The Growth of the Body Depends on the Growth of God within us as Members of the Body

The Body of Christ is a living organism composed of the Triune God and His believers, and as such an organic entity the Body is built up by the growth in life of all the members of the Body.

The church of God as the Body of Christ is NOT an organization of human beings but an organism, and the growth of the Body depends on what comes out from Christ, the Head (Eph. 4:15-16). All believers in Christ need to hold Christ, the Head, and receive the supply from Him to grow in the divine life into the Head; the growth of the Body is the sum total of the growth in life of all the members of the Body.

Also, the growth of the Body of Christ depends on the growth of God, the addition of God within us (see Col. 2:19). Since the Body of Christ is an organic entity composed of the Triune God and His redeemed, regenerated, and transformed believers, the growth of the Body depends on the increase of God in all His believers.

Paul planted, Apollo watered, but God gives the growth. We cannot “make ourselves grow” in the divine life; we need to come to the Lord, spend time with Him, and receive the growth from Him.

The more we spend time in the word of God and read His word prayerfully, the more God gives Himself to us and thus He grows in us. The more we call on the name of the Lord, turn our heart to Him, spend time in His presence, are willing to be shined on by Him, sing with our heart to the Lord, meet with the saints and place ourselves under the hearing of the faith, the more God gives Himself to us to grow in us for the growth of the Body.

However, there’s no “personal growth”; the growth in life we receive from Christ, the Head, is for the growth of the Body, the building up of the Body of Christ. On the one hand, therefore, the Body of Christ grows with the growth of God (the increase of God in all the members of the Body), and on the other hand, the whole Body makes the growth of the Body.

Just as our physical body makes the growth of our physical body, so the Body of Christ grows by itself as all the believers enjoy Christ, experience Christ, and have Christ increase in them day by day.

The Growth of the Body Depends on the Growth of God Within Us

How does the Body of Christ grow? The growth of the Body depends on the growth of God within us as members of the Body of Christ (Col. 2:19). The growth of the Body is the increase of God, the addition of God, in all the saints. In Himself God is perfect and complete, infinite and unchanging, but He needs to grow in us, the members of His Body.

In 1 Cor. 3 Paul said that he planted, Apollo watered, but it is God who gives the growth. We cannot give the growth: only God can give the growth in life, and God gives us the growth in life by giving Himself to us in a subjective way.

In His divine economy, God became a man, accomplished an all-inclusive death and entered into an all-conquering resurrection, and now He is the life-giving Spirit to be our very breath (1 Cor. 15:45).

We need to have a very precious and endearing realization concerning the fact that God wants to give Himself to us in a subjective way. As we read the Bible prayerfully, God gives Himself to us. As we spend some minutes quietly under the Lord’s direct shining, God gives Himself to us. As we call on the Lord’s name realizing we contact a living person, we drink Him and breathe Him in, and He gives Himself to us.

God’s desire is to give Himself to us so that He may grow in us for the growth and building up of the Body of Christ. We need to come to Him, turn our heart to Him, apply His redemption, and tell Him,

Lord, please give Yourself to us today! Give us grace so that we may grow in life for the growth of the Body of Christ. Give us today’s portion of the growth in life. Grow in us in a normal way today for the building up of the Body of Christ! Add Yourself to us, increase in us, and give Yourself to us in a subjective way that we may enjoy You, be saturated with You, and grow in You for the building up of the Body!

In our personal time with the Lord we can open to Him, enjoy Him, and receive the element of God into us so that the Body of Christ may grow and be built up. The more God is added into us, the more growth He gives to us; this is the way God gives the growth (1 Cor. 3:6-7).

God Himself is our food, our drink, and our air; we need to seek to eat Him, drink Him, and breathe Him in, spending adequate time to take God in and have Him added to us. As He grows in us, we grow in Him in all things; He gets into us and we get into Him for the building up of the Body (Eph. 4:16).

For God to give us growth actually means that He gives us Himself (Rom. 8:11) in a very subjective way. He wants to saturate and permeate with His divine life all the unsanctified inward parts of our being.

All believers in Christ are in the great family of God at different ages and stages of growth in life, and there are aspects of our inward parts that God has not reached and saturated. The more we give the Lord ground in our being to saturate us with Himself, the more the Body grows and is being built up.

And when we meet with other believers, we can cooperate with God to be the channel through which God would give Himself through others.

All the Body Causes the Growth of the Body of Christ

On the one hand, the growth of the Body of Christ depends on the growth of God in all the members of the Body (and this growth is given by God); on the other hand, all the Body causes the growth of the Body (see Eph. 4:16).

As all the believers in Christ as the many members of the Body of Christ grow in life with the growth of God in them, they cause the growth of the Body; the Body causes the growth of the Body.

As we allow the law of life to operate in us freely with its power and essence, we grow in life and our function is being manifested. The Body of Christ is joined together through every joint of the rich supply and knit together through the operation in measure of each one part.

When there are some saints who function as joints of rich supply by ministering the Triune God as life into the other members of the Body, the Body is joined closely together and grows by itself. When all the members of the Body are being perfected in their function and each operates in its own measure, the Body is knit together and causes itself to grow.

The members of the Body are joined closely together by the joints and they are knit together by each one part.

We grow in life into the Head, Christ, and we receive our function from Him that we may operate for the building up of the Body in love. Our growth into Christ is personal but not individualistic; our growth in life is for the building up of the Body. Similarly, the function we receive from the Head as we grow into Christ is personal but not individualistic or independent; our function is in the Body and for the Body.

As we grow in life and function in our measure in the Body, the Body of Christ builds itself up. This is something mysterious yet very normal and wonderful.

May we cooperate with the Lord to grow in life day-by-day, and may the Lord recover the proper function of all the members of the Body so that the Body of Christ would build itself up!

Lord Jesus, we allow the law of life to operate freely in us with its power and essence so that the divine life would grow in us and our function may be manifested for the building up of the Body of Christ. Lord, keep us growing in the divine life in a normal way day by day. Save us from not growing in life. Keep us open to You in Your presence, growing into You in all things and receiving our function from You for the building up of the Body. Lord, may the Body of Christ build itself up in love as each member grows and functions in its measure!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 45, 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 9 / msg 9, 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.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # So I’ve no cause to frown as one who’s received this zoe. / I know life runs its course and triumphs inevitably. / I’m required just to stay in the flow, / If I do the drinking then God gives the growth. (Song on God Gives the Growth)
  # Cause us to grow in life divine each day / That we may be transformed and built by Thee / Into a body to express Thyself, / That Thou in us Thy Church and Kingdom see. (Hymns #829)
  # Amen!—The growth in life! / There’s nothing that Your life can’t do; / Our every part renew. / We’ll make it, we’ll make it just by You. / Lord Jesus, grow in us. (Hymns #1132)