Scripture Reading: 2 Sam. 7:12-14a; Col. 2:19; Matt. 13:18-23; John 17:11, 21; Eph. 4:15-16
Ⅰ
The church as the Body of Christ is the organism of the Triune God, and the building up of the church is by our being mingled with God to grow with the growth of God and to be transformed by God to minister God for us to be perfected into one for the building of God—Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4, 16; Lev. 2:4-5; Col. 2:19; Acts 6:4; John 17:23; cf. Eph. 4:11-13:
A
Real building is the growth in life (1 Cor. 3:6-12a; Eph. 2:21-22), real building is the transformation in life (Rom. 12:2), and real building is the oneness of the Body, the oneness in the Triune God (Eph. 4:4-6, 12-13; John 17:21, 23).
B
The mingling of God with man and the oneness of the Body are the central matters in the Bible and in our Christian life; the oneness is like a thermom-eter—it can tell us how much we are in the mingling; the result of being mingled with God is the oneness of the Body—1 Cor. 6:17; 12:13, and footnote 1.
C
The mingling of God and man causes the growth and transformation in life, and this mingling takes place by our eating, drinking, digesting, and assimilat-ing Christ as our spiritual food and drink—John 6:57, 63; 1 Cor. 10:3-4.
D
The more we enjoy Christ by eating and drinking Him, the more we experience the inner spiritual metabolism of transformation, which is both the growth and the building up of the church—Jer. 15:16; John 4:10, 14; Rom. 12:2; Matt. 16:18.
E
God's economy is to work Himself into us so that we may experience the meta-bolic process of spiritual digestion and assimilation for our transformation by giving Him the thoroughfare in our whole being for God's building—Eph. 3:16-19; Matt. 5:3, 8; Isa. 66:1-2; Psa. 51:10-12.
F
The organic building up of the church through the process of spiritual metab-olism is actually what Jehovah prophesied to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-14a; it is only through this process that something human—the human seed—can become divine—the sons of God.
Ⅱ
Matthew 13 reveals that Christ is the Sower, the Distributor of the divine life, to sow Himself as the life seed, the word of God, into our human spirit with the human heart to grow Christ as the divine seed in us for God's farm, God's building—John 10:10b; Matt. 5:3, 8; 13:3, 8, 18-23; Mark 4:14; John 6:68; Mark 12:30; 1 Cor. 3:9:
A
For the growth of Christ as the life seed in us, we must deal with the Lord daily to be poor in spirit, to be emptied in our spirit, acknowledging that we have nothing, know nothing, can do nothing, and are nothing apart from Christ as the Spirit, the new, present, and "now" Christ—Matt. 5:3; John 8:58.
B
For the growth of Christ as the life seed in us, we must deal with the Lord daily to be pure in heart, keeping our heart with all vigilance—Matt. 5:8; Prov. 4:23:
１
We must love the Lord with all our heart, keeping it from becoming hardened by worldly traffic, like the wayside—Matt. 13:19.
２
We must love the Lord with all our heart, keeping our heart from being shallow, with hidden sins, personal desires, self-seeking, and self-pity, which are rocks that hinder the life seed from taking root in us—vv. 20-21.
３
We must love the Lord with all our heart, keeping our heart free from the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches, which are thorns choking the growth of the life seed to make us become unfruitful—v. 22.
４
We must love the Lord with all our heart, giving our entire heart to the Lord so that it can be the good earth to supply the divine seed with all its human nutrients for His growth in us—v. 23; cf. 12:34-37.
Ⅲ
John 17 reveals that we are built into one in the Triune God by being mingled with Him so that we may be one even as the Triune God is one for His one testimony (one expression), His one Body (one organism), and His one city (one expression)—vv. 11, 21; Rev. 1:11-12; Eph. 4:4; Rev. 21:2, 11:
A
We are built into one in the Triune God by His blending and uniting life (the element of our oneness), delivering us from the natural man—John 17:2-3, 6.
B
We are built into one in the Triune God by His washing and sanctifying word (the means of our oneness), delivering us from the satanic world—vv. 14-19.
C
We are built into one in the Triune God by His radiant and effulgent glory (the expression of our oneness), delivering us from our divisive self—vv. 21-24.
Ⅳ
The organic building up of the Body is the growth of the Body, and the work of the ministry to build up the Body is directly by the perfected saints in the growth in life—Eph. 4:11-16:
A
The growth of the Body in life is "into" the Head, and the function of the Body in service is "out from" the Head—vv. 15-16:
１
When we allow Christ to be the Head in everything, staying intimately connected to Him and growing up into Him in all things, we will be supplied with the riches of His life to minister God as life into other members of the Body—Col. 2:19; 1 Cor. 14:4b; John 7:37-39; Phil. 1:25.
２
By prayer we grow up into the Head, and by the ministry of God's word we function out from the Head; this is to be one with Christ in His heavenly ministry to build up the church—Acts 6:4; cf. Heb. 7:26; 8:1; 1 Cor. 14:4b.
３
To build up the Body of Christ is to be filled with the Spirit to minister the Spirit into the saints for their growth in life—2 Cor. 3:2-3, 6, 8; 5:18-20.
B
Out from Christ the Head, all the Body (the supplying joints and operating parts) causes the growth of the Body of Christ unto the building up of itself in love; love is the most excellent way for the building up of the Body of Christ— Eph. 4:16; 1 Cor. 12:31b—13:13; John 13:34-35.