As believers in Christ, we need to grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things, having the growth of God, the increase of God, for the growing of the Body to be the one new man.
There’s a difference between growing in Christ and growing up into the Head, Christ, in all things.
Many times believers want to grow in Christ, to seek Him more, to love Him more, and to know the Bible more, but all these are in themselves and in an individualistic way, not for the Body or in the Body.
But to grow up into Christ, the Head, in all things, is for us to allow Christ to grow in us in the many things of our daily life.
We may enjoy the Lord in our time with Him, we may function in the meetings, and we may have a good fellowship when we’re with the saints, but what about our personal and private time at home, when we’re by ourselves?
What about the way we speak to our colleagues, our workmates, or our classmates? What about the way we dress, the people we hang out with, and our demeanor toward others? Did Christ grow in us in all these aspects, and is He expressed in our daily living?
The hardest thing for Christ to grow in us is in our speaking; we talk so much, and sometimes we talk so loosely with no restraint.
In our speech Christ didn’t grow too much; it is true that we can prophesy, we share about the Lord when we’re in the meeting, but what about our speaking to our wife, our children, our co-workers, or the unbelievers – did Christ grow in our speech?
This is not just a matter of growing in Christ and seeking Him more to be more absolute for Him; this is a matter of allowing the Lord to grow in the practical and ordinary things of our daily life.
We need to take Christ not only as our life for our daily living of Christ, but also as our person, for Him to live in us and be expressed through us.
We need not only to spend a personal time with the Lord in the morning but go a step further to cooperate with Him and allow Him to work Himself into us and take Him as our person in the daily things of our life.
In things big or small, we need to grow up into Christ. If we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that there are still so many things in which we have not grown up into Christ; in these things we’re not in Christ but rather, we are outside of Christ.
Oh Lord, may we grow up into Christ, the Head, in all things!
Growing up into the Head, Christ, is the Growth of the Members in the Body under the Head
Eph. 4:15 says that we grow up into the Head; this word, “Head” indicates that our growth in life should be the growth of the members in the Body under the Head.
We all have our own concept of what growth is; many genuinely spiritual brothers love the Lord, gave themselves to Him, live to Him, but their growth in Christ is not a growing up into Christ, the Head, in all things.
Rather, their growth becomes a difficulty in the Body. They are so spiritual that no one can match them or be compared to them; no one is qualified to coordinate with them because they are so “spiritual”. Oh Lord!
Some “grow” to such an extent that their spiritual growth causes not oneness but discord, and they do not fit in the church life.
May we not care that much for this kind of individualistic growth that is many times promoted by Christianity – just to grow more, pray more, consecrate more, become more spiritual in an individualistic way.
In Eph. 4:15 Paul spoke of growing into Christ, the Head, in all things, indicating that our growth should cause us to become fitting in the Body of Christ.
For example, our hand is part of our body, but if the hand wants to grow and grow and grow, and it grows 4-5 foot long, this kind of growth is not beautiful but rather ugly, even monstrous, not fitting for the body.
Our growth in the Body of Christ is measured; we can’t grow as much as we want.
Our growth is not like the growth of a tree that grows as tall as possible without any measure; rather, just as the arms, ears, nose, eyes, and the other limbs of our body can’t grow as much as they want but are limited in the body, so is our growth in the Body of Christ.
We need a particular kind of growth; we need to grow up into Christ, the Head, in all things, in all the daily matters; our growth into the Head is measured by the Body to be fitting in the Body.
The more we grow, the more we should be fitted in the Body; our growth should lead to genuine oneness, for when all the members grow up into Christ, the Head, in all things, spontaneously the oneness is there.
In our growth into the Head no one is excessive or not enough but rather, we are balanced, and we all allow Christ to touch us in many small things, in ordinary things.
For example, in the way we speak to each other, the way we contact others, where we put our clothes when we undress, how we carry out our daily living, being on time for meetings and appointments, and so many other things – Christ grows in us in all these things.
As Christ grows in us and we grow up into the Head in all things, Christ will be dispensed through us in many ordinary things, and we are fitting in the Body, not being offensive or treading on others’ toes but rather, we minister Christ to others for the building up of the Body.
Lord Jesus, we want to grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things. May our growth not be individualistic but in the Body and for the Body. We open to You, dear Lord, and we allow You to grow in us in the many ordinary things of our daily life. Keep us contacting You and letting You grow in us so that we may grow with the growth of God, and our growth would be into the Head, Christ, for the building up of the Body! May our growth in life by the increase of Christ be the growth of the members in the Body under the Head!
Holding the Head to Receive God’s Dispensing and Grow with the Growth of God, the Addition of God
Col. 2:19 is another verse that mentions the matter of our growth; by holding he Head, we receive something that comes out of the Head and we’re growing with the growth of God.
As we enjoy the Lord and hold Him as the Head, we absorb His riches; something proceeds out from the Head to cause the Body to grow with the growth of God.
As we enjoy Christ in the heavens and in our spirit, we hold the Head, and we absorb His riches; then, something proceeds out from the Head to produce the growth of God in us.
In this way more of the element of God is added into our being to cause us to grow unto the growth of the Body, the building up of the Body.
We simply need to hold the Head and absorb the riches of this wonderful, extensive, all-inclusive Christ; these elements which proceed out from the Head become in us the increase of God by which the Body of Christ grows.
To grow in life is to grow with the growth of God; this means that true growth is the increase of God, the addition of God.
In Himself God can’t grow and doesn’t need to grow, for He is eternal, perfect, and complete; however, in us He needs to grow, and the Body needs to grow with the growth of God, the increase of God in us.
It is necessary for God to grow in us, that is, we all need God to grow in us, to increase in us.
The way for us to grow spiritually is not by doing any outward practice or routine but by having God added to us. As we hold Christ the Head, the dispensing of the Triune God into us causes us to grow with the increase of God (2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 3:16-17).
When we were born again, God entered into us, and now He is increasing within us by adding more of Himself to us.
This is to grow with the growth of God, with the increase of God, by having God added to our being.
The question is, do we have God increasing in us day by day, or do we merely increase in the knowledge of God or in our skill in serving God? When we read the Bible regularly, we get a particular knowledge of God, and as we serve in the church, we become skillful in what we do for the Lord.
We may know how to preach the gospel and be effective in our gospel work, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that God has been increasing in you.
As we go and preach the gospel, do we have a sense of God, a need of God to be added to our being, or do we do things as we always do, for we already know what to do and what to say?
We need God to increase in us; it is only by God increasing in us that we have the genuine growth that causes the Body to become full-grown.
What we absorb of Christ into us – the element of the riches of Christ as the soil – becomes the increase of God in us (Col. 2:6-7).
We have been planted into the all-inclusive Christ as the soil; we are rooted in Him, and we daily need to absorb the elements of God into us to allow God to increase in us.
We need to be permeated and saturated with Christ, and we need to have Christ wrought into our being; then, in reality and practicality, Christ will be every member, every part, of the one new man (Col. 3:10-11).
The way God works Himself into our being is similar to the way food becomes our constitution physically; after eating the physical food, the fine work of dispensing begins in order to dispense the food into the fibers, cells, and tissues of our being.
In the same way, as we hold Christ the Head, there’s a dispensing taking place – the Triune God dispenses Himself into our being to become the very constitution of our inward being.
Day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year there’s a fine work of dispensing that continues, and it will be finalized when the sealing ink of the Spirit permeates our entire body (Eph. 1:13-14), which will be the redemption of our body.
The dispensing of the Triune God into us by our holding the Head and receiving His element causes us to grow with the increase of God. We Christians grow with the increase of God, the surplus of God, the addition of God.
Day by day Christ adds more of Himself to us, and as we come to His word to eat the Lord, we can have Him increase within us for the building up of the Body.
Lord Jesus grow in us for the building up of the church, the Body of Christ. We hold Christ, the Head, and we open to receive all the riches coming from Him so that we may grow with the growth of God! Hallelujah for the fine dispensing of the Triune God taking place in our being for God to be added to us. Amen, Lord, we want to keep absorbing Your riches and allowing You to be imparted and dispensed into every part of our inner being so that we may grow up into the Head in all things, Christ, and our growth may be unto the building up of the Body of Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msg. 56 (Witness by Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man (2019 fall ITERO), week 5, Laboring according to God’s Operation to Present Every Believer Full-grown in Christ for the Function and Consummation of the One New Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
– In my knowledge and experience / I would not exalted be, / But submitting and accepting / Let the Body balance me; / Holding fast the Head, and growing / With His increase, in His way, / By the joints and bands supplying, / Knit together day by day. (Hymns #840)
– To the Head fast holding ever, / That we may together grow, / From the Head supplies incoming / Thru us to the Body flow. (Hymns #913)
– We’re Thy total reproduction, / Thy dear Body and Thy Bride, / Thine expression and Thy fulness, / For Thee ever to abide. / We are Thy continuation, / Thy life-increase and Thy spread, / Thy full growth and Thy rich surplus, / One with Thee, our glorious Head. (Hymns #203)
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