lord Jesus as our life. Which life are we living by? If we live by our natural life, we are not the church. If we live according to Christ and live Christ, we are the church. The church is Christ Himself in all of us. When Christ is in Himself, He is just Christ. When He enters into the saints and lives with the saints, the Christ within the saints becomes the church. The reality of the church is Christ living in us. The key to the building up of the Body of Christ is to live Christ. If we live our natural life, the Body of Christ will not be built up. For this reason we must deny and reject our natural life and must put the natural life aside. In this way Christ will have the proper place within us and will be able to increase day by day. This is the building up of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ grows by the growth of Christ within us and is built up in this way.
In the previous chapter we saw that in the building up of the Body of Christ the first One who builds is Christ. How does Christ build the church? He does it in His ascended position by giving to the church gifts, such as the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers. The Lord does not build up the church directly. Rather, it is the gifts given to the church that perfect the saints. The perfected saints in turn participate in the work of the ministry to directly build up the Body of Christ. Here is the distinction between the church in the Lord’s recovery and the denominations. The denominations are built up as a congregation by a few pastors and preachers. But the church in the Lord’s recovery is built up as the Body of Christ by every perfected saint.
Ephesians 4:15 shows us that to build up the Body of Christ we first need to hold to truth in love. In the universe everything is vain and empty; there is no truth. According to Ephesians, in the universe there are only three things that are true and will last to eternity. The first is God’s New Testament economy. This is very practical and real. We have to hold to this in love. This love is not our own love; rather, it is the love of God in Christ becoming our love. By this love we love God, Christ, and the church. We have to hold to God’s economy in this love. The second thing is the all-inclusive Christ. Christ is most real. All other doctrines, speakings, and different teachings are not real. We must hold to Christ and forsake everything else. The third thing is the church as Christ’s Body, the organism. The church is also true and will last for eternity because it is the Body of Christ, the true One. To build up the Body of Christ we must hold to these three things. All the other things we must reject.
In order to build up the Body of Christ, we also need to grow up into Christ the Head in all things (v. 15). Although we are saved, in many things we are still outside of Christ. We need to grow into Christ in one thing after another. For example, when the sisters are going to make a dress, they often make their own decisions in choosing the style, the color, and the fabric. They do not allow the Lord to be Lord. Likewise, the brothers may not allow the Lord to be Lord in deciding whether they should leave their hair long or short. In too many things we have not allowed Christ to be Lord. Hence, in those things we are not in the Lord but rather are outside the Lord. For this reason we need to grow. We need to grow into the Lord in one thing after another. This requires that we acknowledge the headship of Christ. When a sister is going to make a dress, she should pray to the Lord, “Lord, I am not the Lord. You are the Lord. You decide what style, color, and fabric the dress should be.” In this way she will grow into Christ. Second, we have to let Christ increase and grow in all our inward parts. When Christ grows within us, we will grow in Him. Actually, the growth in life is not our growth, but the growth of the Lord Jesus in us. This requires that we give Him the ground and acknowledge His headship. We have to hand over our rights to Him and allow Him to have the ground in us. In this way He will occupy us and will grow in us, and we will grow in His life. By this, we will grow into Christ the Head in all things.
Our growth in life is a growth into Christ the Head, but our function in the Body of Christ is a function out from the Head. First, we grow into the Head; then out from the Head and based upon the Head, we have something for the building up of His Body.
When we all allow Christ to grow within us, the result will be that all of us cause the growth of the Body of Christ. Ephesians 4:16 shows us that letting Christ grow within us unto the growth of the Body of Christ is first through every joint of the rich supply. These joints are the gifts mentioned in verse 11. They are the specially gifted members of the Body of Christ, and they are there for the supply of every member of the Body of Christ. Second, it is through the operation in the measure of each one part, which is each of the members of the Body of Christ. When all the saints, who are the members of the Body of Christ, are supplied and perfected, they will function according to their measure. This causes the growth, which is the building up, of the Body of Christ.
When all the joints of the Body are supplying, and when each of the members of the Body is functioning, the Body is one. This oneness is the building. The building up of the whole Body is, on the one hand, through the fitting together and, on the other hand, through the knitting together. To be fitted together is for all the frame of the Body to be fitted together to form one structure. This is like the human body with its skeleton. In the skeleton there are the joints, which fit the bones together to form one system. To be knitted together is for all the other parts to be joined to the skeleton and to be knit together into one Body. This is also like building a house. First, we join the whole frame together. Next, we fill up all the holes in the frame part by part. In this way the whole building is built up together through the fitting and the knitting. Thus, the whole Body becomes one. Here there are no human opinions or ideas; there is only the operation of the Spirit and the living of Christ within us. The result is that the Body builds itself up.
Ephesians 4:16 shows us that when the Body of Christ is fitted and knit together, the Body is built up by itself. This building is in love, which means in the element and sphere of the divine love. This kind of building is also the direct building of the Body of Christ by the members of the Body of Christ. It is difficult to find such a situation in Christianity today. I hope that in the Lord’s recovery our co-workers and the gifted ones would not only do the building work themselves but would also perfect the saints so that the saints would function one by one and would directly build up the Body of Christ. May God bless us all that we would see this vision of the building up of the Body of Christ.
