Being Fitted in God’s Building and Growing with the Growth of God to Build up the Church

In Christ as the cornerstone, all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; we are being fitted in God’s building to be made suitable for God’s building, and our growth in life is for the building up of the Body of Christ, for we grow with the growth of God. Amen!

The church as the building of God is a marvellous piece of divine and mystical architecture of which God is the Architect and Builder, Christ is the unique element, and the Spirit is the rich supply of life.

When someone builds a house, he uses materials such as stones, bricks, wood, cement, etc; all these are dead materials, and the building will never grow with such materials.

But the building of God is living, for Christ builds His church with His believers as the living material.

Christ Himself is the foundation of the church, and no other foundation can a man lay besides Him.

Christ and the revelation concerning Christ and the church as revealed to the apostles and prophets in spirit is the foundation of the church.

The only teaching we should have in the proper church life is the teaching of the apostles, the revelation concerning Christ and the church given to the apostles and recorded in the New Testament.

Christ is the cornerstone of God’s building, and He is also the living stone.

Christ is both the material for God’s building and the Builder of God’s building.

And the way we become living stones as materials for God’s building is by coming to Him, a living stone, and being infused with Him as the Stone-Savior.

Day by day we need to spend time with the Lord to be infused with His element, and He will make us living stones, materials suitable for God’s building.

As we remain in the process of being transformed by Him, we become precious stones for the building up of the dwelling place of God, the church.

It is through these processes of regeneration, renewing, transformation, conformation, and building up that we are built up as the church and God carries out His eternal economy for His good pleasure. In the building of God, Christ as the cornerstone is the most important One.

He is important in terms of the positioning, the locating, and the setting of the building of God. He as the foundation stone is very important; He maintains the balance of God’s building, and He holds God’s building.

We need more of Christ. We need more of Him wrought into our being.

We need to open our being to Him and allow Him to work Himself into us for His building.

We need to spend time with Him in His word and let Him shine on us, expose us, and remove anything that does match His building.

And we need to cooperate with the Lord to be fitted in God’s building, being suitable for the building up of the church.

In Christ, we are Fitted in God’s Building to Grow into a Holy Temple of the Lord

In Christ, who is the cornerstone, all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:21).

It is very unusual for a building to grow; the building of God is a special building, an organic building that grows.

A physical building does not grow; it can be modified, and we can add another room or extension, but there’s no way for a dead building to grow.

Praise the Lord, we are believers in Christ to be living stones in the building of God, and all the building is fitted together in Christ to grow into a holy temple in the Lord!

We are being fitted in God’s building to grow into a holy temple in the Lord. Starting from Christ, the cornerstone, the building grows stone by stone, living stone by living stone.

This building has been growing for two thousand years and it is still growing.

One day we were not part of this building but, praise the Lord, someone came and spoke the gospel to us, picked us up and did something to us to put us into this building.

Now we are part of the growth of the building, and this growth doesn’t stop here. This building keeps growing and growing. As we grow in life, the building grows.

As we grow in the Lord, the church is being built up. Through the growth of all the members of the Body of Christ, the building of God is enlarged and built up.

“All the building” in 2:21 denotes the universal building, the church throughout the universe.

Every part of the building is being fitted together and is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; we are fitted in God’s building.

The word “fitted” means that we are being made suitable for the condition and situation of the building.

There is much work needed for us to be made suitable for God’s building. This work is not just when we’re saved or when we’re by ourselves in our time with the Lord.

The Lord is working a lot in each one of us to make us fit in the building; He wants to gain not only a bunch of living stones but stones that are fitting in the building.

We need to be brought into a condition that we can be framed and knitted together with the other members.

Just like a mason who has a stone that he needs to work on and make it fit for the building, so the Lord does a fine work in us and on us to temper us, adjust us, and make us suitable for God’s building.

On one hand, inwardly we’re being filled with God’s life as we enjoy Him.

On the other hand, outwardly the Lord is working in our environment to remove any sharp edges, uneven surfaces, and slippery places so that we may be fitting for God’s building.

God is also working to blend the Body together, especially in our fellowship and coordination in the church.

The question is, Do we fit in God’s building? We may be spiritual, we may have a lot of knowledge, and we may love the Lord and the church very much, but do we fit in God’s building?

The Lord is not after personal, individual, spiritual, victorious Christians that can be displayed in a museum or an exhibition.

He wants to gain buildable members of the Body, those who fit in God’s building, those who can be tempered together and blended together with others.

God is not after a pile of living stones; in the building of God, all the materials are fitted together, not merely piled together.

We need to be fitted in God’s building; we need to be fitted together.

Today in Christianity it is so sad to see a pile of materials; some materials for God’s building are a bit worked on and prepared, but they are still in a pile.

A pile of the best materials is not a dwelling place, a structure that can be inhabited.

Stone by stone needs to be built together in an organic way by the Lord, and the stones need to fit for God’s building.

There needs to be a cry in us that we would be buildable. We need to pray that the Lord would not only make us those who are victorious and spiritual but buildable, those who fit in God’s building.

May we bring this to the Lord and ask Him,

Lord Jesus, build us up with others. We desire not merely to be spiritual and victorious but even more to be buildable! We want to be built up with the saints, blended together, and fitted into God’s building! Grow in us for Your building. Work in us and on us for Your building. Save us from being individualistic. Save us from being independent. Deal with our peculiar disposition. Work on us, dear Lord, so that we would not be merely living stones piled up but living stones built together! Make us buildable! We want to be part of Your holy temple that grows in the Lord! Bring us into a condition and situation in which we’re fitting for God’s building. Build Yourself into us and build us up together into the church, the building of God.

Growing in Life with the Growth of God for God’s Building, the Holy Temple of the Lord

The building of God is living and it is growing, because it is organic (1 Pet. 2:5). This building is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, a holy dwelling place of God in spirit.

The holy temple of God is a living building, and we are living stones part of God’s building.

The church of God is the church of the living God; God is living, the church is living, and God’s building is living.

This building is growing into a holy temple, a holy dwelling place of God; this indicates that the holy temple is a living building (Eph. 2:21).

Apparently, growth and building are separate things but actually, the building of the house of God is the growth of the Body (Eph. 4:15-16). Our growth in life is the building.

When we speak of growing and growth, this refers not only to our individual growth but also to our corporate growth.

First, we need to grow together with Christ in the likeness of His death and also in the likeness of His resurrection (Rom. 6).

We are growing together with Christ. We should not be satisfied with just some of us growing; we all need to grow.

The building up of the church as the temple of God, the house of God, is by the believers’ growth in life (1 Cor. 3:6-7; Eph. 4:15-16; Col. 2:19; 1 Pet. 2:2).

It is not by the exercise of the gifts, power, ability, and capacity to do this or that in the church; it is by the growth in life, by our growth in the divine life, that the church is built up.

The most important thing is the growth of God in us for God’s building. We need Him to grow in us; only God’s growth in us is the genuine growth in life.

The growth of the Body depends on the growth of God, the addition of God, and the increase of God within us (Eph. 4:16).

This means that He is growing in us and our natural element is discharged and our self is decreased.

Our natural element is not suitable for God’s building; we need to have a constitution that is fitted in God’s building, suitable for God’s building.

God gives us the growth by giving Himself to us in a subjective way (3:16-17).

On one hand, we are God’s cultivated land, His building (1 Cor. 3:9); as His cultivated land, we need to grow, and as His building, we need to be built up.

On the other hand, we are the Body of Christ, an organic body that is built up together in love.

Just as our physical body is built up by our growth, so the Body of Christ is built up by the growth of all the members of the Body of Christ.

Having been saved and having put away sins, we need to long for the spiritual milk in God’s word that we may grow (1 Pet. 2:1-2).

As we grow in life, we are being built up as a spiritual house (v. 5).

The more we grow in life, the more we are built up, for God’s growth in us and His mingling with us are God’s building.

How do we grow in life? How can we grow so that God’s building may be built up? We need to spend time with the Lord to absorb Him and enjoy Him.

We need to take time to assimilate the riches of Christ. We should not rush our contact with the Lord.

We may be in a hurry and we may spend only 5 minutes with the Lord, but we need more.

If we hurry our time with the Lord, we will not be able to absorb much of HIs riches.

We need to allow adequate time for prayer so that we may absorb more of the riches of our God.

As we open to the Lord and exercise our spirit, remaining in His presence, we absorb His riches into our being.

We all have absorbed some of the riches of Christ, but our experience is not yet adequate.

We shouldn’t spend so much time in our mind, emotion, and will, but spend more time in our spirit. Our spirit is the key.

It is in spirit that we contact the Lord, receive Him, absorb Him, and grow in Him.

We need to spend more time in our spirit to adore the Lord, praise Him, offer HIm thanks, and speak to Him freely.

As we fellowship with Him in this way, we will absorb His riches, and He will add more of Himself into us.

Only God can cause the growth; only He gives the growth (1 Cor. 3:6).

The most we can do is plant and water the seed, but God causes the growth.

We need to spend time with God. We need to take Him into us as our food and our life supply.

We need to seek Him at His dining table, exercising our spirit to contact the Lord, and we need to allow HIm to work Himself into us.

As we spend time with the Lord, we need to take time to eat Him slowly so that He can be added to us.

The more God is added to our being, the more we grow in life, and this growth is for the building up of the church as the house of God.

In this way, by our growth in life, we build up the church and the church grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

Lord Jesus, we want to spend more time in our spirit to adore You, praise You, thank You, and speak to You freely. We set our mind on our spirit and we choose to contact You through the exercise of our spirit. Grow in us. Add more of Yourself to our being. We open to You. We open to absorb Your riches. May there be more God added to our being today. Grow in us for the building up of the church as the house of God. Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You to spend time with You and not rush our fellowship time with You. May we be those who allow adequate time for prayer so that we may absorb more of the riches of our God. May our natural element decrease and the self be put away and may Your element increase in us for the building up of the church. Amen, Lord, may all the saints cooperate with You to grow in life with the growth of God so that the church may grow into a holy temple in the Lord!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen in the message, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, pp. 456-457, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 8, entitled, Growing into a Holy Temple in the Lord.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Take time to behold Him, / Speak oft with Thy Lord, / Abide in Him always, / And feed on His Word. / Wait thou in His presence, / Submissive and meek, / Forgetting in nothing / His blessing to seek. / Take time to behold Him, / The world rushes on; / Spend much time in secret / With Jesus alone. / By looking to Jesus / Like Him thou shalt be; / Thy friends, in thy conduct, / His likeness shall see. (Hymns #643, stanzas 1 and 2)
  – O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me, / And all things else recede; / My heart be daily nearer Thee, / From sin be daily freed. / Each day let Thy supporting might / My weakness still embrace; / My darkness vanish in Thy light, / Thy life my death efface. (Hymns #395 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Growing, growing, in us He is growing, / More and more each day. / Into all our living He is flowing— / This is now His way. / For growth, O Lord, we pray; / Increase in us each day. / It’s not enough to know; / Now Thy life in us must grow… / Building, building, we will see the building / Of the church this way: / Christ experienced will produce the building— / He’s the only way. / Oh, build us, Lord, we pray, / By growth of life each day. / Oh, make us now such men / For the new Jerusalem. (Hymns #1240 stanzas 3 and 7)