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Prayer: O dear Lord, hear the singing of this hymn [Hymns, #840]. Lord, You know that we sing it from our heart. We sing it with a deep longing, according to Your desire, to be built up into one building. Lord, we thank You for Your speaking in the past, and we look unto You for further speaking. Lord, cover us, defeat Your enemy, glorify Yourself, and bless all the dear saints. Amen.
In this chapter we come to the sixth section of God’s organic salvation—the secret of building.
The building is something that is critical to the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy.
To be built up with the fellow believers is the Lord’s supreme and highest requirement to His faithful seekers according to one of the divine attributes of the Divine Trinity (John 17). Our oneness, to which we testify in the Lord’s table meeting, is according to the divine oneness, which is an attribute of the Divine Trinity.
Being built up with the fellow partakers of the divine life is the highest virtue of the one who pursues after Christ in God’s eternal economy. Building is the highest requirement, and being built up is the highest virtue.
Not one of the descendants of the fallen Adamic race has the capacity and ability to meet the high requirements of the kingdom of the heavens.
Only the regenerated, sanctified, renewed, and transformed believers are qualified to fulfill the supreme requirements of the kingdom of the heavens.
The God-men, who have the divine life, the divine nature, and the divine mind and who participate in the divinity of God, have the divine capacity to carry out the divine requirements of the divine kingdom. God has qualified us by imparting His life into us, by sharing His nature with us, by making His mind our mind, and by transforming us with the element of His being. We praise Him for qualifying us and for giving us the divine capacity.
There are many prerequisites of the believers’ building up in the church, the Body of Christ.
The first prerequisite is to realize that the Lord loves and wants to have, according to the desire of His heart, His good pleasure, a built-up church, not scattered individual believers. If we are scattered individuals, we can have no part in the building up of the church. It is crucial for us to see this.
Another prerequisite is that we acknowledge that all the believers have been baptized in one Spirit into one Body and that God has placed the members in the Body and blended all the Body together (1 Cor. 12:13a, 18, 24). If we see that God has already placed the members in the Body and has blended the Body together, we are built up.
We also need to be in harmony with the fellow believers and to be in one accord with the Body in prayer, which issues in the establishment of the church (Matt. 18:19; Acts 1:14). We need not only to have the oneness but also to be in sweet harmony with other believers and to be in one accord with the Body in prayer. If we cannot pray in one accord with the saints, we are not one with them. Praying together is a test concerning whether or not we are in one accord with all the saints.
The believers need to practice the oneness of the Divine Trinity in the Divine Trinity as the Divine Trinity does (John 17:21-23). We need to ask ourselves what kind of oneness we are practicing. Some claim to be practicing the oneness of the Body, but they are actually practicing a sectarian, factious oneness. The oneness of the Body is the oneness of the Triune God. We practice the oneness of the Divine Trinity not in ourselves but in the Divine Trinity. The three of the Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are continually practicing the divine oneness. For example, the Lord Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (10:30). The oneness of the Father and the Son includes the Spirit, who is the consummation and totality of the Triune God. The Spirit is also the Triune God reaching us. When Christ came into us, He came as the Spirit. Wherever the Father and the Son are, there the Spirit is also.
We practice the oneness of the Divine Trinity by the divine life with its source, the divine name of the Father (17:2-3, 6, 26). The name denotes the person—the Father, who is the source of life.
We practice the oneness of the Divine Trinity also by the divine word as the truth that sanctifies the believers from the world (vv. 14-19). We are separated from the world and are holy unto God.
Furthermore, we practice the oneness of the Divine Trinity by the divine glory—the divine sonship with the Father’s life and nature as the divine right to express the Father (vv. 22, 24). Sonship is composed of the divine life and the divine nature. Anyone who does not have the divine life and nature is not a son of God, for such a one does not have the divine sonship. The divine sonship implies God the Father’s life and nature. This sonship is the right for us to express the Father. Actually, the only one who has this right is the Son of God. God the Father first gave His glory to His Son, and then His Son passed on this glory to us who, as sons of God, have God’s life and nature as our sonship and as the right to express Him.
The next prerequisite is to keep the oneness of the Spirit diligently (Eph. 4:3). We keep this oneness in the constitution of the Body with the Divine Trinity (4:4-6) as the source (the Father), the element (the Son), and the essence (the Spirit). We also keep this oneness through the perfection by the gifted members for the building up of the Body of Christ (vv. 11-12). This means that keeping the oneness is related not only to the Triune God but also to the gifted persons—the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers. Moreover, we keep the oneness by the growth in the divine life, growing into the Head in all things (vv. 13, 15).
The believers also need to be in the common fellowship of the enjoyment of Christ as the believers’ common portion for the keeping of the oneness of the Body to witness that Christ is neither divisible nor divided (1 Cor. 1:2, 9-13).
Another prerequisite is that the believers have the common fellowship in the spirit and have the common thinking and common love in one spirit, with one soul, and on one common standing for the testimony of the oneness of the Body of Christ (Phil. 2:1-2; 1:27). If you have fellowship only in your district, that is not common fellowship but a particular fellowship. The common fellowship is universal. Our fellowship, therefore, must be universal.
Next, the believers should live and walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25) and walk according to the mingled spirit (Rom. 8:4), setting their mind on the mingled spirit, which is indwelt by the pneumatic Christ, the indwelling Spirit, to impart life within them and for them to put to death the practices of the body (vv. 6, 9-13).
A further prerequisite for entering into the building is that we be conformed to the death of Christ, to have the self, natural man, flesh, distorted disposition, peculiarities, personal preference and tastes, etc., crucified with Christ by the power of the resurrection of Christ (Phil. 3:10).
If we would enter into the building, we need to magnify Christ through living Him by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (1:19-21).
A further prerequisite is that we minister Christ, dispensing Him, to all contacts.
We need to discern the spirit, which is of power, love, and sobermindedness, from the soul (Heb. 4:12; 2 Tim. 1:7). All these twelve points are prerequisites for us to be built up together.
At this juncture we need to go on to consider the builders of the divine building. Some may think that Christ alone builds the church. However, the New Testament reveals that although Christ surely is building the church, He is not the only builder of the divine building.
The first builder is Christ the Head, who speaks the words of God, imparts the divine life, and gives the Spirit not by measure (Matt. 16:18; John 3:34). Unless we have enjoyed the impartation of the divine life and have received the Spirit not by measure, we can have no part in the divine building, for the Lord Jesus cannot build us into the divine building. Yes, the Lord is building the church, but we must be those who are listening to His word, partaking of His divine life, and sharing His immeasurable Spirit, that is, sharing His Spirit immeasurably.
The gifted persons, especially the apostles and the prophets, perfect the saints for the building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-12).
The perfected saints share the burden of the perfecting, gifted persons. Thus, the builders include Christ, the gifted persons, and the perfected saints.
The entire Body also is a builder (v. 16). The entire Body builds through every joint of the rich supply, through the operation in the measure of each one part, and by the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. How then can anyone claim that Christ is the only builder? Unless the entire Body builds, the Body cannot be built up. The whole Body has to build itself up in love.
Christ makes His home in the hearts of the saints through the strengthening with power through the Spirit into their inner man unto the fullness of the Triune God for His expression (3:16-19). Christ not only builds up the Body; He also seeks to make His home in the hearts of the believers. Is Christ now making His home in your heart? If He is to make His home in your heart, you need to be strengthened by God the Father with power and through His Spirit into your inner man. Then Christ will build up His home in your heart “unto all the fullness of God” (v. 19). Christ’s making His home in our heart results in our being filled unto all the fullness of God for His universal expression.
The Triune God builds the abodes in the Father’s house through the Spirit remaining within the lover of Christ, and the Father and the Son visit the lover of Christ to make the mutual abode (John 14:23). In the Father’s house there are many abodes, which are built by the Triune God through the Spirit. This abode is a mutual dwelling place for the believer and the Triune God.
The foundation of the divine building is the redeeming and saving Christ (1 Cor. 3:11). He is the unique foundation, and, as Paul says, “Another foundation no one is able to lay.”
The foundation is also the apostles and the prophets with their revelation received of Christ as the rock and their teaching (Eph. 2:20; Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:42; 1 Tim. 1:4). In Matthew 16:16 Peter declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Lord Jesus told Peter that he was blessed to have received such a revelation, and then, referring to this revelation, He went on to say, “Upon this rock I will build My church” (v. 18). From this we see that the foundation is not only Christ Himself but also the “rock” of the revelation received by the apostles and prophets and the apostles’ teaching, which actually includes the entire New Testament. Therefore, the foundation for the building is both Christ and the revelation given to the apostles and prophets. This is the foundation upon which we are building today.
First, the materials of the divine building are the Divine Trinity as the transformed precious items—gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12). Paul warns us to take heed, to be careful about, how we build upon Christ as the foundation. We must use the right materials, which are gold, silver, and precious stones. Gold signifies God the Father as the base of the divine building (Gen. 2:11; Rev. 21:18, 21). Silver or bdellium and pearl signify Christ in His redeeming and life-releasing death and His life-dispensing resurrection (Gen. 2:12; Rev. 21:21). Precious stones signify the Spirit in His transforming and building work (Gen. 2:12; Rev. 21:19-20).
The materials also include the transformed believers who are the divine plants transformed into the divine minerals (1 Cor. 3:6-9).
Wood, in contrast to gold, signifies the nature of the natural man; grass, in contrast to silver, signifies the fallen man, the man of the flesh (1 Pet. 1:24); and stubble, in contrast to precious stones, signifies the work and living that issue from an earthen source. All of these are not worthy to be used as materials for the divine building (1 Cor. 3:12).
The natural man cannot be used for the divine building. The natural man, the man created by God, may be good but is not regenerated and transformed and thus is not the proper material for the building. The fallen man, the man of the flesh, has no part in the building. Furthermore, the work and living that issue from an earthen source are not worthy of the divine building. These materials should not be used in the divine building. You should build only with the precious materials, that is, with the Triune God and with the transformed believers. If we see this, we will realize that in the building up of the church, we must put ourselves aside, including whatever we are as a naturally good man or as a fallen, fleshly man. Everything that issues from an earthen source must also be put aside. Natural things and worldly things cannot be adopted for the building up of the church, the Body of Christ.
The work of the divine building is carried out through renewing and transformation. Renewing issues in transformation, and transformation issues in building up. The building up of the jasper wall of the New Jerusalem goes along with its transformation (Rev. 21:18a). We need to be renewed and transformed, and then we can do the work of building.
The work of the divine building is the believers’ growth in the divine life and their being joined together in the divine life (Eph. 4:15-16; 2:21). We need to grow up together and be joined together in the divine life. This growing and joining together is the building. The actual building is our growth and our union in the divine life. When we grow in the divine life and when we are joined together in the divine life, we are in the building.
The work of the divine building is also the believers’ being built together in Christ into a dwelling of God by the Spirit in their spirit possessed by Christ, both of which are mingled as one spirit (v. 22). If we are experiencing this, we are doing the work of building up the Body.
The building is also by the Spirit’s operation, distributing to each member different gifts for the building up of the Body (1 Cor. 12:4, 7-11). The Spirit’s distributing different gifts to different members is the actual building work.
The building work with gold, silver, and precious stones will be rewarded by Christ at His coming back. However, if the work is with wood, grass, and stubble, it will be burned on the day of the Lord’s coming (3:12-14). If your work in building up the church is by your natural man, by your fallen, fleshly man, or by anything that issues from an earthen source, your work will not be rewarded, but instead it will be burned.
The New Testament reveals that at the end of this age there will be three burnings. Revelation 17:16 indicates that Catholicism will be burned. In Matthew 13 the Lord Jesus indicated that the tares, the false Christians in Christianity, will be burned (vv. 24-30, 40-41). The false Christians have caused great damage to God’s economy. When the Lord Jesus comes back, He will send His angels to collect all the tares, bind them into bundles, and burn them. This is the burning of the false believers in Protestantism. The third burning will be that mentioned in 1 Corinthians 3:13-15: “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. If anyone’s work which he has built upon the foundation remains, he will receive a reward; if anyone’s work is consumed, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” If we build the church with God the Father as gold, with God the Son as silver, and with God the Spirit as precious stones, we will receive the reward. However, if we do the work of the building by the natural man, by the fallen man, and with things that issue from the earthen source, our work will be burned, yet we ourselves will be saved. We all need to consider how we are building the church. We should be those who are building with the Divine Trinity as the precious and transformed materials.
The consummation, the accomplishment, of the divine building is the church in many localities as the house of God to be God’s dwelling place, the holy temple in the Lord (1 Tim. 3:15; Eph. 2:21-22).
The consummation is also the Body of Christ in the universe as the expression of Christ (1:23). All the churches are one Body, and the co-workers should be doing not a regional work but a universal work for the universal Body. In fact, all the believers in Christ have been baptized into one Body by the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13a). In practicality, based on the fact, all the believers have to be built together into the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12) by the builders of the divine building through the age of the New Testament.
In addition to all the positive things that we have covered in this chapter, there is one category of negative persons—the destroyers of the divine building. According to the New Testament, there are seven kinds of destroyers:
1. Those who blow the wind of divisive teachings by stressing things other than the central teaching concerning God’s economy (Eph. 4:14; 1 Tim. 1:4).
2. Those who preach and teach heresies (2 Pet. 2:1; 2 John 7-11).
3. Those who are factious, sectarian (Titus 3:10).
4. Those who make divisions (Rom. 16:17).
5. Those who are ambitious for position (3 John 9).
6. Those who are wolves, not sparing the flock (Acts 20:29).
7. Those who speak perverted things to draw away the believers after them (v. 30).
When some hear that there are destroyers of the divine building, they may say, “Is this not the divine building, the building of God? How can anyone destroy it?” In a sense no one can destroy the divine building. Nevertheless, many are stirred up by the enemy and try their best to destroy the building of the church. As we have indicated, the first kind of destroyers are those who blow the wind of divisive teachings by stressing things other than the central teaching concerning God’s economy. For example, the New Testament teaching regarding baptism by immersion is a minor teaching, but the Southern Baptists make it a major teaching, and in so doing, their teaching becomes divisive. The principle is the same with every denomination: they are built upon a particular teaching, and they teach things other than the central teaching concerning God’s economy. Regarding such a situation, Paul exhorted Timothy to remain in Ephesus in order that he might “charge certain ones not to teach different things...rather than God’s economy, which is in faith” (1 Tim. 1:3-4). We all need to be careful to not take any teaching, even a scriptural one, and make it a central teaching. Throughout the years Brother Nee and I have not stressed anything other than the central line of God’s economy concerning the church for the producing of the Body to consummate the New Jerusalem. This central teaching is not divisive; on the contrary, it builds up the Body.
