God’s purpose to head up all things in Christ through the church is being accomplished today through the growth in life into Christ, the Head, of all the members of the Body of Christ.
As all believers in Christ enjoy Him, eat Him, and drink Him to grow up into Him as the Head, their function comes from the Head for the building up of the Body of Christ.
When we give Christ the preeminence by taking Him as the Head in all things, consulting with Him about everything and checking with the sense of the divine life within as we do this and that, we are supplied with the riches of His divine life and we receive something of Him to infuse other members of the Body for the building up of the Body.
Out of Christ the Head we receive the growth, the supply, and the ability to function in our measure as “each one part” for the building up of the Body in love (Eph. 4:16).
In the human body all the members grow and function as they are being properly related and coordinated under the authority of the head, and it is the head of the body who decides what each member does.
Sometimes we understand what’s happening in our body, but most times we don’t; but the head of the body organically knows, understands, directs, and controls everything in our body – whether we understand it or not.
In the Body of Christ the Head directs everything, and most times we don’t understand; but as long as we hold to Christ as the Head and grow up into Him in all things, we will receive the growth from Him and we will function in our measure for the building up of the Body of Christ.
This building up of the Body by the functioning of each one part is in love: love is the prevailing way, the most excellent way to do anything or be anything for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Eph. 5:23), and the husband should love his wife: this is a picture of the church life where the church takes Christ as the Head and Christ loves the church by giving Himself up for her to nourish her, cherish her, and give the growth.
May we grow up into Christ as the Head in life so that our function would come out from the Head for the building up of the Body of Christ!
Growing up into Christ and Functioning in our Measure for the Building up of the Body
As members of the Body, we need to grow into Christ, the Head, in all things. As we grow up into the Head in big things, small things, and in all things, our function will come out from the Head for the building up of the Body of Christ.
When we allow Christ to be the Head in everything and thus grow into Him in all things, we will be supplied with the riches of His life, receiving something from Him to transfuse into other members of the Body of Christ (see 1 Cor. 14:4).
When we come to the Lord to drink of Him as the fountain of living waters, out of our innermost being there will a springing up of water of life unto others to quench their thirst (John 7:37-39). When we flow out something from what we receive from the Lord, others will be made sons of God, they will be victorious over Satan, and the Lord has a way to head up all things in the universe.
If you want to know what your function is in the Body, simply come to the Lord, take Him as your life and person, enjoy Him, and take Him as the Head; from Him there will be something coming out into you to enable you to function in the Body of Christ.
We need to help one another to learn to enjoy the Lord and be nourished by the Lord so that we all can grow in life into Christ, the Head (Phil. 1:25; 2 Cor. 1:24). To build up the Body of Christ is to minister Christ as the life-giving Spirit into the saints for their growth into Christ (see 2 Cor. 3:6, 8).
As seen in Eph. 4:16, each member of the Body gets his function from the Head, and the Body builds itself up in love through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part.
On the one hand, the Lord gave some gifts, some joints of the rich supply, such as the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers (Eph. 4:11). These are joints of the rich supply to perfect and nourish the saints so that the saints as the perfected members of the Body would build up the Body of Christ directly.
Before He returns to bring in the millennium kingdom, the Lord wants to recover the function of each one of the members of His Body; He wants that all the members of the Body would grow into Him as the Head and receive from Him the supply and function to exercise for the building up of the Body.
When all the members of the Body function in their measure as they receive it from the Head and are perfected by the joints of the rich supply, the Body builds itself up in love and Christ has a way to head up all things through the church.
Lord Jesus, we want to grow up into You as the Head so that we may receive our function from You for the building up of the Body. Lord, save us from being passive members of the Body. Recover the function of all the members in Your Body and bring all the saints into function. Make us those who help others enjoy You and be nourished by You so that they may grow in Christ. Lord, make us those who minister Christ as the life-giving Spirit into the saints for their growth in life!
The Building up of the Body of Christ is in Love and by Love
On the one hand, the Body of Christ is being built up as each of the members of the Body grow in life and function in their measure in life, and on the other hand, the Body of Christ is built up in love.
Love builds up, but knowledge puffs up. If we merely know the doctrine of the Body of Christ but are not in love with the Lord and we don’t allow Him to fill us as love, we will be proud but this will not be for the building up of the Body.
When love is there, the Lord has a way to build. The most excellent way to build up the church and to do anything in the church is love. I was very much helped by the following sharing from W. Lee on this matter,
How can one be an elder? Love is the most excellent way. How can one be a co-worker? Love is the most excellent way. How do we shepherd people? Love is the most excellent way. Love is the most excellent way for us to prophesy and to teach others. Love is the most excellent way for us to be anything or do anything.
Love prevails. We should love everybody, even our enemies. If the co workers and elders do not love the bad ones, eventually they will have nothing to do.
The church is a loving home to raise up the children. The church is also a hospital to heal and to recover the sick ones. Finally, the church is a school to teach and edify the unlearned ones who do not have much understanding. Because the church is a home, a hospital, and a school, the co-workers and elders should be one with the Lord to raise up, to heal, to recover, and to teach others in love.
Love covers and builds up, so love is the most excellent way for us to be anything and to do anything for the building up of the Body of Christ. (The Vital Groups, pp. 74-75, by Witness Lee)
The most excellent way to build up the Body is not doctrines, sermons, gatherings, or conferences, but LOVE. This love is not our natural love but God Himself as love. We need to love the Lord and give ourselves to Him to just love Him.
There is no other way so prevailing, so sweet, and so full of enjoyment to grow in life, shepherd others, and build up the Body. If we lose our first love for the Lord, we will lose our testimony and shining in this world (see the church in Ephesus, Rev. 2).
The secret of remaining under the divine dispensing for the heading up of all things in Christ, for being sonized in full, and for being constituted with Christ as the multifarious wisdom of God is love.
May we be those who love the Lord with our first love and allow the Lord as love to saturate us and permeate us as we fellowship and care for the saints. If we love the Lord with our first love and enjoy Him as the tree of life, we will be built up together to be His shining testimony for the heading up of all things in Christ.
The best way to do anything in the church life is by loving the Lord and allowing Him to saturate us and be expressed through us as love.
The church is not a police station to expose people’s mistakes and punish them. The church is not a court-house to judge people and sentence them to isolation or eternal perdition.
The church is a home to care in love for all the saints. The church is a hospital to care for all the sick ones to heal them and recover them. The church is a school to teach, instruct, and edify the saints in love so that they would be functioning members of the Body of Christ.
Love is the very element and inner substance of God, and we need to be brought into God’s inner substance to enjoy Him as love and enjoy His presence in the sweetness of the divine life so that we may love others even as Christ did.
Lord Jesus, thank You for giving Yourself up for us in love to redeem us, rescue us, regenerate us, and make us sons of God. Lord, we want to take this most excellent way to build up the church and to do anything – we want to take the way of love. Save us from judging, criticizing, or condemning others. Saturate us with Yourself as love and bring us into Your very inward substance so that we may enjoy Your presence in the sweetness of the divine love and thus love others as You loved us. Lord Jesus, recover our first love for You and be expressed through us as love toward all the saints for the building up of the Body of Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Dick Taylor’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Perfecting of the Saints and the Building Up of the Body of Christ (ch. 3), 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 3 / msg 3, God’s Purpose for the Church (3) – To Head Up All Things in Christ.
- 2 Cor. 1:24 and more spiritual quotes via, Christian Pictures Blog. Note: all verses are via, Recovery Version Bible.
- Hymns on this topic:
# All the gifted persons given / To the Body by the Head / Are to aid the Church’s building, / That to fulness she be led. (Hymns #914)
# Oh, what a fact! Oh, what a bliss! / That I of Christ a member am. / With all the saints I blend as one / And share the life of the new man. / Joined to our great ascended Head, / We’ll be the Church of His own plan. (Hymns #500)
# As a stream of love, how His life flows in! / Motivating us to just love Him. / So we give ourselves; Lord, do grow in us / May we know You in Your preciousness. / O Lord, do make us one as we run toward You, / Pursuing corporately in everything we do / With the saints until full maturity / As Your loving counterpart eternally. (Song on Building the Body in Love)
About aGodMan
The opposite of being subject is to rule; however, the apostle did not exhort husbands to rule over their wives but to love them. In married life, the wife’s obligation is to be subject and the husband’s is to love. The wife’s subjection plus the husband’s love constitutes a proper married life and typifies the normal church life, in which the church is subject to Christ and Christ loves the church. Love is the very element, the inner substance, of God (1 John 4:8, 16). The goal of Ephesians is to bring us into God’s inner substance that we may enjoy God as love and enjoy His presence in the sweetness of the divine love, and thereby love others as Christ did. (Eph. 5:25, footnote 1 in the Holy Bible, Recovery Version)