Message Four—Life and Building in Paul’s Epistles

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:

A. In the church we are the plants, planted by God to grow Christ—1 Cor. 3:6.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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:

1. Today in God’s house, God needs the hard, solid material to be produced out of the growth of God’s plantation.

2. Paul planted, Apollos watered, and God caused the growth, not to produce fruit but to produce gold, silver, and precious stones.

E. We all need to grow in life for the transformation in life.

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.

2. We need the growth in life to make us solid and precious material for God’s building.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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:

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:

1. They perfect the saints, not by teaching them, but by nourishing them that they may be a full-grown man.

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.

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.

4. According to 4:16 the Body builds itself up in love by the members themselves.

a. The practical building of the local churches must be by the local members, who are the direct builders of the local church.

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.

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.

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:

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.

2. Verse 21 says that in Christ “all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord” —v. 21.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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:

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:

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:

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.

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.

c. In order to be saved in life, we need to be liberated from sin, death and other kinds of bondage.

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.

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.

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.

g. We also must be saved from individualism.

2. God’s intention is to have the Body, our being saved in life is for the building—12:5:

a The Body issues from the experience of life, and life is enjoyed through redemption.

b We need redemption first and then life, and the result will be the building, which is the Body.

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.

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.

Ministry Excerpts:

FIRST CORINTHIANS—A BOOK TO THE LOCAL CHURCH

First Corinthians was not written to individual believers or to the so-called church in the heavens. Paul said in 1:2 that this book was written to the church of God which was in Corinth, to the church in a locality, a local church. Thus, if we want to understand, to know, to realize, and to apprehend this book, we have to be in the local church. This is a book to the local church. Thank the Lord that we are in the local church, and we are positioned to receive this book. If we are in the right position, it is easy for us to see certain things. Because we are in the local church, it is easy for us to see a book written to the local church.

In today’s Christianity nearly all the teachings are for individual believers. Christianity tries to create spiritual giants, but this is wrong. God has no intention of building up spiritual individuals. 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. The planting and the watering are for the growth, and the growth is for the building. We are not only God’s farm but also God’s building. The farm comes first and then the building. This means the farm is for the building.

BUILDING THROUGH THE WORKING
OF THE TRANSFORMING SPIRIT

We may be very good people, but if we do not allow the life within us to grow and transform us, we cannot become the material for the building. Our being good is leaven. If I love you in a natural way, this kind of love is leaven that corrupts and ruins the Body. If two brothers have a close friendship in their natural life, this is not the building up. This is the leaven that corrupts, that damages the fine flour (Matt. 13:33). So we have to condemn this. We have to put this on the cross; we have to bury and get rid of this.

We need transformation. The more that life grows within us, the more we realize that natural affection and natural goodness have to be put on the cross and buried. Whatever is of the natural man can never build up the Body. We may have fellowship in the spirit, but we should not have friendship in the emotion. Friendship in the emotion is leaven that corrupts the Body life. Until we hate everything of our natural being, we cannot be built up together. The real building, the solid building, is in the spirit through the working of the transforming Spirit.

I believe that we have seen the way for the building up of the local church. 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. May the Lord be merciful and gracious to us so that we who are in the Lord’s present recovery may know the way of life. It is by this way that there is the possibility for the building up of the local churches. Life builds. (The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, ch. 7)

GENUINE GROWTH

As a result of being rooted in Christ and absorbing His riches into us, we grow in Him, just as trees grow by absorbing nourishment from the soil. In order for a tree to grow, it must receive some substantial nourishment. The nourishment in the soil becomes the substance by which a tree grows.

Not many of today’s Christians realize what genuine growth is. True growth is not the result of acquiring more doctrinal knowledge. It is the result of turning to the spirit, remaining in the spirit, and absorbing the nourishing element of Christ. Only by assimilating this element can we grow spiritually. The more this rich element is added into our being, the more we grow.

Colossians 2:19 says that by holding the Head the Body “grows with the growth of God.” To grow with the growth of God is to grow by having God Himself added into us. This takes place only when we are rooted in Christ as the soil. God Himself with His element and substance is the rich nourishment in Christ. If we remain rooted in our spirit, we absorb this element, and this causes us to grow with the growth of God. We grow with the addition, the increase, of God into us. This is altogether a matter of the genuine experience of Christ in our daily life.

We have seen that if we would walk in Christ, we must be planted and rooted in Christ, the divine Spirit in our spirit, and remain in Him. Whenever we find ourselves out of the spirit, we need to turn back to the spirit and stay there. By remaining in the spirit, we are rooted in Christ in a practical way and thereby absorb the rich nourishment into our spirit. As this nourishment flows into our inner being, it causes us to grow with the growth of God. Growth takes place as God is added into us, for the rich nourishment in Christ is actually God Himself. From our experience we know that as we are rooted in Christ, we grow and, spontaneously, we then walk in Him.

BUILT UP INDIVIDUALLY AND CORPORATELY

Colossians 2:7 also speaks of being built up in Christ. As we grow in Christ, we are being built up in Him. Years ago, I considered the building up in 2:7 to mean the building up with the saints. But this is not the meaning here. Rather, the meaning is that we ourselves need to become built up. For example, as a tree grows, it builds itself up. The same is true of children. They become built up by growing. The building up of the Body depends upon the individual and personal building up of all the members. If a particular member has not been built up, it will not be possible for him to be built up in the Body. To be built up in the Body we first must be built up in ourselves. When we have become built-up members, we shall then be able to be built up with others in the Body. Therefore, the building up in 2:7 is not that of the Body corporately, but the building up of the members individually. In Ephesians 4:16, on the contrary, we have the building up of the Body in a corporate way.

It is important to see that if we have not been built up individually, we shall not be able to be built up with others corporately. The building of the meeting hall in Anaheim illustrates this. The material used in the construction of the hall was first built up in itself; then it was used with other pieces of material to form the meeting hall. Redwood, for example, was used in the exterior. But a tender sprout of a redwood tree could not be used for this, could it? The redwood trees first had to grow and be built up in themselves by absorbing the riches from the soil. Only then could they become the proper building material. The same is true of us. We need to remain in our spirit absorbing the rich nourishment of Christ. As we absorb this element, we shall grow, and by this growth we shall then be built up. Then it will be possible for us to be built up with others in the Body.

If we would walk in Christ, we need to absorb His riches by being rooted in Him and to be built up as individual members of the Body. We need to sink our roots into Christ deeper and deeper so that we may absorb more of His riches. Then we shall grow and be built up in Him. Having fulfilled these two conditions, we shall then be able to walk in Christ. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 51)

SALVATION IN LIFE IN THE BOOK OF ROMANS

Being Freed

There are five aspects of our salvation in life. First, to be saved in life is to be set free (8:2). This is the first step of our salvation in life. Because we are all bound and suppressed, in order to be safe, we need to be liberated and set free. Even those of us who are somewhat mature in life may still not be completely free. We may still be under certain kinds of bondage. The first kind of bondage we must be freed from is the bondage of sin and death. In order to be saved in life, we need to be liberated from sin, death and other kinds of bondage. This is the first step of God’s salvation in life.

Being sanctified

After being freed, we need to be sanctified, as explained in Romans 6 (vv. 19, 22). To be sanctified is to be set apart, or separated, unto God. We may be freed from the law of sin and of death, but we may not be set apart unto God. Even though we might have been regenerate a long time ago, in many things we may not be sanctified unto God; rather, we may be separated and set apart unto something else, such as our wealth our career, our reputation, or our happiness. Thus we need to be sanctified unto God. We need to be absolutely taken over by God for His purpose. On the negative side we need to be freed from many things; on the positive side, we need to be sanctified unto God. Today we are under the process of sanctification. Day by day and little by little, we are being set apart unto God. Not only the brothers should be sanctified; the sisters also should be under God’s sanctification. For instance, the sisters need to learn to take care of the children not for themselves or for their own happiness but for God’s purpose. This is to be sanctified unto God.

Being Transformed

Third, we need to be transformed. We not only need to be sanctified, set apart, unto God; we also need a change in our nature and disposition. Romans of 12:2 says, “Do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by renewing of the mind.” In a sense we have already been saved, but 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. This is another step of our being saved in Christ’s life.

Being Conformed

After being transformed, we need to be conformed. 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). We may be transformed, but we still need to be conformed to the image of Christ.

Being Saved from Individualism

Eventually, we also must be saved from individualism. We may be freed from bondage, separated unto God, transformed in our disposition and nature, and even conformed to the image of Christ, but we may still be individualistic. Thus, we need to be saved in life from being individualistic. Otherwise, it will be impossible to have the Body life and the coordination in the Body portrayed in chapter 12.

These five steps constitute the full salvation in the gospel of God. On the negative side, we have been redeemed and reconciled to God. On the positive side, we are being saved in Christ’s life, and this salvation in life includes five steps: being freed from bondage, being sanctified unto God, being transformed in our nature and disposition, being conformed to the image of Christ, and being saved from individualism so that we may be built up in the Body and coordinate with others. If we experience all five aspects of God’s full salvation, we will spontaneously have the Body life. Without experiencing these five aspects of salvation in life, we cannot have the Body life. If we are still under the bondage of sin, how can we have the Body life? If we have not been sanctified unto God in the way that we drive, the way that we spend our money, and the way we care for our children, how can we genuinely have the Body life, which is the church life? We need to be saved by being continually sanctified by the operation of God’s sanctifying word in us (John 17:17; Eph. 5:26). We need to be sanctified in our family life, our school life, our work life, and many other things. We must be set apart, and sanctified unto God. Moreover, we need to be transformed, that is, to be changed in our mind, emotion, will, and disposition. Our entire being must undergo a radical change from the inside to the outside. If we are not transformed in our disposition , ww may talk about the Body life, but it will be impossible for us to actually experience the Body life. We also need to be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God. Eventually we need the final step of our salvation, the step of being saved from individualism. We may be spiritual yet individual. In other words, we may be individualistically spiritual. Thus, we need to take another step in our salvation in life in order to be saved from individualism. Then we will be ready and prepared to live the Body life.

All these aspects of our salvation are implied in the phrase in Romans 5:10 that says, “Much more will be saved in His life.” This verse is a turning point in the book of Romans. It turns us from redemption to life so that we may enjoy life, experience life, be saved in life, reign in life, and walk in newness of life. With Christ’s saving life there is the law of the spirit of life that liberates us and sets us free. It is in this life that we are being saved, not from hell and into heaven but from bondage, from being worldly, from being apart from God, and from being in the old nature. In this life we are constantly under God’s work of transformation and are being saved from our old concept, emotions, understanding, disposition, habits and temper. We need to be transformed in order to be fully saved. Furthermore, we need to be saved in life so that we may be conformed to the image of Christ. We need to be made the same as Christ in form and appearance. Finally in this life we are being saved from individualism. Once we have been saved from individualism, we can no longer be individualistic; we must depend on our brothers and sisters. We will realize that 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. This is the last step of our salvation in life. As long as we are not built up together, we still need to be saved. Only when we as precious materials are built up together into God’s house will our salvation be fully accomplished. This is the all-inclusive meaning of salvation in life in the book of Romans.

PRAY-READING BEING THE KEY TO ENJOYING SALVATION IN LIFE

Now we know the various steps of our salvation life, what is the way the key to enjoying this life? The key is pray-reading by exercising our spirit. All the saints, including the sisters, need to pray-read the Word. The sisters should not rely on the brothers to use the key. The sisters themselves must also use the key by exercising their spirit to pray-read.

To pray-read the Word is to eat the spiritual food. Others can do many things for us, but they cannot eat for us. Even a child must eat for himself. Similarly, we all need to pray-read, because to pray-read is to eat. John 6:63 says, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” When we pray-read the Lord’s words, those words become spirit and life to us. Thus by pray-reading we can enjoy life.

If we faithfully practice pray-reading, we will become accustomed to it, and after a few weeks our meeting would be different. At that point we will prefer to spend our meeting time pray-reading rather than listening to a message. I have seen this happen. In some places the saints no longer have “itching ears.” Instead, they pray-read and feed on the Lord’s Word, and when they pray, the meeting becomes living.

In Los Angeles there was a meeting in which the saints to pray-read the entire book of Ephesians. After that meeting some testified that previously they had attended many Pentecostal meetings, but they had never attended a meeting as powerful as that one. When they came to chapter 4 and began praying, “One Body and One Spirit.” Everyone was in the heavens, I cannot describe the atmosphere of that kind of meeting. One must simply be there to experience it, in that kind of meeting it is not a matter of a message being given or of our emotions being stirred up. In such meetings there is only the Spirit. When the spirits of all the attendants are stirred up, there is a strong, rich enjoyment of the Spirit.

For many years, we have been trying to find a way to discontinue the traditional way of meeting on the Lord’s Day morning. Brother Nee often emphasized that the Lord’s Day morning meetings were simply a tradition brought over from Christianity. He suggested that it would be better to drop the morning meetings on Lord’s Day, have the brothers do some service or work for the Lord, and then come together to enjoy the Lord at His table in the evening. Nevertheless, it was still difficult for us to drop the traditional way of meeting in the morning. Now, however, we have the way of pray-reading, which will revolutionize the meetings and change everything. No one can predict that what will happen in these kinds of meetings. When we pray-read the Word with our Spirit that saints release their spiritual function in a spontaneous way.

It is best to pray-read with others. Many of the sisters in Taipei come together every day after doing their shopping at the market to pray-read for half an hour. Because they are busy taking care of the children in the morning, they often come together to pray-read after breakfast, after their husbands have gone to the office, and after the children have gone to school. The brothers meet together in the morning before they go to work. Some come together before six o’clock to pray-read for forty-five minutes to an hour, and then they go to work. Because of this practice, the meetings of the church have changed, and the church has been turned from death to life. Many saints who for many years never opened their mouth in the meetings suddenly became enlivened and began to function. As a result, all the “hired priests” became unemployed, and all the saints, who are priests by birth, have begun to function.

In the meetings in Christianity there is very little exercise of the spirit and too much preaching, teaching, and giving of lectures, messages and sermons. In contrast, pray-reading is absolutely a matter of exercise of the spirit. For instance, we may take a verse that seemingly does not contain much revelation, but when we pray-read it, there may be a spiritual explosion in the meeting. That kind of meeting attracts and nourishes people and causes them to desire to come again. Formerly, we thought that messages would attract people; now we realize that what will attract people is not messages but the Spirit.

Meetings that are filled with pray-reading are not like Pentencoastal meetings, which rely on the outward stirring up of the emotions. Meetings in which the saints pray-read rely on the proper exercise of the spirit. Thus, we all need to learn how to exercise our spirit. Ephesians 6:17-18says, “Receive…the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit.” We need to receive the word of God by praying in spirit. This is to pray-read the Lord’s word by exercising our spirit. Pray-reading is the best way to exercise our spirit. We may exercise our spirit by praying, but prayer is not as good as pray-reading, because when we go to the Lord to pray, we often do not know how to pray or for what to pray. With pray-reading, however, it is very simple. In our reading of the Word, we always have something with which to pray. There are four things in the recovery that today’s Christianity, and even some genuine spiritual people, will strongly oppose: Christ as the inner life, the exercise of the spirit, the teaching of the ground of oneness, and pray-reading. These four things will turn the kingdom of darkness upside down, and for this reason Satan will cause many in Christianity to rise up against them. I am even ready for some of the co-workers in the recovery to oppose them. This four matters will provoke the enemy. I have already been given a bad name because of my speaking regarding Christ as life, the ground of church, and the exercise of the spirit. I am a small man, but I am viewed by many groups as atroublemaker and narrow-minded person. Many pastors, ministers, missionaries consider us fools. However, if they would humble themselves and carefully examine the situation in the church, they would realize that through pray-reading there has been a real change in life in many of the young ones. (CWWL, 1967, “Sacramento Conference”, ch. 3)