BASIC WORD

THE VISION, PRACTICE AND BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH THE BODY OF CHRIST

THE BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH THROUGH THE FUNCTIONS OF ALL THE MEMBERS

EPHESIANS 4: 15-16

The above mentioned above the Head, the joints, the sinews, and all the other parts. First, we have Christ as the Head. We all have to grow into Him and receive something from Him as the Head, the source of supply. Second, there are the joints who receive the rich supply from the Head to minister to the other members. Third, there are the sinews, whose main ministry is not only to supply but to knit together. It is by them and through them that the many members are joined together. Fourth, Ephesians 4:16 says, “Through the operation in the measure of each one part.” Besides the Head, the joints, and the sinews, there are the many parts, the many members who are neither the Head, the joints, nor the sinews. The eyes, ears, nose, and hands are not joints or sinews, but they are parts of the body that have their operation. With every member there is the operation in its measure. We need to know the Head, Christ. We must learn to experience Him and grow into Him. Then we will receive something from Him. As we grow into Him and receive something from Him, we are in our function. It is by our function that the whole Body is built up.

The Head Building Up the Church through the Gifted Persons Indirectly Some people claim that according to Matthew 16 it is only the Lord Himself who can build His church. According to their thought, we are too proud when we say that we, the members, build up the church. This sounds good, but the Lord Jesus does not build up the church directly. He builds up the church through the gifted persons mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 and 12. These verses say, “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 Head does not build up the church directly. The Head builds up the church through the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers.

The Many Members Building Up the Church Directly Strictly speaking, even the gifted persons do not build up the church directly. According to verse 12, they perfect the saints, and the saints build up the church. Verses 13 through 15 go on to speak of the growth, and verse 16 speaks of the building up. The real building up is by all the saints, that is, by all the members. The building up of the church is not directly by the gifted persons nor directly by the Head. The Head builds the church through the gifted persons, the gifted persons perfect the members, and the members themselves directly build up the church.

We can use cooking to illustrate the function of the gifted persons and all the members. If a brother’s wife is not at home to cook for him, he may go hungry. Spiritually speaking, though, we all must be the “cooks” day by day. Even if we are not experts in cooking, we still have to cook. Sometimes we may have to invite an expert to teach us how to cook, but he should not replace us in cooking. The gifted persons should not replace the saints. No one should say to a gifted person, “You are the expert. Please do the cooking for us.” The expert should say, “Since I am the expert, let me teach you how to cook. I will do the teaching; you will do the cooking. Do not expect that I will replace you as the cook. You have to do it. Perhaps I will do it for you once or twice to show you the way, but to be sure, the third time you will have to do it. Then, if you do not cook, you will not eat.” This illustrates the way the gifted members perfect the saints so that the saints can build up the church directly. The church, the Body, is built up directly by the saints who are perfected through the ministry of the gifted persons.

The Different Kinds of Members Keeping the Order in the Bodyby Being Faithful in Their Own Functions

As we have said, the members are of three main classes: the joints, the sinews, and all the other parts. The joints are for supply, for nourishment, the sinews are for knitting and uniting, and all the rest of the members are for the different kinds of operations. All these three classes of members must be under the headship of Christ. If we are joints, we must do our duty to supply and to nourish, and if we are sinews, we must be faithful to join the Body together in love. In the Body we need the joints to supply and the sinews to knit together. The joints cannot knit together; they are good only for nourishing and supplying. There is the need of a group of sinews to bind and knit together all the members. Many times the members need the supply, but after they are supplied, they need someone to join, knit, and bind them together. The problem today is that many want to be only the joints to supply but not the sinews to knit together. When this is the case, we have nourishment, but we are lacking the knitting. Even the more, we lack the many other operations of the members. For each kind of member to be faithful is the proper way to keep the order in the Body. We all agree that we must be under the headship, but we may not properly keep the order in the Body. If we are out of our function, we are out of the proper order. We may be a sinew that tries to supply or a joint that tries to knit together. If so, then we are out of our function and not in the proper order.

Many today talk about the “Body ministry.” At first, I thought that this was a good term, but now I do not like to use it. When many people speak of the Body ministry, they are referring to meetings in which everyone opens his mouth to say something, as if the Body had only a mouth with no eyes, ears, nose, or other members. It is an ugly thing for the eyes of the Body to try to speak. The most beautiful situation is that the hands do the work of the hands, and the feet do the work of the feet. The Body ministry is not merely a speaking ministry. The genuine Body ministry is all the members of the Body functioning in various ways.

God created only one mouth in our body. If there were two mouths, they might quarrel with each other. On the one hand, 1 Corinthians 14:31 says that all can prophesy, so we must all prophesy properly. On the other hand, though, the foot should not function as the mouth. We may have the wrong sense as to whether or not we are the mouth, but the other members can discern. If the foot tries to function as the mouth, the members will sense that something is wrong. They may say, “Brother, simply be a foot. That is sufficient. Do not try to be the mouth.” The ministry of the Body is not that everyone speaks to function as the mouth. Rather, Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 tell us that the Body has many members, and all the members do not have the same function (Rom. 12:3-5; 1 Cor. 12:14-17).

There is a certain brother among us through whom many people have been saved. He always realizes what and who he is, so he prepares a meal in his home and invites people, but he does not try to speak to them. Rather, along with the unbelievers he also invites certain brothers and sisters to speak. This is the proper coordination and cooperation of the differing operations. Even in gospel preaching we need this kind of coordination. If one person is a mouth but he cannot prepare a meal in his home, he needs the cooperation of the Body in order to preach the gospel. This is a small illustration of the proper ministry in the Body. The genuine Body ministry is the mouth speaking, the hands working, and all the members in their operation.

The Operation of the Members in the Proper Order Having a Living Effect on People

We all are under the headship of Christ, but we need to learn to keep the order in the Body. If by the Lord’s mercy we know what we are and where we are, and we remain there, this will be a great help for the building up of the Body. There is no doubt that we all have the sincere desire to build up the church, but to do this we must keep the proper order. If we are the sinews, we have to keep this order; if we are the joints, we need to do our duty; and if we are one of the other members, we must operate within our measure. This will have a living effect on people. The main thing that impresses people is not our messages but the situation in our meetings. This is a matter of the true building up. This situation among us must be enriched, uplifted, strengthened, and improved. To this end we look to the Lord for His protection. The enemy is not willing to see the prevailing building up of the Body on this earth and in our locality. Nevertheless, the Lord will work this out. Then it will be very easy to bring people to be saved. They may be saved as soon as they come into the meeting. It will also be easy for other Christians to come in. When they come into the meeting, they will be impressed. They will realize that something is different. In actuality, what they will sense is the real building up.

The Lord will work this out not only in one locality but also in every place where the seeking ones are. This is a matter not of mere doctrine nor of something outward but of the real building up in life. Nothing can prevail against this. The Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). The true built-up church is the strongest testimony of the Lord. We all must realize the need today. We are under the headship of Christ, but we also must learn to know and to keep the proper order in the Body. This will result in the genuine building up. Then through this the Lord will bring others into the same order, and Christ will head up all things in Himself. This requires that we be built up together.