What does it mean in our Experience for us to be Measured by God’s Building?

Our main concern as believers in Christ and members of the Body of Christ should be not with behaving ourselves or becoming spiritual but with being measured by God’s building and fitting into God’s house. If what we are and do can’t match God’s building, it amounts to nothing in the sight of God.

As seen in Ezekiel 40, God desires to measure His people not by the law or ordinances but by His house, by the design and pattern of His building.

We as believers in Christ need to see a vision of God’s building not in a general way but in a specific way, seeing the pattern, gateway, doors, wall, measurements, windows, furnishings, design, and all the things related to God’s building, and we need to allow God’s building to measure us.

When God’s people see the pattern of God’s house and allow it to measure them, they will repent, for they see their shortcomings.

What God desires to gain in this age is His building, the church, and for us to be those who cooperate with Him for this, we need to know how to behave in the house of God, the church, the pillar and base of the truth, God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15).

We need to put aside our preferences, personal seeking, opinions, desires, and goals, and let the church as the house of God with all its features and pattern measure us. We need to come to the Lord again and again to have His light in a specific way to expose us, measure us, and remove anything in us that doesn’t correspond to His building.

We need to let the Lord measure us, restrict us, and correct us according to His building. Our behavior and conduct in our Christian life should not be measured mere by moral regulations and spiritual principles, but according to the church, the house of God.

The highest test of our spirituality and morality is the church, the building of God. When we are willing to be measured by the sense of the Body – not by the opinion or concept concerning the Body – we will be enlightened, and we will enter into another dimension of our growth in life.

Examples of what it means to be Measured by God’s Building in our Daily Experience

We need to be concerned more with being measured by God’s building rather than our behaviour or spirituality. We need to excel for the building up of the church, and not for the personal perfection, improvement, or spirituality (1 Cor. 4:12).

What does it mean to be measured by God’s building in our daily living, and how can we apply the vision of the design and pattern of God’s house to our Christian life and church life?

If we allow the vision of God’s building to measure us we will realise that we are lacking in many ways. If what we are and What we do cannot match God’s building, it amounts to nothing in the sight of God – Eph. 4:16; 1 Cor. 8:1b; 12:28-13:3; 16:14.

Having the Fellowship of the Life-giving Spirit and No Escape Routes from the Church Life

For example, we may not have windows but may have a lot of doors. To have windows is to have the life-giving Spirit, and to have doors means we have an exit, that is, we have an escape route from the church life as God’s building.

We may not have “latticed windows,” which signify the fellowship of the life-giving Spirit keeping the opening for the divine communication and protecting from the invasion of all negative matters – Ezek. 40:16.

We need to have the windows in God’s building by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. The more we call on His name, the more we enjoy the life-giving Spirit, we enjoy the fresh spiritual air, and we have the windows in God’s house.

We also need to be checked by and compared with the doors of the house. When the Lord’s light shines on us, we may realise that we may have many doors, many ways to escape the church life. We may come in and go out as we please.

But the temple doesn’t have many doors, yet it has many windows. When the Lord’s light shines and exposes these matters, we will be repent and we will be adjusted. We need to be checked by God’s building in our comings in and goings out.

When we come into the church life we must come through one gate, Christ Himself, and we must progress inward and upward, going higher and higher. Once we reach the highest place, the Holy of Holies in the temple, we will have no more exits – we cannot go out anymore.

Many times we meet brothers and sisters who are like this: they release life and light, and they screen out anything negative that would damage anyone.

Lord Jesus, we love to call on Your name to breathe in the life-giving Spirit and have the fellowship of the Spirit! May our being be full of life and light. May we be fully open for the divine communication in our daily life, to the extent that we will have no escape route from the church life. Keep us open to You in fellowship, fill us with the Spirit, and build us up with the saints in the church!

Checking our Humanity by the Building and taking the Humanity of Jesus as our Humanity

If we are measured by God’s building, we will realise that we need to have the humanity of Jesus for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

In the temple the number six is seen again and again in the measurements of the gate, the wall, and other parts of the temple.

Our humanity is not perfect and uplifted, so the humanity of Jesus needs to become our enjoyment, experience, and expression for God’s building.

We need to check our humanity by the building and take the humanity of Jesus as our humanity.

The humanity of Jesus is seen in Phil. 2:5-8 – He humbled Himself, was obedient to God, and sacrificed Himself for God’s purpose.

Only the Lord’s humanity – the uplifted, resurrected humanity of Jesus – is suitable for the building of God, and we need to eat and drink the Lord until His humanity is being lived out in us for the church, the building of God.

Being Measured by God’s Building and Functioning in our Measure in the Body

Allowing the Lord to measure us for His building means that we are measured and tempered, and we function in our measure in the church. Every piece of wood in the temple was cut to measure and was fit perfectly into the building.

There was no piece of wood sticking out or being imperfect. Each piece of wood had a specific measure, was fit into a specific place, and was fit with the other items in the temple.

In the church life we need to realise that we have a measure, and our function in the Body is not measureless. We need to function in our measure, and we need to allow the Lord’s light to expose us when we go beyond our measure.

Our prayer, our speaking, and our doing in the church life has to be according to the measure that God has given us, so that we may be fit for God’s building.

A brother has the position of a brother in the church, and he has a particular measure that the God of measure has given him for the building up of the church; a sister has the position of a sister with a measure that God has given her to function for the building up of the church.

Many times the Lord shines on us that we either go beyond our measure, or we don’t function according to the measure He has given us. We need to be measured by God’s building in our function.

Oh Lord, have a way to measure us according to Your Building so that we may function in our measure in the Body of Christ. Save us from over-functioning, and save us from not functioning according to our measure. May we allow the God of measure to measure us according to His building in our functioning and being in God’s building.

Having the Expression of Christ’s Glorious Image and Victory

Another aspect of God’s building is the cherubim and palm trees which are carved into the wood panels on the wall.

If we are measured by the cherubim and palm trees carved into the walls, we will consider the matters of the expression of Christ’s glorious image and the expression of Christ’s victory.

Do we bear the image of Christ in the church life? Do we express the glory of Christ?

Do we live in the victory of Christ? Have we experienced God’s “carving” which inscribe in us His victory and glory?

If we allow the Lord to measure us according to His building, we will realize that we are still so smooth – we’re like “smooth wood” that doesn’t have cherubim and palm trees carved in it. We will repent and tell the Lord,

Lord Jesus, save us from not bearing Your image, Your glory, and Your expression with Your victory in our daily life in the church life. Give us the experiences we need that we may have Your image, express Your glory, and live in Your victory in the Body and for the Body. May our daily experience match Your building, and may we be measured by God’s building in our daily life.

Not being Independent but being Built Into God’s Building

A very important point concerning God’s building is that no piece is independent – all the items in God’s building are built in, every piece of material is built into the building. Every piece is related to other pieces, and they are all built in; none is independent.

When the Lord shines on us in this matter, we will be exposed of how much we can still live in an independent way, away from the church life, and not being dependent on the saints.

We will be exposed of our way of speaking, our attitude, our spending of our time, and our fashion, how we don’t fit into God’s building and are not built up with the saints.

Our way of living, our way of speaking, our way of doing things don’t fit with the church life.

We need to be measured to see if we are of an appropriate measure and are not independent but built-in.

Under the Lord’s shining light, we will realize how good it is to blend and be reduced in a healthy way, so that we may function in our measure and be built up together with others.

We will tell the Lord,

Lord Jesus, save us from being independent from the Body. Shine on us and expose anything that causes us to not be built up in the church. Lord, have a way in our way of living, our expression, our speaking, and our attitude. May we be those who fit into Your building and who are measured by God’s building to be built-in.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ezekiel, msg. 24 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Ezekiel (2), msg. 8 (week 20 in the HWMR), Being Measured by God’s Building.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Grant us the vision clear to see / We need a new humanity; / From all our nature, we must be free; / Eating of Jesus is the key! / Breathing this man within the Word, / Calling with them who call “O Lord“; / Eating this man in one accord— / Breathe, call and eat! (Hymns #1173)
  # I long for fellowship in spirit, / Long that my spirit forth may come, / Long to be saved from self-deception, / And every hindrance overcome. (Hymns #847)
  # Build me, Lord, with other saints, / Independence ne’er allow, / But according to Thy plan / Fitly frame and join me now. / In experience not my boast, / Nor in gifts would be my pride; / For Thy building I give all, / That Thou may be glorified. (Hymns #839)