Our Work must be to Minister God into others for Him to Build Himself into them

The Lord Jesus said, I will build My church (Matt. 16:18). How does the Lord build His church?

First of all, the church is not that physical tall building with a cross on top of it; the church is the Body of Christ composed of all the believers in Christ, those redeemed by Christ, regenerated by God, and filled with the Holy Spirit.

The church is the mingling of God and man; it is not merely an assembly of believers but the Body of Christ where Christ is the Head and all believers in Christ are the members of the Body, each being organically joined and intimately related to Christ. As such an entity, the church is something organic; therefore, the building up of the church is something organic.

In Genesis 2 we see how there were precious stones in the flow of the river watering the garden of Eden, and then the Lord build a woman out of Adam – with no other material but the element of Adam. In a similar way, the church is a building, an organic entity coming out of Christ constituted with precious stones (which are the transformed believers) to match Christ and be one with Christ.

In 2 Sam. 7 we see how David, a man after God’s heart, wanted to build God a house; God’s response was, It is not you who will build Me a house but I will build you a house, and your seed will build Me a house; I will be his Father and He will be My Son (see 2 Sam. 7:12-14).

God’s intention is not that we would build His house but that He would build Himself into our being and build us into His being, and this mutual building in Christ is the church as the building of God.

And the way we can cooperate with the Lord’s building His church is first to allow Him to build Himself into our being, and then we need to learn to minister God into others so that God would build Himself into their being and build them up into the Body of Christ for His building.

God in Christ is Within us to Build Himself into our Being and to Build us into His Being

Through believing into the Lord Jesus we were regenerated with God’s life, and God in Christ came into us to live in us and build Himself into us. God in Christ is within all His believers to build Himself into their being and to build them into His being by making His home in their heart and constantly visiting them to make them a mutual abode (see Eph. 3:17; John 14:23).

God in Christ builds His divinity into our humanity and builds our humanity into His divinity in order to mingle us and blend us with Himself and thus produce a dwelling place, the church, the house of God, the Body of Christ.

The Christ who has already been built into us through our experience of His making His home in our heart is the builded God, the God who is in us and dwells there; the God who is actively building Himself into us the building God.

We need to cooperate with God’s building of Himself into us and of us into Himself by praying one with Paul, Father, strengthen us through Your Spirit into our inner man so that Christ may make His home in our hearts through faith!

As we open to the Lord, fellowship with Him, talk to Him about everything during the day, pray over His word, sing, pray, and call on the name of the Lord, He is making His home in our heart a little more. Little by little, day by day, the Lord is making His home in our heart to build Himself into us and build us into Himself for the church, the house of God.

The Christ who is built, constituted, into us, is both God’s house and our house; Christ is God’s house and as He is building Himself into us, He becomes our house – we abide in Him and He abides in us, and in Christ we and God are mingled together and abide together as one entity (see John 14:2, 23; 15:4).

May the Lord enlighten us to realize that God in Christ now lives in us and He is constantly building Himself into our being and building us into His being for Him to obtain a mutual dwelling place, the church as the Body of Christ, the house of God.

Lord Jesus, build Yourself into us and build us into You for the building up of the church! Keep us abiding in You as our home as You abide in us as Your home. Lord, make Your home in our heart a little more today. Cause us to be strengthened into our spirit through the Spirit so that You may make Your home in our mind, emotion, will, and conscience. Lord, we allow You to work Yourself into us and build Yourself into our being. We treasure You, we love You, and we open to Your daily building and working in our inner being!

Our Work must be to Minister God into others for Him to Build Himself into them

If we see that God’s main work today is to build Himself in Christ into our being and to build us in His being for the building up of the church, we will also do the same thing – we will work one with the Lord to minister God into others so that God would be built into them and they would be built into God.

In every aspect of our work for the Lord, whether preaching the gospel, feeding the believers, establishing churches, perfecting the saints, the intrinsic element must be that we minister the building and builded God into others (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 3:17).

It’s not adequate to simply present to others some knowledge concerning God’s economy, the word of God, or other divine and spiritual things; we need to be filled with God and saturated with God by prayer, fasting, repentance, and confession, and we need to minister God into others.

When we are filled with the Triune God, we will flow Him out to others for their enjoyment, nourishment, and building up. The way Christ builds up His church is by building Himself into us and by being ministered through us into others for them to be built up in God and for God to be built into them.

As seen in 2 Sam. 7, the Triune God desires to work Himself into us to make us His home (which is Christ with the church) and to produce a seed (the all-inclusive Christ); Christ is the house and Christ is the seed – He is everything to us in God’s building.

If we see that God desires to work Himself into His chosen people, then the goal of our work for the Lord and with the Lord will be to minister the building and the builded God into others so that the Triune God may build Himself into their being by making His home into their heart.

Of course, we must preach the gospel, take care of the new ones, shepherd the believers, and perfect the saints, but the essence of our work should be to minister God into others. We need to consider, How much of Christ has been built into the saints we meet with?

When we meet together, do we minister Christ to one another for the building up of God into man and of man into God? This is God’s main goal, and all other things that are so necessary are for this and with this in view. We need to see this central matter that, no matter what aspect of the work is our service in, our intrinsic work is to minister God into one another.

We all should reconsider the work we are doing for the Lord and ask how much of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God has been wrought into those whom we have brought to the Lord.

Paul labored day and night over the saints so that Christ would make His home in their hearts, be formed in them, and live in them (Gal. 2:20; 4:19; Col. 1:28; Eph. 3:14-19). In the church life we should practice one thing: to minister the processed and consummated Triune God into others so that He may build Himself into their inner man (2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Cor. 3:9-12).

We need to pray that the Lord would teach us and perfect us to work in this way by cooperating with Him to minister God into others for the building of God into man and of man into God.

Lord, build Yourself into our being for the Body! Cause the desire of Your heart become the desire of our heart so that we may cooperate with You to minister the processed and consummated Triune God into others so that He may build Himself into their inner man. Lord, teach us how to work for You and with You in the way of ministering God into man for God to be built into man and for man to be built into God. May many seeking believers reconsider their work in the church and focus on ministering the building and builded God into man!

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 1 & 2 Samuel, msgs. 24, 26 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Priesthood or God’s Building, week 8 / msg 8, The Recovery of the Priesthood for God’s building.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # Lord, Your purpose and Your heart’s desire / Is to build Your church, Your temple. / For this purpose You created man / As a vessel to contain You. / You were processed as the Spirit / Now You’re working in our being. / To Your image You’re conforming us. / Lord, Your work is glorious. / May this vision, Lord, re-center us, / Save us from our old self-centeredness. / Be our center and centrality, / And our inward harmony. / Give us sight to see Your purpose— / Build Yourself into our being! / Mind, emotion, will, Lord, we give to You— / All our heart Your home must be. (Song on God’s central work)
  # There’s nothing that we are / Or have or do well-pleasing; / We need Thee, glorious Christ, / Inwrought into our being. / O Lord, our heart’s still vacant now! / Come in and settle down. / Come saturate and permeate. / And fill us with Yourself. / Our spirit You have filled / At our regeneration, / But mind, emotion, will / Await Your saturation. / How much of You is built in us / To make our heart Your home? / O Triune God, we welcome You. / Come build, oh, build in us. (Song on letting Christ make His home in us)