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The four Gospels, particularly John’s Gospel, reveal the purpose for which Christ came to this earth. He came that we might realize God’s building. We have seen many passages which show how Christ is related to God’s building. Christ’s entire work was for the purpose of being life to us so that the tabernacle of God might be enlarged. The way for Christ to increase the tabernacle of God is for Him to impart Himself to us as life. Most Christians know that Christ came so that we may have life abundantly, but very few realize the purpose for which He became our life. It is so that we may have abundant life for God’s building. Christ’s impartation of life to us is not the goal but the process. The goal is God’s building.
At the end of the Scriptures there is a city built up with Christ as the center. From Christ there flows the river of life, and in that flow of life there is the tree of life. This river and this tree minister life to all those of whom this city, God’s ultimate building, is composed. This picture clearly reveals that the purpose of Christ being life to us is so that a city may be built up from this life and with this life. We must realize that even today the purpose of Christ being our life is the building of God.
When Christ was on the earth, He Himself was the tabernacle, God’s building. He was the dwelling place for God to express Himself. But this tabernacle must be enlarged, and it is enlarged as we experience Christ as our life. As we enjoy Christ as our life, we are translated from Adam into Christ; we are transformed from Adam’s character and nature into Christ’s character and nature. Thus, we become the enlarged tabernacle, the holy city, New Jerusalem. Christ came to be our life for the express purpose that He—the dwelling place of God—could be enlarged. He is the one grain, out of which the many grains are produced. He is the one vine, out of which the many branches issue as the enlargement of the vine.
The Gospel of John presents Christ Himself as the tabernacle, whereas the book of Revelation unveils the holy city, New Jerusalem, as the tabernacle. These are not two tabernacles but one tabernacle in two stages. The first stage is the individual Christ, whereas the last stage is Christ enlarged in millions of His believers. This is the corporate Christ. Thus, we have covered the four Gospels and the ministry of the apostle John.
In the order of the New Testament, first Christ came to be life to us. Following Him, there are the apostles, the gifted persons, with certain kinds of ministries. Following them are all the Christians, who function and serve as the members of the Body. The consequence, or issue, of Christ as life is the gifted persons with their ministries, and as a result of their ministries, there are the Christian members, who function and serve. Christ as life is for the building, the ministry of the gifted persons is for the building, and the functioning of all the members is also for the building. Everything is for the one purpose of the Body of Christ being produced, prepared, and built up.
Ephesians 2:20-22 says that we are “being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone; in whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” Ephesians 4:11-16 continues, “He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ, 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, 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, but holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.”
First Corinthians 14:12 says, “So also you, since you are zealous of spirits, seek that you may excel for the building up of the church.” Gifts are for the building up of the church. Romans 12:4-10 says, “Just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another. And having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or service, let us be faithful in that service; or he who teaches, in that teaching; or he who exhorts, in that exhortation; he who gives, in simplicity; he who leads, in diligence; he who shows mercy, in cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Love one another warmly in brotherly love; take the lead in showing honor one to another.”
All gifts and all gifted persons are for the building up of the Body; they are not for any work in itself. The practice of today’s Christianity is absolutely different in principle. Wherever there is a gifted person, a spiritual “giant” with a certain gift, that person will begin a work. He will build up a Christian organization or ministry and possibly call it by some worthy name. We are not opposing anyone, but we are against the wrong principles which damage the Body life. The apostle Paul did not form any Christian organization; he did not set up any kind of work. For possibly thirty years he simply established local churches. And he did not keep any work in his own hands. In reading the New Testament we can find only the churches that were built up by him.
At the time the apostle John wrote the book of Revelation, he was greatly experienced and matured. Of the twelve apostles, he was the only one remaining. Yet he did not build up anything as his work, his ministry. Consider the local churches in Asia to whom he wrote. Most of them were exceedingly weak, yet those churches were the lampstands, not the ministry of the apostle John. John’s ministry was far more spiritual than the condition of those churches, yet he did not set up his ministry as a lampstand. In fact, he did not set up his ministry as anything. All he did was to further the building up of those local churches as the lampstands. We all must learn this. We must be aware of the dangerous tendency for any local church to become a work, kept in the hands of some gifted person. If such is the case, that is a real degradation. However much the Lord may use a gifted person, however great his ministry may be, the local church must not become his work. God’s intention is not to build up the ministry of any person, but to build up His church. This is not a small matter.
In the New Testament there are references to the “church of God” (Acts 20:28), the “churches of Christ” (Rom. 16:16), and the “churches of the saints” (1 Cor. 14:33; cf. 1 Thes. 1:1). There is no reference to the “church of the apostles.” The church belongs to God, to Christ, and to the saints, not to any apostle.
The greater our gift is, the greater is the danger that we will take over the church and keep it in our hands. This will greatly damage the church life. We must learn not only how to minister in the local church but also how to keep our hands off the church. This is not easy. The local church is not our personal enterprise. The local church is the property of the local saints, not some worker’s business. Some gifted persons put a local church in their pocket. They feel that this is the church that they built, that this is their church. This is a real problem.
All the local saints must realize that the local church is their church. If the local saints are not clear concerning this, they will allow a gifted person to take the church into his own hands and treat it as his personal property. Then the entire church life will be finished. The local churches belong to the local saints. The gifted persons are simply the means to perfect the saints to function; they are only the instruments used by the Lord to build up the churches.
Consider the situation in Christianity today. Look at the situation even from the time of the Reformation. Four or five hundred years have passed, and it is still basically the same. Whenever a gifted person is raised up, a certain kind of work is established. I establish my work, you establish your work, and he establishes his work. Then the church is gone. This is the source of all the divisions. However, if one gifted brother comes to build a local church, and a second gifted brother comes to build up the same church, there will be no division. All the work must be for the church, not for the workers. The ministry should be for the church; the church should never be for the ministry. We must be exceedingly clear concerning this principle. We must drop all wrong practices. A gifted brother should keep his hands off the local church. Although a gifted brother may sometimes not speak openly in a way of ministry, yet he still may quietly maneuver behind the scenes. Any such maneuvering damages the church. All gifts and gifted persons must be entirely for the local church. This is a tremendously vital matter.
We have seen both the ministry of the Lord Jesus and the ministry of the gifted persons. Now we come to the saints as the members.
We all must realize that as members of the Body of Christ, we must care for two things. First, we need growth in life. This is basic. Without growth in life, the building of the Body is impossible. Today’s Christianity gives people the wrong impression. Most Christians feel that since they have a good pastor with several competent assistants, they need do nothing. But for a proper church life, every member must grow in life. First Peter 2:2, Ephesians 2:21, and Ephesians 4:15 are verses that indicate that the building up of the church is possible only by the growth of the members.
The church building is not a composition of so many bricks or dead stones; it is something living. If we do not grow, there is no possibility for the building of the church. We cannot have a proper church merely by using the term church. That does not work. Regardless of the name or the label, without the growth in life we are dead and empty. The proper church life depends on the proper growth of the members. We must first deal with our sins, our worldliness, and our self. We must experience the cross of Christ and know Christ as our life. We must live in the spirit, maintaining a constant living contact with Christ. Then we will have a certain amount of growth. It is by such growth that the building of the church exists, and it is in such a way that we will have the real New Testament church. The reality is in the life, not in the label. Growing up unto maturity is the first requirement of all the saints for the building of the church.
The second requirement of each member is that he must minister; he must function. You may say that you are not a minister. Nevertheless, we are all ministers. You certainly must admit that you are a member. If so, then consider your own body. Is there any member of your body which does not function? We must realize that we are members of the Body of Christ, and as such we must learn how to function. If you say that you do not know how to function or that you cannot function, it is possibly due to the fact that you have not grown. The function of the members depends entirely on their growth in life. If a member is not able to function, that member is either unhealthy or underdeveloped. All the local saints must actively function in the church life.
Now we must carefully consider another important point. Let us read 1 Corinthians 3:9-15: “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. If anyone’s work which he has built upon the foundation remains, he will receive a reward; if anyone’s work is consumed, he shall suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
When we function or serve in the church, we must always remember that there are two categories of materials. One consists of gold, silver, and precious stones; the other is composed of wood, grass, and stubble. We must be exceedingly careful not to function with materials from the second category. On one hand, we must learn to function, but on the other hand, we must learn to discern the materials that we use in functioning. Gold speaks of the nature of God, silver of the redemptive work of Christ, and precious stones of the work of the Holy Spirit. These are the three items of the work of the three persons of the Godhead. We can gain these three precious materials only through the work of the cross. Thus, we must function only by the cross and through the cross. Wood represents the human nature, and grass and stubble represent the things of this earth. We must learn to reject and deny all the human elements, all the things of this earth, by the cross. The apostle Paul said that he was the wise master builder who laid the foundation. But all the saints, including all the gifted persons, must be clear how to build. The ministry of gold, silver, and precious stones will be a real building up of the church. If, however, we bring in wood, grass, and stubble, we will greatly damage the church life. We must learn to check ourselves by the cross in the way we function. In the church we must always act by the way of the cross.
Today’s problem is not that there is a lack of individual, personal spirituality. The great problem today is the building up of the church. It is a corporate problem. An example of the way we can damage the church rather than build it up is in the way we conduct ourselves daily. If we live by Christ, such a life will save us from the dreaded practice of gossip. This life will even demand that we do not gossip. Gossiping among the saints is a great damage to the church life. Whenever we begin to speak, we must exercise care that the words that proceed out of our mouth may build up the church. We may protest that we have never done anything to damage the church life, yet we may have killed people with our gossiping tongue. It is so easy for germs to be passed from one to another by way of the mouth. If you have experienced the real church life, you are already aware of how much the enemy utilizes the gossipers. Gossip damages the church life and spreads the element of death.
In practicing the church life, we must also be careful never to criticize. Regardless of our intention, as long as we criticize, we are damaging the church. There are many lessons for us to learn. If we would practice the church in the spirit, our spirit will constantly be on the alert. We will know what we must say and what we must do, and we will never do anything to damage anyone. The church life is a life of building; thus, we must learn to live in the way of building up. We may say that we have learned the lessons of the cross. To learn the cross in great issues is easy, but most of the lessons of the cross are in the small matters. It is the cross experienced in the small matters day by day that teaches us the real lessons.
There are many teachings concerning the building in the New Testament. Of these we must be exceedingly clear concerning three major points: first, Christ came that we may have life for the purpose of the building; second, all the gifts and all the gifted persons are for the building; and third, all the members with their functions and services are also for the building. God’s intention is to have a building. Throughout the world today it is easy to meet group after group of Christians who are loving and seeking the Lord, Christians who are seeking to be spiritual. It is very difficult, however, to find a group of believers who are growing up together as one building. Even in places that are well known for spirituality, you cannot perceive the building up. Instead, there is criticism and strife.
Today among the Lord’s children the most needful thing is the building. We have greatly neglected this matter. Because of this, we are weak, and the church is weak. Thus, the tide of spiritual life in the church is very low. Let us forget ourselves, our personal spirituality, and our personal victory; let us care only for the building. Then we will indeed have wonderful victory. Pay full attention to the building, and forget your personal problems. Bring your problems to the Body, and the Body will swallow them up. Learn to care for the Body, and do not damage any member. This is a real lesson and a good test.
It is abundantly clear that God’s goal is not to have many spiritual persons but to have a building. In every locality each Christian must be built up with other saints in that locality. If others will not go along with you, that is their business—you cannot be responsible for that. But you must take the right standing and learn the proper lesson of being built up with others. You will experience victory over all things.
God’s ultimate goal is the New Jerusalem, but today, before that comes into full manifestation, God loves to have His saints in every locality built up as a miniature of the New Jerusalem, as a little expression of Christ. There are many lessons involved here. Yet, praise the Lord, God’s blessings are waiting for us. If we take the right standing, we will enjoy the blessings and have the victory. However, may we not be so foolish as to practice the church life and at the same time damage it by being careless. We may not have the intention to do so, yet damage is done by our carelessness. If we have a critical attitude or participate in gossiping, we spread the element of death and thus destroy the church life. May we learn all these lessons.
We have seen the stages of the building in the Old Testament. First, there was a little tent with an altar. Then came the tabernacle with the bronze altar and afterward the temple with a larger altar. Finally, we saw the scene in Ezekiel’s vision. Now we have seen the order in the New Testament. Christ came to be the tabernacle, and His intention was that the tabernacle be enlarged. It is for this purpose that He is life to us, and it is for this purpose He has given the church many gifted persons with gifts. Finally, all the members with their functions and services are for this one purpose. This is the meaning of the entire Scriptures. Eventually, in the fullness of time, the New Jerusalem will come as the ultimate manifestation of God’s building. If we have seen such a vision, we will be caught by it. Whatever we are, whatever we do, and wherever we go, we will be completely for this vision, for God’s building. We will take God’s goal as our goal.
There are many lessons to learn in this matter of building, yet, praise the Lord, we will also experience many blessings. May we be faithful to the Lord and go on with Him in the fulfillment of His vision. If we are not faithful, the Lord will still go on; He will choose other persons for His recovery. May the Lord be merciful to us.
