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CHAPTER FIVE

THE BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH THROUGH THE INNER EXPERIENCE OF THE INDWELLING CHRIST

  Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:13-14; 2:15; 3:8, 16-19; 4:11-16, 22-24; 5:18-19; 6:18

  In the previous chapters we saw that there are three main items in God’s purpose concerning the church. The first is that the church would have the full sonship. This is a matter of life, not only the life we receive in our new birth but the growth of life, life in maturity and in fullness. This means that God wants to work Himself into us to make us not only His sons but also His heirs to inherit all that He is and all that He has. Second, through this life and under the headship of Christ, all things will be headed up by Christ the Head through the church. This aspect of God’s purpose involves the building up of the church. First there is life, and then there is building. The building is something in life and under the headship of Christ to bring us all into the proper order. The third item of God’s purpose is that in life the church will be built up so that Satan, the enemy of God, will be defeated and put to shame. In life we are built up under the headship of Christ, and through this God has the ground to make His multifarious wisdom known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies so that He can challenge His enemy and put him to shame.

  It is God’s purpose that through the church He would manifest Himself through His Son, Christ, and put His enemy to shame. God planned, and He created the heavens, the earth, and many creatures for this purpose. Then as the center of God’s creation, He created man to be His container, His vessel, that He might put Himself into man to be his life, wisdom, power, light, way, and everything. All that we need is God in Christ Himself, including patience, humility, meekness, and gentleness. By being life and everything to us, God makes us His sons. A son is one who inherits everything from his father, including the father’s life, blood, and character. Whatever the father is and whatever the father has is imparted into the son. Therefore, a son must be born, not adopted. To be born of the Father means that whatever the Father is and whatever the Father has is imparted into His sons. When God comes into us to beget us, He imparts Himself into us.

  First God created us, and then He begot us. By creating us, He made us to exist, and by begetting us, He imparted Himself into us as our life and everything. For this purpose God created a human spirit within us. We may compare our human spirit to the filament of a light bulb. Without the filament within the bulb, the bulb cannot contain the electricity. The bulb needs the filament within it to be the recipient of the electricity and to express the electricity. Just as the bulb has an outward form, we also have an outward form, which is our body. Then just as within the outward form of the bulb there is the filament to receive, convey, and express the electricity, within our body there is a spirit. We are the vessels, the containers, made by God, so God purposely created a spirit within us to receive Him, contain Him, keep Him, and express Him.

  From our spirit God will spread Himself throughout our inward being. The Triune God—God in Christ as the Spirit—spreads through us not from without but from within. God first comes into our spirit and fills our spirit. Then constantly from our spirit He spreads outward. By this spreading God permeates and saturates all our inward parts, our whole heart—our conscience, mind, emotion, and will. When God came into our spirit, we received the birth of life. Now by His spreading from our spirit throughout our whole being, we have the growth of life and eventually the maturity, the fullness, of life. Ultimately, even our body will be transfigured; that is, it will be redeemed. This will be our full sonship. In this way we all will be one in being headed up under the headship of Christ. The Head and the Body are a great corporate man (Eph. 2:15; Col. 3:10-11). Within this man is the Triune God. Christ is the Head, and by being life to us He saturates, transforms, and transfigures us to bring us into the proper order under His headship. It is through this Body that the Head, Christ, will head up all things.

THE DISTRACTIONS FROM THE CENTRAL MARK OF GOD’S ECONOMY

  We need to see the subtlety of the enemy. On the earth today there are three classes of people. First, there are the Jews, God’s chosen people. Second, there are the Gentiles, the unbelieving, worldly people. Third, there are the Christians, the members of the church (1 Cor. 10:32). Without exception, all three classes of people have been distracted. For the purpose that humans may exist, God prepared many material, physical things for them, such as food and drink. According to today’s situation, however, the unbelievers, the Gentiles, pay all their attention to their eating, drinking, housing, and material life. Regardless of what kind of people they are—rich, poor, high, low, cultured, or barbarian—they have been distracted from God’s central mark by the material things which God prepared for them to exist in order to fulfill His purpose. Food, drink, and all the material things were intended to be a help, a means, for men to fulfill God’s purpose, but Satan came in to utilize these things to distract the unbelievers from God’s purpose.

  After God prepared everything for men to exist, He came in to give some of them, the Jews, spiritual knowledge through the Scriptures, the Old Testament. God revealed His law and His will to them with the intention that the Scriptures would help them to know God, God’s plan, and God’s Christ. Eventually, however, Satan utilized even the Old Testament to distract the Jews from Christ. The four Gospels clearly show how the Jewish scribes, elders, Pharisees, and learned ones were very distracted from Christ by the Scriptures (John 5:39-40). Under Satan’s utilization, the Old Testament distracted the Jewish people from Christ to the extent that they even opposed Christ by means of the Scriptures. This is the subtlety of the enemy. Now not only the unbelievers, the Gentiles, have been distracted from God’s eternal purpose but even the Jews, who were chosen by God, are distracted from God’s eternal purpose.

  Christians have not merely the material things created by God and the Old Testament revelation of God but also the New Testament. In this New Testament many kinds of gifts are given so that people may know Christ, realize Christ, and be built up together as the Body to express Christ. Yet how subtle the enemy still is! Satan utilizes even the New Testament and all the gifts given by God to distract people from Christ to the gifts and even to the letter of the New Testament apart from Christ. If we consider the entire situation, we will realize that everything prepared by God and given by God for the purpose of fulfilling His economy has been utilized by the subtle enemy to distract people from God’s economy.

  The unbelievers enjoy all the material things, but not for the purpose of God’s economy. Similarly, the Jews today have the Old Testament in their synagogues, but not for God’s purpose, since they are fully distracted from Christ. It is the same in the so-called Christian churches. People there have the Old Testament with the New Testament, and they claim that they have many gifts, but many are still distracted from Christ. This is a pitiful thing. If we have the vision from the heavens to know God’s intention, we will weep for the situation. Christians are being distracted even by spiritual gifts to things other than Christ and His Body.

  Many fundamental, sound Christians do not have the proper thought concerning God’s economy. Fundamental Christianity tells people, “God is the true God. He loves you and is merciful and gracious, so He sent His Son to save you. You are sinful and are going to hell, but Christ died for you on the cross. If you believe in Him, your sins will be forgiven and you will be saved. Then you will have peace and joy, and after you die, you will go to dwell with Him in heaven.” However, others say, “This is not enough. We are not satisfied with only this. We desire the gifts, the manifestations, to prove that God is powerful.” All these Christians may never have heard a message on how God intends to work Himself into us through Christ as the Spirit so that Christ as the Head will be expressed through His Body to bring the whole universe under His headship. They have neglected the central mark of God’s economy and have not seen the vision of God’s economy. Therefore, they too are distracted.

  We need the material things. We need food, drink, a home, and transportation. However, we are not for these things. Rather, these things must be for us. If we seek God’s kingdom and all His righteousness, God will care for all the things we need (Matt. 6:33). All these things are for us, and we are for God and His purpose. After many years of experience, I can testify that if we care for God’s purpose, God will care for our need. He is faithful in this matter. There is no doubt that many times He has tested us, and Satan also has attacked us. Nevertheless, after more than thirty years of living for God’s purpose, I am still here. For the sake of His word and His interest, all the necessary material things have passed through my hand. If we care for Him and for His interest, He will care for us. He has given us this promise. Likewise, the Scriptures, knowledge, teachings, gifts, manifestations, operations, functions, and ministries are all for the central mark of God’s economy. All these things are for us, but we are not for these things apart from God’s purpose.

THE MAIN CONTENT OF THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS

  The book of Ephesians does not talk about the material things, and it does not contain mere knowledge. There are not even many Old Testament quotations in this book. Moreover, it does not mention the miraculous gifts. In this book the gifts are persons, such as the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers (4:11), not the gifts of healing and other miraculous things. The book of Ephesians is a book on the church, the Body of Christ (1:22-23). This book speaks about the unsearchable riches of Christ and how this Christ as the Spirit is in us (3:8, 16-19). This is not an outward Christ but an inward Christ, because He is making His home in us. He is our Head and our life, and our heart—our mind, emotion, will, and conscience—is His home. No one can measure His breadth, length, height, and depth, but such a Christ is making home in our heart. Eventually, we are filled, not with material things or even with knowledge, gifts, or power, but unto all the fullness of God.

  In chapter 1 there is the sealing of the Holy Spirit (v. 13). The Holy Spirit as a seal in us is inward, not outward. In chapter 2 there is the new man created by Christ and in Christ (v. 15). This also is something apart from material things, mere scriptural knowledge, and gifts. The new man created in Christ and by Christ is fully of Christ, and it is even Christ Himself. In Genesis 3 Eve was a part of Adam and came entirely out of Adam. In the same way, the new man is a part of Christ and was taken from Christ. Then in Ephesians 3 we realize the unsearchable riches of Christ, and Christ makes His home in our hearts (vv. 8, 17). In chapter 4 we grow and arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We are no more carried away by every wind of teaching, even good teaching, but we grow up into Christ in all things (vv. 13-15). We receive something from Christ as the Head, and we minister it to others. In this way the church is built up (v. 16).

THE WAY FOR THE CHURCH TO BE BUILT UP IN LIFE

  We need to spend more time to see how the church is built up. Like many young Christians, I was hungry for scriptural knowledge after I was saved. I met a certain group of believers who stressed that in order to be good Christians we must know the Bible. Therefore, I spent much time to know the Bible. Later, about six or seven years after I was saved, there was a “spiritual grace” movement in north China, which was a branch of the Pentecostal movement. It was very prevailing, and in only a few years it swept over the whole of north China. Thousands of people were saved, and there were many miracles and signs. To a certain degree I was influenced by that movement, so I studied the situation. Eventually, I was made clear by the Lord that the Body of Christ could not be built up in that movement. At that time I was not clear about the central content of Ephesians, but through my experiences the Lord showed me that the church can be built up only by our experience of Christ as life, not by knowledge, gifts, or the so-called Pentecostal manifestations. Knowledge and gifts help a little, but the church, the Body of Christ, cannot be built up by these alone. The church must be built up by Christ as our life.

The Key to the Building Up of the Church Being the Inner Experience of Christ as Our Life

  Some may argue for the gifts, saying that they are mentioned in 1 Corinthians. However, out of all the sixty-six books of the Bible, the main book on the church is Ephesians. In this book on the church the gifts are not mentioned. Rather, it speaks of the unsearchable riches of Christ. This Christ with His unsearchable riches wants to make His home in our hearts. This is what we need. In the Bible there is some ground for knowledge, gifts, miracles, signs, and power. However, these are not the main items needed to build up the Body of Christ. The main item needed for the building up is Christ Himself as life to us. We admit that there is a certain need for knowledge and gifts, but too many Christians do not admit the need for the inner experience of Christ. We admit that sometimes we need medicine, but too many do not acknowledge that we mainly need regular food.

  Since we have become Christians, we may have heard very few messages about the inner experience of Christ. In the book of Ephesians, however, the experience of Christ is very prominent. Every chapter deals with this matter. Although some Christians realize that Ephesians is about the church, many still neglect the key to the building up of the church. The key is the inner experience of Christ. Without the inner experience of Christ we can never have the reality of the church.

The Central Portion of the Book of Ephesians

  The book of Ephesians is the very heart of the Bible. The heart is the most crucial part. People today fear a heart attack more than anything. We may be able to move, speak, and do many things, but if our heart stops, we are finished. Since Ephesians is the heart of the Scriptures, the enemy, Satan, attacks people’s understanding of this book. People today talk about this book, and many realize that this is the most profound book on the church, but they neglect the secret, the key point, of this book. The heart and key of this book is 3:16-19.

Our Inner Man Needing to Be Strengthened

  Verses 14 and 15 begin, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named.” For this cause refers to God’s plan mentioned in the previous chapters and verses, including our predestination unto sonship, the riches of Christ being ministered to us, Christ heading up all things, making the multifarious wisdom of God known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies, putting the enemy to shame, and other matters. Verse 16 continues, “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man.” The inner man is our human spirit, regenerated by the Spirit and indwelt by Christ. This spirit needs to be strengthened.

  Man is tripartite, having a spirit, soul, and body, but of these three parts the soul is often the strongest. The soul itself is a composition of the mind, emotion, and will, and of these three parts the mind is the strongest. Our biggest problem is that we are too strong in our mind, while our spirit is very weak. We can prove this in the following way. Every kind of person likes to talk. If we say, “Let’s have some time to talk,” our mind will be active, strong, and positive. However, when we say, “Let us have a time of prayer,” everyone is silent. Right away the room may become like a cemetery; everyone will be “grieving at the tomb,” silent and in order. This is our case because we are too weak in our inner man, our spirit. This is why the writer of Ephesians says that he prayed not in a light way but by bowing his knees, for the cause of the church as God’s purpose, that the Father in the universe would grant us to be strengthened into the inner man.

  Our spirit needs to be strengthened. There is no need for us to discuss, talk, or argue. The more we talk and argue, the more we exercise our mind. Our mind has been over-exercised and over-developed, but we still try to develop it even more. When a part of our body over-develops, it becomes a cancer that brings death. We need to forget this natural mind, which has been taken over by the enemy. It is more profitable to change our discussion into prayer. Let us be humble to forget our thoughts, imagination, understanding, and concepts, and let us bow our knees before the Father and pray to exercise our spirit, not only once but constantly.

Our Heart Needing to Be Opened by the Repenting of Our Mind and the Exercise of Our Conscience

  In order to exercise our spirit to pray, we need to repent. Repent in Greek means to turn the mind. To repent is to turn our mind to the Lord and have a change of mind. Our mind must be turned from everything other than the Lord back to the Lord. When we turn our mind to the Lord, our conscience shows us how we are wrong with the Lord, so we need to confess. To repent is to turn the mind, and to confess is to exercise the conscience. The mind and the conscience are the two main parts of the heart, and the heart surrounds our spirit. Therefore, the heart is a gateway to our spirit. Through our repenting and confessing, the two main parts of our heart—our mind and our conscience—spontaneously are opened. Then when the gateway is opened, the spirit is free, so the Lord is able to strengthen our spirit and spread into our heart.

  Verse 17a says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” The heart is a composition of the mind, emotion, will, and conscience. When our mind is set on other things, our conscience is hardened, our emotions are not for Him, and Christ is imprisoned in our spirit. Therefore, we must repent, turn our mind to the Lord, recognize our sinfulness, and confess our failures. We need to say, “Lord, I love You, and I am for You.” In this way our whole heart is exercised and open, so our spirit is wholly free. Then Christ will fill and strengthen our spirit, and spontaneously He will spread from our spirit into our heart to make His home in all the parts of our heart. This means that our whole being will be a dwelling place for Him.

Apprehending the Unlimited Dimensions of Christ by Being Built Up with All the Saints

  Verses 17b and 18 continue, “That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are.” That we are rooted indicates that we are plants, and our being grounded means that we are a building. Together these two aspects mean that we need to grow and be built up.

  We are able to apprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth not by ourselves individually but corporately and jointly. This means that we must be built together. We can never be built up together by doctrinal knowledge. The more knowledge we have, the more fighting and divisions we will have. As Christ makes His home in us, we will forget about mere knowledge, fighting, and divisions. Rather, we will say, “O Lord, be merciful to me! I am filled with knowledge, and I may have the gifts, but I am short of apprehending You with all the saints.” It is when Christ makes His home in our hearts, occupying and taking over every inward part of our being, that we are able to apprehend the unlimited Christ with all the saints. This means that we are able to be built together with all the saints, that we are no more individual but rather corporate. In this way we realize that Christ is immeasurable and without limit. No one can tell what the measure of the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth are. These are the dimensions of Christ. Christ is the length, the breadth, the height, the depth. He is immeasurable and unlimited. Together with all the saints we will realize the unsearchable riches of Christ in the spirit.

Being Filled unto All the Fullness of God

  Finally, verse 19 says, “To know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.” We are not being filled with material things, scriptural knowledge, or the so-called spiritual gifts but unto all the fullness of God Himself. It is in this way that we are built up together, and it is in this way that we can realize the Body life. Otherwise, we can talk about the Body, but we still will not have its reality. The reality of the Body is this very indwelling Christ experienced by us in an inward way.

  We all need a further time to kneel by ourselves in our room to pray over these verses until the heavenly vision is revealed into our spirit. This will revolutionize us, and our whole concept will be changed. What we need is not something outward or mere knowledge, gifts, signs, powers, and other such matters. What we absolutely need is the inner experience of the indwelling Christ. Ephesians 3 says that we are strengthened into the inner man, that Christ makes His home in our heart, and that we are filled (not covered or clothed) unto all the fullness of God, that is, the very being, essence, and element of God. The riches of Christ and His immeasurable dimensions include so much that we would need many days to explain even a little of our experience. It is through this inner experience of the indwelling Christ that we apprehend with all the saints the unlimited measure of Christ, and it is by this that we are built up.

The Building Up of the Church by All the Saints through the Inner Experience of the Indwelling Christ

  Verse 1 of chapter 4 begins with, “I beseech you therefore.” Therefore indicates that what Paul is about to say is based on what was mentioned in chapter 3. Chapter 4 goes on to deal with the building up of the Body. As we have stressed previously, Christ the Head does not build His Body directly. Rather, He builds up the church through the gifted persons—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. Even these gifted persons, as the gifts given to the church, do not build the church directly. They perfect the saints as the members of the Body by ministering the unsearchable riches of Christ to them so that they may have the inner experience of the indwelling Christ. Christ makes His home in their hearts to occupy their whole being, and they grow up into Christ in all things. Then they are joined and knit together, and they receive something of the very indwelling Christ whom they have experienced to minister to one another. It is in this way that they are built up as the Body.

  The key point concerning the building up of the church is the inner experience of the indwelling Christ. The gifted persons—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers—do not minister gifts to people. Rather, they minister the unsearchable riches of Christ to the saints so that they may be perfected in life and in the experience of Christ in order to grow.

The Church Being Built Up Not by Knowledge or Gifts but by Life

  If you read Ephesians 3 and 4 again, kneeling before the Lord and praying, the Lord will give you a vision of these things. This is the way for the church to be built up and the way for each of us as members to be built up in the Body. It is not by knowledge or gifts. The more knowledge we have, the more divisions we will have, and the more gifts we have, the more fighting we will have. Rather, it is by the inner life, the inner experience of the indwelling Christ, that we are built up. We must pray, “O Father, strengthen us into the inner man, that Your Son, Christ, may make His home in our heart, to take over and possess our whole being, that we may grow in Him and receive something from Him. Then by what we receive of the Head we will be able to minister to all the members of the Body, and we will be joined and knit together for the building up of the Body.” It is in this way that we will have the reality of the Body.

  This is not my own opinion or interpretation. Ephesians is the book that deals specifically with the church life, and the central portion of Ephesians is chapters 3 and 4. This portion tells us that our inner man must be strengthened, Christ is making His home in our heart, and we are being filled unto all the fullness of God. Then we grow up into Christ in all things and receive something from the Head which we minister to others in order to be built up together. It is in this way that we realize the Body life. This is what we need.

  How subtle the enemy is today! He is challenging us on this point. Some say, “Don’t go to these people. They are a poor church. They don’t have a nice church building. They only have some poor chairs, not proper pews.” Truly, we are poor in material things. Moreover, some say that we are poor in knowledge, and others say that we are poor in gifts. However, the church can never go on strongly and be built up properly by miraculous manifestations. By the Lord’s mercy I am an experienced builder, and I have seen the proper way to build up the church. We can never build up a strong church by the gifts. The way to build up the church is by the experience and enjoyment of Christ as life for the Body.

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