As Ministers of Christ we’re Feeders and Builders to Build the Church as God’s House

We need to see that, as believers in Christ, we are feeders and builders to build up the church as the magnificent house of God. Amen!

As believers in Christ who allow the Lord to measure us for the deepening of the flow of life and who enjoy Christ as the flow of life, we are feeders, those who feed others with spiritual food to supply and heal them, and we are builders, those who build the church with our enjoyment and experience of the Triune God. Amen!

This week we have been enjoying the matter of living the Christian life by enjoying the flow of life with the ministry of life out of and for the magnificent house of God.

For us to live the Christian life, we need to enjoy the flow of life out of the house of God.

Our God is a flowing God, and He is flowing not only in our inner being but even more, He’s flowing out of the house of God.

The way to receive and enjoy the flow of life out of the house of God is to allow the Lord to measure us; He as the man of bronze measures us again and again, and as we’re measured by Him, the flow of life in us increases. Amen!

When the flow of life deepens and increases in us, there will be life wherever the river flows.

Just as the river flows out of God’s house and brings life wherever it goes, so we as believers in Christ can drink and flow the water of life so that God as life may heal, enliven, water, and bring life in those who hear.

First, we are being healed and enlivened, and then others are healed, enlivened, and watered by our remaining in and flowing out the flow of life.

However, if we live in a situation of compromise, if we’re in a marshy or muddy situation where we are lukewarm and not absolute for the Lord, we cannot enjoy the flow of life, and we cannot be healed.

May we look to the Lord and come to Him as we are to take Him as our absoluteness so that we may be consecrated to the Lord fully for His purpose and He may have a way to flow in us and through us.

The flow of life out of the house of God is for us to be ministers of life with the ministry of life for the building up of the church as the house of God.

The more we enjoy the flow of life, the more we are filled with God’s life and the more we flow out to others to impart life to them.

The ministers of life are those who enjoy Christ as the flow of life, and they are sowers, planters, waterers, begetters, feeders and builders. This is what we are today.

We are those who are filled with the seeds of life and who speak the words of life to others to impart life into them.

We plan Christ into others and we plant others into Christ.

We water them by being filled with the water of life and flowing this water out to others.

And we beget others in the Lord by bringing them to the Lord to believe into Him and become our spiritual children in the Lord through the gospel.

All this is out of the flow of life, and it is for the house of God.

In this article we want to see that we are feeders and builders for the building up of God’s house, the church.

As Ministers of Life we’re Feeders, Feeding others with Healthy Words to Nourish and Heal Them

In 1 Cor. 3:2 Paul told the Corinthian believers that he gave them milk to drink, not solid food, for they were not yet able to receive it. Paul was a feeder, one who fed the saints with something of God’s life.

A minister of life is a feeder; feeding is a matter of life, and it differs from teaching, which is a matter of knowledge.

As believers in Christ who enjoy Christ as the flow of life, we need to minister life to others by feeding them with the rich and nourishing words of life.

After begetting some new believers by preaching the gospel to them, we need to feed them by giving them milk (1 Pet. 2:2-3).

To give others milk or food to eat is to feed them; we need to be those who minister life to others to give them spiritual milk and food to nourish them with the words of life.

This doesn’t mean that we need to teach them and give them more doctrines and teachings; it means to give them the word of life in a living way so that they would be nourished and healed.

Feeding others is a matter of life; it is not teaching them but giving them something organic to eat.

First, we need to feed on Christ, enjoy Him, and partake of His riches, and then we need to feed our spiritual children with something of the spiritual milk that we have produced.

As begetters, we are spiritual fathers who beget others through the gospels.

As feeders, we are spiritual mothers, giving others spiritual milk and spiritual food for them to grow in life unto maturity.

It is not easy to feed others, for in order to give them some food, we ourselves need to have this food.

The sound teaching of the apostles ministers the healthy teaching as the supply of life to people, either nourishing them or healing them (1 Tim. 1:10b; 6:3; 2 Tim. 1:13; Titus 1:9).

We need to get into the word of God in a living way, obtain some spiritual food and milk for ourselves to be nourished, and have some food to give to others also for their growth in life.

The healthy words of God’s New Testament economy are for our nourishment and edification, and they are also for the feeding of those around us.

May we be the feeders today, the ministers of life who feed others with the healthy teaching of God’s economy not by teaching them but by imparting something of the spiritual food into them.

May we first feed on Christ and be filled with Him, being richly nourished with the words of this life, and may we be the feeders to impart spiritual food into others for their nourishment and healing.

Like the Apostle Paul, we need to be not only spiritual fathers who beget spiritual children but also spiritual mothers who adequately produce the spiritual milk and have spiritual food to feed the new believers.

Not only the elders in the church but we all as believers in Christ need to function in this way.

We can have spiritual milk to feed others by allowing the Lord to measure us so that the flow of life in us would increase and we would have the ministry of life for the house of God.

All this requires a genuine experience of Christ as life; the unique way for us to practice the church life as a proper family life is through the genuine experience of life.

When we feed on Christ, are richly nourished with the words of life, and are feeders who feed others with the spiritual milk and solid food they need to grow in life and be healed, we will have a proper family life in the church life as the household of God (Eph. 2:19).

Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy You and experience You so that we may have a rich deposit of spiritual food to feed others. Make us the ministers of life who are feeders, those who feed others with spiritual milk and solid food according to the need. Amen, Lord, we want to have the genuine experience of life so that we may gain something of Christ. May we be spiritually strong and healthy so that we may be able to beget spiritual children and adequately produce the spiritual milk to feed them! Amen, Lord, we come to You to enjoy You in Your word and gain a good amount of spiritual food for ourselves and for those under our care. Grant us to be the ministers of life who impart life to the saints around us and who produce the spiritual milk to feed them. Amen, Lord Jesus, gain the proper family life in the church as the household of God where the saints are feeders, feeding one another with the healthy words of God’s eternal economy for the building up of the church!

Ministers of Life are Builders who Build up the Church – we’re both Feeders and Builders!

It is quite amazing to see that, when we allow the Lord to measure us and increase the flow of life in us, we become the ministers of life with the ministry of life for the building up of the church as the house of God. Amen!

As new covenant ministers, we are sowers who sow the seed of life into others, planters who plant Christ into people, waterers who water others with the water of life, begetters who impart life into others to beget them as spiritual children, and feeders who feed others with spiritual milk and solid food.

When we are sowers, planters, waterers, begetters, and feeders, we will also be builders, those who build the church as the magnificent house of God with gold, silver, and precious stones.

We are both feeders and builders.

The apostles laid the foundation of the church, which is Christ Himself, and now we need to take heed of how we build and what we build with (1 Cor. 3:10-11).

We need to build upon the foundation gold, silver, and precious stones, not wood, grass, and stubble, which will not stand the test of the fire of God’s judgment (v. 12).

As we carry out the work of sowing, planting, watering, begetting, and feeding, Christ will grow in the believers, and the church becomes God’s farm, His household, full of life growing and increasing.

As the believers in Christ grow in life day by day, they will be transformed (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2) to be the precious materials in God’s building.

On one hand, we are God’s farm, His cultivated land; on the other hand, we are God’s building, His house.

We need to be not only mature plants, that is, full-grown in Christ (Rev. 14:4, 15; Col. 1:28), but also gold, silver, and precious stones as precious materials for the building of God’s house (Rev. 21:2-3, 11, 18-22).

What does it mean to build the house of God with these precious materials?

Gold symbolizes God the Father in His divine nature, silver symbolizes Christ in His redemptive work, and precious stones signify the Spirit in His transforming work.

All this is versus wood – signifying the human nature, grass – signifying man in the flesh, and stubble – signifying lifelessness.

We need to enjoy and experience Christ day by day and allow Him to make His home in us, even to transform us with His divine life so that we may be transformed into precious materials suitable for God’s building.

On the one hand, we need to be transformed to be precious stones as building materials for God’s building by being constituted with the Triune God in our experience.

On the other hand, we need to build others into the house of God by ministering Christ to them for their transformation in life for the building up of the church.

As we believers in Christ grow in life, we are being transformed to be building materials suitable for God’s house.

On one hand, we grow in life by partaking of the riches of Christ, drinking the milk of God’s word, and eating solid food.

On the other hand, we need to be transformed so that we may become precious stones suitable for the building of God’s house, the church as the magnificent house of God. Amen!

We need to have God built into us and build God into others by our enjoyment of Christ and by ministering Christ into others for the building up of the church. Amen!

Song of Songs portrays that in the proper church life, the perfected believers coordinate with the transforming spirit to perfect Christ’s loving seekers by ministering the Triune God to them for their transformation by the Triune God’s attributes being wrought into them to become their virtues (Song of Songs 1:10-11).

The type in Song of Songs speaks of cheeks being lovely with plates of ornaments, the neck having strings of jewels, and making plates of gold with studs of silver for the loving seeker.

This is a type of the transforming work of the Spirit taking place not just in our being but our coordinating with God to perfect others for them to be transformed by having the Triune God wrought into them as their virtues.

May we be the Lord’s helpers, those who coordinate with God to infuse God into others.

We can help others by giving to them the Father’s divine nature, helping them to enjoy the redemption of Christ, and being transformed by the Spirit.

This is all for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem for the accomplishing of God’s eternal economy (1 Cor. 3:12; Rev. 21:18-21; Eph. 2:20-22).

May we all be willing to be measured by the Lord so that we can enjoy the flow of life with the ministry of life out of and for the magnificent house of God.

May we be those who call on the name of the Lord to be in the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3) and eat, drink, and breathe the Lord in, and may we be the sowers, planters, waterers, begetters (spiritual fathers), feeders (spiritual mothers), and builders.

And may we keep our being open to the Lord for Him to transform us into precious materials of gold, silver, and precious stones for the building of God’s habitation on the earth! Amen!

As we remain in the flow of life and carry out the ministry of life, we will have a proper church life, and we will be constituted a marvellous organic building of God, the magnificent house of God!

Lord Jesus, we want to be ministers of life as builders, those who build up the church with gold, silver, and precious stones. Amen, Lord, grant us the experiences we need for us to be constituted with the divine nature of the Father as gold, the redemptive work of Christ as silver, and the transforming work of the Spirit as precious stones. Save us from trying to build up the church with things coming out of our human nature, our acts in the flesh, and any lifeless things. We want to be transformed by the renewing of the mind so that we may be proper materials for the building up of the church. Amen, Lord, transform us and make us those who perfect others by ministering the Triune God into them for their transformation! We open to You and we allow You to measure us so that there would be a rich flow of life with the ministry of life for the building up of the church as the magnificent house of God! Amen, Lord, gain such a proper church life among us today! Make us feeders and builders today!

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 Ricky Acosta in the message for this week, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1970, vol. 1, p. 579-583 as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life (2024 Memorial Day Blending Conference), week 5, Living the Christian Life by Enjoying the Flow of Life with the Ministry of Life out of and for the Magnificent House of God.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The building of the church being the growth in life, a portion from, Life Messages, Vol. 1 (#1-41), Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – The Bible Is Our Spiritual Food, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – 6 – The Ministry Produced through Revelation and Suffering, Part Two: Suffering (4), article vis, Shepherding Words.
  – God’s need and God’s goal, book review via, Conversant Faith.
  – Grace, the Supply and Glory, the Expression (4), via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – From feeding to building, a portion from, Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs, Chapter 14, by Witness Lee.
  – Genesis 2, 1 Corinthians 3 and Revelation 21-22—Enjoying God to Build with Precious Materials, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Workman in carpentry, nursing mother, father, and wise master builder, a portion from, Conclusion of the New Testament, The (Msgs. 099-113), Chapter 13, by Witness Lee.
  – Bricks or Precious Stones? More via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – On the Minister of the Age and the Wise Master Builder, article via, A Faithful Word.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – O Lord, do nourish us; You are the food we need; / As we are eating You, we’ll be transformed indeed; / We’re fully satisfied as on Yourself we feed, / So nourish us, O Lord, we pray. / O Lord, do nourish us today / As all our self You wash away. / Not only purify, / But fill and satisfy; / O Lord, do nourish us today. (Hymns #1135 stanza 3 and chorus)
  – Though of clay Thou madest us, / Thou wouldst have us be transformed; / With Thy life as purest gold, / Unto precious stones conformed. / We shall, through Thy building work, / Then become Thy loving Bride, / In one Body joined to Thee, / That Thy heart be satisfied. (Hymns #839 stanza 2)
  – The Spirit of life causes Thee / By Thy Word to transfer to me. / Thy Spirit touched, Thy word received, / Thy life in me is thus conceived. / In spirit while gazing on Thee, / As a glass reflecting Thy glory, / Like to Thyself transformed I’ll be, / That Thou might be expressed thru me. (Hymns #501 stanzas 4-5)