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Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 2:2-5; 1 Cor. 3:7-13, 16-17; Eph. 2:21-22; 4:13-16
In this chapter we want to fellowship concerning the building up of the church by the growth in life.
First of all, we want to consider several passages in the Bible that link together the growth in life and the building of the church. First Peter 2:2-5 says that if we have tasted the Lord, not only believed in Him, we will long for the nourishing milk in His word, and then we will grow (vv. 2-3). By this growing, we will be built up as a spiritual house (v. 5). Hence, these few verses show us mainly two things: one is the growth in life, and the other is the building up of a spiritual house. The building up of the church as a spiritual house depends upon the growth in life. We are built up by growing in the life of Christ. Hence, growing is for building up, and building up depends on growing.
Now let us read 1 Corinthians 3:7-9: “So then neither is he who plants anything nor he who waters, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s cultivated land, God’s building.” Notice here that the apostle uses two kinds of description for the church. First, he likens the church to God’s cultivated land, God’s farm, God’s plantation, God’s husbandry. Then, he likens the church to God’s building. With the cultivated land, the farm, there is the need for growth. With the building, or the house, there is the need for building up. Verses 10 through 13 tell us what kind of materials should be used for the building.
Then verses 16 and 17 go on to say, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, and such are you.” The temple of God in verse 16 refers to the believers collectively in a certain locality, whereas the temple of God in verse 17 refers to all the believers universally. All the believers are the unique temple of God in the universe, which has its expression in many localities on the earth. The temple is the building, and the building depends upon the growth of the cultivated land.
Furthermore, we can see the matter of growth and building in Ephesians 2:21-22. Verse 21 says that in Christ “all the building...is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.” Not only are we being built up, but we are also growing into a temple. Then verse 22 says, “In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” Again, we see that the building up of the church as the dwelling place of God depends on the growth in life.
Then in Ephesians 4:13-16 we see again that the building depends on the growth. Verse 13 says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Verse 14 goes on to say that “we may be no longer little children...” We are no longer little children because we have grown up. Verse 15 says, “But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ.” We have to grow up into Christ, who is the Head of the Body. Then verse 16 tells us that out from the Head, Christ, “all the Body...causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” In brief, this passage shows us that the building up of the Body, the church, depends on the growth of life in Christ.
The burden of this book is to show the Lord’s children that in these last days the Lord is going to recover this one thing, that is, Christ being wrought into the believers in order to be mingled with them, and all the believers being transformed in nature, in essence, in element, and in their very human substance into the image of Christ. Then we will become the many parts of Christ to constitute the Body of Christ, the living expression of Christ. This is our burden, our vision, our revelation. This is also the mark, or goal, of our seeking.
The religious people tell us that we human beings need a religion. They are wrong. What we need is Christ. Christ is the center, and Christ is everything. Christ is the hope of glory within us (Col. 1:27) as the transforming life. He is transforming us day by day from an earthly person into a heavenly person. When we are completely transformed from within to without, from our spirit to our mind, emotion, and will, we will become living members of Christ. Then we will spontaneously grow together. Christ is in us, transforming us to make us grow into one. Then we will be the Body in reality. So the Body is built up by the growth in life.
Do you think that we can come together to build up the church by discussion? Do you think that some brothers can build up the church by agreeing on certain matters? Maybe this time we can agree with one another after a lengthy discussion, but I am afraid that after a while something will come out of us to contradict one another. Then we will fight with one another and have more discussions. If we do this, we are forming a religious body or organizing a Christian “church.” This is not the building up of the Body of Christ.
The church as the Body of Christ is something growing up in Christ and into Christ. You have to grow, and I have to grow. The more we grow, the more we will be built up together. This building up is not by organization but by the growth in life.
God’s goal, God’s mark, is not merely to make us good persons. God’s goal is to make us a part of Christ. For this we do not need so many doctrinal teachings. What we need is to grow up. We need to realize that Christ as the living One is the wonderful Spirit living within us. We need to contact Him.
Have you seen this vision concerning God’s goal? I would suggest that after reading this chapter, you find a time to be with the Lord. Have a genuine prayer before Him, and ask Him to show you His goal, His mark. You may pray, “Lord, reveal this matter to me, and open my eyes so that I may see a vision, so that I may have a revelation concerning Your Body, concerning Your goal, Your mark.” You should pray in this way at least once, and the more the better.
Many years ago, for a long time day by day I prayed about this matter. Every day I had a living prayer before the Lord: “Lord, open my eyes so that I may see Your purpose, Your mark, Your goal. I have studied the Word for many years, but I don’t know Your purpose, Your mark, Your goal, in the whole universe. Lord, reveal this to me. Open my eyes so that I may see.” I praise the Lord that He answered my prayer. At a certain time I was truly brought into the realization concerning the eternal purpose of God. Something so real was clearly revealed to me. I cannot deny that I did see something.
Following this, you need to have a definite and fresh consecration before the Lord. In Romans 12, before going into the truth of the Body, the apostle exhorts us to consecrate ourselves as a living sacrifice to God for His purpose and goal (v. 1). Maybe you have offered yourself already, but you need to offer yourself once again for the purpose of realizing God’s eternal goal.
If you would do these two things — have a genuine prayer before the Lord and offer yourself again to Him — I have the full assurance that you will have a clear vision about yourself. You will see that your very self is good for nothing but death and burial. You will realize the cross of Christ. All the time you will have the sense that you have been put on the cross and terminated by the cross. You are good for nothing but to be crucified.
At the same time, you will also have the sense, the registration, the apprehension, the realization, that the all-inclusive Christ is so real to you and that He is living and working in you. Then you will be brought into the reality of Christ as life, light, the law of life, and the anointing. So day by day you will experience something living, working, acting, moving, enlightening, regulating, and anointing within you all the time. You will know how to go along with Christ, not an objective Christ in the heavens but a subjective Christ in your spirit and heart.
Furthermore, you will always sense that you are one with Him. While you pray, He prays in you. While you walk, He walks in you. While you go to certain places, He goes with you and in you. You will always sense His presence, not just beside you but within you. And you will realize how real and available He is.
Unconsciously and spontaneously you will gradually be transformed in many things — in your way of thinking, in your desire, in your emotion, in your intention, in your attitude, and in all of your inward parts. You will be wholly occupied and possessed by Christ and filled with Christ. Because you are so saturated and permeated with Christ, all things other than Christ will gradually be dropped by you. Day by day something will be dropped. Then you will grow up into Him. You will grow to such an extent that it will become easy for you to be joined together and knit together with all those who love the Lord. Eventually, you will have the reality of the Body of Christ, the reality of the church life.
Brothers and sisters, I believe I have suggested the best way that can help us to see the vision of God’s goal concerning the building up of the church. In brief, first, you have to realize that you must die. If you are still living, there is no church life. You have to see that you need to be crucified and that you have been crucified (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20). Second, you have to realize that Christ today is not only in heaven but also in you to be everything to you. Third, learn to go to Christ and contact Him by prayer. Do not pray for your own welfare. Instead, pray concerning Christ and the Body. Pray that you may see the living Christ within you. At the same time, offer yourself purposely and definitely for this matter. Tell the Lord, “Lord, I am here ready for Your purpose, for Yourself, for the experiencing of Yourself, and for the realization of Yourself.” Fourth, learn to always maintain a good fellowship with the Lord who is in you. Go along with Him and take care of the inner anointing, the inner registration. These four points are good enough. If you practice them, many wonderful things will come out of you.
Now I want to mention three main categories of things which perplex today’s Christians. First, there are the formalities of Christianity, including forms, rituals, regulations, etc. Next, there are many teachings and doctrines. Last, there are the gifts. Brothers and sisters, allow me to tell you humbly but frankly that you do not need any kind of forms, rituals, regulations, rules, charters, constitutions, etc. What you need is the living Christ. Then, what about the teachings? I would not say that you do not need any kind of teaching. You need some teaching. But the teachings must be something for Christ and of Christ. They must help you to know Christ and experience Christ.
Now concerning the gifts, I would say that you and I do need some gifts. But we need to realize that gifts are merely gifts, not Christ Himself. Gifts are not for gifts but for Christ. All the gifts must be a help for us to know Christ, to know life, and to experience Christ as life. Do not be satisfied with the gifts. Gifts only open the door and pave the way for us to go to Christ.
Therefore, what you need today is the living Christ. When you are fully saturated, permeated, filled, occupied, and possessed by Christ, you will become a part of Christ, and your very person will become a living gift. Wherever you go and wherever you are, you will be a great help to the church and to the children of God. Your person will be a real ministry of life to others. Then automatically the church life will come out. Today what we, the Lord’s people, need is the living Christ constituted and wrought into us for us to be made parts of Christ. This is God’s goal, God’s mark, God’s eternal purpose.
The most important lesson that we need to learn, however, is to experience Christ as the wonderful Spirit working, regulating, and moving within us. We need to take care of this One. A brother came to me one time, saying, “Brother Lee, I have something to talk with you about.” But I knew in my spirit that he came to quarrel with me. So I asked him if at that moment he had the inner anointing to talk with me. He replied, “To be honest with you, I don’t have the inner anointing. But I still want to talk with you.” Many times we have done the same thing. We know that we do not have the anointing to do a certain thing, but we still want to do it. This is a problem.
Many times even while you are going to preach the gospel, you are disobedient to the inner anointing. And sometimes while you are praying, you are disobedient to the inner anointing. Within you the anointing tells you to pray for a certain thing, yet you do not pray according to the anointing. Rather, you want to pray in your way. The more you pray, the more you sense that you are disobeying the anointing. Again, I say, this is our problem.
If we all simply take care of the inner anointing, there will be no quarrel, argument, or hatred. Instead, there will be harmony, oneness, love, unity, and the building up among us. The building up of the church does not depend on anything else but the growth in life by constantly taking care of the inner anointing. Therefore, we need to learn to exercise our spirit to take Christ as our life and to go along with the inner anointing. In this way we maintain a good fellowship with Him and are one with Him all the time.
Let us forget about so many things in our Christian background and just be so simple before the Lord. We have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20). This living Christ as the Spirit is not far from us but right within us. He is so available and practical. He is moving within us. I just fellowship with Him and go along with Him.
Now you understand why in one of his hymns A. B. Simpson says, “Oh! it is so sweet to die with Christ, / To the world, and self, and sin; / Oh! it is so sweet to live with Christ, / As He lives and reigns within” (Hymns, #482, chorus). It is really so. It is so sweet to die with Christ, and it is so sweet to live with Christ. Do not be complicated; just be simplified. If you ask so many questions about this and that, I am afraid that you are like a seminary student who has been complicated by too much study. In the Far East I have met a great number of believers who are one hundred percent Gentiles without any Christian background. After they have been brought to the Lord, they are very simple. Many of them are highly educated people, yet they are wonderfully simple. It is so easy to help them to know Christ.
May the Lord have mercy on us that we may put aside everything from our old Christian background and just be so simple to go along with the living One who dwells in us. Then we will have the real Christian life and the real church life.
