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Scripture Reading: Col. 2:18-19; Eph. 4:14-16; Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor. 1:9, 24, 30; 2:2; 15:22, 45; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; Gal. 5:4; Eph. 3:16-17; Phil. 1:21a; 3:8; Col. 1:18; 3:4, 11
The goal of Christ’s heavenly ministry is to fulfill God’s eternal purpose. What God wants is the church. For the church to be realized, two kinds of work are needed. The first is the move in life in an outward way to preach the gospel and bring people to God. The second is the inward growth in life for the building up of the Body.
In the past centuries this first aspect of the work has been largely accomplished. Many zealous Christians have gone forth as missionaries to spread the gospel. Even up until the present, many seeking Christians are still on this line.
When we come to the building up of the Body, however, we find that this aspect has been neglected. Many Christians do not even know what the growth in life is. Very few know that there is the need for the building up of the Body. Millions of people have been brought to the Lord, but because they have so little growth in life, there is very little building. Few Christians have a concern about this fine, inner work. It is my burden that, regarding this aspect of the Lord’s move in the heavens, there may be a finer, deeper correspondence to Him on our part.
Such a correspondence depends upon your holding the Head and growing up into Him (Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:15). How much you hold the Head and grow up into Him is the factor that determines how much you correspond to Him in the inner life for the building up of the Body. Yet these two crucial terms are probably new to you. Has anyone else ever called your attention to them? Have you ever heard a sermon on how to hold the Head, or one on how to grow up into the Head? Christ is your Head. He is the Head of the Body. All the members of the Body must hold the Head and grow up into Him in all things.
Paul’s Epistles are in two groups. The sequence in which they are arranged in the Bible is quite meaningful. The first seven Epistles, from Romans to Colossians, form one group. His first Epistles are Romans and 1 and 2 Corinthians. These three are followed by the four that I have called the heart of the divine revelation — Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. This first group, then, consists of three plus four.
The second group consists of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. These are six. Of course, there is also the Epistle to the Hebrews, whose authorship has caused much argument. I do believe there is ample evidence to say that Paul is the author. These seven Epistles are of four plus three. The two Thessalonians and the two Timothys make up the four, and Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews are the three. This second group of seven will not concern us in this chapter.
The first set of seven Epistles deals with three main points: Christ living in us, the all-inclusive Christ, and the church. These are the crucial points in Paul’s ministry to complete the word of God (Col. 1:25). For the completing work to be accomplished, we must experience Christ living in us, we must understand how all-inclusive He is, and we must have the vision of the glorious church. These are the emphases of Paul’s first seven Epistles.
Let us see how Paul’s writings stress these three points.
Romans mentions many different matters in its sixteen chapters. According to Martin Luther, however, its main subject is justification by faith. In actuality, it is more accurate to say that its message is that God has transferred us out of Adam and into Christ. This includes justification by faith. Through our parents we were born in Adam, but when we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were transferred out of the first man and into Christ. Romans 6:3 tells us that we have been baptized into Christ Jesus. Now we are in Him. We are no longer in Adam but in Christ.
First Corinthians tells us that we have been “called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1:9). Many Christians have the low concept that God has called them so that some day they might go to heaven. This verse, however, says that we have been called into the fellowship — the participation, the enjoyment — of Christ. He must be our enjoyment. He is the power and wisdom of God (v. 24). Because we are in Him, He is “wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (v. 30). With such a vast Christ to be enjoyed, Paul “did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified” (2:2). In 15:22 Paul further says that “in Christ all will be made alive.” Christ makes us alive because as the last Adam He became a life-giving Spirit (v. 45). All these aspects of Christ, presented in this Epistle, are for our enjoyment and are accessible to us because He has become the life-giving Spirit.
Second Corinthians continues this thread that the Lord is now the Spirit (3:17). Our part is to take away the veils so that we may behold and reflect Him. “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit” (v. 18). As we look unto Him and reflect Him, we are being transformed into His image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. This term, the Lord Spirit, is a compound title referring to Christ.
Paul warned the Galatian believers that if they tried to keep the law, they would be brought to nought, separated from Christ (Gal. 5:4). Paul was concerned that they remain in Christ and not be distracted by the law or religion. If they turned back to these, they would be deprived of all profit from Christ and so separated, or severed, from Him, making Him void of effect. To make circumcision a condition of salvation was to relinquish Christ, who would then profit them nothing.
In Ephesians Paul prayed that the Father would strengthen the believers “with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith” (3:16-17). Our inner man has to be strengthened that Christ may make His home in our hearts. He has to occupy us to such an extent that our whole being becomes His home.
“To me, to live is Christ,” Paul tells us in Philippians 1:21. Christ was everything to him. In 3:8 he declares how precious this One was to him: “I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ.” Because of Christ’s surpassing worth, Paul counted everything else loss in order to gain Him.
Colossians tells us further how great Christ is: “He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things” (1:18). He is all-inclusive, He is the reality of all positive things (2:17), He is now our life (3:4), and He is all and in all in the new man (v. 11).
How great was the Christ whom Paul saw! We all need such a vision in order to hold the Head.
When I was first saved, I loved the Lord and His Word. As a young man, I loved the Bible and made up my mind that I would come to understand every verse of it and would spend my whole life on this. Now I have learned that the Bible is too profound for me ever to fully grasp. At the beginning I thought that I was progressing quite well in my efforts. I would hunt for books on the Bible and would go wherever the Bible was taught. Eventually, I was caught by the Brethren. When I started going to their meetings, they were preaching on the seventy weeks in Daniel 9:24-27. In all my years in Christianity, from the time I was born, I had never heard of these seventy weeks. I was fascinated. Later on, I heard about ten toes, four beasts, and ten horns. I began to study these strange yet very scriptural subjects. In the years I spent among the Brethren I do not recall ever hearing a message on Christ. One day I realized how poor my condition was. I had learned all about the prophecies, but I was dead. I was powerless. In my disappointment I turned. The Lord gave me a turn away from the ten toes, the ten horns, the four beasts, and the seventy weeks.
I turned to Christ, to the Spirit, to life, and to the church. Since 1932 my attention has been focused on these matters. In message after message these are the subjects you hear in the Lord’s recovery. I must warn you young people not to be distracted from these to other things. You may be approached by some who will ask you what the meaning is of the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls. If you do not know, they will make you feel that your knowledge of the Bible is too restricted, that you know only about Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church. Young people are eager for knowledge. If you are distracted by prophecy, you will not hold the Head. I do not mean that you should not study other things in the Bible. You should study them, but you must see that all these other things are minor. The major things in the Bible are Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church.
It is easy to be distracted. I know of some who have been distracted to keeping the Sabbath. Instead of caring for Christ, the all-inclusive Spirit, the divine life, and the church, they talk about the seventh day. Others are distracted concerning the way of baptism. You may be asked by some preacher what kind of baptism the church practices: sprinkling or immersion, in what name, forward or backward, and how many times. How would you answer? Will you be distracted? A sister who attended a Lord’s table meeting in Los Angeles wrote me a letter afterward objecting to our use of wine. How would you have answered her? I have spent quite some time studying whether wine or grape juice should be used for the Lord’s table. There is something to be said on both sides. You cannot make a firm decision. What is the use, then, of arguing about such matters? Head covering for the sisters is another question you may well be asked about. If you say that you believe in head covering, they may go on to ask what color, what shape, and what size. Turn away from all these distracting considerations!
My word to you is: hold the Head! Christianity is in thousands of divisions because of these distractions. When any such questions are presented to you, you can inwardly pray, “Lord, have mercy upon me. Help me to hold You as the Head. I don’t want to be ensnared by these distracting questions. I would hold the Head.”
When Paul wrote of “not holding the Head” in Colossians 2:19, he was referring to those who were distracting the church in Colossae with Judaism, Greek philosophy, and Gnosticism. It is only when you hold the Head that you are kept from such distractions and can correspond to the ministry of Christ in the heavens. As long as you hold the Head, you will grow. The reason so few Christians correspond to Christ’s heavenly ministry is that they have been distracted from holding the Head.
Ephesians 4:14 says, “That we may be no longer little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error.” The wind that carries the babes about is teaching. It is not a wind of heresy but even proper, scriptural doctrine, which can carry us away — away from Christ, the Head, and away from the church, the Body. This wind is part of Satan’s system to deceive the believers and lure them from Christ. How important it is to hold the Head and not allow any doctrine, however biblical, to distract us from Him!
As we hold the Head, we will grow up into Him (v. 15). Gradually, we shall see that in one thing after another we are not in Christ. As we see, we can pray, “Lord, take over. In this matter I give You the ground.” This is the practical growth in life. We belong to Christ, but in many things we are not in Him. In those things He has no ground in us. In our way of talking, He may have no ground. As we hold the Head, we shall realize that our speaking is not in Christ. If we ask the Lord to take over in this area, we shall grow in life regarding our talking.
Many Christians love the Lord, but He does not have the ground in them because they are not holding Christ. When they hold Him, the Spirit within may speak to them about their clothing. If they say, “Lord, I give You the ground to deal with my way of dressing,” then He will come in and take over. The same may be true of the way a brother treats his wife or of a sister’s attitude toward her husband. They may love the Lord, but in their marital relationship they will not give Him one inch. If they hold the Head, the Spirit within will tell them that Christ has no ground in their attitude. As they open and give the Lord the ground, He will occupy them more and more.
To thus give ground to the Lord in our daily life is the proper way to grow in life. We do not grow by gathering scriptural knowledge. To grow in life is to let the Lord take over in every practical matter. As we do this in matter after matter, attitude after attitude, we will grow in those particular areas. The Lord will gradually fill us and possess our whole being. Then we will mature. By this growth in life our function will emerge, and the Body will be built up. This is a deeper and finer correspondence to the Lord’s heavenly ministry. It is by this means that the churches are being built up.
May we all see that in God’s economy nothing counts but Christ. We have been transferred into Him. He is our portion, our enjoyment, and our life. He is the life-giving Spirit. He is to be everything to us. Such a vision will preserve us. We shall not allow any doctrine to distract us; doctrines are like wild beasts waiting to devour us. We must hold the Head with fear and trembling. Then the Spirit day after day will keep speaking to us, “In this thing you still keep the ground for yourself. In that other thing you have never given in to the Lord. In this area you have not given the Lord an inch of ground. In that area you are still holding out.”
If we are holding the Head, we shall respond, “Lord, in this I give You the ground. In that I open for You to take over.” Such a response results in our growth in life. Christ increases in us by His being able to take more ground. Then our function will come forth, and the Body will be built up. This vital correspondence to the Lord’s heavenly ministry is finer than the outward move in life to bring people into God’s move. To correspond to Him in this deeper way makes possible the building up of His Body.
