The building up of the church is the aim of God’s eternal purpose and plan; today God is doing only one thing: He is working to get a building, the church, as the mingling of God with man and the building up of the regenerated and transformed believers in Christ.
When we see a vision of God’s building, we will join ourselves to Him for His building, paying the price to be built up with others in His Body and seeking to be mingled more with the Triune God.
If we see God’s building and have a clear view of the fact that God desires to have a built up church, we will realize that the real test of our spirituality is God’s building.
There are many good Christians who don’t steal, don’t curse, and don’t do bad things; rather, they are nice, gentle, kind, sociable, and even humble. However, they are individualistic: they are not built up with other believers but rather live a spiritual life by themselves, meeting with other believers from time to time.
Even in the church life, we may want to be those who walk by the Spirit, get into the truth, and be constituted with the high peak truths in God’s word, and we want to be mingled more with the Triune God by spending time alone with the Lord. But the real test of our spirituality is not our own standard or our own growth in life (as we see it) but God’s building.
In 1 Corinthians Paul emphasizes one thing: do all things for the building up. Do you seek to be spiritual? Do it for the building up of the Body. Do you want to prophesy? Do it for the building up. Do you want to speak in tongues or seek the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Do it for the building up of the church.
All our spirituality and all the things we do should be measured not by how good, spiritual, or ethical they are but by God’s building. Are we being built up with other saints by much and thorough fellowship in spirit? Are we seeking not an individual spirituality but the building up of the Body? Are we practically built up and knit together with some saints in the church life for the building up of the church?
Individualistic spirituality is not genuine spirituality; our real spirituality is for the Body and in the Body.
God’s Building is the Test of our Spirituality
God’s building, the church, is not something too high or too spiritual that we cannot attain to or experience in practice today; rather, God’s building can be realized and experienced by us in our Christian life and church life.
In practicality, the building is the test of every kind of spirituality. We ourselves are NOT the standard by which our spirituality is tested for its genuineness.
A brother may be very humble and kind, and whenever you talk to him you have the feeling that he is such a good brother; however, he rarely comes to the meetings and he’s not built up with other believers. There are many genuine believers who seek to be spiritual, humble, and kind toward others, but they are not built up with other believers but are rather individualistic.
We need to be reminded that our spirituality must be tested by God’s building, the Body of Christ; only the spirituality that is tested and approved in the Body of Christ is genuine spirituality.
We all pass through sufferings, dealings, and transformation, and there is something of God wrought into our being to shine out in a precious way. Our transformation, growth in life, and maturity are all for the Body and in the Body. God doesn’t want us to be a spiritual specimen, a bright shining precious stone in a spiritual museum for display; He wants a group of built up people to be the Body of Christ.
God’s aim is not just to get a group of nice Christians or zealous believers; He doesn’t want many “spiritual Christians” but a building, a built-up group of believers who are the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem, the holy city.
In the church life we should not seek to be spiritual in and by ourselves, that is, seeking to be spiritual yet being independent from the saints in the church. Rather, we need to tear down our personal seeking for spirituality and our desire to be more humble and kind to the saints and strive to be built up with the saints by enjoying Christ together (1 Cor. 14:12).
True spirituality is for the building up of the Body; genuine spirituality is in the Body of Christ. Seeking to live in the Spirit and walk by the Spirit while being individualistic and independent of the saints is not real spirituality but rather something ugly in God’s eyes, bringing in division in the Body of Christ.
God’s aim is to build us together in His Body, and our goal should be to walk by the Spirit and live in the Spirit for the Body and in the Body.
Lord Jesus, save us from seeking to be spiritual apart from the Body. May we take God’s building as the test for our spirituality. Oh Lord, build us up together in spirit with the saints. We want to enjoy You, pursue You, experience You, and live in spirit for the Body. May we not seek any spirituality apart from the Body. Save us from our individualism and independence. May all our spirituality be tested and approved by the Body!
Genuine Spirituality is for the Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ
Individualistic spirituality is not the genuine spirituality; real and genuine spirituality is in the Body and for the Body.
If a brother thinks he’s spiritual and yet he’s independent from the Body, being isolated from the saints, his spirituality is a deception. Many believers sought to be spiritual and attained to a certain of “spirituality” according to their standard, and they became a problem to the Body of Christ.
Real and genuine spirituality is for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ (see Eph. 3:16-17; 4:12, 15-16). Exalting spirituality can even bring in division and turmoil.
We are not in the age of the law where we need to keep certain commandments to please God; we are now in the age of the church, the Body of Christ, and all our spiritual seeking and pursuit has to be in the Body and for the Body.
We may pursue being spiritual, walking in the Spirit and being in Spirit, but we need to be adjusted by the vision of God’s building. We need to live a life in spirit, putting to death the practices of the body by the Spirit, and we need to walk by the Spirit so that Christ may be expressed through us; but we should not do this in a self-centered way but for the building up of the church.
Do you want to be spiritual? Seek to build up the Body of Christ: this is true spirituality. In God’s eyes what matters is NOT our personal and individual spirituality but the building. Let the building test your spirituality, and if your spirituality is real, it will be for the building up of the Body.
You may think you are humble, meek, and patient – come and meet with the saints, fellowship with them regularly, and seek to be built up with them in spirit; then, your humility, meekness, and patience will be tested by the Body.
Independent and individualistic spirituality damages the Body, but the spirituality that passes the test of the Body is for building up. The building of God is our standard and our test; we ourselves are not the standard, neither is our view of the Bible.
In the age of the Body of Christ we need to seek to be built up with the saints in the Body, and the real test of our spirituality is God’s building. May the Lord save us from seeking to be spiritual in an individualistic way, and may we do everything for the building up of the Body, allowing God’s building to test us and approve us!
May we no longer repeat the pitiful history of the Christianity where so many believers throughout the ages have pursued the Lord and spiritual knowledge apart from the Body, thus bringing in much division and turmoil in the Body of Christ!
Lord Jesus, may the vision of the building of God, the church, adjust us and regulate us in our pursuit of Christ in our daily living. We want to have a real and genuine spirituality, the spirituality that is for the building up of the Body of Christ. Oh Lord, how much are we in God’s building? How much are we built up with the saints in the church life? Lord, grant us the proper view of what’s going on so that we may apply the test of Your building to all the matters in our Christian life. We want to pursue You for the Body. We want to be spiritual in and for the Body!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 1, “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” ch. 10, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on,The Vision, Practice, and Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, week 7 / msg 7, The Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ (1) – The Vision of God’s Building and the Test of Our Spirituality.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Not the person spiritual / In an individual way, / But the corporate life expressed / Will Thy heart’s desire display. / Members separate and detached / Ne’er express Thee perfectly, / But Thy Body tempered, built, / Ever shall Thy fulness be. (Hymns #839)
# Thy Spirit will me saturate / Every part will God permeate, / Deliv’ring me from the old man, / With all saints building for His plan. (Hymns #501)
# Not the stones, though very precious, / Elevated “spiritually,” / But the stones built up together / In the Spirit, practically. / You will ne’er be fully satisfied, / Or be content inside, / Till Jesus has His Bride. / Did you know the Lord is seeking you / To build into His building true? (Song on being built up)
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In addition to seeing the vision of God’s building, we also need to see what the building is in practicality. The building is the test of every kind of spirituality. We ourselves are not the standard by which our spirituality is tested for its genuineness. Rather, we must put our spirituality on the doorstep of the building to be tested. You may be very spiritual, but you may be too individualistic. The individualistic spirituality is not the genuine one. The genuine, real spirituality must be for the building. If someone considers that he is spiritual, yet he is independent, individualistic, and isolated from the Body, his spirituality is a deception. (Witness Lee, Collected Works, 1965, vol. 1, “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” p. 152)
This is a good word, even a great word; but should come with a word of caution as well; that is to say, it is great for self-evaluation and introspection before the Lord and perhaps even ADVICE on some specific practical matter.
However, to use this word as an occasion for passing judgment upon another brother or sister as a way to criticize them is a slippery slope indeed. I’ve been around long enough to see this type of advice used inappropriately to criticize our fellow slaves.
It’s easy to hurt a dear brother or sister in the Lord who, like us, is trying to find their way. Again, this fellowship is great for us to self-evaluate. Always use caution and careful consideration when using it to critique others.