The Building up of the Body is by the Perfected Members Functioning in their Measure

The building up of the Body of Christ is by the perfected members of the Body functioning in their measure.

Christ promised that He will build up His church, and He does it by first giving the gifts to the Body and then having the gifted members perfect the saints in the divine dispensing so that the perfected saints may be able to do the work of the ministry, that is, to build up the Body of Christ. Amen!

It is truly amazing to see the scene in Ephesians 4:8-16, which begins with the Lord’s universal travelling and His giving of gifts to the Body.

Christ as the Son of God, the second of the Divine Trinity, stepped out of eternity and entered into time. He descended from the heavens to the earth to become a man. As a man, He lived a perfect and wonderful human life, fulfilling God’s purpose.

After His death, He descended even further, to Hades, and declared the gospel to those there. He overcame death and Hades, took the keys of death and Hades, and then resurrected on the third day.

Forty days after His resurrection, He ascended publicly into the heavens, and He is now in the third heaven, enthroned with God on the throne. Wow!

This was a universal travelling of the God-man Jesus. He travelled by descending to the earth, then to Hades, and then ascending to the earth, and then to the third heavens. By doing so, He fills all things.

Even more, in His ascension, Christ overcame Satan and took the captives that Satan had, making them His own captives. We believers in Christ used to be Satan’s captives, for he usurped us and enslaved us.

But through His death, resurrection, and ascension, Christ defeated Satan, took his captives, and victoriously proceeded before the throne of God with a triumphal procession, bringing us to the Father as gifts, trophies.

The Father, being very pleased, gave us back to Christ and Christ gave us as gifts to His Body.

Every believer in Christ is now a gift to the Body of Christ. Some are bigger gifts and some are smaller gifts; the measure of the gift depends on the measure of grace.

We all are gifts to the church, and each one of us is a gift to the Body of Christ.

We need to realise and appreciate that Christ gave us as gifts to His Body, and we need to function in the church life by growing in life and being perfected in our function so that we may build up the church as the Body of Christ.

We need to let Christ ascend and descend in us. Wherever we are, we can turn to Him, open to Him, and allow Him to spread in us, conquer us, defeat us, and subdue us.

If we allow the Lord to defeat us all the time, we become His captives, and He has a way to work Himself into us and build up the church through us.

May we be the Lord’s captives today, those who do not defeat the Lord in their experience by not giving in to Him but rather, who say Amen to His word, yield to Him, and let Him defeat us all the time.

The Building up of the Body is by the Perfected Members Functioning in their Measure

Ephesians 4:11-12 says that Christ 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.

Christ gave some gifts to the Body of Christ; He gave some gifts not to replace the members of the Body but to perfect them.

The intrinsic building up of the Body of Christ is by the gifted persons perfecting the saints in the divine dispensing so that all the saints may be able to do the work of the New Testament ministry, that is, to build up the Body of Christ.

Our human body is built up not merely by one member or a few prominent and stronger members; rather, each member of our human body grows in life and is perfected in its function so that the whole body is built up.

This is a shadow of the reality, which is found in the Body of Christ.

The Body of Christ builds itself up in love by the function of every member. This means that each one of us is a gift to the Body, and we need to do two things: grow in life and be perfected in our function.

God gave some particular gifts, such as Paul, Peter, John, Martin Luther, John Nelson Darby, Watchman Nee, Witness Lee, and so many others. These Head-given gifts are for the perfecting of the saints in the local churches (1 Cor. 12:28; Acts 13:1).

The gifted members are not so that they function and everyone sits down and is encouraged by their function; rather, they perfect the saints unto the work of the ministry unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

The gifted persons perfect the saints by nourishing them according to the tree of life with the life supply for their growth in life (Gen. 2:9; 1 Cor. 3:2, 6).

This is why we need to be in the meetings of the church and be involved in the service in the church life, being in the fellowship and coordination of the church life. It is here, in the fellowship and coordination, and in the meetings of the church, that the Lord can perfect us all through the gifted members.

When someone stands up and shares, having a larger portion of the gift of Christ, we are watered, supplied, and nourished. Some saints stand up and share something, and we all feel we are watered, for they are like a large sprinkler watering us.

We need to learn to function in the meetings of the church by being perfected by the gifted members so that we may build up the church as the Body of Christ.

Each one of us as members of the Body of Christ needs to be perfected; first, we need to be nourished and supplied with the fresh supply of the divine life for our growth in life, and then we need to be perfected in our function.

We need to realise that, even though we may think we cannot do that much or we don’t know what to speak in the church meetings, it is our portion and function in the meetings that builds up the church.

May we not be deceived by the enemy into thinking that only the gifted members can and should function, while we all listen and learn.

Rather, may we all open to the Lord’s perfecting through the gifted members so that we may learn to function in our measure for the building up of the Body of Christ.

The gifted persons perfect the saints to do what they do for the direct building up of the Body of Christ (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:11-12; cf. 1 Tim. 1:16; 4:12).

This is the main function of the gifted members – to perfect the saints so that the perfected saints may function to build up the Body of Christ.

God gave some as apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers; these gifted ones perfect us to do what they do, but in our measure.

The gifted persons perfect the saints to function in the same way they do – maybe not in the same measure as the gifted persons, but in the same way for the building up of the church.

We may not be a big apostle like Paul, but if we are perfected to be an apostle, a sent one, we can be an apostle to our next-door neighbour for the gospel.

We may not be a big prophet, but if we let the Lord perfect us through the gifted persons, we will function as a prophet to speak the word of God and build up the church.

In all these things, we need to exercise our spirit, for it is only in spirit and with the exercise of our spirit that we can build up the church.

We are not merely learning to do something outwardly, even though an outward work or activity may be involved; we are learning to exercise our spirit and be perfected to function in our measure for the building up of the church.

We are learning to daily come to the Word of God and be filled with the Lord, and then function in the meetings of the church and whenever we meet the saints to minister life for the building.

Lord Jesus, we open to Your perfecting through the gifted persons so that we may do the work of the ministry unto the building up of the Body of Christ. Thank You for giving us as gifts to the Body of Christ. Hallelujah, each believer in Christ is a gift to the Body, and each believer has a function in his measure in the Body! Amen, Lord, may we not neglect our function. Save us from passively attending the meetings of the church without the exercise of our spirit and without functioning in our measure. May we learn to open to You daily and enjoy You to grow in life, and may we open to the gifted persons to be perfected in our function. Oh Lord Jesus, we open to Your perfecting through the gifted persons. We exercise our spirit today. Keep us in our spirit. Perfect us, dear Lord, to do the work of the ministry so that we may build up the Body of Christ directly! Hallelujah, the gifted persons perfect the saints by nourishing them and by helping them do what the gifted persons do for the building up of the Body of Christ!

Being Perfected to be a Building Member in Love and Arrive at the Oneness of the Faith

Thank the Lord that we all are gifts to the Body of Christ, and each one of us has been given a measure according to the grace given to us by God. Amen!

May we learn to daily enjoy the Lord and open to Him so that we may have more grace, enjoy more of what He is, and be perfected in our function in the church.

Many times in the church life, the Lord puts us together with a saint who perfects us; many times, a gifted person functions and we are perfected as we fellowship and coordinate with him.

We need to allow the Lord to perfect us in our function in the church life.

Paul told Timothy to do the work of an evangelist; Timothy was not an evangelist, nor was he a gifted person in this respect, but he was being perfected to do the work of an evangelist.

If we open to the Lord and we open to the saints in the church life, we will be perfected to function as an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, and a shepherd and teacher, and we will function for the building up of the Body of Christ.

As we let the Lord perfect us and we allow the gifted persons to perfect us, there will be a result.

The result of this perfecting is that we will all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, and at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13; cf. John 17:23).

We all need to arrive at these three things by growing in life and being perfected in our function.

Furthermore, we will no longer be little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching (Eph. 4:14).

If we do not grow in life and are not perfected in our function, we remain as little children, being a burden for others rather than caring for them. But if we grow in life day by day and are perfected in our function in the Body, we will function in our measure and we will bear the responsibility.

We will no longer be carried about nor will we be tossed by waves; we will be strong in the Lord and for the church.

We will hold to truth in love and grow up into Christ, the Head, in all things (v. 15). We need to hold to truth in love. The truth in Ephesians refers to what is real, and this is Christ and the church.

Christ as the Head of the Body and the church as the Body of the Head are real, and we hold to truth in love. We hold to these real things in love, holding to Christ and the church, and we grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things.

This perfecting will cause us to be no longer little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to the satanic system of error. Praise the Lord!

Instead of being carried away, we hold to truth in love, we grow up into Christ in all things, and we will function out from Him!

As we grow up into Christ, the Head, something issues out from the Head, for we function with the supply we receive from Christ.

We grow up into Christ for our growth, and then out from Christ we will function for our usefulness (v. 16).

This perfecting will cause every member of the Body of Christ to be a building member in love—growing up into the Head and functioning out from the Head.

May we be perfected members of the Body who grow up into the Head and function out from the Head for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!

Lord Jesus, we open to You so that we may grow in life and we also open to the Body to be perfected in our function! Amen, Lord, may we be the perfected members of the Body of Christ who grow in life and function in their measure for the building up of the Body! Keep us growing in life and being perfected in our function until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith! Amen, Lord, may 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! Keep us open to Your perfecting through the gifted members so that we may no longer be little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching! Oh Lord, we hold to truth in love, holding to Christ and the church as the real things! We hold to You as the Head and we receive Your dispensing and supply so that we may function out from the Head for the building up of the church!

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 Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 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. 3, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2) (2024 December Training), week 24 (msg. 12), The Giver of Gifts and the Constituents of God’s Armor.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The building of the church requiring the functioning of all the members, a portion from, The Building Work of God, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee.
  – My Experience Growing up in the Church Life with Spiritual Fathers and Mothers, via, Living to Him.
  – The building up of the church needing the workers to perfect the saints instead of replacing them, a portion from, The Building Work of God, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee.
  – Ephesians (Program #38) – The Way to be Perfected, via, Bible study radio.
  – Needing to Be Trained in order to Be Educated, Nourished, and Built up in the Truth, via, LSM Newsletters.
  – How to Practice Prophesying that Builds the Church, via, Holding to truth in love.
  – The Functioning of All the Members, via, Witness Lee Lehren.
  – Redeemed and Perfected to Serve God, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The Building Up of the Body of Christ, Message 1: Through the Gifts, Perfecting of the Saints, a video message via, LSM youtube channel.
  – The Living to Him Podcast – being engaged in the Lord’s service – testimonies.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Many gifts the Lord has given, / That His Body He may build, / That the saints may be perfected / And their ministry fulfilled. / Thus we must put off the old man / That we may put on the new; / Thus, renewed in mind and spirit, / We will bear God’s image true. (Hymns #823 stanza 7)
  – All the gifted persons given / To the Body by the Head / Are to aid the Church’s building, / That to fulness she be led. / All the gifts and all the functions, / All the spirit’s power shown, / All the ministries are given / For the Church and that alone. (Hymns #914 stanzas 3-4)
  – Truth we must be holding, which is Christ Himself, / That we be delivered from the sects of self, / That in all things growing into Christ the Head, / Built will be the Body and to fulness led. (Hymns #832 stanza 4)