THE INTRINSIC AND ORGANIC BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH AS THE BODY OF CHRIST
Message Five
The Intrinsic Factor of the Winds of Teaching for Their Evil Purpose
Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:13-15; Acts 2:42; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Titus 1:9; 1 Cor. 1:2; 4:17; 12:12-13, 27
I. The teaching of the apostles is the unique and healthy teaching of God’s eternal economy—Acts 2:42; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 6:3; Titus 1:9; 2:1:
A. The teaching of the apostles is the entire teaching of the New Testament as God’s speaking in the Son to His New Testament people—Heb. 1:1-2.
B. The teaching of the apostles is the unique, divine revelation of God’s New Testament economy from the incarnation of God to the consummation of the New Jerusalem—John 1:14; Rev. 21:2.
C. The teaching of the apostles is the holding factor of the one accord, causing us to have one heart, one way, and one goal—Acts 1:14; 2:42a, 46a; Jer. 32:39.
D. We must be those who are “holding to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching of the apostles”—Titus 1:9:
1. The churches were established according to the apostles’ teaching and followed their teaching, and the order of the churches was maintained by the faithful word, which was given according to the apostles’ teaching.
2. We must speak the things that are fitting to the healthy teaching of the apostles, the teaching of God’s economy—2:1, 7-8; 1 Tim. 1:4.
E. Any teaching that was different from the apostles’ teaching was not allowed by the apostles; teaching “different things” was prohibited—Acts 2:42; 1 Tim. 1:3-4:
1. Differing teachings refers to teachings that are not in line with the economy of God—6:3.
2. The disorder in the church is due mainly to deviation from the apostles’ teaching—Acts 2:42:
a. To counter this, we must hold to the faithful word taught in the churches according to the apostles’ teaching—Titus 1:9.
b. In a darkened and confused situation, we need to cleave to the enlightening and ordering word in the New Testament—the apostles’ teaching—Acts 2:42.
3. We must avoid differing teachings and concentrate on God’s economy concerning Christ and the church—1 Tim. 1:3-4; Eph. 3:9; 5:32.
F. The apostle Paul taught the same thing in all the churches; we also must teach the same thing in all the churches in every country throughout the earth—1 Cor. 4:17; 7:17; cf. Col. 4:16.
G. The crucial point of the healthy teaching of the apostolic ministry concerns the Triune God processed to dispense Himself as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit into His chosen ones so that they may be brought into an organic union to receive the divine transfusion and thereby become sons of God and members of Christ; as a result, they can become the Body of Christ to express Christ, the One in whom the fullness of God dwells—1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17; 12:12-13, 27.
H. All teachings that are different from the unique revelation of God’s New Testament economy are considered by the apostles as winds of teaching—Eph. 4:14.
II. As members of the Body, we should no longer be “little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error”—v. 14:
A. Little children refers to those believers who are young in Christ, lacking maturity in life—1 Cor. 3:1; Eph. 4:13, 15.
B. The waves are stirred up by winds of different teaching, doctrines, concepts, and opinions sent by Satan to entice the believers in order to carry them away from Christ and the church—1 Tim. 1:3-4; Eph. 4:14:
1. It is difficult for infants in Christ to discern these; the only way to escape from the waves that are stirred up by the winds of teaching is to grow in life, and the safe way to grow in life is to stay in the proper church life with Christ and the church as the safeguard—vv. 13-15.
2. Any teaching, even a scriptural one, that distracts believers from Christ and the church is a wind that carries them away from God’s eternal purpose—v. 14.
C. We need to see the intrinsic factor of the winds of teaching—v. 14:
1. An intrinsic factor is a hidden factor, a factor that is not apparent.
2. To see this intrinsic factor, we need a proper and sharp understanding that can penetrate into the whole situation.
3. These teachings are different from the New Testament teaching concerning the economy of God for the building up of the Body of Christ—1 Tim. 1:3-4; 6:3:
a. Apparently, every wind of teaching is good; however, within the winds of teaching, intrinsically, is something different from the apostles’ teaching and is not good.
b. The winds of teaching overthrow the believers’ faith and devastate the church life—2 Tim. 2:18.
D. The teachings that become winds, carrying the believers away from the central lane of Christ and the church, are deceptions instigated by Satan in his subtlety, with the sleight of men, in order to frustrate God’s eternal economy, which is to build up the Body of Christ—Eph. 1:10; 3:9-11; 4:14, 16:
1. The dividing teachings are organized and systematized by Satan to cause serious error and thus damage the practical oneness of the Body life—v. 3.
2. The sleight is of men, but the system of error is of Satan and is related to deceitful teachings that are designed by the evil one to distract the saints from Christ and the church life—v. 14; 5:32.
E. The purpose of the winds of teaching—the evil purpose of the enemy Satan—is to frustrate the building up of the organic Body of Christ and to divide the members of the organic Body of Christ, causing endless divisions instead of keeping the oneness of the Body of Christ in love and kindness—1 Cor. 1:10-11; Jude 19.
F. The erroneous teaching concerning the absolute autonomy of a local church has crept into the Lord’s recovery:
1. To teach that the local churches are absolutely autonomous is to divide the Body of Christ—Rom. 12:5; 16:17.
2. The teaching concerning autonomy has corrupted, misled, and deceived Christians and has created many divisions—Jude 19.
3. The church is the Body of Christ, and as the Body of Christ, no part of the church can be autonomous—1 Cor. 1:2; 12:12-13.
4. The local churches are for the expression of the Body of Christ; they are the manifestation of the Body of Christ in various localities—1:2; 12:27.
5. In our consideration the Body should be first, and the local churches should be second—Eph. 2:21-22.
6. If we know the Body and are conscious of the Body, we will realize that the church as the organic Body of Christ has nothing to do with autonomy.