THE VISION, PRACTICE, AND BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH AS THE BODY OF CHRIST
Scripture Reading: Col. 2:19; Eph. 3:17a; 4:4-6, 12-16; Rev. 12:11
I. The organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ is by the growth of life, the increase of the Triune God within all the members, who grow up into the Head, Christ, in everything—Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:12-16:
A. The Body of Christ, as the church of God, is an organism, not an organization of human beings—John 15:1-5:
1. The Lord desires to build up the church organically, because the church is the organic Body of Christ—1 Cor. 1:2; 12:12-13; Eph. 1:22-23.
2. The church as the Body of Christ is an organism, and the building up of the Body as an organism is its organic growth.
3. The organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ is actually the growing up; the building up of the church is by the believers' growth in life— 4:15-16; 1 Cor. 3:6-7, 9.
4. How much organic building up we have experienced depends upon how much growth in life we have had—Eph. 4:16.
B. The growth of the Body depends on what comes out of Christ as the Head— vv. 15-16:
1. When the Body is supplied by holding the Head, the Body grows with the growth of God—Col. 2:19.
2. The Body grows out from the Head, for all the supply comes from the Head— Eph. 4:15.
C. The growth of the Body depends on the growth of God, the addition of God, the increase of God, within us—Col. 2:19:
1. God gives the growth by giving Himself to us in a subjective way.
2. The more God is added into us, the more growth He gives to us; this is the way God gives the growth—1 Cor. 3:6-7.
3. Only God can give growth; only God can give us Himself, and without Him, we cannot have growth—vv. 6-7:
a. The addition of God into us is the growth He gives.
b. For God to give us growth actually means that He gives us Himself— Rom. 8:11.
D. Ephesians 4:16 reveals that all the Body causes the growth of the Body:
1. This means that the Body grows by itself; the Body makes the growth of the Body.
2. The Body of Christ causes the growth of itself by the supplying joints and the operating parts.
3. The growth of the Body of Christ is the increase of Christ in the church, which results in the building up of the Body by the Body itself.
4. The growth of the Body is "unto the building up of itself in love"—v. 16:
a. This is not our own love but the love of God in Christ, which becomes the love of Christ in us, by which we love Christ and the fellow members of His Body—1 John 4:7-8, 10-12, 16, 19.
b. Love is the inner substance of God; the goal of the book of Ephesians is to bring us into God's inner substance that we may enjoy God and enjoy His presence in the sweetness of the divine love and thereby love others as Christ did—1:4; 2:4; 3:17b, 19a; 4:15-16; 5:1, 25; 6:24.
II. The building up of the church as the Body of Christ is by the mingling of God and man—3:17a; 4:4-6, 12, 16:
A. The true meaning of building is that God is building Himself into man and building man into Himself; this is the mingling of God and man—2:21-22.
B. The principle of God's building is that God builds Himself into us and builds us into Himself—3:17a; 4:15-16.
C. The mingling of God and man is an intrinsic union of the elements of divinity and humanity to form one organic entity, yet the elements remain distinct in the union—Luke 1:35, footnote 2.
D. God's purpose is to mingle Himself with us so that He becomes our life, our nature, and our content and so that we become His corporate expression—John 14:20; 15:4-5; Eph. 3:16-21; 4:4-6, 16:
1. The will of God is the mingling of God with man, and the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose depends on the mingling of divinity and humanity—1:5, 9; 3:11.
2. The Lord Jesus Christ is the mingling of God and man—Luke 1:31-35.
3. The Christian life is the mingling of divinity and humanity; to be a Christian means to be mingled with God, to be a God-man—2 Tim. 3:17.
E. The Body of Christ is the enlargement of Christ, the enlargement of the One who is the mingling of God and man—Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4-6, 16:
1. The church is the enlargement of Christ, the God-man, the One who is God mingled with man—Luke 1:35; John 1:14; 12:24.
2. The church is the enlargement of the principle of God being mingled with man and man being mingled with God; this enlargement results in the Body of Christ—Eph. 3:17a; 4:4-6.
3. In the Gospels the mingling of God and man produced the Head; in Acts the enlargement of the mingling of God and man produced the Body of Christ—Eph. 1:22-23; 4:15-16.
F. The Body of Christ is an organism composed of people who have the Triune God as the Spirit dwelling in their spirit; this indwelling of God as the Spirit in our regenerated spirit is the mingling of God with us—2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:16; 1Cor. 6:17.
G. The church as the Body of Christ is a group of people who allow God to be mingled with them and who are mingled with God—Eph. 3:16-21.
III. The Lord needs the overcomers to care for the Body and to carry out the economy of God to build up the church as the Body of Christ—1:10; 3:9; 4:12, 16; 1 Tim. 1:4; Rev. 12:11:
A. The overcomers are for the building up of the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem—Eph. 4:16; Rev. 2:7b; 3:12.
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 in His sevenfold intensified heavenly ministry—Heb. 8:1; Rev. 5:6.
D. The overcomers overcome anything that is against Christ or that replaces Christ—1 John 2:18, 22; Phil. 3:7-11.
E. The overcomers make a resolution to be vitalized ones—Judg. 5:15; Rev. 3:19b.
F. The overcomers see the Body, know the Body, and care for the Body—Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12, 18, 24b-27; Eph. 2:16; 4:4, 16; Col. 2:19.
G. The overcomers are those who care for God's interests above everything, including their necessities—Matt. 6:33.
H. The overcomers resolve to deny themselves and to pay the price required by the Lord to be the overcomers for the Lord, for the recovery, and for the Body— 16:24; Rev. 3:18; 12:11; 14:1, 4.