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Scripture Reading: Eph. 2:21-22; 4:14-16; 1 Pet. 2:2-5; Gen. 2:9; Rev. 21:18-21; Matt. 13:1-33, 44-46; 1 Cor. 3:9-12; Rev. 22:2; 21:2; Rom. 12:2
The building up of the church depends on our growth in life. Without the growth in life there is no possibility for the building up. The building up is also by the transformation of the soul. It is not only by our being cleansed to deal with the negative things but also by our being transformed positively in our entire being. Moreover, the building up is in our human spirit.
Ephesians 2:21-22 says, “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.” The word growing is the key word of verse 21. The way to become the temple of God is by growing. In verse 22 the key phrase is in spirit, which has no article in Greek, as some versions render. The dwelling place of God is in our human spirit. These two matters—growing and “in spirit”—are the basic factors for the building up of the church.
Verses 11 through 16 of chapter 4 are one long sentence joined by several connecting words. Verse 11 says, “He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers.” The Lord as the Head gave all the gifted persons to His Body as gifts. These are gifts not of ability but of persons. All the gifted persons given as gifts are for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ (v. 12). Verses 13 and 14 continue, “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.” Here Paul speaks not of the wind of heresy but of the wind of teaching. We should not think that only heresy is a blowing wind. Even sound, fundamental, and scriptural teaching can become a blowing wind.
Verse 15 says, “But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ.” The truth here is Christ Himself. We hold Christ as the truth, the reality, and grow up into Him not only in one thing but also in all things, in all aspects, and in all directions of our life, in all that we are in our whole being. Verse 16 concludes, “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.” This verse again tells us that the growth in life is for the building up of the church.
First Peter 2:2-3 says, “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation, if you have tasted that the Lord is good.” Verse 23 of chapter 1 speaks of regeneration. In regeneration we were reborn as spiritual babes. Now as the newborn babes we need to grow. If we have tasted that the Lord is good, we will truly desire to take the milk of the word that we may grow. Verses 4 and 5 of chapter 2 tell us the purpose for the growth in life. These verses say, “Coming to Him, a living stone, rejected by men but with God chosen and precious, 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.” The holy priesthood is the spiritual house built up by the growth in life.
There are two lines in the Scriptures: life and building. In Genesis 2, at the very beginning, there was the tree of life (v. 9). A tree is for growth. Immediately following this, verses 11 and 12 speak of precious materials: gold, bdellium, and onyx. To see what precious materials are for, we need to come to the end of the Bible. In Revelation 21 we see a city built up with gold, pearl, and precious stones (vv. 18-21). All the precious materials are for the building.
As the people of God in the Old Testament, Israel is often compared to a tree or a crop. Israel is likened to a fig tree, an olive tree, and a wild vine (Jer. 24:2, 5, 8; 11:16; Psa. 52:8; 80:8, 14; Isa. 5:2; Ezek. 15:2). Figs and olives are for eating, and the vine produces wine for drinking. Therefore, the people of God are likened to something for food and drink. Moreover, in Luke 10 the good Samaritan poured oil and wine on the wounds of a man who had been beaten (v. 34). Here oil and wine are not for food but for medicine to heal the wounds. This is what the people of God must be. The people of God are fig trees to produce food, olive trees for oil, and the vine to produce wine. They are for satisfying people and for healing them. In addition, the people of Israel are also wheat to produce fine flour and cakes for the meal offering to satisfy God (Lev. 2:1-2, 4). The thought of the Scriptures is that the people of God are either a tree or a crop. This is the aspect of growth.
The people of God are also typified by the temple as God’s dwelling, His house, in the Old Testament. The tabernacle and the temple were the issue of growth. The people brought the surplus of their growth and offered it to God as materials to build up His house. Both the tabernacle and the temple were built with the offerings of the Lord’s people, and these offerings came from the growth of their produce. Therefore, the main thought of the Old Testament is that God’s people are a tree and a crop to grow, and by this growth they are built up together as a dwelling place for God.
The children of Israel also defeated the Lord’s enemies, the pagan tribes, who occupied the good land (Josh. 23:4-5). Defeating the enemy is for the growth of life. If we do not defeat the enemy, we cannot come into the good land. Then after coming into the good land, we grow the produce of the good land. This growth of life is for the offerings, and the offerings are for the building up of the house of God.
The parables in Matthew 13 are in two groups. The parables of the sower and the seed, the wheat and tares, the mustard seed with its growth, and the flour and the leaven are in the first group. The basic thought of this first group of parables is growth. The sower sowed the seed with the hope that wheat would grow (vv. 1-23), but the enemy came in to sow tares to frustrate the growth of the wheat (vv. 24-30). Next, the mustard seed should have grown to be an herb to feed people, but the enemy came in again to change its nature and form a great tree from this little herb (vv. 31-32). This also changed the purpose of the seed. The purpose of a mustard herb is to feed people, but the purpose of a tree is to lodge the birds as the evil spirits. Nevertheless, the Lord is sovereign, and some of the wheat produced genuine flour. However, the enemy came in once again to add leaven to corrupt and ruin the pure, fine flour (v. 33). The seed, the wheat, the herb, and the flour all convey the thought of growth.
The parable of the treasure hidden in the field, which must be gold or precious stones, and the parable of the pearl of great value comprise the second group of parables in Matthew 13 (vv. 44-46). Once more, both precious stones and pearls are the materials for the building.
First Corinthians 3:9 says, “We are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s cultivated land, God’s building.” There are two aspects in this verse expressed by two clauses. On the one hand, we are God’s cultivated land to grow, and on the other hand, we are God’s building to be built up. These two thoughts always go together.
At the end of the entire Scriptures there is the tree of life once again, and there is a city (Rev. 22:2; 21:2). The line of growth and building go together throughout the entire Bible, from the very beginning to the very end. On the one hand, we are something of the vegetable life to grow, and on the other hand, we are the building, the house, the dwelling place, to be built up by the growth in life. The more we grow in life, the more we are built up together.
First Corinthians 3:10-12a says, “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.” Here again there is the thought of the proper materials for the building. Precious stones, like pearls, are transformed materials.
There are three items in this category, not two items or four. According to spiritual insight, the three precious materials signify the Triune God. Gold signifies the nature of God the Father, silver signifies the redemptive work of Christ the Son, and precious stones signify the transforming work of the Spirit. We were born of God the Father to receive the gold, that is, His nature. We have been redeemed by the redemption of God the Son, and now we are under the process of transformation by the work of God the Spirit.
Verse 12 also speaks of another category of materials: wood, grass, and stubble. Wood is versus gold, grass is versus silver, and stubble is versus precious stones. Wood signifies humanity, grass signifies the flesh, and stubble signifies earthly and worldly things. Therefore, these three materials indicate the natural man with the natural life, the flesh, and the worldly things.
The above verses show us that the building up of the church is by the growth of life. The two lines in the Scriptures of growth and building always go together. The church is a tree or a crop to grow, and out of this growth of life comes the building.
Life is Christ, and growth is the increase of life, so the growth of life is the increase of Christ within us. Man is a tripartite being, having a spirit, soul, and body (see diagram below). When we were first saved, Christ came as a small seed into the innermost part, our human spirit, but He did not yet fill our soul. Now He needs to increase, and this increase is the growth of Christ as life. We can never build up the church in the way of an organization. Regardless of how strong an organizing hand may be, that hand can never build the church. The church can be built up only by the increase of Christ within us, that is, by the growth of life. The more we grow in Christ, the more we will grow into the building.
All the brothers and sisters have the one Christ within them, but the Christ in each of them can be separated by the two “outer circles,” the two layers of the soul and the flesh. If this is the case, there is no real relatedness between the saints. The Christ in one brother longs to be joined with the Christ in another brother, but the layers of the soul and flesh become a wall to separate their portions of Christ. Only the growth, spreading, and increase of Christ within them can overcome this separation. For Christ to increase in us means that Christ takes the ground in us and spreads within us to saturate not only our soul but eventually even our body (Rom. 8:6, 10-11).
Although Christ has come into our spirit, we may still have no relatedness with others. This is because even though Christ may have overcome one brother’s problems, another brother may still have his problems. One brother may have genuine spirituality, but if the other brother has not given the ground to Christ, there can be no relatedness between them. When one day this brother loves the Lord, not according to his religious way or point of view but according to a heavenly vision, he will give the ground to Christ. Then Christ will saturate him and increase and spread within him. Then the two brothers can be genuinely related. The relatedness between them will be the spreading Christ, the very Christ who takes over their entire being. This is the genuine building up. The building up of the saints in oneness depends absolutely on the increase of Christ within them. This relatedness is nothing less than Christ Himself. Therefore, the building up of the church is Christ Himself.
How much we are built up depends on how much we have the increase of Christ within us. This increase of Christ depends on the decrease of the self. Christ must increase, and we must decrease. We can never be built up in our natural life. There is no need to point out the impossibility of Chinese, Japanese, British, French, and Americans being built up together in the self. Even Americans from different regions of the country cannot be built up in the self. Similarly, there is no need to say that different races cannot be built up together. Even brothers of the same race from the same place cannot be built together, because each one has his own particular disposition. A brother cannot be built up even with his own wife. There is no relatedness in ourselves. In ourselves there is only separation and individualism. The real relatedness, oneness, and building up is Christ Himself. When Christ overcomes, conquers, defeats, and takes full possession of us, He can join Himself to the Christ in others.
We need to say, “Lord, conquer and defeat me. Lord, never allow me to defeat You. Never allow me to win the battle.” The real building up of the church depends on the Lord’s defeating us. The more we have the victory over the Lord, the more we are separated, but the more He defeats us, the more He can build us together. We need to be defeated by the Lord. He must defeat us and take possession of us.
We should not consider that we can be one by having the same understanding of doctrines. I observed a small Brethren group in which all the people had the same understanding of doctrines. They were all of one mind concerning the tribulation and the rapture. However, almost every week they fought with one another. In another place, however, I observed a different situation. Certain dear ones were not one in doctrine, yet they were very related in Christ. Some of them preferred to baptize by immersion in water, but others preferred sprinkling. However, they could still testify that they were one. Satan knows where there is oneness, and he hates it. Nevertheless, we are in this oneness. Although we may be of different minds as to doctrine, we have a wonderful oneness in the spirit.
We can never be one in our natural disposition. Everyone is peculiar in his disposition, but praise the Lord, He can defeat us! He can conquer us and take possession of us. As long as He can do this, there is the genuine oneness among us. This relatedness between us is nothing less than Christ Himself who conquers us.
The building up of the church is by the transformation of the soul (Rom. 12:2). As we have seen, we can be one not in ourselves but only in the conquering Christ. A sister may be very nice, humble, and gentle, but she may still be very natural. She may have a nice soul with a nice mind, a loving emotion, and a very soft will, but there may be only a small portion of Christ within her. It is difficult for a person with such a nice character and personality to be related in oneness with others. The most individualistic persons are the nicest ones. It is easier for even the sloppy ones to be one with others, because they are less individualistic.
It is difficult for a person who is nice and good in everything to find a companion. Whoever chooses the most proper person as his or her spouse will constantly suffer due to the spouse’s individualism. A husband will never be able to come up to the standard of the most proper wife, and a wife will not be able to come up to the standard of the best gentleman. In the church I am more afraid of the nice ones than of the sloppy ones. The nicest ones are the most difficult to deal with. Nevertheless, whether we are sloppy or nice, we all must be conquered by Christ. Not only do those with bad dispositions need to be conquered by Christ, but those with even the best dispositions must be conquered. Otherwise, there is no possibility for us to be related with the other members of Christ. We can never be related to others in our self. We must be related in Christ. When we all are conquered by Christ, we spontaneously are related.
In actuality, it is not easy for Christ to take over either the nice ones or the sloppy ones. It is very difficult to build up the church due to the stronghold of these natural dispositions. The problem is not sin. Because everyone condemns sin, it is easy to overcome. However, not many condemn their disposition. More than twenty years ago there was a church in my hometown. At that time there were two brothers who were “poles” apart. One was very nice, and the other was sloppy. When the nice one came to someone’s home, he would first knock on the door. When the owner answered the door, the brother would ask permission to come in, and when he was inside, he would wait to be offered a seat before he sat down. Then after he used a cup, he would return it to the proper place. He did everything nicely and in order. However, when the other brother came into a home, he would take his own seat, not where the guests sit but at the owner’s desk. Then he would say, “I’m thirsty.” As he drank the tea, he would spill some on the floor, and when he was finished, he would leave the cup carelessly. Eventually, these two brothers argued with each other over the matter of disposition. One brother felt that the other’s disposition was a hindrance to the Lord, and each one justified his own disposition.
This illustrates that everyone acts according to his own disposition with a certain amount of self-justification. In serving the Lord and dealing with many Christians in many places, I discovered that no one is willing to condemn his own disposition. This is why it is foolish to try to correct people. One brother may like to go to bed early and rise early, but the brother he lives with may not rise until an hour later. If these two try to correct one another, they will not succeed. Rather, each one will be fully offended and will want to move out. It is foolish to try to correct others in this way. If our roommate likes to go to bed late, we should let him do it and not bother him. We can never succeed to correct him. We can only offend people, and eventually we also will be offended.
Our disposition is very troublesome. The only way to deal with it is for Christ to defeat it. If we love Him according to a heavenly vision and we give Him the glory, He will take full possession of us, and He will swallow up our disposition. This swallowing up is the transformation of the soul. When our soul is transformed and our flesh is conquered, we will have true relatedness.
I am not passing on a mere doctrine about the building of the church. Rather, this is the practical experience for the building. The building of the church is possible only by the growth of life with the transformation of the soul. We need to be transformed by being conquered by Christ. The more we are willing to be conquered by Him, the more He will take us over and transform us in our soul. Then spontaneously we will have oneness among us. We will have the real building up of the church. This is what the enemy hates because this is the very thing that puts him to shame.
