The organic building up of the church
as the Body of Christ
is by the growth of life,
the increase of the Triune God
within all the members,
who grow up
into the Head, Christ,
in everything:
The Body of Christ,
as the church of God,
is an organism,
not an organization
of human beings:
The Lord desires
to build up the church organically,
because the church is
the organic Body of Christ.
The church as the Body of Christ
is an organism,
and the building up of
the Body as an organism
is its organic growth.
The organic building up of the church
as the Body of Christ
is actually the growing up;
the building up of the church
is by the believers’ growth in life.
How much organic building up
we have experienced
depends upon
how much growth in life
we have had.
The growth of the Body
depends on
what comes out of Christ
as the Head:
When the Body is supplied
by holding the Head,
the Body grows with
the growth of God.
The Body grows out from the Head,
for all the supply
comes from the Head.
The growth of the Body
depends on
the growth of God,
the addition of God,
the increase of God,
within us:
God gives the growth
by giving Himself to us
in a subjective way.
The more God is added into us,
the more growth He gives to us;
this is the way
God gives the growth.
Only God can give growth;
only God can give us Himself,
and without Him,
we cannot have growth:
The addition of God into us
is the growth
He gives.
For God to give us growth
actually means
that He gives us Himself.
Ephesians 4:16 reveals
that all the Body
causes the growth of the Body:
This means
that the Body grows by itself;
the Body makes
the growth of the Body.
The Body of Christ
causes the growth of itself
by the supplying joints
and the operating parts.
The growth of the Body of Christ
is the increase of Christ in the church,
which results in
the building up of the Body
by the Body itself.
The growth of the Body
is “unto the building up of itself
in love”:
This is
not our own love
but the love of God in Christ,
which becomes
the love of Christ in us,
by which
we love
Christ and the fellow members of His Body.
Love is
the inner substance of God;
the goal of the book of Ephesians
is to bring us
into God’s inner substance
that we may enjoy God
and enjoy His presence
in the sweetness of the divine love
and thereby love others
as Christ did.
The building up of the church
as the Body of Christ
is by the mingling of God and man:
The true meaning of building
is that God is building Himself into man
and building man into Himself;
this is
the mingling of God and man.
The principle of God’s building
is that God builds Himself into us
and builds us into Himself.
The mingling of God and man
is an intrinsic union
of the elements of divinity and humanity
to form one organic entity,
yet the elements remain distinct
in the union.
God’s purpose
is to mingle Himself with us
so that He becomes
our life, our nature, and our content
and so that we become
His corporate expression:
The will of God
is the mingling of God with man,
and the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose
depends on
the mingling of divinity and humanity.
The Lord Jesus Christ
is the mingling of God and man.
The Christian life
is the mingling of divinity and humanity;
to be a Christian
means
to be mingled with God, to be a God-man.
The Body of Christ
is the enlargement of Christ,
the enlargement of the One
who is the mingling of God and man:
The church is
the enlargement of
Christ,
the God-man,
the One
who is God
mingled with man.
The church is
the enlargement of the principle of
God being mingled with man
and man being mingled with God;
this enlargement
results in the Body of Christ.
In the Gospels
the mingling of God and man
produced the Head;
in Acts
the enlargement of
the mingling of God and man
produced the Body of Christ.
The Body of Christ
is an organism
composed of people
who have the Triune God
as the Spirit
dwelling in their spirit;
this indwelling of God
as the Spirit
in our regenerated spirit
is the mingling of God with us.
The church as the Body of Christ
is a group of people
who allow God
to be mingled with them
and who are mingled with God.
The Lord needs the overcomers
to care for the Body
and to carry out the economy of God
to build up the church
as the Body of Christ:
The overcomers
are for the building up
of the Body of Christ
to consummate the New Jerusalem.
Without the overcomers
the Body of Christ
cannot be built up,
and unless the Body of Christ
is built up
Christ cannot come back
for His bride.
The building up
of the Body of Christ
is by the overcomers
produced by Christ
in His sevenfold intensified heavenly ministry.
The overcomers overcome anything
that is against Christ
or that replaces Christ.
The overcomers make a resolution
to be vitalized ones.
The overcomers
see the Body,
know the Body,
and care for the Body.
The overcomers are those
who care for God’s interests
above everything,
including their necessities.
The overcomers resolve
to deny themselves
and to pay the price
required by the Lord
to be the overcomers
for the Lord,
for the recovery,
and for the Body.
Hits: 24
7 replies on “The Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ (3) The Organic Building by the Growth of Life and the Mingling of God and Man and the Lord’s Need of Overcomers to Care for the Body and Build Up the Body”
Prophecy note, 22 February 2015
God mingled with
the man Jesus, a Galilean,
and this Jesus became
the Head of the Body;
God also mingled with many Galileans,
and they became
the Body of the Head.
The four Gospels
show this great person,
and the book of Acts
shows the enlargement of
this great person.
The book of Acts
is a record
not merely of the activities of the apostles,
but it is
a record of the activities of
the Body of Christ
on earth.
We need to connect Acts with the Gospels
to see
a complete man, the Head and the Body.
This man is
a mysterious, universal man,
who is
God yet man
and man yet God.
He is also
the mingling of divinity and humanity.
The Body of Christ
is an organism
composed of people
who have the very God
as the Spirit
indwelling their spirit.
The very source of life,
which is God,
is right now in our spirit.
Due to this,
we are the organism
of the Triune God.
The church is
not a matter of name, position, or stand;
neither is the church
a matter of belief or organization.
The church is
a group of people
who allow God
to be mingled with them
and who are mingled with God.
This was
the situation with the early apostles.
They were truly Galileans,
but they were also
truly one with the God of heaven;
they had the appearance of Galileans,
but they also had
the expression of the God of heaven.
The glory of the God of heaven
was expressed in
uneducated, common people.
Uneducated, common people
were still present,
yet the glory of the God of heaven
was also expressed.
This is the church.
The ignorance disappeared,
and common people were broken.
A glorious and great God
was now mingled with common people,
shining forth
and being expressed
through them.
Day 6
We must resolve
to deny ourselves
and be the overcomers
for the Lord,
for the recovery,
and for the Body.
We need such a resolution.
We should pray,
“Lord,
I know
You need the overcomers.
Without the overcomers,
You have no way
to go on.
Lord,
I want to be
one of these overcomers.”
The overcomers
see the Body,
know the Body,
and care for the Body.
In Judges 5
Deborah highly appraised
some of those
in the tribe of Reuben
among the people of Israel.
She said
that they made a definite resolution
to fight for the Lord’s people.
Judges also tells us
that God selected three hundred
to be Gideon’s army
based upon
how they drank water.
The three hundred
who lapped the water
into their mouth
with their hand
did not care for their necessities,
while the others
who bowed down on their knees
to drink the water did.
The overcomers are those
who care for God’s interests
above everything,
including their necessities.
On the one hand,
we have to make our standing clear
that we do not agree with the divisions
made by certain division-makers.
On the other hand,
we have to pick up
a strong resolution
by praying,
“Lord,
I’m going to mean business
to live You
for Your recovery,
for the building up of Your Body.
Lord,
this is my job.
This is my goal.”
We must be
vital persons.
We need to see the goal of
the intensified work
of God’s organic salvation.
This salvation
is for producing the overcomers
to build up the Body of Christ
for the initial consummation of
the New Jerusalem in the kingdom age
and the full consummation of
the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth.
As we look at the situation of today’s Christians,
we may wonder
who will build up
the Body of Christ.
Without the overcomers
the Body of Christ
cannot be built up,
and unless the Body of Christ
is built up,
Christ cannot come back
for His bride.
Christ will come back
not only as the Savior
but also as the Bridegroom
to marry His bride,
who will be
the totality of the overcomers.
The building up
of the Body of Christ
is by the overcomers
produced by God
in the intensified work
of His organic salvation.
The building up
of the Body of Christ
by the overcomers
in this age
is for the initial consummation of
the New Jerusalem in the kingdom age
and eventually for the full consummation of
the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth.
The intensified work
of God’s organic salvation
is also for the complete preparation of
the bride of Christ
so that the Bridegroom
may have His triumphant wedding
in the millennium
for His satisfaction
according to His good pleasure.
John 3 indicates
that Christ is the Bridegroom
coming for the bride,
who is composed of
all the regenerated people.
But nearly two thousand years
have passed,
and the bride
still has not been prepared.
The overcomers
produced by Christ’s intensified work
will build up the Body of Christ,
which will become
the bride of Christ.
Thus,
Christ’s wedding
will take place
as a result of His intensified work.
The crucial matter
is the willingness
to pay the price.
What we cannot put aside
is the price.
Whatever replaces Christ,
is a substitute for Christ,
or is even against Christ
—whether it be
our reputation, position, knowledge,
wealth, desires, or thoughts—
is the price.
Day 5
The church is
the enlargement of Christ,
the God-man,
the One
who is God
mingled with man.
On the day of Pentecost,
those in the church
were uneducated, insignificant men,
but we can see
that they were mingled with the almighty God.
When Peter and the eleven apostles
stood up to speak,
although it was Peter’s voice,
God was speaking.
God was not merely among them;
even more,
He was mingled with them.
They were
inseparable from God.
This is
the church,
the enlargement of Christ,
the enlargement of
the mingling of
God with man
and man with God.
Formerly,
this mingling could be seen
in only one person,
but now
it can be seen
in millions of people.
Formerly,
this mingling involved only the Head,
but now
it has been enlarged
to become the Body.
With respect to time,
this enlargement is extending;
with respect to space,
this enlargement is spreading.
For two thousand years
this enlargement
has been ongoing
throughout the earth;
it keeps extending and spreading
over the whole earth.
This is glorious.
This enlargement
is the church.
God came to the earth
to be mingled with man,
in the man Jesus Christ.
Hence,
Jesus Christ
is the beginning of
the mingling of God and man.
This mingling
made the production of the Body of Christ,
which is the church,
possible.
Christ is
the Head
of the Body, the church.
The church is
the enlargement of
the principle of
God being mingled with man.
This enlargement
results in the Body of Christ.
In the Gospels,
the mingling of God and man
produced the Head, Christ.
In Acts,
the enlargement of
the mingling of God and man
produced the Body of Christ.
God mingled with
the man Jesus, a Galilean,
and this Jesus became
the Head of the Body;
God also mingled with many Galileans,
and they became
the Body of the Head.
May God enlighten us
in our reading of the Bible
to enable us
to see
that the first five books of the New Testament
show a clear picture of
a great person.
The four Gospels
show this great person,
and the book of Acts
shows the enlargement of
this great person.
The book of Acts
is a record
not merely of the activities of the apostles,
but it is
a record of the activities of
the Body of Christ
on earth.
We need to connect Acts with the Gospels
to see
a complete man, the Head and the Body.
This man is
a mysterious, universal man,
who is
God yet man
and man yet God.
He is also
the mingling of divinity and humanity.
The Body of Christ
is an organism
composed of people
who have the very God
as the Spirit
indwelling their spirit.
The very source of life
in the entire universe,
which is God,
is right now in our spirit.
Due to this,
we are the organism
of the Triune God.
Please remember
that the church is
not a matter of name, position, or stand;
neither is the church
a matter of belief or organization.
The church is
a group of people
who allow God
to be mingled with them
and who are mingled with God.
This was
the situation with the early apostles.
They were truly Galileans,
but they were also
truly one with the God of heaven;
they had the appearance of Galileans,
but they also had
the expression of the God of heaven.
The glory of the God of heaven
was expressed in uneducated, common people.
Uneducated, common people
were still present,
yet the glory of the God of heaven
was also expressed.
This is the church.
The ignorance disappeared,
and common people were broken.
A glorious and great God
was now mingled with common people,
shining forth
and being expressed
through them.
Day 4
The unique purpose of God
in creating all things and mankind,
in leading us
through all kinds of environments,
and in continually working in us
in various ways
is to mingle Himself with us
that He may become
our content, our life, and our nature.
However,
it is very difficult
for the saints
to be deeply impressed with
this kind of word.
Why is this?
It is
because God’s purpose
is basically nonexistent in us.
It is absent
not only from our thought
but also from our hope.
Hence,
all of us
who are saved
should pray
that the Lord will open our eyes
not only to see
corruption, sinfulness, and vanity
but also to see
something higher, deeper, and more spiritual
—to see that God’s purpose
is to mingle Himself with man.
God’s central purpose, His central will, His eternal plan,
is not merely that man
would be redeemed, have a loving heart, and live a life of holiness.
What God desires
is much more than this.
God’s eternal will, His mysterious plan, His heart’s desire,
is that He would enter into man, into you and me,
to be mingled with you and me.
He wants His life
to be mingled with our life,
His nature
to be mingled with our nature,
His personality
to be mingled with our personality,
and His element
to be mingled with our element.
Since God’s will
is His heart desire,
we must learn
what that desire is.
It is
the mingling of God with man.
To mingle with man
is both God’s desire and His will.
A thorough study of the Bible
will help us discover
the amazing fact
that God in eternity
planned according to His heart desire
to attain the goal of mingling Himself with man.
God in the universe
has this one will:
to work Himself into man
and to mingle Himself with man.
His creation, redemption, sanctification,
and all other aspects of His work
are for this one purpose.
This is
the one desire of His heart in the universe:
it is the only goal,
and it is the basic principle
of all His work
in the New Testament.
Therefore,
if we desire to know
God’s will in any situation,
we must first ascertain
whether the situation is conducive to
the mingling of Himself with us.
Without this mingling,
no matter how good or praiseworthy
the situation may be,
it is not God’s will.
This is a strict measurement.
We all know
that God has an eternal plan.
In order to carry out His eternal plan in man,
God became flesh
and came into a man.
He became a real man;
outwardly
He was a man,
but inwardly
He was God.
According to His office,
this God-man was called Christ.
What is Christ?
Christ is
God mingled with man,
God joined with man.
He is the crystallization
of the union of God and man.
Christ is
God mingled with man.
God has been united and mingled with man,
He cannot be separated from man,
and His name is Christ.
Hence,
the principle of Christ
is the mingling of God with man,
the two becoming one.
Just as water is blended with honey
to become one,
so God and man were mingled together
to become one.
This is
the principle of Christ.
The Christian life
is the mingling of divinity with humanity.
When we love,
we must love
by our love with God’s love
as its content and reality.
Apparently,
it is only human love;
actually,
it is the divine love.
It is
not only the divine love
as the content
with the human love
as its appearance
but also the divine love
mingled with the human love
so that these two loves
become one love.
Thus,
it is hard to say
whether it is the human love
or the divine love.
Then
as we exercise our love,
we express God’s love.
Our love is our virtue
mingled with God’s love, God’s attribute.
We then become
a mingled entity, a God-man,
having divinity
mingled with our humanity.
Day 3
The Body builds up itself in love.
This is
not our own love
but the love of God in Christ,
which becomes the love of Christ in us,
by which we love
Christ and the fellow members of His Body.
We must love one another
with the divine love
for the building up
of the Body of Christ.
The church is subject to Christ
and Christ loves the church.
Love is
the very element, the inner substance, of God.
The goal of Ephesians
is to bring us into God’s inner substance
that we may enjoy God as love
and enjoy His presence
in the sweetness of the divine love,
and thereby love others
as Christ did.
The church is
neither an organization
nor a religion,
but the Body of Christ
produced by the mingling
of the divine Spirit with the human spirit.
In the meetings
we should not have
rules and regulations;
we should simply care
to be in the Spirit.
The building work of God
is emphasized repeatedly
in the Scriptures.
While the work of God’s creation
took only six days,
after six thousand years
the building work of God
is still not finished.
Therefore,
in the universe
God’s work of building
is a great and mysterious matter.
The building work of God
is the mingling of God and man.
God mingling with man
is God building Himself into man;
man mingling with God
is man being built into God.
In God’s creation
heaven was heaven,
earth was earth,
God was God,
and man was man.
The two sides
were never mingled together.
In God’s work of building,
however,
God wants to build Himself into man
and to build man into Himself.
When these two are mingled
and built together,
they become
a building in the universe,
which may be called
the universal house.
It is the house of God,
and it is also the house of man.
It is
God taking man as His dwelling place,
and it is also
man taking God as his habitation.
In other words,
it is
the mutual abode
of God and man.
If God does not mingle Himself with man
to become one with man
but remains outside of man,
then God does not have a dwelling place;
He is a God
without a home.
Similarly,
if man is not mingled with God
to become one with God,
and if man continues to live outside of God,
then
man is a wandering, homeless man.
For both God and man,
the real dwelling place in the universe
is the oneness
of the mutual mingling
of God and man,
the oneness
of God being mingled with man
and man being mingled with God.
In order for God
to enter into man,
incarnation is required.
In order for man
to enter into God,
the process of death and resurrection
is required.
This is
the principle of God’s building.
The divine essence
out of the Holy Spirit
had been begotten
in Mary’s womb
before she delivered the child Jesus.
Such a conception of the Holy Spirit
in the human virgin,
accomplished with
the divine and human essences,
constituted a mingling
of the divine nature with the human nature,
which produced a God-man, One
who is both the complete God and the perfect man,
possessing
the divine nature and the human nature distinctly,
without a third nature being produced.
This is
the most wonderful and most excellent person
of Jesus,
who is
Jehovah the Savior.
The conception of the Savior
was God’s incarnation,
constituted not only by the divine power
but also of the divine essence
added to the human essence,
thus producing the God-man
of two natures
—divinity and humanity.
Day 2
Through Paul’s preaching of the gospel
and ministry of the Word,
many were planted into Christ.
Thus,
Paul could say
that he planted.
Later,
Apollos came to water
what Paul had planted.
Although Paul planted
and Apollos watered,
it was God
who gave the growth.
Now
we must go on
to ask
in what way
God gives the growth.
He gives the growth
by getting into us.
The more God is added to us,
the more growth He gives.
Without the increase of God within us,
there cannot be any growth.
The growth of the Body
depends on
the growth of God,
the addition of God,
the increase of God,
within us.
Therefore,
God gives the growth
by giving Himself to us
in a very subjective way.
Only God can give growth.
In my ministry
the most I can do
is to plant or water.
I cannot give growth to anyone,
for I cannot give God.
Only God can give you Himself.
Without Him,
we cannot have growth.
God Himself is our food,
and we need to seek Him
at His dining table,
where we need to take time
to eat Him slowly.
Then
more of Him
will be added into us.
This addition of God into us
is the growth
He gives.
For God
to give us growth
actually means
that He gives us Himself.
The organic building up
of the Body of Christ
is the increase of God
in Christ
as the Spirit
within us.
This increase
is our getting into Christ gradually
in all things.
Out from Christ, the Head,
all the Body
causes the growth of the Body
unto the building up of the Body itself.
The growth of the Body
depends upon every member growing.
In other words,
the growth of the Body
depends upon
all the members having the increase of God
to get themselves more and more into Christ
in all things.
The growth of the Body
is the totality
of the growth of every member.
This growth of the Body
is unto the building up
of the Body itself.
The organic building
is the increase of the Triune God
in each one of us.
Ephesians 4:16 tells us
that out from Christ, the Head,
all the Body
causes the growth of the Body
unto the building up of the Body itself.
The subject is
“all the Body”
and the predicate is
“causes.”
In between the subject and the predicate
is a long insertion.
This insertion tells us
that the Body is joined closely together
through every joint of the rich supply
and knit together
through the operation
in measure of each one part.
Because of this,
the Body causes itself to grow.
The members of the Body
are joined closely together
by the joints
and knit together
by each one part.
If we read Ephesians 4:16 carefully,
we shall see
that it says
that all the Body
causes the growth of the Body.
This means
that the Body grows
by the Body itself.
The Body makes
the growth of the Body.
Our growth in life
is to grow into the Head, Christ,
but our function in the Body
is to function out from Him.
Firstly,
we grow up into the Head.
Then
we have something
which is out from the Head.
Verse 16 indicates
that growth is
not for individuals,
but for the Body.
Any growth
that is not for the Body
is not genuine.
The words “each one part”
refer to every member of the Body.
Every member of the Body of Christ
has its own measure,
and this measure
works for the growth of the Body.
The Body causes the growth of itself
through the supplying joints and working parts.
Both the joints of the supply
and every single part with its measure
are needed
for the church
to build itself up.
The growth of the Body
is the increase of Christ
in the church.
This results in
the Body building itself up.
Day 1
Now that the Body of Christ
has been formed,
this Body
needs to grow.
Its growth
is by the increase (growth) of the Triune God
within all its members,
who grow into the Head, Christ,
in everything.
First Corinthians 12:13
says that we were all baptized
in one Spirit
into one Body.
Then
it says
that we were all given
to drink one Spirit.
Now that we have been baptized
in one Spirit
into one Body,
we need to drink the one Spirit
so that the Body may grow.
The one Spirit
is the supply
that we need
to grow
in this Body.
The Body of Christ,
like the tree,
is organic.
It is an organism.
Anything that is organic
is built up by growing.
Just as a tree grows in life,
we also need to grow in the divine life
to be built up.
The organic building up
is actually the growing up.
The building up of the church
is by the believers’ growing in life.
The Lord
does not want an organization.
What the Lord wants
is something
organic, full of life.
Just as our physical body
needs the circulation of the blood,
the Body of Christ also
needs the circulation of the divine life.
Our body is organic,
so its building up is organic
according to the circulation of life
by the growth in life.
Most Christians
do not think about
the building up of the church
in the organic sense,
but in the organizational sense.
The Lord desires
to build up the church organically
because the church
is the organic Body of Christ.
The Body of Christ,
as the church of God,
is an organism of the Triune God,
not an organization of human beings.
This is strongly proven
by the vine tree in John 15.
The Lord Jesus said
that He is the vine tree
and that His Father is the husbandman (v. 1).
The vine tree
is not something organized
but something of life
that grows up
as an organism.
Nothing inorganic
can be added to an organism
like a tree.
The church as the Body of Christ
is an organism,
and the building up of the church
as an organism
is its organic growth.
Colossians 2:19 speaks
of the supply
and of the Body
being knit together.
When the Body
is supplied and knit together
by holding the Head,
the Body grows
with the growth of God.
The phrase “out from whom”
in this verse
indicates that the Body
grows out from the Head,
for all the supply
comes from the Head.
In one sense,
Christ is the Head;
in another sense,
He is the soil.
As we absorb
the riches of the soil,
we hold the Head.
Likewise,
to receive the supply from the Head
is to absorb the riches from the soil.
The words “out from whom”
in verse 19
indicate that something
is coming out from the Head
to cause the Body to grow.
The growth of the Body
depends on
what comes out of Christ
as the Head,
just as the growth of a plant
depends on
what comes into the plant
from the soil.
If a plant
does not absorb nutrients from the soil,
the plant cannot grow.
Likewise,
if we do not receive
what comes out from Christ as the Head,
the Body cannot grow.
Holding the Head
is, therefore, equal to
being rooted in Christ
as the soil.
In 2:19
Paul says
that the Body “grows with the growth of God.”
With God Himself
there can be no growth,
for He is complete and perfect eternally.
Nevertheless,
the Body still needs to grow
with the growth, the increase, of God in us.
The more God is added into us,
the more we grow.
This is
what it means
to grow with the growth of God.