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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
IV. The major structures of the book of Romans are three—salvation, life, and building—Rom. 1:1; 5:11; 9:11; 11:36:
A. Salvation is for life, and life is for building—5:12-8:39.
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:
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.
2. The apostles’ record in the Gospels places an equal importance on truth, life, and the gospel.
3. Although the gospel is listed last, it is neither for life nor for truth; rather, truth and life are for the gospel.
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:
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.
2. The gifted persons perfect the saints to do what they do for the direct building of the Body of Christ.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE MAJOR STRUCTURES OF ROMANS
Salvation
The first major structure of Romans is salvation, revealed in 1:1—5:11 and 9:1—11:36. Salvation includes propitiation, redemption, justification, reconciliation, selection, and predestination. In eternity past God predestinated us. Then He called us, redeemed us, justified us, and reconciled us to Himself. Thus, we have full salvation.
We need to differentiate between redemption and salvation. Redemption is what Christ accomplished in the eyes of God. Salvation is what God has wrought upon us based upon the redemption of Christ. Redemption is objective, and salvation is subjective. When redemption becomes our experience, it becomes salvation.
Life
Salvation is for the life unfolded in 5:12—8:39. In this section the word life is used at least seven times and, according to chapter 8, this life is four-fold, which we will see as we come to that chapter.
Building
In the last part of Romans, 12:1—16:27, we have the building, the Body with all of its expressions in the local churches. Salvation is for life, and life is for building. Thus, the three major structures of Romans are salvation, life, and building. (Life-study of Romans, msg. 1)
Growing Unto Salvation Is for the Building
Verse 5 [of 2 Peter 2] says, “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, into a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” In reading this verse we need to take care of grammar. Verse 4 is a modifier of the subject of the sentence in verse 5. The main part of the sentence in verse 5 is this: “You…are being built up a spiritual house.” Hence, the main thought here is that of the building. This thought continues the thought in verse 2 of growing unto salvation. This means that following salvation we have the building. Growing unto salvation is for the building. This indicates that here salvation involves not only transformation, but also includes being built up. As a totality, salvation in 1 Peter 2 indicates transformation for building up.
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.
Praise the Lord that regeneration has made us newborn babes! As newborn babes, we all should long for the guileless milk of the word. Then by this milk we shall grow unto salvation. This salvation is transformation, and transformation is the building. 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.
TRANSFORMED INTO LIVING STONES
In verse 5 Peter indicates that the believers are living stones. We, the believers in Christ, are living stones, like Christ, through regeneration and transformation. We were created of clay (Rom. 9:21). But at regeneration we received the seed of the divine life, which by its growth in us transforms us into living stones.
By our natural birth we are clay, not stones. Do you realize that you were made of clay? Genesis 2:7 says that man was made from the dust of the ground. Romans 9 reveals that we are vessels of clay. How, then, can we become stones? We become stones through the process of transformation.
First Peter 2:5 says that we, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house. However, we all are clay. How can we be built up? 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).
We may use petrified wood as an illustration of transformation. In Arizona there is a place called the petrified forest, an area that contains much petrified wood. Petrified wood is wood that has been changed into stone. Over a long period of time, water has been flowing over wood and through it. By means of this flow of water, the substance of the wood is changed into stone. On the one hand, the element of wood is carried away; on the other hand, the element of stone is brought in to replace the element of wood. In this way the wood becomes stone.
The principle is the same with our experience of transformation. 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. These minerals are actually Christ. Gradually, over a period of time, we shall be transformed or “petrified”; that is, we shall become precious stones.
If we would be transformed, every day we need to come to the Lord as milk. We have pointed out that the way to come to Christ as the living stone is to drink the guileless milk of the word. This means that we come to Christ by drinking Him. As we daily drink in the milk of the word, we shall be transformed.
God’s goal in the believers is to have a house built up with living stones. He does not want separated and scattered stones, nor even a pile of stones merely gathered together. He wants stones built up with one another.
The spiritual house into which we are being built is God’s building. Eventually, this building will consummate in the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem there will not be any clay, for all the clay will have been transformed into precious stone. This means that the New Jerusalem is built with precious stones. We are becoming the precious stones that will be built up into the New Jerusalem. Hallelujah, the building work is now going on! How is this work going on? It is being carried out by the process of petrification, transformation. This happens as we daily, even hourly, come to Christ as milk and drink Him in. Then we shall have the flow, the current, that transforms us from clay into stone for God’s building. (Life-study of 1 Peter, msg. 18)
LIFE AND FUNCTION
In order to be perfected, we must pay attention to life and to function. The way to be perfected is to grow in life and to become skillful in function. The Greek word rendered “perfecting” here also means completing, equipping, furnishing. To perfect a saint is to complete him, to equip him, and to furnish him. Only by growing in life can we be completed. Not until we become mature will we be completed. For example, a child of five is not a full-grown person. As long as, spiritually speaking, we remain underage, we shall not be complete. Mothers perfect their children by feeding them. Furthermore, parents equip their children and furnish them by training them to behave and to speak in a certain way. Thus, children are perfected by feeding and by training. The same is true with respect to perfecting the saints according to God’s economy. The saints need to be fed and they need to be trained so that they may function with the proper skill. (Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 41)
Into the Head, Christ
To grow up into the Head means that we care only for Christ and the church. We grow by caring only for Christ and the church, that is, by handling truth in love. We do not grow by some kind of honesty or sincerity related to ethical behavior.
Paul clearly says that we are to grow up into the One who is the Head. This indicates that our growth must be in the Body. In order to grow into the Head, we must surely be in the Body. Many Christians are apparently growing spiritually; however, their supposed growth is not in the Body. I have known some Christians who have actually become more dissenting as they have had this kind of growth. It seems that the more they grow, the more critical they become. When they have relatively little growth, they are no problem in the church life. But as they grow, they become troublesome. This is an indication that their growth is not growth into the Head. As long as anyone’s growth is not into the Head, it is not growth in the Body.
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.
Causing the Growth of the Body
Verse 16 speaks of the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. This indicates that a local church must build itself up in love through every joint of the supply and according to the operation of the measure of each one part. Those with the particular supply are not only in the Body as a whole, but also in the local churches, which are the practical expression of the one Body. Even if the number of saints in a church is very small, perhaps only fifteen, there will still be some with the particular supply. This should be an encouragement to every local church. Through the particular supply of the leading ones and through the operation in each part, the church will cause the growth of itself in love. In this way we shall see the growth of the members for the building up of the Body of Christ. (Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 45)