enjoying Christ

God’s goal is to have a spiritual house built up with living stones; Christ came to us as the incorruptible seed to grow in us and produce us as living stones for God’s building, and we as believers come to Him as a living stone to become living stones through regeneration and transformation. Amen!

The central thought of Peter’s Epistles is not the government of God (which is the subject of His epistles) but life and building.

There’s a thought that is central and runs from the first verse of the first Epistle of Peter to the last verse of his second Epistle, and this thought is the same as the central thought of the entire Bible: life and building.

The Triune God came to be embodied in Christ and realized as the Spirit so that He can dispense Himself as life into us, the believers in Christ, so that He may gain a building, the corporate expression of Himself.

There are many other details related to the matters of life and building, but this is the central thought of the Bible.

God wants to be man’s life so that man would be built together both with God and with the fellow believers in Christ to be the church as the Body of Christ.

We need to know life and building.

We need to know Christ as life and experience Him as our life daily for the building up of the church as the dwelling place of God.

God wants to obtain a home, a dwelling place on earth among men; He does this not by merely redeeming us and then putting us together but even more, by dispensing His life into us.

The building of God, the dwelling place of God, is an organic building, an organic dwelling place.

There’s such an organic building today called the church, the Body of Christ, where God and man mutually indwell one another, and where God is built into man and man is built into God.

Even though we many times feel that we are weak and poor, God has bestowed His grace upon us.

It is very difficult to find a place that is as blessed as we are. Praise the Lord! However, we still need to grow in life day by day for the building up of the church.

We live our Christian life for God to obtain a house, the church as the Body of Christ.

Isa. 66:1 shows us that God has the heaven as His throne and the earth is the footstool for His feet, but where is the house which we will build for Him and where is the place of His rest?

He wants to gain a house, a dwelling place, among men and in man; we are here to be the believers in Christ having the life of God, growing in the life of God, and building up the church as the building of God.

God’s Goal is to have a Spiritual House Built up with Living Stones, the Believers in Christ

According to 1 Pet. 2:4-5 we see that God’s goal is to have a spiritual house built up with living stones, which is us, the believers in Christ.

What is a living stone and how can we believers in Christ be living stones?

This particular phrase, living stones, is specific to Peter, for he saw something wonderful concerning this matter.

As life to us, Christ is the incorruptible seed; for God’s building, He is the living stone (1:23; 2:4).

On one hand, Christ came into us as our life to regenerate us and make us Christians, the believers in Christ and children of God. Praise the Lord!

God regenerated us with an incorruptible seed – Christ as the seed of life, and this seed grows in us unto maturity.

On the other hand, Christ is the living stone for God’s building.

He is not just the stone for the building of God but also the living stone.

He was rejected by men, but with God He is chosen and precious; He is the living stone, and through the process of the growth in life, He makes us living stones for His building. Amen!

At Peter’s conversion, the Lord gave him a new name – Peter, a stone (John 1:42).

Peter had a very particular first encounter with the Lord Jesus; as soon as he met the Lord, Jesus changed his name from Simon into Peter, a stone. Very interesting.

His brother Andrew brought him to the Lord, and as soon as the Lord met him, He said, You shall be called Cephas, which is interpreted as Peter, or a stone.

What a first impression Peter had concerning the Lord!

This is why later he said in his Epistles that the Lord is the living stone, and we come to Him, and we become living stones.

Later, as Peter was there with the disciples, in Caesarea Philippi, the Lord Jesus asked them in Matt. 16, Who do men say that I am? They responded by quoting what people said about Jesus, and the Lord asked them, But you, who do you say that I am?

Peter received the revelation concerning Christ, and the Lord revealed further that He was the rock – a stone (Matt. 16:48).

By these two incidents, Peter received the impression that both Christ and His believers are living stones for God’s building (1 Pet. 2:4-8; Acts 4:11; Isa. 28:16; Zech. 4:7).

On the one hand, we all have Christ as our life in our spirit, for He as the incorruptible seed has come into us and regenerated us to make us children of God.

On the other hand, we come to Him as a living stone, and we are made into living stones.

After receiving Christ as our life, after He as the seed of life comes into us, we need to grow in life so that we may experience Him as the stone living in us.

We come to Him day by day and He makes us into living stones.

He transforms us with His stone nature so that we may be built together with others as a spiritual house upon Christ as both the foundation and the cornerstone (Isa. 28:16). Amen!

It is not only Peter who was transformed to be a living stone, and it is not only Peter that saw this vision; we all need to see this vision and we all need to grow in life and be transformed to be living stones.

God’s goal is to have a spiritual house built up with living stones.

We start as vessels of clay, but we are being transformed to be living stones for God’s building. Praise the Lord!

Thank You, dear Lord Jesus, for coming into us as the incorruptible seed to regenerate us and make us children of God! Hallelujah, we have been regenerated with the incorruptible seed! Amen, Lord, grow in us today! May You grow a little more in us so that we may grow in life for God’s building. We come to You, Lord Jesus, as a living stone – You are the living stone, and we are also becoming living stones. May You grow in us little by little, day by day, until we are transformed to become living stones for God’s building. May we see that both Christ and we, the believers in Christ, are stones for God’s building! May we daily exercise our spirit to contact the Lord, enjoy Him, and be in His word so that we may be transformed into precious stones for the building of God! Amen, Lord, may we see that God’s goal is to have a spiritual house built up with living stones! Transform us more today! Transform us and transform all the saints from clay into precious stones, even living stones for the building up of the church!

We need to Grow in Life and be Transformed to be Living Stones for God’s Building

When we believers in Christ heard the gospel and were convicted of our sins, repenting and calling on the name of the Lord to be saved and regenerated by Him, we did not realize what really happened to us.

We were born again of God, and we embarked on a lifelong journey of enjoying Christ and being transformed.

We are now in the process of being transformed into the image of Christ.

We never thought of this before we got saved, but after we received the Lord we realized the need to be transformed, for we are so much in our old man, in our soul life, and in our flesh.

We need to become something different from what we are right now; we need to be transformed (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2).

Today the Lord is transforming us so that we can be a living stone for His building. Our destiny is to be living stones.

The question is, however, how soon do we cooperate with the Lord to give Him the ground in our being to allow Him to grow in us and expand in our inner being to transform us into living stones for His building.

We thought that being a Christian was something wonderful, for we are so happy to be saved and regenerated by the Lord!

But day by day we realize that the Lord is in us to transform us into His image.

He wants to operate in us through the growth in life so that He can gain the house that He desires.

We were created to be men of clay (Rom. 9:21), but at regeneration, we received the seed of the divine life.

This seed grows in us and, by its growing, it transforms us into living stones.

By our natural birth we are clay, not living stones, for man was made of the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7).

We are vessels of clay. How can we, vessels of clay, become stones for God’s building?

It is through the process of growing in life and being transformed to be living stones for God’s building.

When we come to the Lord day by day in His word to behold Him and fellowship with Him, He is adding Himself as the stone-element to our being to make us living stones.

Others reject the Lord, but He is chosen and precious to God, and we come to Him day by day so that we also may be living stones.

Christ is the living stone and we are becoming living stones for God’s building to be built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. This is what the Lord is doing in us today.

Day by day He wants to grow in us and build His church with us as living stones.

He promised in Matt. 16:18 that He will build His church; He is the rock of foundation on which the church is built, and He builds up the church with us, the many living stones.

We, the believers in Christ, are living stones as the duplication of Christ through regeneration and transformation.

We were created of clay (Rom. 9:21), but at regeneration, we received the seed of the divine life, which by its growing in us transforms us into living stones (1 Pet. 2:5). Amen!

God’s goal is not only to regenerate us; He wants us to grow in life and be transformed so that we may become living stones for God’s building.

His goal is to obtain His spiritual house built up with many living stones, which we are.

May we come to the Lord day by day.

May we pay attention not to self-perfecting or improving of behaviour or changing ourselves by our own efforts but to coming to the Lord to enjoy Him and grow in life.

We need to grow in life and be transformed into living stones for God’s building.

Just as petrified wood is a piece of wood that remains in the flow of water, having its wooden element removed and replaced by the stone element, so we are being transformed by growing in life to look like the Lord Jesus, be fully in His image, for the building up of the church.

As we remain in the flow of the divine life, contacting the Lord in the fellowship of life, we grow in life, we are transformed, and we are built up into His spiritual house. Praise the Lord!

Lord Jesus, we come to You, a living stone, so that we also may become living stones for God’s building! Amen, Lord, grow in us and transform us so that we may be living stones today. We don’t want to try to build the church with anything of our natural man or the flesh. We come to You day by day to contact You, enjoy You, and fellowship with You. Amen, Lord, we come to You as the living stone. Build up the church by building Yourself into us. Constitute us with Yourself. Work Yourself into our being. Amen, Lord, make us living stones today. Build us up together in spirit so that You may obtain a spiritual house, the church as the Body of Christ! May we men of clay grow in the divine life and be transformed into living stones suitable for the building up of the church as the house of God! Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You today for the building up of the church! Gain Your built up church, Your habitation, Your dwelling place!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ray Mulligan in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Peter, msg. 18 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living a Christian Life and Church Life under the Government of God for the Economy of God (2024 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 3, Life and Building in Peter’s Epistles.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Living Stones for God’s Building, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Transformed to become living stones for God’s building, a portion from, The Living and Practical Way to Enjoy Christ, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – How did we get here? The global Christian story, via, CSOC TX youtube.
  – Drinking the guileless milk of the Word that we may grow and be transformed into living stones for God’s building, a portion from, The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee.
  – Concerning Allegorizing the Bible, via, Shepherding Words.
  – Growing unto salvation for the building, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 Peter, Chapter 18.
  – Stones for God’s building, via, Living to Him.
  – God’s building, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – 1 Peter (Program #14) -Growth in Life and Its Results (4), via, Bible study radio.
  – 7 Excellent Quotes from Witness Lee, via, Bibles for America blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Living Stone of life art Thou, Lord, / Precious, chosen thus to be; / Living stones Thou too hast made us, / One in character with Thee. / Built together as a temple / That our God may dwell therein, / Thus we are a holy priesthood, / Offering sacrifice to Him. (Hymns #834 stanza 4)
  – Earthen vessel man was made— / Body, soul, and spirit too, / God as life that he may take / And with Him have oneness true. / By the flow of life divine, / Man becomes a precious stone / Fit for building God’s abode, / That His glory might be known. (Hymns #972 stanzas 2-3)
  – Lord, Thou art a potter skilled / And a glorious builder too, / Molding for Thy vessel great, / Building with Thy house in view. / I am both a man of clay / And a new-made living stone, / That Thy vessel I may be / And the temple Thou wouldst own. / Though of clay Thou madest us, / Thou wouldst have us be transformed; / With Thy life as purest gold, / Unto precious stones conformed. / We shall, through Thy building work, / Then become Thy loving Bride, / In one Body joined to Thee, / That Thy heart be satisfied. (Hymns #839 stanzas 1-2)