We need to See the Enemy of the Building and what’s the Way to Build up the Church

As believers in Christ who have Christ as our life and seek to build up the church as the Body of Christ and the kingdom of God today, we need to see that the way to build up the church is through death and resurrection, and we need to see what is the enemy of the building. Oh Lord, shine on us!

This week we come to the topic of, The Exercise of the Kingdom for the Building up of the Church.

As we are diving deeper into the matter of living the kingdom life in the church life today, we need to realize that we believers in Christ are not only those regenerated by the Lord to be members of His household but even more, we are in the kingdom of God today.

Yes, we are in the church, and we love the church life, for here we enjoy Christ as life, we partake of His riches with the saints, and we’re learning to be coordinated in the Body as we fellowship in spirit.

At the same time, however, we are in the kingdom of God, for the kingdom of God is the reality of the church, and we live in the genuine church life when we exercise our spirit to be in the reality of the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God today is a real exercise, and when Christ comes to reign, it will be a real prize.

It is not natural for us to be in the kingdom of God; by nature, by default, we live in the natural man, we express the self, and we love our soul-life, being immersed in our thoughts, our ways of living, and our desires and decisions.

But as believers in Christ, we are citizens of the kingdom of God, and we are learning to live the kingdom life today in the church life.

We need to exercise the kingdom of God today so that we may build up the church.

There is no other way for us to build up the church except by exercising the kingdom of God, that is, by exercising the subjective keys of the kingdom and by being in the kingdom of God in reality. Amen!

Many believers know that the Lord Jesus is building up the church, for He promised this when He uttered the greatest prophecy in the Bible in Matt. 16:18, I will build My church.

Wow, the Lord is the One who builds His church!

But how come the church has not yet been built up? It has been two thousand or so years, but the church is not yet built up; why?

It has to do with what follows this portion of the word; there are some gates of Hades that we not yet locked up but rather prevail against the church, and the building up of the church is hindered.

May the Lord shine on us and unveil us to really see the way to build up the church and what is the enemy of God’s building so that we may cooperate with Him in our Christian life for the building up of the church today.

The Way to Build up the Church is through Death and Resurrection

Matthew chapter 16 reveals the way to build up the church and also reveals the enemy of the building. How does Christ build up the church?

In Matt. 16:16-18 we see that Christ, the Son of the living God, builds the church on Himself as the rock with stones such as Peter, a transformed person.

How can the church be built up in a practical way?

The Lord Jesus said that He will build His church, and then He said that He needed to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things, be killed, and on the third day be raised.

The way that Christ produced the church and is building the church is through death and resurrection.

Unless He had been crucified and resurrected, there’s no way He can build up the church.

The way to build the church is through death and resurrection (Matt. 16:18, 21).

In Matt. 17 we see that the Lord Jesus was transfigured before His disciples, and the glory of His divinity was temporarily visibly seen in Him.

Even though this was amazing, it was a temporary event; through death and resurrection, however, Christ was permanently transfigured and entered into the realm of transfiguration.

It is here, in the realm of transfiguration, in the realm of Christ’s resurrection, that the church comes into being and can be built up.

The church cannot exist in the natural realm, nor can the church be in or with the fleshly people; the church is in the realm of resurrection.

We all need to experience Christ in His death and resurrection day by day in order to build up the church.

May we see that the way to build up the church is not merely by doing many activities practically, which seem to be quite necessary for the good order in the church life, but through death and resurrection.

The Lord Jesus is the One who builds up the church, and He builds it upon Himself as the rock and with many believers in Christ as transformed persons, persons living in His resurrection.

The church was produced through Christ’s death and resurrection (John 12:24); without His death and resurrection applied to us and experienced by us, there’s no building up of the church. Oh, Lord!

Even though we may be in the realm of the church life and we may enjoy the Lord with the saints, unless we allow the Lord’s death and resurrection to operate in us, we cannot practically build up the church.

The cross is the unique way to build up the church as the Body of Christ.

The way to build up the church is to be crucified and resurrected (2 Cor. 4:10-12; Gal. 2:20).

The apostle Paul preached the cross of Christ, which to the Jews was foolishness but to those who believe was the power of God.

The gospel is concerning the cross of Christ; the crucified Christ saves us and builds up the church.

Christ is the Builder of the church, Christ is the life and person of the church, and Christ is the element and essence of the church.

And death and resurrection are the only way to build up the church.

The church exists and is built up only in the realm of resurrection through crucifixion (Gen. 2:21-22; cf. Eph. 4:15-16).

The Lord Jesus took the lead to go through death and resurrection in order to produce and build up the church; we need to follow His pattern and deny the self, take up our cross, and lose our soul-life for His sake for the building up of the church.

For the joy set before Him, Christ endured the cross and suffered the shame; He loved the church and gave Himself up for her in order to obtain her and build her up. Amen!

Unless we allow the self to be denied, the soul-life to be put to death, and the cross to operate in us as we exercise our spirit to follow the Lord, we cannot build up the church.

We need to follow His pattern in order for the church to be built up, for the way to build up the church is through death and resurrection.

How much we need to pray concerning this before the Lord both in our personal time with Him and in the meetings of the church so that the Lord may shine on us and strengthen us to be one with Him for the building up of the church today!

Lord Jesus, we are one with You for the building up of the church today. Thank You for Your promise that You will build up Your church! Amen, Lord, thank You for taking the lead to go through death and resurrection in order to produce the church and build up the church. Hallelujah, Christ builds up the church through death and resurrection and we can build up the church by being crucified and resurrected! Amen, Lord, shine on us and show us that the church can exist only in the realm of resurrection through crucifixion. May we realize that our natural life, our flesh, and the self cannot exist in the building up of the church. We want to follow You, dear Lord Jesus, to go through death and resurrection in our experience so that the church may be built up. Give us the experiences we need and grant us to cooperate with You so that we may be crucified and resurrected for the building up of the church today! Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You for the building up of the church!

What is the Enemy of the Building and How can we Shut the Gates of Hades in our Experience

If we read Matt. 16:16-26 we will be impressed with at least three main matters: the revelation that Peter received concerning Christ, the building up of the church, and how we are such a big hindrance to the building.

The Lord Jesus asked His disciples what do men say that He is, and they said some say this, others say that; then the Lord asked them, Who do you say that I am?

Peter, having divine revelation from the Father, declared that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Wow!

The Lord’s response was that He would build His church upon Himself as the rock and with transformed persons like Peter, and the gates of Hades would not prevail against it (vv. 17-18).

Then the Lord said that He would give Peter the keys of the kingdom of the heavens.

Following this, the Lord said that He needed to go to Jerusalem and be killed and resurrected (v. 21).

Peter, having a good heart, took the Lord aside and rebuked Him saying, God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You (v. 22).

He had such a caring and good heart for the Lord, but the Lord’s answer was, Get behind Me, Satan! (v. 23) Wow!

This shows us what is the enemy of the building; it is not just Satan’s attacks upon the church by persecution and hatred, but it is the self, our good heart for the Lord, our natural man, and our fallen being.

When we are in our natural man, not only do we refuse to go through death and resurrection for the building up of the church; we also try to help others not to die but to take the comfortable way. Oh, Lord!

Like Peter, we try to avoid the way of suffering and death. We may even try to find a better way, an easier way, a way with less suffering and no death.

But there’s no other way: only through death and resurrection can we build up the church.

In Peter’s case, it was not Peter himself but Satan who came out through one of the gates of Hades, the gate of Peter’s safe, to try to frustrate the Lord from building up the church (v. 23). Wow!

We need to see not only the way to build up the church being through death and resurrection but also realize what is the enemy of the building and how we can shut the gates of Hades in a subjective way.

We are so much like Peter; we receive a wonderful divine revelation concerning Christ as the Son of the living God, and right after we see it, we try to avoid the cross and even help others do it.

Our self refuses to take the way of the cross, our natural man refuses to die, and our soul with its mind devises things that are not set on the things of God or on the cross but on the things of men.

This is the main reason that the church has not yet been built up for more than twenty centuries: the unwillingness of the believers in Christ to deny the self, lose their soul-life, take up their cross, and follow the Lord through death and resurrection.

We need to read the Lord’s word in Matt. 16:16-26 and pray over these matters again and again so that we may take the Lord as our pattern and as our pathway.

As those who desire to follow the Lord, as those who take Him as our pattern and as our pathway, we need to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.

The way to interpret Matt. 16:16-18 is by using verses 21-26; Satan comes out through some subjective gates of Hades, such as the self, the natural man, the soul, and the mind. Oh, Lord!

We may have a good heart for the Lord, but Satan can come out through our good heart and intention in order to frustrate the work of the building.

So many times Satan has come out through our mind because our mind has been an open gate for Him.

The self, the mind, and the soul-life are the main gates through which Satan comes forth to attack and damage the church.

May we open to the Lord concerning this and ask Him,

Lord Jesus, unveil us to see what is the enemy of God’s building. We are here to follow You, Lord, so we take You as our pattern and our pathway. We want to follow in Your steps today to live a life for the building up of the church. Shine on us, Lord, and expose the subjective gates of Hades in our experience. Cause us to see that the self, the mind, and the soul-life are the main gates through which Satan comes forth to attack and damage the church. Oh Lord Jesus, we open to You! Shine on us. Shine on our unrenewed mind. Shine on the good intentions of our heart. Shine on our desire to avoid the cross. Expose our unwillingness to take up our cross and follow You. We give ourselves to You Lord, to take the same pathway that You took. Strengthen us into our inner man so that we may be willing to deny the self, take up our cross, and lose our soul-life to follow You through death and resurrection for the building up of the church! Amen, Lord, gain the building!

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 Minoru Chen in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, vol. 1, “The Exercise of the Kingdom for the Building of the Church,” chs. 3-4, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God (2024 October ITERO), week 4, The Exercise of the Kingdom for the Building Up of the Church.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The building of the church requiring spiritual warfare, a portion from, The Building Work of God, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee.
  – The three stages of church building, via, Lamb follower.
  – To meet being to build up the church, a portion from, Basic Lessons on Service, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – Christ, the Cross, and the Church, article via, Shepherding Words.
  – The church built up in resurrection, a portion from, The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, Chapter 37, by Witness Lee.
  – What Is the Church according to the Bible? More via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The amount of God’s building determining the extent to which God’s purpose is fulfilled, a portion from, The Building Work of God, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – 9 Crucial Practices for Building Up a Vital Christian Life, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The workers of the tabernacle, the furniture, and the priestly garment (1), a portion from, Life-Study of Exodus, Chapter 170.
  – The Church is Built on Jesus Christ, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Life’s purpose – to build the house of God, Nuggets and Gems from the Bible.
  – The Way Christ is Building the Church, via, Living to Him.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Remove my covering, Lord, / That I may see Thy light, / And be deceived no more, / But all things see aright. / Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee. / I hardly know myself; / Deceived so much by pride, / I often think I’m right / And am self-satisfied. (Hymns #426 stanzas 1-2 and chorus)
  – Freed from self and Adam’s nature, / Lord, I would be built by Thee / With the saints into Thy temple, / Where Thy glory we shall see. / From peculiar traits deliver, / From my independent ways, / That a dwelling place for Thee, Lord, / We will be thru all our days. (Hymns #840 stanza 1)
  – Oh, may my spirit flow, / Oh, may it flow! / Now I implore Thee, Lord, / Oh, may it flow! / No more self-satisfied, / No more in self-bound pride, / No more my spirit tied; / Oh, may it flow! (Hymns #846 stanza 2)