2022-5丨General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

3. Ephesians 4:15-16 reveals that we hold to truth in love and that the Body builds itself up in love:

Eph. 4:15 But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ,

Eph. 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. This is 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.

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God, and everyone who loves has been begotten of God and knows God.

1 John 4:8 He who does not love has not known God, because God is love.

1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God has loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:12 No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

1 John 4:16 And we know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.

1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us.

b. Love is the inner substance of God; the goal of Ephesians is to bring us into God's inner substance so that we may enjoy God as love and enjoy His presence in the

sweetness of the divine love, and thereby love others as Christ did—5:2, 25.

Eph. 5:2 And walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.

Eph. 5:25 Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her

C. For the proper church life we need to love the Lord in incorruptibility—6:24:

1. According to the usage of incorruptible in the writings of Paul, this word refers mainly to God and the things of God; everything natural is corruptible, but God, the divine life, and all things that are in resurrection are incorruptible—1 Tim. 1:17; 2 Tim. 1:10; 1 Cor. 15:42, 52-54.

1 Tim. 1:17 Now to the King of the ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

2 Tim. 1:10 But now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who nullified death and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel,

1 Cor. 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption;

1 Cor. 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

1 Cor. 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1 Cor. 15:54 And when this corruptible will put on incorruption and this mortal will put on immortality, then the word which is written will come to pass, "Death has been swallowed up unto victory."

Morning Nourishment

Eph. 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love.

15-16 But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, 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.

In Ephesians 4 the phrase in love is used three times. Verse 2 says, “With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love.” Bearing one another in love is for the oneness of the Body (vv. 3-4). Our natural humanity does not have the ability to bear others, especially troublesome ones. To bear others in love is not merely to tolerate them. To love only certain kinds of saints is not to bear others in love but to make choices according to our preference. Many saints experience a honeymoon period when they first come into the church life. This period usually ends quickly due to a lack of bearing others in love. We often unintentionally offend one another by what we say. Because of this we need to learn to not pay attention to negative speaking. To practice this is not easy. In order to remain in the church life, we need to be prepared to be bothered and criticized. Even the apostle Paul was criticized by the saints in a church that he took care of (2 Cor. 12:16). We can be one who bears others if we are in love. If we are in the divine love, loving the Lord with this love, we will not care for others’ criticism but will quickly let it go. The way to bear one another is by being in love. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, pp. 554-555)

The next verse in Ephesians that uses the phrase in love is 4:15: “Holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ.” To hold to truth is to hold whatever is real, whatever is true. According to Ephesians, the true, real things are Christ and His Body. Thus, to hold to truth is to hold to Christ and the church. We need to do this in love. We must love the Lord and the church, His Body, with the divine love. In this way our love can be in incorruptibility.

Verse 16 says, “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.” All the members of the Body cause the growth of the Body so that it can be built up in love. In order for the church to be built up not merely as a congregation or assembly but as a Body organically, we must all function in love. We each need to love Christ and the church, including all the members, with the divine love. It is in this condition that we love the Lord in incorruptibility.

Ephesians 5:2 says, “Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.” This love is not the natural human love but the divine love. We need to walk— to live, act, and have our being—in the divine love, and it is the divine love with which we should love others.

Paul concludes this Epistle with a blessing: “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility” (6:24). We need to love the Lord not in a wild way or in any selfish desire or natural good intention but in incorruptibility. In this kind of love we can be made holy and without blemish, be rooted and grounded, bear one another for the oneness of the Body, and hold to truth—to Christ as the Head and the church as the Body—so that we could be joined, knit, and built up together in the Body as an organism for the expression of Christ. We also need to walk and have our being in the divine love. If we love the Lord in these things, we love Him in incorruptibility. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, pp. 555-556)