Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:17; 2:22; 4:12-13; Acts 13:1; 1 Tim. 2:4; 3:5; John 17:21, 23; 1 Pet. 2:5
I. In Matthew 16:18 the Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church”; the building that the Lord referred to is the building of the universal church; nevertheless, the carrying out of this building must be through the building of the local churches—18:17; Acts 13:1: (CWWL, 1959, vol. 3, “Lessons for New Believers,” lsn. 4)
A. Although the church is universally one, the local churches, as the expressions of the one universal church, are many; without the local churches there is no practical building; the building up of the local churches is the building up of the Body of Christ because the local churches are the Body of Christ as its expression—13:1; Eph. 4:16. (Life-study of John, msg. 1; CWWL, 1968, vol. 1, “The Practical Expression of the Church,” ch. 4; CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “A Brief Presentation of the Lord’s Recovery,” msg. 1)
B. The building up of the local churches is a tremendous matter; it is in the local churches that the Lord is recovering the practical building for His coming back; the local churches are the steppingstone, the beachhead, for Him to take the earth and fulfill His purpose—Acts 9:31; Eph. 4:12, 13. (CWWL, 1969, vol. 3, “Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms,” ch. 24)
C. In the New Testament, God’s way is to build up one church after another, locality by locality, until all the local churches are built up; these local churches collectively will become the universal church, which is the New Jerusalem—1 Cor. 14:4-5, 12; 12:27; Eph. 2:21-22; 4:16; Rev. 21:2. (CWWL, 1957, vol. 1, “The Recovery and Practice of the Testimony of the Church,” ch. 9)
II. Ephesians 2:22 says, “In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit”; this is not the universal building; this is the local building: (CWWL, 1972, vol. 1, “Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs,” ch. 15)
A. Paul says, “You also”; he is speaking of the saints in that locality; the local saints must be built up together into a dwelling place of God in spirit—v. 22. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 1, “Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs,” ch. 15)
B. Brother Nee told me that the blueprint for the building up of the church was in his hands; today I am not here doing things blindly; we are carrying out the building work according to the blueprint—Acts 1:8; Eph. 4:12. (CWWL, 1960, vol. 2, “The Sufficiency, Pursuit, and Learning of the Lord’s Serving Ones,” msg. 6; CWWL, 1963, vol. 3, “Miscellaneous Messages,” ch. 13)
III. The Word is the base for the building up of the church; all the saints need to know the truth so that the church would be built up as the pillar and base of the truth—1 Tim. 2:4; 3:5; John 17:17b: (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “The Central Line of the Divine Revelation,” msg. 12; CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “The Healthy Word,” ch. 9)
A. There has been a strong history in the church concerning the Word; whoever is skillful in using the Word of God is powerful, and their work remains because it is built up with the solid Word—Heb. 1:3; Acts 20:32; 1 Cor. 2:4. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 3, “Elders’ Training, Book 5: Fellowship concerning the Lord’s Up-to-date Move,” ch. 7)
B. In that conference Brother Nee had told a group of seeking saints, “We have a brother, Witness Lee, whose progress in the truth and in life can be likened not just to running but to flying”—1 Tim. 2:4; John 6:57: (CWWL, 1985, vol. 5, “Vessels Useful to the Lord,” msg. 1)
1. We must study the truth diligently; we must make progress in the truth, because our progress in the truth causes us to grow in life; true growth in life cannot be separated from the truth—Col. 1:9-10. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 2, “Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 2: Leading the Saints to Practice the New Way Ordained by the Lord,” msg. 5)
2. What is important now is not how much you read every day but how much you learn and enter into the truth—Neh. 8:8. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 5, “Vessels Useful to the Lord,” msg. 1)
C. If you see a Christian making progress, you know that he must have paid a price; we need to read more of the Bible and the spiritual publications; we should spend time to get into; we should not skate on the surface of the ice in our study of the holy Word; we must break the ice and dive into the depths of the Word to see the divine revelation—Col. 3:16; Psa. 119:130. (CWWN, vol. 42, “Conferences, Messages, and Fellowship (2),” msg. 23; CWWL, 1987, vol. 1, “Bearing Remaining Fruit,” msg. 5; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “Crystallization-study of the Humanity of Christ,” msg. 1)
D. By spending time to prayerfully read, study, and fellowship with the Lord in His Word day by day, then out of the abundance of our heart will proceed words of grace for the building up of the church—vv. 9-11; Matt. 12:34-35; Luke 4:22. (2018 ICSC, msg. 5)
IV. True oneness is also the building; the work of the building up of the church is not to go out and impart doctrines but to pay attention to arriving at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God—Eph. 4:12-13: (Life-study of John, msg. 41; CWWL, 1965, vol. 4, “The Way of the Lord’s Recovery,” msg. 14)
A. “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us”; the Lord Jesus prayed that we all would be one—John 17:21, 23. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The History of the Church and the Local Churches,” msg, 10)
B. The oneness of the Lord’s aspiration and prayer is accomplished in the oneness of reality and is fulfilled in the oneness of practicality; we need to arrive at the oneness of practicality—the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God—v. 21, Eph. 4:13: (2018 ITERO-Spring, msg. 7)
1. The full knowledge of the son of God is the apprehension of the revelation concerning the Son of God for our experience—v. 13. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “1993 Blending Conference Messages Concerning the Lord’s Recovery and Our Present Need,” msg. 1)
2. The more we grow in life, the more we will cleave to the faith and to the appreciation of Christ, and the more we will drop all the minor and meaner doctrinal concepts that cause division—v. 13. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “1993 Blending Conference Messages Concerning the Lord’s Recovery and Our Present Need,” msg. 1)
C. God’s blessing is wherever the building is manifested; God’s blessing is based on our one accord, being in harmony in spirit with one another, having real coordination, and having genuine oneness—4:4-6; Acts 1:14. (CWWL, 1957, vol. 2, “The Administration of the Church and the Ministry of the Word,” msg. 5)
V. Our service is based on our being built together; the more we are built together in the church, the more we can serve—Eph. 2:22; 1 Pet. 2:5: (CWWL, 1964, vol. 1, “Serving in the Body for the Carrying Out of the Lord’s Recovery,” ch. 2; CWWL, 1970, vol. 1, “Fulfilling God’s Purpose by Growing in Life and Functioning in Life to Build up the Church”, ch. 7)
A. In God’s eyes, not only is there the ministry to the house; there is also a better ministry, the ministry to the Lord—Ezek. 44: 10-11, 15-16. (CWWN, vol. 11, “The Present Testimony (4),” ministering to the house or to god?)
1. Many are ministering to the house and not to the Lord; the ministering that the Lord is not for us to do His work; He wants His slaves to minister to Him and to serve Him—vv. 10-11, 15-16. (CWWN, vol. 11, “The Present Testimony (4),” ministering to the house or to god?)
2. If we want to minister to the Lord in the Holy of Holies, we must spend time before the Lord and pray more; we need to draw near to Him and seek His will before Him—vv. 10-11, 15-16. (CWWN, vol. 11, “The Present Testimony (4),” ministering to the house or to god?)
B. Psalms 103:7:”He made His ways known to Moses; His acts, to the children of Israel”; if you do not know God’s principles, God’s way of doing things, and God’s nature, you are no different from other people; if you can only give people some spiritual theories, you cannot lead them on in the spiritual way—Exo. 33:13; Gen. 18:23-32. (CWWN, vol. 10: The Present Testimony (3), The Way to Know God (2))
C. Brother Nee always stressed that the work is the overflow of inner life, this speaking will be a seed planted within them that will grow, multiply, and continually produce life—John 15:4-5. (Life-study of John, msg. 26; CWWL, 1965, vol. 4, “The Way of the Lord’s Recovery,” msg. 14)
VI. “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him”—Eph. 1:17.
