The Growth of the Body of Christ is the Building up of the Body of Christ in Love

The growth of the Body of Christ depends on the growth of God, the addition of God, the increase of God within us as the many members of the Body of Christ; the growth of the Body is the building up of the Body of Christ.

Amen, how much we need the growth of God in us! This week we have been enjoying and prayerfully considering the matter of knowing the all-inclusive Christ and growing with the growth of God.

It is a blessing for us as Christians to know and experience the all-inclusive Christ, the One who is everything to God in His economy and everything to us in our experience.

The book of Colossians in particular reveals that our Christ is all-inclusive and extensive. Christ is the Head of the Body, the church, that He may have the first place in all things.

Such a One is now in us to be our hope of glory.

Our experience of the indwelling Christ is Christ being in us, our growing into Christ until we’re full-grown in Christ, walking in Him, being according to Christ, being made alive together with Christ, having died with Christ, holding the Head, and receiving the growth from Christ so that we may grow with the growth of God.

All these matters are revealed in the book of Colossians and they are a complete picture of our proper experience of Christ.

Our Christ is wonderful; He’s the mystery of God, the One in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.

In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ, we have been made full.

Since we were raised together with Christ, we need to seek the things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

What a wonderful Christ we have!

This Christ, the all-inclusive One, is the Head of the Body, and we all as members of the Body are holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together, grows with the growth of God.

The Christ we enjoy is the Head-Christ, the Christ who is the Head.

When we truly enjoy the all-inclusive Christ, we will be conscious of the Body, and we will grow with the growth of God to be built up together in and as the Body of Christ.

All the Body needs to hold Christ as the Head, for the growth of the Body comes out of the Head.

The supply comes out of the Head, and our holding the Head will keep us open to the continual divine dispensing of the element of God into us for us to be constituted with what God is.

May we have more of God added to us day by day by our holding the Head to receive what comes out from Christ, our Head.

The Growth of the Body of Christ Depends on the Growth of God within us, the Increase of God in us

Col. 2:19 is a mysterious and wonderful verse; in the positive meaning of this verse, we all need to hold Christ as the Head so that we may grow with the growth of God for the building up of the Body of Christ.

This verse shows that the growth of the Body of Christ depends on the growth of God within us.

The growth of the Body depends on the addition of God, the increase of God, within us as the many members of the Body of Christ.

There is a close, intimate, organic relationship between Christ, the Head, and us, the Body of Christ.

The growth of the Body of Christ depends not on our going out to preach the gospel to help people come into the kingdom of God; it depends on our holding the Head to receive what is coming from the Head, the very element of Christ, with which we grow.

Something comes out of Christ, the Head, to be dispensed into us as the Body of Christ, and we therefore grow in life with the growth of God.

We cannot give others the growth: it is God who gives the growth.

In 1 Cor. 3:9 Paul said that we are God’s cultivated land, God’s building; Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gives the growth.

God causes us to grow.

How does God cause the growth? It is by first getting into us, and then by growing in us through the addition of the element of God into our being.

When we hold the Head, Christ, by honouring Him, checking with Him in all things, and giving Him the preeminence, the Lord infuses more of His element into us and gives us the growth.

The growth of the Body depends on the addition of God within us.

When we go shopping, when we speak to our spouse, when we deal with our children, and when we deal with all practical details of our life, we need to hold Christ as the Head to receive more of Him so that we may grow with the growth of God.

We need to hold the Lord as our Head, honour Him as the head, in our choices, our conduct, in what we do, and in the way we live.

In all things, we need to be one with the all-inclusive Christ so that He may grow in us.

When the Lord grows in us, when the element of God increases in us, the Body grows with the growth of God.

We are very important people, VIPs, in the eyes of God, for God can increase in us and we can grow with the growth of God for the growth of the Body, the corporate manifestation and expression of God.

If we are not enjoying the Lord, if we’re a little upset about something, if we are bitter about something that happened to us, or if we may be disappointed with a brother, we have an insulation between us and the Lord, and the enjoyment of Christ goes down.

This means that we do not grow, and the growth of the Body of Christ is also hindered.

God gives the growth by giving Himself to us in a subjective way; He works Himself into us as we open to Him and fellowship with Him.

He wants to cause the growth in us, so we need to take time to absorb the Lord.

Just as we daily take time to absorb food, so we need to take time to absorb the Lord and assimilate the riches of Christ.

We should not rush our contact with the Lord; we simply need to spend time with the Lord to absorb His riches.

If we’re in a hurry in our time with the Lord, we will not absorb His riches; we need to allow adequate time for prayer.

It is imperative for us to have set times to enjoy the Lord, times in which we do not allow anything else to distract us but we focus on the Lord, pray, and contact Him, praying over His word to receive His fresh speaking.

May we open to the Lord so that He may give us the growth by giving Himself to us in a subjective way.

The more God is added into us, the more growth He gives to us; this is the way God gives the growth.

This is something very real and subjective to us, for in all our situations in our daily living, wherever we are and whatever we are doing, the Lord wants to be real and subjective to us so that He can grow in us.

May we learn to open to Him and let Him give us the growth.

In all our situations, in all the circumstances we’re in, we need to learn to open to the Lord and let Him be real and subjective to us.

Only God can give the growth only God can give us Himself, and without Him, we can’t have the growth.

Growing in life is not a matter of improving our behavior, nor is it a matter of ethics or improvement; it is a matter of gaining Christ.

The addition of God into us is the growth that He gives to us.

For God to give us growth actually means that He gives Himself to us (Rom. 8:11).

This is our relationship with the Lord, and this is how we grow in life with the growth of God, which is the growth of the Body.

Lord Jesus, grow in us. We come to enjoy You in your word. We come to partake of Your riches. We want to take time to absorb You and assimilate Your riches. Amen, Lord, we love to spend time with You. We don’t want to rush our time with You but rather, spend adequate time for prayer. We want to absorb more of the riches of our God into us. Give Yourself to us. Amen, Lord, give us the growth. We just open. We deal with anything that Your light shines on. We turn our heart to You. Give us the growth in life. May we grow with the growth of God. May there be the growth of the Body of Christ by our growing in the Lord. Amen, Lord, may there be the increase of Christ in all of us so that we may grow with the growth of God and the Body may be built up. Oh Lord, only You can give the growth. We come to You day by day to receive the growth from You!

The Growth of the Body of Christ is the Building up of the Body of Christ in Love

Col. 2:19 is a sister portion in God’s word to Eph. 4:16; both portions speak regarding holding the Head to receive the growth of God, which is the building up of the Body of Christ.

Eph. 4:12-16 occupies a special place in the New Testament because it shows the mystery concerning the building up of the Body of Christ.

How is the Body of Christ built up?

On one hand, the Lord Jesus said in Matt. 16:18 that He will build His church; on the other hand, He builds up the church in and through the saints, the members of the Body of Christ.

Therefore, we need to hold to the Head, so that we may grow up into Christ in all things.

Christ is the Head; when we hold to Christ, that is, when we hold to the truth in love, we grow in life.

The growth of the Body of Christ is the increase of Christ in the church, which results in the building up of the Body by the Body itself (Eph. 3:17).

This is not a small matter. There is no mediator or clerical class in the Body who function on behalf of the laity; rather, all members of the Body have a personal and subjective relationship with Christ, the Head.

Each one of us needs to have a personal, intimate, private, spiritual relationship with Christ, who is our Head.

We need to hold Him as the Head, give Him the ground to increase in our being, and let Him give us the growth.

When Christ enters into us as the believers in Christ and lives in us, the Christ within the saints becomes the church (Col. 3:10-11).

The Body of Christ grows by the growth of Christ within us and is built up this way (1:18; 2:19).

It’s not merely a matter of us coming together, singing, and speaking something for the Lord; it’s a matter of Christ increasing in us, that is, having the growth of God, which is the growth of the Body of Christ.

Our physical bodies illustrate this; our body is built up through the growth of all the individual members.

We see how a child eats and grows, and all the members of his body develop and grow proportionately; his growth is the sum total of the growth of all the members of his body.

Similarly today, we as the many members of the Body of Christ need to grow in life with the growth of God, otherwise the Body cannot grow.

The building up of the Body of Christ depends on the building up of the individual members of the Body, and the building up of the members depends on their growth in life with the growth of God.

In the church life sometimes there may be some friction among the saints, especially if we have the church life for a while with the same saints; this friction is cancelled out by the growth of Christ in us.

May we all grow in life in our daily life, and may the Body grow by the growth of all the members of the Body. Amen!

The love in which the Body builds itself up is not our own love but rather, it is the love of God in Christ; this love has become the love of Christ in us, by which we love Christ and the fellow members of His Body (1 John 4:7-8, 11, 16, 19; Rom. 5:5; 8:39).

The Body of Christ builds itself up in love; this love is God in Christ as love becoming our love.

Love is the inner substance of God; we need to enter into the inner substance of God to enjoy God as love and enjoy His presence in the sweetness of the divine love, thereby loving others even as Christ did (Eph. 5:25).

It is in such a love that we hold to truth; in such a love we hold to Christ with His Body, and are kept from being influenced by the winds of teaching and from bringing in elements that are foreign to the Body (Eph. 4:14-15).

Many winds of teaching can distract the believers in Christ, being a frustration to the growth in life of the saints.

Some things are good, even spiritual, that frustrate the building up of the Body of Christ because they hinder the growth in life for the saints.

May we focus only on God’s economy concerning Christ and the church and not over-emphasize anything else; only Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ should be emphasized.

Some winds of teaching may not appear to be wrong or evil, but there’s a factor of evil in them to induce the saints into the satanic system of error, thus frustrating them from building up the Body of Christ.

If we listen to a particular sharing or teaching and we feel deadened inside, cold toward the Lord and not eager to enjoy the Lord, we need to reject such a teaching.

May we focus only on God’s economy concerning Christ and the church and give up any other ordinances, philosophies, and teachings that are not according to God’s economy but rather hinder us from growing in life.

Lord Jesus, cause us to see that the growth of the Body of Christ is the building up of the Body in love. Grow in us today. May Christ increase in us and may Christ increase in the church by increasing in all the brothers and the sisters. Amen, Lord, come in and live within us so that together we may be the church, the increase and expression of Christ in a corporate way. We want to hold to the Head, Christ, and receive the growth from the Lord. Grow in us a little more today for the growth of the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, we hold to truth in love so that we may grow up into Christ in all things! Hallelujah, God as love has come into us to be the love by which we love the Lord and we love the saints! Amen, Lord, we love You. We love all the brothers and the sisters, for the love of God in Christ is now in us and has become our love. We reject any winds of teaching and any foreign elements and we remain in the healthy teaching of God’s economy concerning Christ and the church. Amen, Lord, grow in us for the Body!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ray Mulligan in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 52 and 56, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Enjoyment of Christ and our Growth in Life unto Maturity (2023 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 4, entitled, Knowing the All-inclusive Christ and Growing with the Growth of God.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ (3) The Organic Building by the Growth of Life and the Mingling of God and Man and the Lord’s Need of Overcomers to Care for the Body and Build Up the Body, via, The Body Life.
  – Christ as the seed of life sown into us to grow within us for God’s building, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The Body of Christ, as the church of God, being an organism like the human body, a portion from, The Organic Union in God’s Relationship with Man, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – The Intrinsic Growth of the Church for Its Organic Increase, via, The Church of God in Singapore.
  – Growing up into the Head, Christ, in all things, a portion from, The Organic Union in God’s Relationship with Man, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – Holding to Truth in Love—What it Means and How to Practice It, via, Holding to Truth in love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – But holding to truth in love / We may grow up in all things / Into Him who is the Head / Christ is the Head / Out from Whom all the Body / Being joined together and / Being knit together through / Ev’ry joint of the rich supply / And through the operation / In the measure of each one part / of each one part / Causes the growth of the Body unto the / building up of itself in love, / in love, in love. (Scripture song)
  – Churches, churches, in the local churches / We all find the flow: / Deeper, higher, Christ as all our living, / For the church we grow. / The churches are today / Just Christ in every way. / For this, from self we cease, / For Thy Body, Thine increase. (Hymns #1240 stanza 6)
  – 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 stanza 4)