The organic increase of the church is the increase of Christ in His organic Body as His bride; He must increase and we must decrease, and this takes place by enjoying Him in His word and by speaking His word who is Spirit and life for the increase of Christ.
As believers in Christ, we need to come to the Lord in His word, again and again, longing for the guileless milk of the word so that by it we may grow unto salvation.
Furthermore, we need to exercise our spirit and eat the solid food in the word of God so that we may be full-grown, able to discern things in spirit.
We have not only been saved by being regenerated to be sons of God, but we have been brought into a life relationship and dependence on the Lord as life; He as life is for us to enjoy and receive in His word, which contains the very essence of God.
We all should be seekers of God, having our heart turned to Him and open to His speaking, being in the word of God prayerfully both personally and corporately, so that He may infuse Himself into us by means of His word.
As we enjoy the Lord in His word, we have something to share with others, and our speaking of the word of God with the exercise of our spirit will minister the Spirit and life to others.
May we learn to live the way ordained by God to live and serve in the Body of Christ so that we may be a Christian who is revived every morning and overcoming every day.
Amen, may we abide in the Lord as branches in the vine, and may we bear fruit in a normal way for the increase of Christ!
When we preach the gospel, we not only want to save people but we want to dispense life into others to make them children of God, part of the increase of Christ.
Once a person is saved, we need to feed him with the pure word of God; such feeding is not just giving others teachings for them to gain more knowledge and doctrines – it is giving life to them!
We need to be nourished with the word of life, and we need to give others the life supply so that they would grow in life.
As we meet together in small groups, through prayer, care, and shepherding, even through mutual asking and answering of questions regarding the truth, everyone can be perfected.
Eventually, everyone can learn to prophesy in the meetings of the church, not speaking their own words but speaking the words of life, speaking for the Lord, even speaking forth the Lord into people.
May we all enter into the organic practice of the new way, which is the scriptural way to meet and to serve, so that we may cooperate with God for Christ to gain an increase to be His bride.
The Organic Increase of the Church is the Increase of Christ in His Organic Body as His Bride – He must Increase!
What is the increase of the church? It is not merely the addition of new believers but the increase of Christ Himself; the organic increase of the church is the increase of Christ in His organic Body as His bride (see John 3:29-30).
The organic increase of the church is the increase of Christ in His bride; Christ is the Bridegroom and the church as His increase is the bride.
The increase of the bridegroom is the bride; the increase of Christ is the church.
We see this in the picture of Adam and Eve; Eve is the increase of Adam, for she was taken out of Adam and became his increase to be his counterpart.
The church comes out of Christ, the church is the increase of Christ, and the church is the counterpart, the bride of Christ.
The church as the bride is produced by regeneration and is the increase, the enlargement of Christ.
We need to realize that the increase of the church is not merely the growth in numbers but the increase of the element of Christ in the church as the Body of Christ, His bride.
The fullness of Christ is His Body, and the Body of Christ is His counterpart, His bride (Eph. 4:12-13, 16; 5:25-27).
The intrinsic growth of the church is our growing up into Him; when all the members of the Body grow up into Christ, they grow with the growth of God and they all arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
At the same time, the church is the bride of Christ, His wife, and He is both the Redeemer, the life-giving Spirit, and the Bridegroom.
In Eph. 5:25-27 we see that Christ as the Redeemer gave Himself up for the church to accomplish judicial redemption; then, Christ as the life-giving Spirit sanctifies the church, washing her by the water in the word to remove all spots and wrinkles.
Finally, He is the Bridegroom, the One who beautifies the church to be His bride, His wife, and the church becomes His bride, His fullness, to be His counterpart.
This One, this Christ, is the One who has the bride, and He must increase, while we must decrease (John 3:29-30).
John 3 is a marvellous chapter in the Bible, starting with Nicodemus, continuing with John the Baptist, and ending with the Bridegroom with His bride.
Nicodemus was a high-class person, very ethical, who came to see Jesus at night to get some teachings from this great Teacher to improve himself.
However, the Lord told him that unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God, and unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Even more, the Lord presented Himself as the reality of the bronze serpent raised by Moses on the pole in the wilderness, the One who came to came in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin to deal with our serpentine nature.
Finally, John wrote concerning John the Baptist recognizing Christ as the Bridegroom who has an increase, the bride.
By being regenerated with the divine life, we become part of the increase of Christ, the bride of Christ, to be His counterpart.
The increase in John 3:30a is the bride spoken of in verse 29; this bride is a composition of all the regenerated people.
Through regeneration we are not only born of God by receiving His divine life; we also become the corporate bride for Christ’s increase (vv. 3, 5-6, 29-30).
Christ increases by regenerating the redeemed sinners, making them His bride. Hallelujah!
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for regenerating us with the divine life to make us children of God and part of the bride of Christ as His increase! Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are members of the Body of Christ and part of the increase of Christ to be His counterpart, His bride! We love You, Lord Jesus, as the Redeemer who gave Himself for us, as the life-giving Spirit who washes us and removes all spots to sanctify us, and as the Bridegroom who presents us to Himself glorious as the bride! Amen, Lord, have a way to increase in us more and more until we become Your fullness, Your reproduction, and Your increase to be Your counterpart, the bride of Christ! May You increase and may we decrease! May there be a daily organic increase of the church for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ, the bride of Christ!
Christ Increases Himself by Speaking the Word of God and by Giving the Spirit as the Reality of His Words to Dispense Life into Men and make them His Increase
How does Christ increase Himself in man? John the Baptist said that Christ must increase but he must decrease; how does Christ increase, and how do we decrease?
Christ, the One who has the bride is the Bridegroom, and He is the increasing Christ, the One who speaks the words of God and who gives the Spirit not by measure (John 3:34).
Christ is above all, and He is unlimited; He speaks the word of God and He gives the Spirit not by measure.
Today God is reproducing Himself into us to constitute us to become His bride; He does this by the divine speaking and by dispensing the immeasurable Spirit for us to experience the Spirit as the reality of His words.
In this way, we are gradually constituted by Him to become His reproduction, His increase, for God’s economy to reach its ultimate consummation.
When we receive the words of God, the Spirit follows to be the reality of what is spoken.
Christ increases Himself by speaking God’s word to spread God and by giving the Spirit of God to be the reality of what He spoke in order to dispense eternal life into people (John 6:62; 3:30, 34).
As He speaks, He dispenses the Spirit to dispense life into people and make them the children of God to be Christ’s increase; this is how Christ becomes the increasing Christ.
When we speak the word of God to others, we spread God for the increase of Christ. Christ speaks God through us, the members of the Body of Christ, by defining God, explaining God, and expressing God.
Today Christ wants to increase, and He does this by His speaking; He speaks what He has already spoken, and His speaking in the church life becomes brighter and brighter, clearer and clearer, and higher and higher.
We all need to be those who love God’s speaking, coming to Him personally in our private time with Him and also corporately in the meetings of the church, in conferences, in trainings, and in blending meetings to receive His speaking.
When we hear God’s speaking, that speaking will become the Spirit to be the reality of the speaking; the more we enjoy the word of God, the more this word becomes the Spirit in us.
When we speak the word of God to others, the Spirit follows to be the reality of what is spoken; when we speak one with the Lord, we not only speak words but the Lord in us ministers Spirit and life to the hearer.
The words we speak become spirit and life into others, and they gain more of God to become the increase of Christ.
Christ increases Himself in man by speaking God’s word to spread God and by giving the Spirit of God to be the reality of what He spoke; the result is that eternal life is dispensed into people, and they become God-kind, the children of God, the species of God, to be the increase of Christ.
When we handle the word of God properly by exercising our spirit, the word that comes into us becomes spirit, and it also becomes life to make us the increase of Christ.
Then, as we speak out that word, it once again becomes the word, and when it enters into someone else, it becomes spirit and life to make the hearer part of the increase of Christ.
The Lord’s word is actually the essence of God; when this word enters into our being, God’s essence enters our being, and this essence is the Spirit.
If we receive the living word of God into us and are filled with the Spirit, we enjoy eternal life, and we become the bride, the universal increase of the unlimited Christ.
When we exercise our spirit and speak the word of God to others, the Spirit of God follows His word and causes this word to become spirit and life in others, thus making them part of the increase of Christ.
We need to come to the Lord’s word repeatedly to seek the Lord’s word and seek God; we need to let the word of God be dispensed into us so that He may increase in us, and we need to speak the word of God to others for Christ to increase in them.
Hallelujah, Christ speaks the words of God and gives the Spirit not by measure so that those who hear and receive may receive spirit and life and become the increase of Christ! We open to You, dear Lord, to receive the word of God by means of all prayer and petition; may Your word become spirit and life in us to produce us as the increase of Christ. Increase in us, Lord, and make us part of Your increase on earth. We love Your speaking and we receive the Spirit which You give without measure. May You increase Yourself in us and through us as we speak the word of God into others. We want to handle the word of God properly by exercising our spirit and speaking the word of God to others so that Your Spirit may follow Your word and bring in spirit and life into them to make them part of the increase of Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by the brothers for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” msg. 5, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Intrinsic and Organic Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ (2021 International Chinese-Speaking Conference), week 2, The Intrinsic Growth of the Church for Its Organic Increase.
- Hymns on this topic:
– We are the increase of Thyself, / And Thou our content art; / Through us Thou livest and dost move / And manifested art. (Hymns #116)
– O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me, / And all things else recede; / My heart be daily nearer Thee, / From sin be daily freed…Make this poor self grow less and less, / Be Thou my life and aim; / Oh, make me daily through Thy grace / More meet to bear Thy name. (Hymns #395)
– Oh, purify us, Lord, by speaking in our heart; / Thy living, spoken word this washing will impart. / Increase Thy speaking, Lord, and cleanse our every part. / Oh, purify us, Lord, we pray. / Oh, purify us, Lord, today; / Wash all our natural life away. / Speak now Thy words in us, / And make us glorious. / O Lord, do speak in us today. (Hymns #1135)
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