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

III. The revelation of the church in the Epistle to the Ephesians has two main aspects: the first aspect is the work of the ministry to build up the Body of Christ, and the second aspect is our spiritual life, which comprises many spiritual experiences that enable us to live a life that matches the church life:

A. We need to love the Lord in incorruptibility by doing the work of the ministry to build up the Body of Christ:

1. What is needed today is an organic building of the Body not directly by Christ as the Head or by the gifted persons but by all the members being perfected to function as the gifted persons do—4:11-16.

Eph. 4:11 And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers,

Eph. 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ,

Eph. 4:13 Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Eph. 4:14 That we may be no longer 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,

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.

2. The building up of the Body of Christ comprises the following categories of work, which are eternal and glorious:

a. We need to visit others with the gospel to bring them into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47; John 15:5; cf. 2 Tim. 1:10), offering them as sacrifices to God (Rom. 15:16).

Matt. 28:19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Mark 16:15 And He said to them, Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation.

Luke 24:47 And that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

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,

Rom. 15:16 That I might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit.

b. We need to shepherd the new believers in home meetings (John 15:16; 21:15-17), nourishing them and helping them to grow so that they can offer themselves as living sacrifices to God (1 Pet. 2:2; Rom. 12:1).

John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you.

John 21:15 Then when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs.

John 21:16 He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Shepherd My sheep.

John 21:17 He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? Peter was grieved that He said to him the third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.

1 Pet. 2:2 As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation,

Rom. 12:1 I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

c. We need to perfect the saints in group meetings that they may do the work of the ministry unto the organic building up of the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:11-16; Heb. 10:24-25.

Eph. 4:11 And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers,

Eph. 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ,

Eph. 4:13 Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Eph. 4:14 That we may be no longer 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,

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

Heb. 10:24 And let us consider one another so as to incite one another to love and good works,

Heb. 10:25 Not abandoning our own assembling together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day drawing near.

d. We need to lead the saints to prophesy, to speak for God, one by one in the church meetings for the organic building up of the church—1 Cor. 14:3, 4b, 12, 26, 31.

1 Cor. 14:3 But he who prophesies speaks building up and encouragement and consolation to men.

1 Cor. 14:4 He who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but he who prophesies builds up the church.

1 Cor. 14:12 So also you, since you are zealous of spirits, seek that you may excel for the building up of the church.

1 Cor. 14:26 What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

1 Cor. 14:31 For you can all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be encouraged.

3. This is the organic service of the Body of Christ, which is also the organic service of the New Testament priesthood of the gospel (1 Pet. 2:5, 9), in which we have to be like the apostle Paul, who labored and struggled in all wisdom to present every man full-grown in Christ to God (Col. 1:28-29).

1 Pet. 2:5 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.

1 Pet. 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession, so that you may tell out the virtues of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Col. 1:28 Whom we announce, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ;

Col. 1:29 For which also I labor, struggling according to His operation which operates in me in power.

Morning Nourishment

Eph. 4:11-12 And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

The revelation of the church in Ephesians has two main aspects. The first aspect is the work of the ministry to build up the Body of Christ. The second aspect is our spiritual life, which comprises many spiritual experiences that enable us to live a life that matches, or is worthy of, the church life.

In Ephesians 4:12 Paul does not speak of the building up of the church, which may be taken to refer to the building up of a congregation or assembly. Instead, Paul speaks of the building up of an organic Body...—a Body full of life (1:23).

All the gifts—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers—are given...to perfect the saints to do the work of the ministry, which is to build up the Body of Christ. The gifts are given to perfect every member, no matter how large, small, strong, weak, old, or young...We should not think that we are too small or weak to be needed in the Body of Christ. Every believer is important and needed as a member of the Body. What is needed today is an organic building of the Body not directly by Christ as the Head or by the gifted persons but by all the members. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, pp. 575, 558-559)

We need to consider if our love for the Lord is in corruptible things or in incorruptible things. We need to learn how to shepherd new believers for the building up of the Body of Christ in order to love Him in incorruptibility. One day we will stand before the Lord and give an account concerning how we loved Him. In order to endeavor to learn something new, such as how to shepherd new believers, it seems that we will have to pay a price, but we will actually enjoy the Lord and receive His supply. The more we love the Lord in incorruptibility, the more we enjoy Him. Likewise, when we speak in the meetings, we are made joyful and even enlivened in our mortal bodies, because we are loving the Lord in incorruptibility by working to directly build up the Body of Christ.

Whether we love the Lord in incorruptibility [Eph. 6:24] depends on the things we love Him in. Although many other things will be corrupted, the Body of Christ is incorruptible. The building of this Body comprises three main categories of work: visiting others with the gospel to bring them into the Triune God, shepherding new believers in home meetings, and speaking in the church meetings. The issue of these three kinds of labor will remain forever and will never be corrupted. Therefore, to do them out of our love for the Lord is to love Him in incorruptibility. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, pp. 573-574)

The organic service of the New Testament priesthood of the gospel (1 Pet. 2:5, 9)... involves the preaching of the gospel for the saving of sinners, offering them up as sacrifices to God (Rom. 15:16). Following that, there is the nourishing of the believers and helping them to grow so that they can offer themselves up as living sacrifices to God (John 21:15; 1 Pet. 2:2; Rom. 12:1). In addition, there is the perfecting of the saints that they may do the work of the ministry unto the organic building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-16). Finally, we have to lead the saints to prophesy, to speak for God, for the organic building up of the church (1 Cor. 14:1, 3-5, 12, 24, 31)... We all have to be like the apostle Paul, who labored and struggled in all wisdom to present every man full-grown in Christ to God (Col. 1:28-29). This is the organic service of the Body of Christ. It is for everyone, and it is in a priesthood. Everyone preaches the gospel to save sinners, everyone nourishes the believers, everyone perfects the saints, and everyone prophesies. In this way all of us will arrive at a full-grown stage, and the Body of Christ will be built up. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “The Mysteries in God’s New Testament Economy,” pp. 217-218)