As Building Members, we need Shepherding and Teaching to be Perfected in our Function

Thank the Lord for His giving of some gifts for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ by means of shepherding and teaching so that all saints may be perfected!

How much we appreciate Him, our dear Head and Lord, who has done, is doing, and will do everything in us for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!

We were once captives of Satan, but the Lord descended and encountered the enemy, defeated him, and rescued us from captivity!

He made us His captives and He led us in a triumphal procession to the third heaven.

There, He gave us as gifts to the Father, who loved us and appreciated us, and the Father gave us back to the Son as gifts. Then, the Son gave us as gifts to the Body.

First, we were enemies of God, but through His capturing us and reconstituting us, we are now reconstituted to be the many members of the Body of Christ, even gifts to the Body for its building up!

Today we are in the process of being reconstituted to be made into a wonderful gift to the Body of Christ. Each one of us is a gift.

The Lord is celebrating having captured us and making us gifts to the Body. He is so happy. God is celebrating Christ’s triumph over His enemies, and Christ is leading us in a triumphal procession.

Today we all as believers in Christ and members of the Body of Christ are in the Lord’s move, being led by Him in a triumphal procession for His ministry to build up His Body.

We are members of the Body of Christ, and we are growing in life by being nourished with the tree of life and we are being perfected to function in the Body unto the work of the ministry unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

The building up of the Body of Christ is a matter in love; Christ gave the gifts to the Body, and these gifts nourish and perfect the saints so that they also function, and the functioning of the perfected saints is the direct building up of the organic Body of Christ. Hallelujah!

May we be open to the Lord day by day to grow in life with the supply of life so that Christ may increase in us and we may decrease.

May we remain open to the Lord and to the members of the Body that are gifted so that we may be nourished and perfected for our function in the Body for the building up of the Body.

And may we remain in a loving relationship with the Lord, pursuing after Him in love, so that all the building up of the Body of Christ may be in love.

All the Saints are Building Members: the Joints of Rich Supply and Each one Part causes the Building up of the Body

The Body of Christ is an organic entity, just as our human body is an organic entity.

Just as our human body has many members and there’s no prominent member that grows more than others but all the members grow harmoniously and function in one accord, so it is in the Body of Christ.

In our human body, there are some joints of the rich supply that join the members and pass on the supply, but both these joints and each one part, each member of the body, grow and build up our body.

It would be abnormal if only one member or one part of the body would grow, while the others would remain the same.

In the Body of Christ, all the saints are building members. It is not only those who are gifted and trained that can speak or should speak, and it is not only those who have the skill who should function.

Rather, every single member of the Body is a building member, and every member can and should function in their measure.

Yes, the Lord did give some gifts, some gifted persons, to the Body; these gifts, however, are not given to replace the saints and function instead of the saints but rather, they are to perfect the saints.

The Lord gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as shepherds and teachers for the perfecting of the saints (Eph. 4:11-12).

The gifts given by the Lord are perfecting the saints by richly supplying them with Christ as the tree of life and by equipping and training the saints to function even as they function.

Paul told Timothy to do the work of an evangelist; Timothy may have not been an evangelist as a great gift given by the Head, but he was perfected by Paul to function as an evangelist.

Similarly, we may not be an apostle to the extent that the apostle Paul was an apostle, but we can be perfected by the Lord and by the apostles to function as an apostle.

On the one hand, the Body of Christ has every joint (Eph. 4:16), which refers to the specially gifted persons.

These have a rich supply and they richly supply the other members of the Body.

On the other hand, each one part of the Body needs to function in its measure for the building up of the Body of Christ.

If only the joints of the rich supply function but each one part does not function, the Body cannot build itself up in love.

May we realize that each and every believer is a building member of the Body that needs to function in their measure.

May we see that we ourselves, no matter how low we may think we are in our spiritual life and no matter how unskilled we may consider ourselves, are needed in the Body, for our function in the Body is needed for the building up of the Body of Christ.

As we grow in life by being nourished with the rich supply of Christ in our personal time with Him, and as we function in our measure by allowing the gifted members to perfect us, the Body grows and builds itself up in love.

Amen, may we see the importance of each and every member of the Body and may we allow the Lord and the gifted saints to perfect us to function in the Body!

May we also learn to cooperate with the Lord to nourish the new ones, supply them with the riches of Christ, and perfect them to function in the Body for the building up of the Body!

Lord Jesus, cause us to realize that all the saints are building members in the Body of Christ. Save us from despising our function or over appreciating others’ function. Save us from not functioning in the Body. Keep us enjoying You as our rich supply. Grow in us, Lord, and cause us to grow in life for the building up of the Body of Christ. May we all as “each one part” of the Body grow in life unto maturity and function in our measure in the Body for the building up of the Body! Amen, Lord, release the function of each one part of the Body of Christ for the building up of the Body! Release the perfecting of the saints. Release the growth in life of all the saints. May the Body grow and build itself up in love!

Shepherding and Teaching are the Essential Functions for the Perfecting of the Saints and the Building up of the Body

Eph. 4:11-12 mentions four main gifts that the Lord has given to the Body: apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers.

The last one, shepherds and teachers, are considered as one gift that functions as a shepherd and as a teacher.

Shepherding and teaching are the essential functions among the gifted persons given by Christ as the ascended Head to the churches for the building up of His Body (John 21:15-17; Matt. 28:20; 1 Cor. 4:17; 7:17; 2 Cor. 11:28-29).

The function of the fourth gift given by the Head, shepherding and teaching, is crucial for the perfecting o the saints and the building up of the Body of Christ.

In John 21 the Lord Jesus came in His heavenly ministry to perfect Peter in his love for the Lord and commission him to cooperate with His heavenly ministry to be an apostle.

How did He do it? It is by commissioning him to shepherd the sheep of the Lord, feed His lambs, and shepherd His sheep.

Peter understood that, as an apostle, he needs to shepherd the saints. Later he spoke of Christ being the Overseer and Shepherd of our souls, our inner being and real person (1 Pet. 2:25).

Then, he tells the elders that their obligation is to shepherd the flock of God among them, and their shepherding needs to be according to God (5:1-2).

Shepherding and teaching are the essential functions for the perfecting of the saints unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

Our shepherding needs to be according to God.

We may have God in our understanding and our doctrine, but what about living God and ministering God?

We may have God in our theology, but we may not have Him on hand as we live, we may not live God, and we may not minister God to others as we shepherd and teach them.

It is not only the gifted persons or the elders in the church that need to function as shepherds and teachers: we all need to be perfected to be those shepherding and teaching others according to God for the building up of the Body.

Christ as the Head of the church charged the apostles to appoint elders (overseers) in all the local churches to carry out His shepherding of His flock (1 Tim. 3:1-7; 5:17).

On one hand, the apostles, prophets, and evangelists are given to the whole Body of Christ universally to shepherd and teach the saints so that the perfected saints may function for the building up of the Body.

On the other hand, the local shepherds and teachers given by the Lord are the elders, for the Body of Christ is expressed in each locality as the local church in that locality.

The universal shepherds are the apostles, but the local shepherds are the elders. The apostles can also shepherd the local saints, but their function is mainly universal.

The obligation of the elders is to shepherd the saints according to God. We may not be an elder, but our function today is to shepherd the saints according to God.

Also, the elders are obligated to teach in order to strengthen the shepherding and carry out its goal (1 Tim. 3:2; 5:17).

What do they teach, and what do we give as teaching in the church life? It is not our own experience or teaching; it is the Lord’s words in the Gospels and what the gifted persons taught in the Epistles.

We teach others the healthy teaching of God’s economy.

First, we ourselves need to be constituted with the healthy teaching and be apt to teach, and then we need to be those shepherding and teaching others for their perfecting unto the work of the ministry.

May we realize that, on one hand, God gave some gifts to the Body universally, but on the other hand, each one of us is given as a gift to the Body and we can function in our measure for the building up of the Body.

We need to be perfected to love the Lord, grow in life, and function as the gifted ones function.

When we love the Lord in incorruptibility, we will be those shepherding and teaching others to perfect them for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Praise the Lord, the Body of Christ is being built up in love, and we can cooperate with the Lord to build up the Body by being those who are shepherding and teaching the saints to perfect them unto the building up of the Body!

Lord Jesus, perfect us in our function in the Body of Christ. We open to the shepherding and teaching of the members of the Body so that we may be those who shepherd and teach others for the building of the Body. Amen, Lord Jesus, grant us the daily supply of grace so that we may grow in life and have the element of God increase in us. We open to You, Lord, and we open to the Body so that we may be perfected in our shepherding and teaching for the building up of the church. May we be those who grow in life and are perfected to function in the church for the building up of the organic Body of Christ. Keep us loving You, enjoying You, and being open to You and to the Body for our function to be manifested for the building up of the Body! Amen, Lord, gain the building up of the Body of Christ in love so that the bride may be prepared so that You may return!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” ch. 7, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Loving the Lord and loving one another for the organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ (2022 fall ITERO), week 4, entitled, The Organic Body of Christ Building itself up in Love.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – What a vital group is, portion from, The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, by W. Lee.
  – Selected Ministry on the Apostles’ Ongoing Role in Established Churches, via Shepherding Words.
  – Our Lord’s day mornings – we believers are meeting people, via, Church in Round Rock.
  – The Need for Training in the Lord’s Recovery, via, Having this Ministry newsletter.
  – The One Unique New Testament Ministry, article at, Shepherding Words.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – All the preaching of the Gospel, / All the teaching ministry, / Every other kind of service / For the church alone should be. / Ministry is for the Churches, / Not the Church for ministry; / All the lampstands are the Churches, / Not a form of ministry. (Hymns #914 stanzas 5-6)
  – Shepherd the flock with tender, loving care. / Shepherd by life and one another bear. / Like Christ, who sought us, brought us to His keep, / Cherish the flock He loves and feed His sheep! / Tend to His sheep and care for all their needs! / Bring God’s supply, which out of love proceeds! / Reach those whose burdens seem too much to bear! / Nurture their heart and soul through loving care! (Song on, Shepherd the Flock, stanzas 1-2)
  – Holding Christ, as members growing, / Each his function must observe; / Christ receiving, Christ partaking, / To His Body Christ we serve. / Christ to minister is service / Both to God and others too, / Christ, the surplus, e’er supplying, / Off’ring Him as service true. (Hymns #912 stanza 4 and chorus)