THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
Life and Building
Message Four—Life and Building in Paul’s Epistles
Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 3:6, 9, 12; 1 Pet. 2:2, 5; Eph. 4:11-16; 2:20-22
I. In the book of the First Corinthians, Paul said that he planted, Apollos watered, and God made to grow; in 3:9 Paul said, “You are God’s cultivated land [God’s farm], God’s building;” planting and watering on God’s farm are for the growth in life to produce precious material by the transformation in life for God’s building—1 Cor. 3:6, 9: (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
A. In the church we are the plants, planted by God to grow Christ—1 Cor. 3:6. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
B. The church is God’s land to grow Christ, not in an individual way, but in a corporate way; the planting, watering, and causing the growth are not for individual believers but for the church, for the Body—1 Cor. 3:6, 9. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
C. The planting and the watering are for the growth, and the growth is for the building; God’s intention is to build up the local churches for the building up of the Body of Christ, God’s farm, God’s building—1 Cor. 3:6, 9: (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
1. Something of Christ will be grown up in each of us; it is by the growth that the material for the building is produced. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
2. The church is God’s farm and God’s building, the planting on the farm, of course, is related to the vegetable life. But eventually the growth of the plants issues in gold, silver, and precious stones—v. 12. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
3. Christ is the vegetable life to us to produce all the minerals; the farm of God, the plantation of God, produces the precious material, gold, silver, and precious stones. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
D. Now in the church we, the laborers of God, are planting and watering with the expectation that God’s farm will produce the precious material for His building—1 Cor. 3:6, 9: (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
1. Today in God’s house, God needs the hard, solid material to be produced out of the growth of God’s plantation. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
2. Paul planted, Apollos watered, and God caused the growth, not to produce fruit but to produce gold, silver, and precious stones. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
E. We all need to grow in life for the transformation in life. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
1. We need to grow so that we will become so strong and solid in the Lord’s testimony, not in a natural way but in a spiritual way. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
2. We need the growth in life to make us solid and precious material for God’s building. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
F. The church as the house of God is built not with the pieces of clay but with pieces of stone. How strong a local church is depends upon how much transformation has been produced—Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 3:12: (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
1. The church needs the solid building, not anything of mere emotional affection, but something solid in God’s transformation with all the fullness of the Godhead. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
2. Nothing of our human nature, nothing natural, is good for the building up of the church; the building material must be of the Father’s nature, of the Son’s redeeming work, and of the Spirit’s transforming work. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
3. The nature of the Father has to be built into us, the redeeming work of the Son has to be wrought into our nature, and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit has to be accomplished within our whole being; then we become solid and trustworthy. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
II. Ephesians says that the Head of the church, Christ, gave the gifted persons—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers; the gifted persons perfect the saints by nourishing them that they may be a full-grown man—Eph. 4:11-12, 14, 16; 2:19: (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
A. These gifted persons were given by the Head to His Body, not for a direct building of the Body, but for the perfecting of the saints—vv. 11-12: (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
1. They perfect the saints, not by teaching them, but by nourishing them that they may be a full-grown man. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
2. To become a full-grown man, we need the nourishment in order that we may grow; any teaching that nourishes us is good; any teaching that just teaches us is not good; the teaching must be a nourishing teaching, something that ministers the nourishment of life to us so that by it we may grow. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
3. We want to be those who are being inwardly nourished for the growth in life in the local churches for the building up of the Body; no teaching should be able to shake us or carry us away; we should just care for the spiritual nourishment that we may grow into a full-grown man—v. 14. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
4. According to 4:16 the Body builds itself up in love by the members themselves. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
a. The practical building of the local churches must be by the local members, who are the direct builders of the local church. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
b. The gifted persons are the perfecters of the members; they help the members grow; they are for the perfecting of the saints until all the saints are full-grown. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
c. Every member will function, that is, every joint will supply and every part will operate according to its measure; in this way the Body builds itself up in love. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
B. Ephesians 2 says that we are no longer strangers and sojourners, but members of the household of God; verse 21 says that in Christ “all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord;” the building up of God’s temple is by the growth of the Body; again, the growth is for the building, and the building depends upon the growth—vv. 19, 21: (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
1. Ephesians 2 says that we are no longer strangers and sojourners, but members of the household of God, the members of the household need to be built together upon the foundation, Christ—v. 19. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
2. Verse 21 says that in Christ “all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord” —v. 21. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
3. Life builds; the more we call on the Lord by saying, “O Lord,” the more we take Him in as our life, and this life works within us to build up. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)
III. In resurrection Christ is our living land, and we can absorb Him as our rich soil, in which we have been rooted, so that we may grow with the elements that we absorb from the soil—Col. 2:6-7, 19: (2009 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
A. Colossians 2:8-15 presents a full description and definition of Christ as the soil; as we take time to absorb Him as the all-inclusive land, the facts in these verses become our experience—vv. 9-15. (2009 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
B. We must take time to enjoy the Lord as the all-inclusive land so that all the elements of Christ as the rich soil may be absorbed into us for us to be made full in Him in our experience—v. 10a; 4:2. (2009 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
C. We need to forget our situation, our condition, our failures, and our weaknesses and simply take time to absorb the Lord; as we take time to absorb Him, we grow with the growth of God in us for the building up of the Body of Christ—Col. 2:7a, 19b; Matt. 14:22-23; 6:6. (2009 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
IV. The three main topics in Romans are redemption, life, and building; redemption is for life, and life is for God’s building—3:24; 5:18: (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
A. The first section of the gospel is revealed in Romans 1:1—5:9, and the crucial matter in this first section is redemption; the section, from 5:10 through the end of chapter 8, deals with the second step of the gospel of God, which is concerned with the matter of life; the third section deals with the third step of God’s full salvation, or the third step of the gospel of God, and the crucial word in this section is building—3:24; 14:19; 15:2: (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
1. We were redeemed through the blood of Christ and reconciled through the death of Christ in order that we might enjoy His life and be saved in His life: (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
a. The way to be reconciled to God is through the death of Christ, and the way to be saved is in the life of Christ. (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
b. In order to enjoy Christ as our life, we must keep our mind away from the flesh and constantly set it on the Spirit. (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
c. In order to be saved in life, we need to be liberated from sin, death and other kinds of bondage. (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
d. We need to be sanctified unto God; in many things we may not be sanctified unto God; rather, we may be separated and set apart unto something else; we need to be absolutely taken over by God for His purpose. (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
e. If we examine our mind, our thoughts, and the way we consider things, we will realize that we are still old, natural, worldly and even sinful; thus our mind needs to be renewed, and our being needs to be transformed. (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
f. To be transformed is to undergo a metabolic change in our disposition and nature, whereas to be conformed is to be changed in our form, that is, to be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God—8:29. (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
g. We also must be saved from individualism. (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
2. God’s intention is to have the Body, our being saved in life is for the building—12:5: (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
a. The Body issues from the experience of life, and life is enjoyed through redemption. (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
b. We need redemption first and then life, and the result will be the building, which is the Body. (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
B. God’s intention is not to make us individual precious stones for exhibition, or display but to build us together with others so that we may be members one of another;thus, after redemption, Romans speaks of life, and after life, it speaks of the building, which is the Body—vv. 4-5. (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)
V. Life builds; the real building, the solid building, is in the spirit through the working of the transforming Spirit; the leading brothers, who by God’s mercy and grace are laboring among the saints for the building up of the local churches, have to realize that the local churches can never be built up by mere teaching; what we need to do is minister life to the saints so that the saints may be perfected by being nourished; they need to be perfected in feeding on Christ to be nourished by Christ; then they will grow, and this growth will produce gold, silver, and precious stones for the building of God’s house—Matt. 13:33; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Cor. 3:6, 9, 12; Eph. 2:21. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)