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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 3:1-15; Rom. 6:19; 12:1, 4-5
Several key points are presented in 1 Corinthians 3:1-15. Verse 2 says, “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. But neither yet now are you able.” In this verse Paul speaks to the Corinthian believers concerning feeding. Verse 5 says, “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Ministers through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each one of them.” Here Paul speaks concerning guiding people to believe. In verse 6 he says, “I planted, Apollos watered.” This verse is concerning planting and watering, both of which are in relation to plants. Paul seems to be saying that the believers are “God’s cultivated land” (v. 9) because they have the divine life; hence, they need planting as well as watering. In verses 9, 10, and 12 Paul says, “We are God’s fellow workers...I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon it. But let each man take heed how he builds upon it...If anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble.” These verses are concerning building.
This passage contains four key points: feeding, guiding, planting and watering, and building. These four points reveal how the apostles built up the church. Paul fed people as much as they were able to receive. The apostles guided people to believe, even as the Lord gave to each one. To believe is to have faith. This faith refers not only to the faith that enables people to be regenerated; it also refers to the faith that enables people to touch every spiritual matter. Our faith enables us to receive spiritual things from the Lord, and we need to be guided into this faith. Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth” (v. 6). Paul considered himself as a planter and Apollos as a waterer. Both Paul and Apollos worked together with God to take care of God’s cultivated land (v. 9). Paul was also a wise master builder who laid a foundation, and others were building upon that foundation (v. 10). The foundation is Jesus Christ (v. 11), and the building materials must be gold, silver, and precious stones (v. 12)
In the Bible gold signifies the nature of God the Father, silver signifies the redemption of Christ the Son and the principle of the cross, and precious stones signify the constituting and transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Hence, gold, silver, and precious stones signify the threefold work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Gold is of God the Father, silver is what the Son accomplished on the cross, and precious stones are what the Spirit is producing in us. We received God’s nature when we were regenerated. Since then, the cross has been working in us to remove the old creation and bring in the new creation. At the same time, the Holy Spirit is working to constitute and transform us by disciplining us outwardly and by operating within us. The issue of this threefold work is our possessing the image of God. This is the work of gold, silver, and precious stones.
Paul also speaks of another kind of work, the work of wood, grass, and stubble. Wood is in contrast to gold, grass is in contrast to silver, and stubble is in contrast to precious stones. According to typology, wood signifies the nature of man. In the Old Testament the Ark and other furniture in the tabernacle were made of wood overlaid with gold (Exo. 25:11-14, 23-24, 28). Here gold signifies the divinity of the Lord Jesus, and wood signifies His humanity. Wood overlaid with gold signifies that the Lord Jesus possesses both divinity and humanity. He is God entering into man and putting on humanity. In the Lord Jesus there is humanity, signified by wood, and divinity, signified by gold. In the Bible, grass, which is in contrast to silver, signifies the flesh. Hence, 1 Peter 1:24 says, “All flesh is like grass.” Silver signifies the work of the cross. The cross of Christ terminates, deals with, and eliminates man’s flesh. Therefore, grass is in contrast to silver. Stubble signifies the earthly condition, that is, the absence of a heavenly condition. Stubble is worthless. It neither illuminates nor shines and, hence, has absolutely no value. It is in contrast to the transparent and invaluable precious stones.
Feeding, guiding, planting and watering, and building are the four key points in the work of the apostles. However, feeding people, guiding them to believe, and planting and watering are for the purpose of building. Feeding is for building, guiding people to believe is for building, and planting and watering are also for building. There are various aspects to the work of the apostles, but there is only one purpose—building.
I sense that we have all seen the vision of God’s building, and we are willing to be built by God and participate in His building. In other words, we are willing to be built up, and we are also willing to build up others. However, according to my observation, we are still unclear concerning how to practically be built up. We do not know how to begin, because we have not touched the way of building. Hence, in this chapter we will fellowship concerning the practice of building.
Building is not a simple matter. Sweeping the floor and cleaning are simple and do not involve many techniques, but building a house is not simple. A house cannot be built by a layman. Building a house requires a professional who is experienced in the field of construction. The building up of the church is even more difficult and complex than building in the physical realm. We cannot merely speak about building without having the reality of the building. We must see the blueprint of the building as well as the details, such as how to lay the foundation, how to use the materials, and how to set the beams, build the walls, place the roof tiles, install the doors and windows, and decorate the interior and the exterior. We must know the details related to the practice of building.
As serving ones in the localities, we can be compared to ones working in a construction company. In a construction company some people are engineers, some are master builders, some are skilled workers, and others carry sand and wood. We have different functions, but there is only one goal, which is to build up the mutual dwelling place of God and man in the universe.
We must see that all the work in the New Testament is for the one goal of building up the church, the dwelling place of God. When Peter recognized that the Lord Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord immediately told the disciples that He would build His church (Matt. 16:16, 18). When the apostles later went out to work, they were building up the eternal dwelling place of God. The apostle Paul says that they were God’s fellow workers in order to build up His dwelling place. Eventually, when the work of God is consummated at the end of the Bible, the New Jerusalem will be manifested as the eternal dwelling place of God (Rev. 21:2-3). Therefore, we need to see that all of God’s work, especially His work in the New Testament, is for the one goal of building His house.
Even our preaching the gospel and saving souls are for the building up of God’s house. Proper gospel preaching will not hinder the building; rather, it contributes to the building. Preaching the gospel can be compared to cutting trees and mining stones, that is, to gaining the materials for the building. It would be a gross error to talk about building while our numbers decrease, that is, while the building materials are being stolen by the devil. It is useless to merely talk about building. On the one hand, we need to preserve the existing materials from being lost or stolen by Satan, but on the other hand, we also need to fight the battle in order to rescue more building materials, precious souls, from under Satan’s usurpation. Preaching the gospel is simply to obtain materials for the building. We need to have such an understanding.
Those who have built a house know that it is not a simple matter. Although there is one common goal, there are numerous minute details, none of which are easy. I have participated in several projects for building meeting halls in the past. The most difficult thing is to acquire a site. More than ten years ago we wanted to build a meeting hall in a certain locality. We spent much time and effort to find a piece of land. When we were ready to purchase the property, other parties came to compete with us. They used various ways to frustrate us. Through much prayer and the exercise of wisdom, we finally acquired the land. After purchasing the land, however, we found out that a portion of the land in the center of our property belonged to someone else. It was through more prayer and negotiations that we finally obtained the entire property.
When we wanted to build a meeting hall in Shanghai that could hold three thousand people, we put much effort into buying the land. We spent about nine months looking for the site, and we considered at least twenty to thirty properties before we finally found the one that we wanted. However, the buying process was long and complicated. The same thing happened in Manila. Although we purchased a piece of land a few years ago in order to build a meeting hall, we have to wait because the site is currently occupied. Therefore, the first step in building a house is to obtain the site, but this step is not easy. Likewise, if we want to build up the church, we must first obtain the proper ground as the site of the building. Concerning the proper ground, we have suffered Satan’s severe attacks and interferences.
After obtaining the site, we need to gather the materials for the building. Sometimes the materials that we need are not available because others do not want to sell them. Besides obtaining the materials, the contractors may not be very cooperative. Sometimes the contractors are cooperative, but when the work begins, the weather is not suitable. Sometimes the weather is suitable, but the building cannot proceed because the workers cannot coordinate.
Hence, in the physical realm building can be very difficult. It is even more difficult to build in the spiritual realm. God desires to gain a building site, building materials, and fellow workers from a fallen, mixed, and chaotic human race. He also desires to gain the cooperation of all kinds of environments so that He may build His eternal dwelling place. How difficult this must be! For the past two thousand years He has not completed this building. Although Bible students have seen a glimpse of the blueprint of God’s building, too many problems have hindered the practical building. We should not consider the building of God to be an easy task or consider that we can build up the church simply by encouraging people to attend a conference, study the Bible, or fellowship with one another. This is not the way. God’s building requires extraordinary work and extraordinary effort.
Building calls for grueling warfare. In the Old Testament there was the need of fighting every time something was to be built. The children of Israel came out of Egypt to enter into Canaan and build the temple of God. Before the children of Israel left Egypt, the battle had already begun. Therefore, God said to Moses, “I will...bring forth My armies, My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt” (Exo. 7:4). In order to get out of Egypt, they had to fight the Egyptians. After they left Egypt and arrived in the wilderness, they fought with Amalek (17:8). When they reached the border of the good land, the children of Israel needed to fight again in order to enter the land (Num. 21). They also needed to destroy the seven nations that occupied Canaan before they could take the land (Deut. 7:1-2). The way for the Israelites to enter into and occupy Canaan was a way of warfare. They were not carried into Canaan on a palanquin but fought their way into the land. After they crossed the river Jordan, they waged war with Jericho (Josh. 6) and fought again and again until they conquered the entire land of Canaan. This warfare lasted until the time of David. It was not until David became king that all the enemies were completely subdued (2 Sam. 8:1—10:19). Only at this time could the matter of building the temple be considered. Hence, the site for the building can be gained only through much warfare.
The materials that David collected for building the temple were the spoil gained in his victory in battle. For example, the gold for building the temple was part of the spoil that David gained. Therefore, even the building materials can be gained only through warfare (8:10-11; 1 Chron. 22:14). When the children of Israel returned from their captivity, Ezra, Nehemiah, and others rose up to rebuild the holy temple and the holy city through intense warfare. They did the work with one hand and held a weapon in the other (Neh. 4:16-17). This means that with one hand they did the work of building and with the other hand fought to defend themselves against the repeated attacks of their enemies. While they were restoring the walls of Jerusalem, there was the attack of their enemies from without (vv. 7-8) and also discord and opinions from within the midst of the children of Israel (5:1-5). Hence, the building of God’s house is not a simple matter.
We need to put in a great deal of effort and patiently carry out the building up of God’s house one step at a time. We must exercise patience, be fine, and work slowly instead of rushing, being rough, and doing a quick work. To be slow does not mean that we are passive; rather, we are actively carrying out the building work step by step.
There are numerous details related to the practice of building up. The first item is to consecrate ourselves. Doing something is not more important than consecration. After a person is saved and becomes material for God’s building, he needs to be worked on. Building a house is an example. A piece of raw material must be shaped before it can be built with other material. Likewise, after a person is saved, God must work on him before he can be built up. However, in order for God to work on a person, that person must have a thorough consecration. The responsible brothers and the serving ones in every locality must deal once more with the Lord concerning their consecration. If we neglect the matter of consecration, our efforts to build up the church will be in vain no matter how many messages we give. Everyone who desires to be built up must be a consecrated person and must also help others to consecrate themselves.
In order for God to work on us, we must consecrate ourselves, hand ourselves over to Him. It is true that a person becomes material for the building as soon as he is saved. However, if he does not put himself into the Lord’s hand, he is not properly situated for the building. No matter how many messages he hears, without consecration he has no way to be built up. Thus, in order to be built up, we must be consecrated.
If we truly see the need of God’s building, we will be constrained to consecrate ourselves to the Lord again concerning this matter. Even if we consecrated ourselves many years ago, we must consecrate ourselves again. The burnt offering was offered every day in the morning and in the evening (Num. 28:3-4). It was also offered on every Sabbath day (vv. 9-10), at the beginning of every month (vv. 11-15), and in every feast (vv. 16-19, 26-27; 29:1-2, 7-8, 12-13). The burnt offering was offered whenever there was an important event. The burnt offering typifies our consecration. Hence, we should consecrate ourselves every morning and every evening. We should consecrate ourselves when we leave the house and when we return. We should consecrate ourselves at every critical juncture of our human life, such as when we begin our education, graduate, get engaged, get married, and find employment. We should also consecrate ourselves when we visit the saints or go out to preach the gospel. In short, every occasion is a time for us to consecrate ourselves again.
Since we have seen the need for the building up of God’s house and are willing to allow Him to build us, we must have a thorough consecration to commit ourselves into His hand once more. Unless we renew our consecration, we cannot be built up.
The first Epistle in the New Testament, the book of Romans, is concerning the spiritual progress of a believer. The first two chapters reveal that every person, whether Jew or Gentile, is a sinner before his salvation. Chapters 3 and 4 reveal how a sinner is redeemed and justified by the blood of Christ. Chapters 5 and 6 reveal that prior to redemption, a sinner is of the old creation in Adam, being in Adam by nature. Hence, a sinner can never please God. A sinner can be accepted by God in Christ because the old creation was terminated by Christ on the cross. After being accepted by God, reconciled to God, and delighting in God, a believer needs to cooperate with God by presenting his members to God as weapons of righteousness (6:13) so that what Christ accomplished on the cross may be applied to him.
Chapter 6 covers the presenting of our members in detail. Formerly, we committed sins with our members, but now we should present our members to God. If we want God to apply the work of the cross in us and nullify the effects of the old creation in us, we need to cooperate with Him by presenting our members one by one. We need to say, “Lord, from today onward I present my eyes to You, I present my ears to You, and I present my mind to You. I will no longer use my eyes to look at things carelessly, my mind to think about inappropriate things, or my ears to listen to gossip.”
It is difficult for some saints to pray; they can utter only a few words. But they are very fluent and eloquent when they gossip. Their mouths are very adept at gossiping but not at praying. There are other saints who do not seem to hear the message given in a meeting, but they can clearly hear every word of gossip that is whispered in the back rows. The mouths and ears of these saints are neither consecrated to God nor ruled by Him.
Many saints might have yet another problem. They do not forget what they read in the newspapers, but they either do not understand, are confused about, or do not remember what they read in the Bible. The verse that they managed to memorize in the morning is forgotten by breakfast time. They know that they read the Bible but cannot recall which verses they read. According to a Chinese saying, their heart is somewhere else, and they look but do not see. Hence, their heart and eyes are not consecrated. If we consecrate our heart and eyes to God, we will concentrate on the Bible, the Word of God, instead of the newspapers. This is to present our members according to Romans 6.
If we present our members one by one to God, our hands will not be free to do what God does not allow. Our feet will not be free to walk on the path that God does not allow. Our mouth will not utter words that the Lord does not allow, and our ears will not listen to words that He does not allow. Paul says, “Just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness...so now present your members as slaves to righteousness unto sanctification” (v. 19). If we genuinely experience consecration, our members will become very functional because they will serve God and be used by Him. I have seen people who were clumsy in speech, but after their consecration they gave messages, prayed, and testified eloquently.
There is a dear co-worker who could not speak in a clear way and whose prayers did not make sense when I first met him. However, he loved the Lord very much and had a strong consecration. Because his mouth was consecrated, he would not open his mouth to talk carelessly. When he began to serve the Lord full time, his living condition was difficult. Nevertheless, he remained in the position of his consecration and would not shrink back. A few years later, I heard him give a message and could hardly believe that he was the person speaking, because he was very eloquent. However, it was not a common eloquence but the eloquence that comes with the utterance of the Holy Spirit. He was able to speak for God because he had consecrated his mouth. He was a person who had presented his members to God.
God wants to work in us extensively so that He may bring us into the building up of the Body of Christ. But we first need to consecrate ourselves to Him. Our consecration should not be general; rather, we should consecrate our members one by one in a detailed way (ch. 6). Many people are troubled by a chaotic and wild mind. For such a saint the way of salvation is to consecrate his mind to God in a definite way. Just as his mind was presented to chaotic thoughts, he now needs to present his mind to God. As soon as we pass through the door of presenting our members, we will be delivered from the old creation in Adam and live in the reality of Christ in our practical living. Hence, we need to have a thorough consecration.
Chapters 5 and 6 say that we were formerly in Adam, but we are now in Christ. After we see this truth, we need to present our members one by one to God. If a particular member is weak, we need to consecrate that member to God. If a sister has a tendency to gossip, she needs to consecrate her mouth and tongue in a particular way to God. If her eyes like to look at inappropriate things, she needs to thoroughly consecrate her eyes to God. If her heart is not broad, not willing to forgive others and forget their offenses, or if her heart harbors hatred because of something insignificant, then she needs to consecrate her heart to God. She needs to say, “Lord, my heart is a captive of Satan. It is narrow; it hates, envies, blames, and condemns others, and it is not willing to forgive others. No matter how I struggle and strive, I cannot overcome. By Your grace I consecrate my heart to You.” If she is willing to consecrate herself in such a way, her heart will change from being narrow to being broad, from hating people to loving people, and from not forgiving others to forgiving them. We need a detailed and specific consecration in order to experience Romans 5 and 6 in a practical way.
Chapter 7 speaks of being in the flesh, and chapter 8 speaks of being in the Holy Spirit. These two chapters show that we cannot live by the flesh. Whenever we try to please God by our flesh, we will fail. We must learn to be in spirit and walk according to the spirit, that is, to be freed by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ (8:2). We need to set our mind on the spirit, mind the things of the Spirit, and walk according to the spirit (vv. 4-6). This is deeper than consecration because it involves cooperating with the Holy Spirit in the deepest part of our being. Then we will be freed from our flesh and live in our spirit in our daily living. This is the way to be spiritual.
Chapters 9 through 11 do not continue the matter of spiritual experience. Rather, these chapters are an insertion and speak of God’s selection and calling. From the standpoint of experience, chapter 12 follows chapter 8. Chapters 1 and 2 are concerning sinners. Chapters 3 and 4 are concerning the justified. Chapters 5 and 6 are concerning those who have been transferred out of Adam into Christ and have presented their members to God. Chapters 7 and 8 are concerning those who are freed from the bondage of the flesh to live in the spirit and walk according to the spirit. A person with these experiences is spiritual and lives before God.
Chapter 12 is concerning the Body, which is the matter of building. We who are many are members one of another in Christ as one Body. This is building (v. 5). Therefore, there is a great turn in chapter 12, and the apostle speaks about consecration again. However, this time he is not asking us to present our individual members, such as our mouth, eyes, and ears; rather, he is exhorting us to present our body. The presenting in chapter 6 is for a living that is transferred out of Adam into Christ in order to live Christ. In order to have a living that is sanctified and justified, we need to present our members. The presenting in chapter 12 is not for us to be delivered from sin in order to live a proper life but for us to become building materials. Hence, we need to present our body. In chapters 3 and 4 we are justified by God and accepted by Him, in chapters 5 and 6 we are transferred out of Adam into Christ, and in chapters 7 and 8 we are delivered out of the flesh to live in the Holy Spirit in our practical daily living. Now we are good material for God’s building. Hence, at this critical juncture we need to consecrate our whole being again and give our entire being to God for His building. This is the last station, the last level, in our spiritual progress. To present ourselves for God’s building in such a way is our reasonable service. Such a consecration will cause us to understand God’s good, well-pleasing, and perfect will (12:2). Chapters 13 through 16 provide supplementary points regarding how we should conduct ourselves in the church life while we live in the spirit and are built by God into one Body. This is the line of thought that runs through the book of Romans.
Romans reveals that in order to be built by God, we must be consecrated persons. The first step of consecration is to overcome sins, but the second step of consecration is to be built by God. We first need to be consecrated persons with experiences of consecration, and then we can lead others into this matter.
After we pass through the gate of consecration, we will have many dealings, such as dealing with sins, dealing with the world, and dealing with the flesh. If we are not consecrated, we cannot experience the practical dealing, nor can we be built practically. Just as raw materials must be cut and polished before they can be used to build, so also we believers need to consecrate ourselves and surrender to God so that He may deal with the problems in our being in order to build us.
If as serving ones we would have extensive and adequate experiences of these things, we would be able to discern whether feeding, guiding, or planting and watering is the proper way to build up a person. As soon as we contact someone, we will know his spiritual condition. If he is not clear concerning his salvation, we will help him to be clear. If he is clear concerning his salvation but has not consecrated himself, we will help him in the matter of consecration. After a period of time those who are helped and led by us should be able to be built up with others in the church.
We need to reconsider our consecration before the Lord and ask ourselves whether we live in the position of our consecration. We also need to consecrate ourselves to God once again for His building. If a brother consecrated himself in a general way in the past, he now needs to be definite and thorough to present his members according to Romans 6, presenting his eyes, mouth, hands, and heart. Then he must consecrate his body according to chapter 12. The consecration in chapter 6 is the consecration of our members so that we can have a proper living, but the consecration in chapter 12 is the consecration of our body so that our whole being can become building material in God’s hand. The more thorough these two steps of consecration are, the better. There is nothing wrong with consecrating ourselves many times. Every renewed consecration will refresh our spiritual condition.
