The Intrinsic and Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ
Message Two
The Intrinsic Growth of the Church for Its Organic Increase
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
(Day1 ¦ Day2 ¦ Day3 ¦ Day4 ¦ Day5 ¦ Day6)
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Gal. 2:19 …Holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.
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,
John 3:29～30 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; …He must increase, but I must decrease.
Word of Appetizer
What is the intrinsic growth of the Church?
The intrinsic growth, the organic growth, of the church is the growth in the divine life, which is the processed and dispensing Triune God. We Were born of the divine life, Which is God Himself, and now God is causing us to grow; Colossians 2:19 speaks of the growth of the Body, Which is the growth of God within us. God is not growing in Himself, because Ile is complete and perfect; He is growing within us; the growth of the Body depends on the growth of God, the addition of God, the increase of God, within us.
Spiritual Burden
The church grows until it reaches maturity—”the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”; how much God grows within us depends on how much room we give Him to grow; when we give God room in us, He expands and increases within us; we need to press on until we all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; this is our goal, and we must diligently press toward it until we all reach it together.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The intrinsic growth, the organic growth, of the church is the growth in the divine life, which is the processed and dispensing Triune God. The church grows until it reaches maturity—”the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”.
The organic increase of the church is the increase of Christ in His organic Body as His bride; the increase of Christ is the multiplication and reproduction of Christ; the bride as the increase of Christ is Christ Himself because the Body of Christ.
The Experience of Life
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
He is now the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, and the Spirit is embodied in His words. When we receive His words by exercising our spirit, we receive the Spirit who is life. The unique way for us to become the universal increase of the unlimited Christ is to receive the Spirit and be filled with the Spirit. The more we have of the Spirit, the more we will be Christ’s increase. This increase begins with our regeneration, and it consummates with our being filled with the immeasurable Spirit.
Practice and Application
Colossians 2:19 speaks of the growth of the Body, Which is the growth of God within us; when we give God room in us, He expands and increases within us; this increase is His growth in us.
The church grows until it reaches maturity—”the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”; we need to press on until we all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; this is our goal, and we must diligently press toward it until we all reach it together.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
T1: The genuine growth in life is to grow with the growth of God (Col. 2:19)
(Please illustrate that God’s riches are the element and substance by which we grow.)
T2: The way that God causes the growth (Col. 2:19; 1:28)
(Please illustrate that we must learn to reject our natural element and let the element of God increase so that the divine life in us may grow. )
Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 356; CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, “Service for the Building Up of the Church,” ch. 6
T1: Coming with a seeking heart after Christ (Col. 3:16)
(Please illustrate with experiences that our eating of the word causes us to grow in a strong way.)
T2: The intrinsic growth of the church is through the growth in life of the believers (1 Cor. 3:6)
(Please illustrate that the gifted persons may do the planting and the watering, but it is God who gives the growth in life.)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to Be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God,” ch. 2
T1: The Body of Christ is not only the expression of Christ but also the fullness of Christ (Eph. 1:23)
(Please illustrate how does this fullness come into being?)
T2: As soon as we do not live by Christ and not living by the Spirit, we are not the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:23)
(Please illustrate that in name we are still the church, but in reality we may not be the body.)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” chs. 3-4, 6
T1: The fullness of Christ has a stature, and with this stature there is a certain measure (Eph. 4:13)
(Please illustrate that we are on the way toward a full-grown man, toward the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.)
T2: The church is an organism that comes out of Christ (Eph. 1:23)
(Please illustrate that anything that is not of Christ cannot be part of the church.)
Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 1, 43, 45, 82
T1: Christ increases by regenerating the redeemed sinners (John 3:29~30)
(Please illustrate that in order for Christ to increase, we need to contact people individually to get them regenerated.)
T2: The increasing Christ is the One who speaks the words of God and who gives the Spirit not by measure (John 3:34)
(Please illustrate that the word of the Lord Jesus is actually the essence of God.)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallizationstudy of the Gospel of John,” msg. 5; Life-study of John, msgs. 8-10
T1: The increase of Christ is the multiplication and reproduction of Christ (John 3:29~30)
(Please illustrate that only our regenerated spirit is Christ’s increase.)
T2: The words which the Lord has spoken are spirit and life (John 6:63; 3:34)
(Please illustrate that the unique way for us to become the universal increase of the unlimited Christ is to receive the Spirit and be filled with the Spirit.)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1982, vol. 2, “The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John,” chs. 6-7, 9, 11-13