We Need Certain Crucial Experiences of Christ for the Building of the Church

In order for God to have a built-up church as His temple where He can dwell with man on earth, His people need to experience the all-inclusive Christ as their everything. We need to have certain crucial experiences of Christ, as revealed in the New Testament, so that the church as the temple of God may be built up.

It is not enough to know that the church today is God’s temple; it is not enough merely to have the spiritual understanding of what the church is. We need to experience Christ in many ways every day so that the church may be built up to be the temple of God which He desires on earth.

Crucial Experiences of Christ for the Church

We need to experience Christ as the foundation stone, the One who holds and supports the entire church (1 Cor. 3:11). For the building up of the church as the temple of God, we need to experience Christ as the foundation, the solid and firm One, the One who is able to support the weight of the church.

Is the Christ you experience such a One? When we see and experience Christ as the foundation which has been laid for God’s building, we also will be enabled to bear some weight and some responsibility in God’s house, His temple. [read more on this in 1 Cor. 3:11, note 1]

We need to experience Christ as the cornerstone (Acts 4:11; Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:6). In order that the church as the temple of God may be built up, we need to experience Christ as the cornerstone (Matt. 21:42), the One who joins the two walls of the Jews and the Gentiles, into one building of God.

Christ is the cornerstone that joins all the races together so that we may be built up in Him. It is only Christ that can blend us and cause us to be one while living among people of different cultures and habits. When we experience Christ as the cornerstone we become buildable, blendable, and joinable. [read more on this in Matt. 21:42 and notes]

We need to experience Christ as the topstone (Zech. 4:7; 1 Cor. 15:10). Christ is the topstone as grace from God to us to be the covering of God’s building. He has been engraved by God on the cross to be beautiful, and He is grace to us from God to enjoy that we may be covered and protected.

Christ is the capstone – the grace of God being exhibited and expressed. When we enjoy Christ as grace, as the topstone, we live and work, yet not us but the grace of God which is in and with us.

Grace to it! Grace to Christ! On Him there’s the seven eyes of Jehovah, the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God for the completion of the rebuilding of God’s temple (Zech. 3:9; 4:7-10; Rev. 5:6). [read more on this in 1 Cor. 15:10, note 2]

We need to experience the Triune God as the precious building materials (1 Cor. 3:12). The church as the temple of God can be built up only with precious materials like gold, silver, and precious stones. These signify the various experiences of Christ in the virtues and attributes of the Triune God.

Gold signifies the divine nature of the Father with all its attributes, silver signifies the redeeming Christ with all the virtues and attributes of His person and work, and precious stones signify the transforming work of the Spirit with all its attributes. We can enjoy and experience the Triune God for the building up of the church! [read more on this in 1 Cor. 3:12, note 2]

We need to experience Christ as wisdom to us from God (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ was made by God wisdom as three vital things in God’s salvation: righteousness (for our past, that we may be reborn in our spirit and receive the divine life; Rom. 5:18), sanctification (for our present, to be sanctified in our mind, emotion, and will, with God’s life; Rom. 6:19, 22), and redemption (for our future, the redemption of our body; Rom. 8:20; Phil. 3:21). We need to experience Christ as wisdom to us from God in these aspects for the building up of the church. [read more on this in 1 Cor. 1:30, note 2]

We need to experience Christ in the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10-11). The reality of the power of resurrection of Christ is in the Spirit (Rom. 1:4), and this power is the greatest power in the universe.

For us to be conformed to His death, and for us to live a normal Christian life, we need to experience Christ in the power of His resurrection by exercising our spirit, living in our spirit, and doing everything in our mingled spirit. [read more on this in Phil. 3:11, note 2]

We need to experience Christ in His death (Phil. 3:10; Song of Songs 4:6). The Lord Jesus lived a crucified life in His human living, and so did the apostle Paul. It is in such a life that the power of Christ’s resurrection can be experienced and expressed.

Christ’s death is like a mold into which we are being put and conformed, and we do this by dying to our human life to live by the divine life. This is the condition to know and experience Christ: being conformed to His death through the power of His resurrection. [read more on this in Phil. 3:10, note 4]

We need to experience Christ in His love (2 Cor. 5:14; Eph. 3:17-19; 4:16). In Ephesians, a book on the building up of the church, love is mentioned in every chapter. For us to have the building of the church we need to know and experience Christ as love. The building is nothing less than God being mingled with man and God as love filling man. It is also man being immersed in God as love.

By faith we apprehend Christ and by love we enjoy Him. The more we enjoy Christ as love, the more He becomes our love by which we love Him and we love the saints. When we are rooted and grounded in His love, we grow and are built up in His love. [read more on this in Eph. 3:17, note 4]

How much we need to experience Christ for the building up of the church! He is really all-inclusive, and we need to enjoy Him and experience Him as everything for the building of the church, the temple of God.

Whenever Christ becomes our everything and we experience Him in all these aspects daily, we become materials for the building up of the church, and we cooperate with Him for His temple on earth to be built.

Lord, gain the building! May all Your children drop any other doctrines and teachings and focus on enjoying You and experiencing You. We want to experience You as the foundation stone, the cornerstone, and the topstone. Lord, grant us the experiences of the Triune God that we need for us to be produced as the precious materials for God’s building. We want to experience You as God’s wisdom to us. May we experience the power of Your resurrection, being conformed to Your death. Lord, we love You!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from brother James Lee’s sharing in this message and portions in all the footnotes mentioned above, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Crystallization-Study of Daniel and Zechariah, week 7 (entitled, Christ as Everything for the Building of the Temple of God).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # The Church’s one foundation / Is Jesus Christ her Lord; / She is His new creation / By water and the Word.
  # The chief Cornerstone Thou art, Lord, / Jewish builders did despise; / God by resurrection placed Thee, / Thou art precious in His eyes.
  # We need to be conformed to the mold of Christ’s death / By the power of His resurrection that we may attain / To the out resurrection from the dead.
• Pictures credit: both via, Inspiration Unlimited Facebook page, HWMR Daniel and Zechariah Quotes album.