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Scripture Reading: John 1:42; Matt. 16:16-18; 1 Cor. 3:9-13; 1 Pet. 2:5; Eph. 2:22; Rev. 21:18-19a, 14
The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of life and building. In these chapters we have been considering life and building in the Song of Songs. We are not for the study of a book. We are for God’s goal and purpose, which is life and building. In other Christian writings, it is difficult to find one book that puts these two words together. Have you ever read such a term, life and building? We may have heard the word life in Christianity, but we have rarely heard the word building. And we have never heard these two words together, life and building. Yet the central point of the Lord’s recovery is life and building.
Satan is so subtle. He has distracted nearly all the Lord’s children from God’s purpose through many good, scriptural, and spiritual things. Although there is nothing wrong with prophecy, many have been distracted by it. Others have been distracted by many other good subjects. The Bible is an all-inclusive book. Many things are in the Bible, but they are not the main goal of the Bible. The main goal of the Bible is life and building. Nearly all the sound, scriptural subjects have been utilized by the enemy to distract the Lord’s children from life and building. Satan is happy if we spend all our time on so many scriptural things, as long as we do not see the building. As long as we do not care for the building, and as long as God’s eternal goal cannot be accomplished, Satan would be happy.
Many good teachings, which on the one hand are helpful, on the other hand are distracting. Good, spiritual, and scriptural helps can become a frustration to us. Any point of spirituality can become our distraction. As long as we are content with what we have, we are frustrated and distracted. It may be something genuinely of God, yet it becomes a distraction from God’s goal and purpose.
Many of us realize that the Catholic Church is quite devilish and even demonic. But we must admit that thousands of heathen have been brought to the Lord by the Catholic Church. Many devoted people are Catholics, spending all their time in prayer. But, though many have received help from the Catholic Church, they have been fully distracted from God’s eternal purpose. Not one of them cares for God’s eternal purpose. All have been distracted and frustrated.
Other Christians are also distracted by desiring to be spiritual, powerful, holy, and many other things. No doubt these are all good, but they are not God’s purpose. God’s purpose is not in our being powerful, holy, or spiritual. These very things have distracted many Christians from the central point of God’s purpose.
The central point of God’s purpose is that you and I were predestined to be stones for His building. God has no intention that we be merely spiritual. God’s intention is that we be stones for building. We are not to be stones for any kind of exhibition but for God’s building.
Christians today talk much about the four Gospels. They admire the miracles done by the Lord and all His teachings, but not many have ever noticed this verse in John’s Gospel: “He led him to Jesus. Looking at him, Jesus said, You are Simon, the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which is interpreted, Peter)” (1:42). When Andrew brought his brother Simon to the Lord, the Lord changed his name to Cephas, which simply means “a stone.” The first day he met the Lord Jesus, the Lord indicated that his destiny was to be a stone. He did not say that Simon’s destiny was to be anything else. The Lord’s intention was not merely to save Peter but to make him a stone.
Two or three years later, the Lord reminded Peter again about his being a stone for His building. In Matthew 16:18, after Peter said that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord said, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Based on the revelation of John 1:42, the Lord’s word in Matthew 16 should be translated in this way: “I also say to you that you are a stone, and upon this rock I will build My church.” When the Lord used the word Peter, He meant a stone. Peter recognized Him as the Son of the living God, and then the Lord reminded him that he was a stone for the building up of His church.
It is clear that Peter knew what the Lord meant, for later in his own writing, he wrote to 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” (1 Pet. 2:5). We all have been predestined to be stones. Our destiny is to be living stones built up as the spiritual house of God. We must realize that this is not someone’s opinion or concept but the central point in the Word of God.
The apostle Paul also speaks about a building with stones. “We are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s cultivated land, God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon it. But let each man take heed how he builds upon it. For another foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble, the work of each will become manifest; for the day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will prove each one’s work, of what sort it is” (1 Cor. 3:9-13).
Paul says that the apostles are God’s fellow workers working with God. Their purpose is to build. And we are God’s building. On one hand, we are the materials for the building, and on the other hand, we are the co-builders with God. This is why Paul says that we must all be careful with what material we build. We can build with gold, silver, and precious stones, or wood, grass, and stubble. There are two categories of materials. The first category is fireproof, whereas the second is the best material for burning. If we were to construct a building of gold, silver, and precious stones, the fire department would immediately approve it; it would be one hundred percent fireproof.
In 1 Corinthians Paul tells us clearly that we are the building of God. We are not destined to be this or that. We are destined to be stones built up in God’s house.
Before we came to the church life, we seldom heard of our being stones for the building. Most Christians completely miss God’s central purpose. May the Lord have mercy upon us that we may see something deeper, higher, and richer. We should not care for wood, grass, and stubble. We are here to be precious stones for the building. For us to see this requires the Lord’s mercy.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3 that he is the master builder who has laid the foundation, and that the Corinthians are the building as well as the co-builders. Therefore, they must be the proper building with the proper materials. The matter of building is so clear in this book, yet most Christians today will not see it. They can read this book many times, but they see nothing of the building. Instead, they pick up the negative things and argue for them. I have never met one Christian in Christianity who asked about the building in 1 Corinthians 3. It is because most of the Christians today have been distracted and veiled. Tongue-speaking, divine healing, and many other things have become layer upon layer of veils to them. Tongue-speaking is one layer; divine healing is another; even spirituality is another. We must get through all these layers! We should not care merely for spirituality; we should not care merely for being holy. We should care for God’s building!
Many scriptural things have been used by the enemy to distract and to veil the Lord’s children. We need the unveiling in order that we may see the light. Then our eyes will be enlarged to be like pools. Look at all these verses. John 1:42 has the word stone. Matthew 16:18 has stone. First Corinthians 3:12 has stones. First Peter 2:5 has stones. And Revelation 21:19 has stone. All we have in these verses are stones, stones, and more stones. Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, and Revelation is the last. From the beginning to the end of the New Testament, we see stones. It is a book of stones! The Lord Jesus mentions stones, Peter mentions stones, Paul mentions stones, and John mentions stones. Peter, Paul, and John are the main writers in the composition of the New Testament, and all their writings speak of stones for the building.
At the very beginning of the New Testament age, when Simon came to Jesus, the Lord immediately changed his name to Peter, which means “a stone.” After Peter stayed with the Lord for two or three years, he recognized Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then the Lord told him that there is also something else. “You are a stone,” He said, “for the building up of My church.” Then later Peter told the saints that they were all living stones to be built up as a spiritual house. Paul also spoke the same thing, and eventually the apostle John gave the conclusion to the whole New Testament and even to the entire Bible. He said that the wall of the New Jerusalem is jasper, a precious stone, and the foundations of the wall are adorned with every precious stone. So at the end of the entire Bible we see a building that has been built up with precious stones, with Peter as one of the twelve foundation stones, for the foundation stones bear the names of the twelve apostles.
This is not my teaching, message, or opinion. This is the Lord’s recovery. It has been buried in the Bible for centuries, but now the Lord has been merciful to us and has removed the covering. Now we see that we are all stones to be built up for God’s building. The enemy is so subtle. He does his best to make the situation foggy and cloudy. We must pray, “Lord, take away all the fog and the clouds. Grant us a clear sky to see Your eternal purpose.” For the church to go on, we all need a clear sky without any fog or cloud.
Some may say that since the churches are all-inclusive, we need many things. Yes, the churches are all-inclusive but with a meaning and a definite goal. They should be just like the Bible — all-inclusive but having a definite goal. The Bible covers everything, but everything is not the goal. I could sacrifice my fingers or my toes, but I could never sacrifice my head! You can take away some of my fingers or some of my toes, and I can still live. But if you try to take away my head, I will die right away. If I lose my head, I lose my life. To remove some of my toes is comparatively insignificant, but I could never allow you to take off my head. This is why we can sacrifice some things, but life and building we can never sacrifice. This is the goal of the Bible.
Ephesians 2:22 says, “In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit,” after verse 21 has said, “In whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.” Using verse 21, some say that Ephesians is for the universal church, for it says that we all are built together spiritually, no matter where we are physically. You may be in London, I may be in Jerusalem, and another may be in New York, but we are all the building being fitted together. I do not contend with this, but we must also read verse 22. Paul says, “You also.” He is speaking of the saints in that locality. The local saints must be built up together into a dwelling place of God in spirit. This is not the universal building; this is the local building.
Now we must speak practically. Perhaps we agree that our destiny is to be a stone for God’s building. Then I would ask, “With whom are you built up in the locality where you are?” Do not say that you are built up with the apostle Paul. You need to be built up with the brothers in your place and with the saints with whom you serve. Surely the twelve apostles were built up, for they became the twelve layers of foundation stones for the New Jerusalem.
Our destiny is just to be stones for the building. Many Christians today have been asking why the Lord has not come back. It is because there is no building. He has no way to come back unless there is the building. In the Catholic Church, in the denominations, and in the free groups, there is absolutely no building. Among all the seeking Christians today, where is the building? We all have liberty to do something for the Lord. Many would ask, “What is wrong with doing something for the Lord? Why do I have to work together with you? You have the liberty to do something for the Lord, and I do too. You go your way, and I go mine. What is wrong with what I am doing?” There may be nothing wrong, but where is the building?
Others would say that they have the Lord’s blessing in what they are doing. I do not deny this, but we have to realize that even the devilish Catholic Church has some of the Lord’s blessing. The Lord is not so small. He is bigger than the universe. He would use any kind of way. You were saved in one way, but He has a thousand ways for people to be saved. Just because the Lord is so great does not justify us or mean that what we are doing is on His heart. To do what is on His heart is another thing. Thousands of pagans have been brought to the Lord through the devilish Catholic Church, yet we can hardly believe that the Catholic Church is on the Lord’s heart. The Lord can use it but only to a small extent.
What the Lord is after today is someone to fulfill His purpose and to heed His goal, and by the Lord’s mercy that is why we are here. We are here for the Lord’s goal of life and building. So we should never be distracted by anything else. We must absolutely give ourselves to this one thing — life and building. I can assure you that this is what the Lord is seeking today. Our destiny is just for His building. The Scriptures show clearly that we need the growth and transformation in life for the building. The growth in life is for the building; the transformation in life is for the building.
I am so happy that in the past years I have seen the growth among the saints and also the building up. We need to check ourselves by the growth in life and the building up. There is no other way to fulfill the Lord’s purpose, and this is why these are the main things in the Lord’s recovery. Many things may be helpful, but they are not the central goal of God’s purpose. The central goal of God’s purpose in the Bible is life and building. May the Lord open our eyes so that we may see it.
