THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
Life and Building
Message Two—The Growth of Life for the Building Up of the Body of Christ
Scripture Reading: 1 Pet 2:2-5; Eph. 5:26; 4:16; Col. 2:7; Rom. 1:1; 5:11; 9:1; 11:36; Rev. 1:4; 4:5; 5:6; 3:1
I. First Peter 2:2-5: “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. 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:”
A. The believers had been regenerated to become newborn babes; now they should long for the milk in the word; by the guileless milk in the word they could grow unto a salvation that was transformation for their building up—1 Pet 2:2. (Life-study of 1 Peter, msg. 18)
B. Feeding on Christ by the nourishing milk in the Word of God is not only for growing in life; it is also for building up; growing is for building up—v. 5. (Life-study of 1 Peter, msg. 18)
C. In order to be built up a spiritual house, we need to become stones; but how can we actually become living stones? We become living stones by coming to Christ as the living stone—v. 4: (Life-study of 1 Peter, msg. 18)
1. If we long for the milk of the word, this milk will be like a current of living water flowing within us; as we stay in this flow, the current will carry away our natural substance and replace it with heavenly, divine minerals; over a period of time, we shall be transformed or “petrified”; that is, we shall become precious stones—Eph. 5:26. (Life-study of 1 Peter, msg. 18)
2. If we would be transformed, every day we need to come to the Lord as milk; as we daily drink in the milk of the word, we shall be transformed. (Life-study of 1 Peter, msg. 18)
II. Ephesians 4:16: “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.”
A. All the Body causes the growth of the Body as it builds itself up through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation of each one part, each one member of the Body; it is all the functioning members who build up the Body directly. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 3, “Life and Building in the Bible”, ch. 11)
B. We should not hold on to a religious concept that we need professional preachers to build up the Body; instead, we need to be perfected in order to build up the Body directly—Eph. 4:12. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 3, “Life and Building in the Bible”, ch. 11)
C. When the Lord returns, at His judgment seat He will judge us as to whether or not we have carried out the building up of the Body of Christ; if we are faithful to build up the Body in the present age, we will be rewarded by the Lord, but if we fail to participate in the work of building up the Body, we will be disciplined—2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 3:9-17. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 3, “Life and Building in the Bible”, ch. 11)
III. Colossians 2:6-7: “…Walk in Him, Having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
A. Like plants, we are living organisms; as such, we have been rooted in Christ, our soil, our earth, that we may absorb all His riches as nourishment; these riches become the element and substance with which we grow and are built up—v. 7. (Colossians 2:7, footnote 1, Recovery Version)
B. To be rooted is for the growth in life; this rooting has been completed already; to be built up is for the building of the Body of Christ; this is still going on; both these matters are in Christ—v. 7. (Colossians 2:7, footnote 1, Recovery Version)
IV. The major structures of the book of Romans are three—salvation, life, and building—Rom. 1:1; 5:11; 9:11; 11:36: (Life-study of Romans, msg. 1)
A. Salvation is for life, and life is for building—5:12-8:39. (Life-study of Romans, msg. 1)
B. The increase in truth results in the growth in life; as a believer receives more truth, life becomes more abundant in his experience; this is why we need to know the Bible, receive the truth, and care only for teaching that conveys God as life—12:1-16:26: (Basic Principles concerning the Eldership, ch. 14)
1. If we read the New Testament carefully, we will see that what the New Testament reveals and pays attention to is summed up in three matters: truth, life, and the gospel. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 2: Leading the Saints to Practice the New Way Ordained by the Lord, msg. 4)
2. The apostles’ record in the Gospels places an equal importance on truth, life, and the gospel. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 2: Leading the Saints to Practice the New Way Ordained by the Lord, msg. 4)
3. Although the gospel is listed last, it is neither for life nor for truth; rather, truth and life are for the gospel. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 2: Leading the Saints to Practice the New Way Ordained by the Lord, msg. 4)
C. The intrinsic building up of the organic Body of Christ is by the gifted persons’ perfecting of the saints in the divine dispensing, that all the saints may be able to do the work of the New Testament ministry, that is, to build up the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:11-12: (2001 WT, msg. 8)
1. The gifted persons perfect the saints by nourishing them according to the tree of life with the life supply for their growth in life. (2001 WT, msg. 8)
2. The gifted persons perfect the saints to do what they do for the direct building of the Body of Christ. (2001 WT, msg. 8)
3. The result of this perfecting is that we will all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, and at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (2001 WT, msg. 8)
V. In order for the Body to be produced in a full and complete way, there is the need of the third stage of Christ’s ministry; there is the need for the compound, all-inclusive life-giving Spirit to be the sevenfold intensified Spirit; in this stage Christ intensifies His organic salvation; He produces the overcomers; and He consummates the New Jerusalem—Rev. 1:4; 4:5; 5:6; 3:1: (2005 MDC, msg. 4)
A. Christ has become the sevenfold intensified Spirit to overcome the degradation of the church that the overcomers may be produced to bring forth the Body—2:7b. (2005 MDC, msg. 4)
B. 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—19:7-9. (2003 ITERO-F, msg. 9)
C. The building up of the Body of Christ is by the overcomers produced by Christ as the sevenfold intensified life-giving Spirit—1:4; 4:5; 5:6; 3:1, 12. (2003 ITERO-F, msg. 9)
D. 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—2:7; 21:2. (2003 ITERO-F, msg. 9)