Grow in life until we all Arrive at the Measure of the Stature of the Fullness of Christ

We need to press on and grow in life until we all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ to be a full-grown man, matured, expressing Christ in full as His fullness.

The church is the Body of Christ, the fullness of Christ; the church is not only a gathering of the believers in Christ, a congregation of Christians, or a flock of called-out ones – the church is the organism of the Triune God.

On one hand, the church is the Body of Christ, and on the other hand, the Body of Christ is the intrinsic significance of the church.

If we understand the church as being only the gathering of the called-out ones, we will miss the mark; the church is the organic Body of Christ, the organism of the processed and consummated Triune God.

Since the church is the Body of Christ, something organic, the church surely needs to grow, be built up, and function.

We may be in the church life in the Lord’s recovery and we may enjoy meeting with the saints, reading the Bible and enjoying the ministry, but we may not realize that the church is the Body of Christ.

We may say that the church is the Body of Christ, but do we have the realization that the church is the very organism of the processed and consummated Triune God?

Christians in Christianity don’t pay that much attention to the church; in the church life, however, we emphasize the church very much, and it may be a common concept among us that the church is the Body of Christ.

However, did the vision of the church as the Body of Christ affect us in our daily living and in our experience of the church life?

Or is this just a term, something we speak of habitually, having no deep or rich meaning to us?

The church is the organism of the Triune God, and this Triune God is the God who went through a process to become the life-giving Spirit to dispense Himself into us.

In God’s economy, God became a man, went through various processes, and He became a life-dispensing Spirit to dispense Himself into man so that man would also go through various processes for no other purpose than to produce, constitute, and build up the organic Body of Christ.

Now we as the Body of Christ should grow with the growth of God, and we should arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

We need to hold to truth in love, holding to Christ and the church (Eph. 4:15), not being distracted by any winds of teaching.

Because we love the Lord and the church, we hold to truth in love and we desire to grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ.

As we grow up into Him in all things, out from Him there is a rich supply coming forth, and we as joints of rich supply or each part will just function organically (Col. 2:19).

May we all grow in life unto maturity until we arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, at a full-grown man, to express Christ in His fullness as the Body of Christ!

We need to Grow unto Maturity until we arrive at the Measure of the Stature of the Fullness of Christ

Eph. 4:13 is a wonderful verse showing us that we need to grow until we 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.

The fullness of Christ is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:23); this fullness has a stature, and this stature has a measure.

The stature of the fullness of Christ is the stature of the Body of Christ.

If the Body of Christ is an infant and not developed or grown, then the stature of the fullness of Christ is small and not great.

We need to grow in life unto maturity until we all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

For us to arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is for us to arrive at the full building up of the Body of Christ.

As human beings we have a certain fullness, which is our human body; this fullness has a stature (we all differ in stature) and this stature has a measure.

Similarly, the Body of Christ as the organism of the Triune God has a stature, and this stature has a measure; this measure needs to increase and grow by our growth in the divine life until we all arrive at a full-grown man.

We need to grow unto maturity, growing in life every day, until we arrive at a full-grown man.

Today we are on the way toward a full-grown man, toward the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Having the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is not a matter for individuals; it is a matter of a corporate Body.

We can’t have the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ in ourselves and by ourselves; we are members of the Body, and we all need to grow in life unto maturity until we all arrive at a full-grown man.

We need to allow Christ to grow in us day by day, allowing Him to spread from our spirit into all the inward parts of our being so that He may make His home in all our heart.

Then, we will be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what are the universal dimensions of God, and we will be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:17-21).

As Christ grows within us, we will gradually arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

We all need to press on until we all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; this is our goal, and we must diligently press toward it until we all reach it together (Phil. 3:12-14).

It is not that some of us arrive at this goal and the rest may not; we all, all believers in Christ, need to arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Our growth in life is very important, for our individual growth in life is for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Concerning the intrinsic growth of the church, every member needs to grow, and no one can grow in life on our behalf.

On the other hand, this growth is not a matter for the individuals but for the Body, for the growth of all the members of the Body put together is the growth of the Body, and together we arrive at a full-grown man.

On one hand, our growth in life is personal; on the other hand, it is corporate, for our growth is for the Body.

We need to personally come to the Lord in His word to breathe in the breathed-out word of God, and we need to be infused with the Lord’s element and substance in His word. In this way, we grow in life.

Corporately, when we come together, we need to continue to open to the Lord and to His word, and we will be watered by the other saints in the meeting, we will water others, and God will give the growth (1 Cor. 3:6).

Each one of us needs to grow personally, and together we need to grow as the church, the Body of Christ, until 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.

Lord Jesus, grow in us until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man. Amen, Lord, cause us to grow in life day by day until we all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. May we come to You daily in Your word to be nourished and fed by You, and may we be in the meetings of the church to be watered and to water others. Amen, Lord, cause the growth of life in us as we open to You and are willing to cooperate with Your speaking. Grow in us for the growth of the Body of Christ. May there be an increase of the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ in the church, the Body of Christ!

Receiving of Christ’s Fullness to Grow daily and be Constituted and Become His Fullness, the Body of Christ

All believers in Christ, those who are regenerated with the divine life, are on the way to arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

One day is coming when we all shall arrive at a full-grown man; until then, we’re still in the process.

So we should no longer be like little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching (Eph. 4:14).

Rather, we should realize that daily there’s a fullness that is growing within us; the church as the fullness is growing in us until we all arrive at a full-grown man.

As the Body of Christ, the church is the fullness that is daily growing within us; the church is an organism constituted fully of Christ and only Christ.

Because the church is the Body of Christ, there is no room in the church for anything of our natural man or our natural disposition.

We may be disciplined, regulated, or improved in our natural man, but this is not the church, neither can it be part of the church, for it doesn’t issue out of Christ.

This is why we cannot and will not promote things such as self-regulation, self-discipline, and self-improvement, things that can produce a better society but can never produce the church.

Nothing of ourselves – nothing that we have or can do in ourselves – has any significance in the building up of the church unless it is done in Christ, by Christ, and unto Christ.

Our natural goodness has no advantage or place in the Body of Christ; our anger and our goodness are both unfit to be part of the Body of Christ.

We simply need Christ, for only Christ is the unique constituent of the church as the Body of Christ.

For the Body of Christ, everything that we are by our natural disposition needs to be swallowed up and even consumed by the indwelling Christ; only Christ can be the element and substance of the Body of Christ.

As John 1:16 says, we need to continually receive of His fullness, and grace upon grace.

We need to not just learn about Christ or imitate Him; we need to receive of His fullness, be filled with His fullness, and even become His fullness.

The more we enjoy Christ, the more we open to receive of His fulness, the more we are constituted with Him and we will even become His fullness.

We need to be saved from receiving or paying attention to anything that is not Christ, and we need to simply receive of His fullness, be filled with Him, and be willing to pay the price to partake of His fullness, so that we may become the church as the fullness of Christ.

The more we as individual believers and also as the church partake of the fullness of Christ, the more we all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and we become His fullness, His overflow.

May the Lord have mercy on us that we may daily experience Christ and enjoy Christ in His fullness so that we may become the church as His fullness, His overflow!

We simply need to be open vessels to receive and be filled with Christ, even with His fullness, until we overflow with Him and become His fullness to express Him to the whole universe.

May we remain under the divine dispensing day by day, receiving and being filled with the fullness of Christ until we all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, at a full-grown man!

Lord Jesus, save us from receiving anything that is not Your fullness. We open to You, dear Lord, to receive of and be filled with Your fullness! Amen, Lord, we are willing to pay the price to enjoy You and to partake of Your fullness! Be merciful to us, Lord, that we may daily experience You and enjoy You and thereby become the church that is Your very fullness, Your overflow! Amen, of His fullness we all can receive and enjoy, and grace upon grace, so that we may be filled with Him and become the church, the fullness of Christ! Keep us under Your divine dispensing, being filled with Your fullness, until we all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by the brothers for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ephesians (msgs. 1, 43, 45, 82) by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Intrinsic and Organic Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ (2021 International Chinese-Speaking Conference), week 2, The Intrinsic Growth of the Church for Its Organic Increase.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Until we all arrive / At the oneness of the faith / And of the full knowledge / Of the Son of God, / At the oneness of the faith, / At a full-grown man, / At the measure of the stature / Of the fullness of Christ, / Until we all arrive. (Scripture song)
  – Not Himself just individually, / But the church together corporately, / Taking Christ as all in all, to be / The full-grown, perfect man. (Hymns #1180)
  – By divine regeneration / We the sons of God became, / But we must mature to fullness, / Thus the birthright to obtain. / Born and fully grown to manhood, / God’s sonship we may share; / By the measure of full stature, / We God’s sonship will declare. (Hymns #741)