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Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 2:2; 1 Cor. 1:10; 3:6; Eph. 4:2-3, 15-16; Phil. 2:2-3
The final need of the seeking one is the building up. We may be like a mare or so improved that we are like a dove or even a palanquin, but we still need to go on to be the city! The building up of the city should be our destination. Our Christian life must continually improve until it reaches the building. Christians today have many different goals. But in the Word we see clearly that the destination of our Christian life is simply the building. There is no need to wait until eternity to reach this destination. The Word tells us that we should reach it in this age, while we are still living in the flesh. If we would read all the Epistles again with the viewpoint of the building, we would see that they all are for this destination. They all point toward the goal of the building.
Consider the arrangement of the books of the New Testament. They are arranged very much in order, just like our body. Our head is on top, and our feet are on the bottom. In the same way, the book of Revelation is at the end of the New Testament. It is indeed significant that the four Gospels are at the beginning, followed by the Acts and the Epistles. The book of Romans does not follow the four Gospels. It was clearly the work of the Holy Spirit that all the books were arranged in such a good sequence. The Gospels are at the beginning, followed by the Acts, the Epistles, and then Revelation.
Christ as such a wonderful person is first of all presented in the four Gospels. These Gospels are simply a record and revelation of such a wonderful person. He is not only God but also man. He is not only life but also the way. He is not only the Savior but also the life-giving Spirit. He is the all-inclusive One. He is the Triune God; He is the Father, the Son, as well as the Spirit! He is everything! He is our God, our Creator, our Redeemer, our Savior, our Lord, our life-giving Spirit, our way, our life, our everything! Such a One is our humility, our patience, and our wisdom. He is revealed in a full record of four books.
After the revelation of this wonderful person, the book of Acts shows the spreading of such a person. He was spread to the north, the south, the east, and the west. He was brought to every direction and imparted into so many human beings.
Following the Acts, the Epistles tell us how this wonderful person can come into us so that we can be built up together. First Corinthians tells us how He is everything to us, and how we must become precious stones to be built up together as God’s dwelling place. First Corinthians also shows us many distracting elements that cause Christians to be divided. This is why Paul told them, “I beseech you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion” (1:10). We need to be attuned in the same mind and the same opinion. Paul also says in Romans 15:6 that the whole Body needs to have one mind and one mouth. All these passages indicate the oneness in building up.
Hence, we see that all the books of the New Testament are arranged in a marvelous sequence. But this is not simply for the sake of appearance. It is for the building. I had been reading and studying the Bible for many years, yet I did not see anything about the building. Only in recent years have I begun to see such a central, solid, and substantial thing as the building in the Bible.
Now we can see that all the Epistles were written for this one purpose and destination. We all must reach this destination. How wonderful that we have received Christ and are enjoying Him as grace! But we must reach the destination, which is the building up. This is not something for the next age; it is for this age. And it is not something in the air, but solidly on the earth. By my experience, I can tell you that this is really substantial. It is so real, and it is so reachable. All the New Testament Epistles simply bring us to this one destination.
We all are familiar with the book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament. At the beginning, it speaks of the lampstands, which are built up in different localities. The lampstand signifies the building up. In Ephesus there was one lampstand, and in Smyrna there was also one lampstand. In each one of the seven cities in Asia mentioned in the first chapter of Revelation, there was a lampstand. The lampstands are not for the next age. The Lord wants us all to be built up together as a lampstand in the locality where we are. Then the book of Revelation ends by speaking of a city that has been built up with precious stones. Hence, it is right to say that the Song of Songs is an extract of the whole Bible. The Song of Songs also has a city at the end, and this city is the bride of Solomon. The city at the end of Revelation is the bride of the Lamb (21:2). And like the Song of Songs, this city really looks like the dawn, the moon, and the sun. There is even no night there (Rev. 21:25).
The New Testament shows that all other things are passing away. Only one thing is increasing, and that is the building. The more we grow in life, the more so many other things will pass away. Perhaps today we still hold on to doctrinal toys, but if we grow in life, so many toys will disappear. When a man becomes as old as I am, he has no more interest in toys. By growing in life, the toys of doctrines and gifts simply pass away. Eventually, there is only one thing left — the building up.
Up to the first part of the twentieth century the Lord used many different saints to recover numerous items for His recovery. Nearly all the items that needed to be recovered have been recovered. Now the Lord’s intention is to put all the items of His recovery together to build up the local lampstands. The Lord’s recovery today is simply the building up of the local lampstands, or in other words, the real practice of the church life. This is so practical. Nearly all the spiritual things have been recovered, and today the Lord is seeking the real practice of the church life. It is not simply some teaching, revelation, vision, theory, or principle of the Body that the Lord is seeking, but a real, solid practice of the church life. This is the real building up.
Many of us can testify that until we came to the practical church life, we were never satisfied. The day we came to the church, we realized we were home. We were home because the Lord in us was home. But simply to come to the church is not enough. We must be built up. At first the church life is so sweet to us, and we have a real honeymoon. But a honeymoon cannot last forever. Sooner or later we may begin to have some problems with the brothers and sisters. How good it was to get into the church life, but gradually, the dear ones become not so dear to us. We know that we should love them, but it is so hard to love them. This exposes our real need of building up.
If a group of brothers are living together in the brothers’ house, it is so sweet at the beginning. Everyone quotes Psalm 133: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is / For brothers to dwell in unity!” But after a while, dwelling together is not so sweet. Then what shall we do? At this point some leave. They simply cannot take it any longer. This is because they do not have the building up, and they do not want the building up.
The main lesson I have learned in all these years is the building up. Many people are seeking to be holy and spiritual, but without being built up they are still short of the Lord’s goal. Though some may be holy and spiritual, without the building they are still unable to fulfill God’s consummate purpose. If holiness and spirituality are not for the building up of the local church, they are still short of God’s purpose. God’s purpose is the building, and this can be proved by the end of Revelation. All God’s work throughout the centuries and the generations is for the building up of the New Jerusalem. What comes forth at the end of the Bible is not a group of spiritual persons or holy people but a built-up city. This is all God cares for. He does not care merely for our being holy. He does not care merely for our being spiritual. The only thing He eventually cares for is the building. If you are not in the building, you are missing the mark.
In God’s eyes, there is nothing in every locality but a lampstand. All the spiritual persons must lose their identity to be built up into the lampstand. All the lessons in the brothers’ houses are for the building. All experiences are for the building. Anything that is not for the building is not of much worth. Even salvation is for the building. When Peter was brought to the Lord, he was given a new name indicating that he was to be a stone in God’s building. The Lord saved Peter so that he could be built up in His church.
By the Lord’s mercy, we are not here simply to be Christians or to have good meetings. We are not here for anything but the building. God needs a building in Los Angeles, and He needs a building in your city. Nothing shames the enemy as much as the building. As long as we are built up together, the enemy is put to shame. The enemy has been boasting much to the Lord throughout the centuries concerning the divisive situation of Christianity. But I believe the Lord is telling him now, “Satan, wait for a little while and you will see a building in Los Angeles and in so many other cities!”
We must cooperate with the Lord by saying, “Lord, now is the time. You must shame Your enemy by building us up together.” This will defeat the enemy. I have the full assurance that the Lord is going to do this. If we do not afford Him the opportunity to do it, He will find others who will. But the Lord will get His building and shame His enemy.
Revelation 19 tells us clearly that the Lamb will come as the Bridegroom to take His bride, who has made herself ready. But without the building, where is the possibility of the Lord having such a bride? Is it in the Catholic Church? Is it in the denominations? Is it in the free groups or in the scattered so-called spiritual ones? Where is the bride being prepared? We should not care much for increase in numbers. Increase does not mean that much, but the building means everything. In the Lord’s recovery we are only for the building.
I love the brothers in the churches in Texas. If you were to go visit them, you would see that they care for nothing but the building. In a sense, they are a real army with an impact. They do not have extensive Bible knowledge, and they do not know very much. They only know one thing: to be one. And they are one, praise the Lord!
We all must realize that the real impact which puts the enemy to shame is the building. The building is the impact. We all must pray, “Lord, I am through with so many things that I appreciated in the past. I want to leave all those things behind. Only one goal is before me, and that is Your building. I am not for anything that hinders, hurts, or damages Your building!”
We should not care merely for our holiness and spirituality. I do not mean that we should not pray or that we should not take the Word into us. What I mean is that everything we do must be for the building. Anything that distracts us from the building must be put aside. No matter how good or spiritual it seems to us, we must leave it if it is a frustration to God’s building. If we take this attitude, we will have the Lord’s rich presence, and we will experience the anointing with life and peace within. Then Satan will really be defeated and put under our feet. As long as we are in the building, there is no need to fight against him; he is defeated already. If, however, we are divided and scattered, Satan will get the glory.
Now we must see some of the practical matters concerning the building. If we are really for God’s building, the first thing we must do is eat the Lord in the Word all the time. I say this from my own experience, and it is confirmed by the experience of many others. To eat means to take something into you. It is not to learn about something but to digest and assimilate food. Day by day we must take the Lord Jesus into us. The best way to take the Lord in is to pray-read the Word or to pray Him in by calling on His name. I do not mean to pray in a way of asking the Lord to do something for you. The Lord already knows all our needs and will care for us. There is hardly any need to remind Him of these things. But we must spend more and more time to pray Him in. Then, practically speaking, in all our daily life we must learn to apply Him in many areas.
Praise the Lord that He is such a real person to us! He is not vain; He is real! He is not far away from us; He is within our spirit! So we must pray, “Lord Jesus, I take You in.” He is a real person, and He is so substantial. This is why Peter says, “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation” (1 Pet. 2:2). What is the pure milk of the word? It is simply Jesus as the life-giving Spirit. He is in the word, and He even is the word. Then Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6). The real growth is Jesus added into us. Paul planted Jesus into the Corinthians, and Apollos watered with the living water, which is also Jesus. Then God caused the growth, which is the increase, the addition of Jesus. In this way, Jesus is added into us bit by bit. This is not a matter of knowledge, doctrine, power, ability, or gifts. It is a matter of Jesus Himself being added into us all the time.
If we mean business in taking Jesus into us in this way, we will experience a real change in life. We know that eating really changes people. The more we eat, the more we are changed. It is a metabolic change. When the new elements enter into us, they replace the old. During a period of one hundred twenty days, all our blood cells are replaced with new cells. If we were to keep the old cells for a period of time, we would die. Of course, such a thing is not possible physically, but I do believe that it is possible spiritually. If we still hold on to the old things, nothing will be replaced within us. We do need this metabolic change. When a new, nourishing element of Jesus gets into us, it carries away the old element and replaces it with something new. This is the transforming work of Jesus that results from taking Him into us. This kind of metabolic change regulates us but not in an outward way. It is an inward regulation through the replacing of the old with the new.
If some of us are living together as roommates, there will be many opportunities for this inward regulation and change to work. We may feel that a certain brother is quite undesirable, but if we would take some new element of Jesus into us, we would have a completely different feeling about that brother. We will begin to feel that we really need him for the building.
When I was a young Christian, I was taught the verses in Ephesians 4:2-3: “With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love, being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.” Lowliness, meekness, and long-suffering were really a suffering to me. The more I tried to be lowly, the more high-minded I was. And the more I tried to be meek, the more unyielding I was. I believe that we all have had these experiences of trying to be lowly, meek, and long-suffering. These are not vain words in the Bible; they are really meaningful, but we must realize that they are the expression of Christ. Lowliness really is not lowliness. Lowliness is Christ! As for meekness, it cannot be found in the whole universe outside of Christ. Meekness is Christ. Christ never meant for us to be meek. We must experience Christ as our meekness.
It is easy to understand these verses in Ephesians in a natural way — even a child can read and understand them. But these two verses are the most difficult verses for Christians to realize. The more we seek lowliness, the more lowliness flies away. Eventually, we simply will not believe that there is such a thing as lowliness in the whole universe. The Bible speaks about it, but we simply cannot find it. The Bible speaks also of long-suffering, which really means long endurance, but where is it? The more we attempt to endure, the shorter our endurance is. When we try to be patient, patience flies away. We come to the conclusion that the dictionaries are propagating lies. They explain what these things are, but there are no such things to be found.
Praise the Lord that by His grace we have begun to know a little bit about patience. Patience is just Christ! Long-suffering or long endurance, which some versions render as making allowances for others, is Christ. There is no such thing as making allowances for others without Christ. If we have the proper experience of Christ, we will understand what these verses mean. All the virtues of the proper humanity are just Christ Himself. Christ is our lowliness, and Christ is our meekness. Some may say that they are full of meekness, but their kind of meekness could only last for three or four hours. Then it will vanish away.
Philippians 2:2-3 says, “Make my joy full, that you think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking the one thing, Doing nothing by way of selfish ambition nor by way of vainglory, but in lowliness of mind considering one another more excellent than yourselves.” These verses sound so desirable that we might be tempted to fulfill them ourselves. But we must be clear that these verses do not describe any human virtue besides Christ. All these virtues are the attributes of the humanity of Jesus. His humanity is the summation of all human virtue. It is by His humanity that we are built up. We can never be built up by our own attributes or our own human virtues. We can only be built up by the experience of Christ as all these human virtues. Every item is a part of the expression of Christ and will last for eternity. The meekness that is Jesus can never be exhausted! The more we test it, the more it lasts. It can stand any kind of test. This is what we need for the building. All these virtues are simply the expression of our inner growth of Christ.
When we eat Jesus, all the nourishing elements of His life give us the metabolism that produces all kinds of expressions in our human conduct. This is especially true in the small things. By these experiences we are not only built up but also built in. If others try to pull us out of the church, they cannot do it. To pull us out they would have to pull out the whole church, for we are built in. I am burdened for those who are on the outskirts of the church life. If they are not built in by experiencing the humanity of Christ, Satan will tempt them to leave the church. But, praise the Lord, Christ is such a One whom we can experience! I can tell you that for the past forty years I have been solidly built in. There is such a real thing as the building up. Even if others were to kill me, they could not pull me out of the church life.
The longer we stay in the church life, the more our peculiarity is exposed. All the saints are peculiar. Without the church, we might consider ourselves quite normal, but after being in the church life for a time, we begin to realize that we are peculiar and even abnormal. We need the transformation that comes by eating. The more we are transformed, the more we can fit into the situation, and the more we can make allowances for others. Then we are really built in.
The Lord’s recovery is just the building up, and by the Lord’s mercy we are in it. This is a real shame to the enemy and a glory to the Lord! Nothing is so glorious to the Lord Jesus as the building. And this is why nothing satisfies us like the proper church life. How He is satisfied with the building! And how much we ourselves have been satisfied! When we are satisfied, it is a sign that He is satisfied. On the other hand, when we are not satisfied, He is not satisfied. Both we and the Lord can only be satisfied with the building. Praise the Lord! There is no other way. This is the only way to prepare for His coming back. The Lord is going to build up the church in many places to shame the enemy and prepare His bride. This is the Lord’s building today, and many more are going to be built in. Although we do not care for numbers, I do believe that we will see a large number of good, solid ones added to the building. This is the Lord’s recovery today. May the Lord grant us the sufficient grace for this purpose.
