We need to supply the nutrients for Christ to grow in us for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
As believers in Christ, we are God’s cultivated land, a farm in God’s new creation to grow Christ so that precious materials may be produced for the building of God.
Therefore, we need to supply the nutrients to the seed of life sown into us so that this seed may grow, develop, and become the building of God, the church as the Body of Christ.
The Lord promised David that it was his seed that will build the temple, and this seed will be called the Son of God.
The seed of David is not just Solomon but Christ, for it is a type of Christ, the real Seed of David.
Christ came as the seed of David to build up the church as the house of God and the temple of God.
David was a man according to God’s heart, and he wanted to build a house for God, but God said that it was his seed that would build this house.
Our zeal for the Lord and our desire to build the church are not good enough; we need God to build Himself into us, into our very constitution, so that Christ may be produced for the building up of the church.
The One who can build up the church is Christ, and God wants to build Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that the church as the Body of Christ may be produced and built up.
We should not bring our natural smarts, our natural ways, or our natural wisdom into the church, for all these are not qualified for the building.
The building of the church is actually Christ making His home in our heart. Wow!
We may never associate these two portions together, Matt. 16:18 and Eph. 3:17, but they speak of the same thing.
We need to pray to the Father to strengthen us into our inner man with power through His Spirit so that Christ may make His home in our heart through faith for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
If Christ does not have a way to make His home in our heart, He cannot build up the church.
He can gain a corporate habitation in the church when He makes His home in the hearts of all the saints.
We are here for the building up of the church; we are here to let Christ make His home in our hearts.
The Christ who is constituted or built into us is the house of God and also our house, for this is a mutual dwelling place.
He will also become our heritage and treasure; He is everything to us.
As long as we allow Him to make His home in our heart and build Himself into us, we participate in the building work, for His building in our being is the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
In reality, Christ is also the element in which and with which the church is built; He is not only the Builder of the church but also the built One, the very element of God’s building.
He’s the seed of David to build the house of God, and He is the element of God’s building, for the building of God is the Body of Christ, Christ Himself in a corporate way.
We Build the Church with the Christ Wrought into us as the Precious Materials
![For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's cultivated land, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon [it.] But let each man take heed how he builds upon [it.] For another foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 3:9-11](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/For-we-are-Gods-fellow-workers-you-are-Gods-cultivated-land-Gods-building-jpg.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's cultivated land, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon [it.] But let each man take heed how he builds upon [it.] For another foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 3:9-11")
The portion in 1 Cor. 3:9-12 is a solemn warning regarding building up the church.
We need to take heed of how we build so that we don’t mar the building of God; we need to build upon the foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones, not with wood, grass, and stubble.
Wood, grass, and stubble refer to the natural things, the things coming out of the natural man; these are not acceptable in God’s building, for the fire will destroy them.
We need to exercise our spirit to build up the church with Christ Himself, and not just with the Christ we read about or know of, but the Christ that was built into us, the Christ who was wrought into our being.
Before we can build the church, we need to have Christ built into our intrinsic constitution.
We need to let God build Christ in our intrinsic constitution, day by day, as we fellowship with the Lord.
We should not use any natural elements when we build the church; rather, we need to look to the Lord for His mercy so that we would build up the church with Christ, the very Christ that has been built into us.
May the Lord have mercy on us that we would not build up the church with our natural makeup, our natural being, or with anything of jealousy, strife, or envy.
May we build the church not with our natural wisdom, power, zeal, and smarts.
We want to build the church with the gold of the Father’s nature, the silver of the cross, and the precious stones of the transforming work of the Spirit.
The gold refers to the divine nature of the Father, which is pure gold.
The silver refers to the cross of Christ which redeems, terminates, and replaces us; it refers to the redeeming and terminating work of the cross.
The precious stones refer to the transforming work of the Spirit to produce us, from pieces of clay, into precious materials for the building of God.
We want to build up the church in the mingled spirit where we have the Father’s nature and the Son’s redemption, and where we have the Spirit’s transformation.
We can worship God and build the church only in our spirit (John 4:24), for the church is a spiritual entity built up with Christ as the unique element.
Our building of the church results from our growth in life, for we are both God’s farm and His building (1 Cor. 3).
On one hand, we are the farm of God, growing Christ as the unique crop; on the other hand, we are the building of God, being built up with Christ as the unique element.
As we grow in Christ, we build up the church.
![But if anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble, The work of each will become manifest; for the day will declare [it,] because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will prove each one's work, of what sort it is. 1 Cor. 3:12-13](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/But-if-anyone-builds-upon-the-foundation-gold-silver-precious-stones-wood-grass-stubble-jpg.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "But if anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble, The work of each will become manifest; for the day will declare [it,] because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will prove each one's work, of what sort it is. 1 Cor. 3:12-13")
We do not build up the church with doctrines, practices, or activities in the church.
We build the church upon the all-inclusive Christ as the unique foundation with the Christ that was wrought into our being, the Christ that is growing in us for the building of God.
We cannot build the church with our natural background, our past experience, or with things of the self and the natural man.
May we not mar the building of God by trying to bring in natural things into the church.
May we build the church with gold, silver, and precious stones.
As believers in Christ who have been regenerated in Christ with the life of God, we are God’s cultivated land, God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9).
We are a farm in God’s new creation to grow Christ so that precious materials may be produced for God’s building.
May we grow Christ every day by letting Him grow and expand in our heart for the building of the church.
Lord Jesus, thank You for regenerating us with God’s life to make us God’s cultivated land, God’s building. Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are a farm in God’s new creation to grow Christ so that precious materials may be produced for God’s building! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to build the church not with our natural makeup or our natural being but with gold, silver, and precious stones. Work Yourself into us a little more today and build Yourself into our being so that we may build up the church with the Christ that has been wrought into us. Amen, Lord, have mercy on us that we would not mar the church as the building of God with things of the natural man. We want to build Your church with the gold of the Father’s nature, with the silver of the cross, and with the transforming work of the Spirit! May we all take heed of how we build and let Christ grow in us for precious materials to be produced for God’s building!
Supply the Nutrients for Christ to Grow and Produce Precious Materials for God’s Building
According to the Bible, growth in life equals building; this takes place by the growth of the divine seed of life within us (1 John 3:9; Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:15-16).
The more Christ as the seed of life grows in us, the more the church as God’s building is built up. Christ is making His home in us; He is building His home in our inner being.
The material He uses for the building is, on one hand, Christ Himself as the element, and on the other hand, something from us with our humanity.
In John 14:23 the Lord said that if we love Him, Him and the Father will come to us and make an abode with us.
This making an abode is the same as Christ making His home in our heart, which is for God’s building.
Eph. 3:17 reveals that the Triune God has come into us to do a building work with Himself as the element and also with something from us as the material.
The Triune God went through a process in His economy in Christ to become the Spirit so that He may come into us to make His home in us, to build Himself into us, by using Himself as the element and also by using something of us as the element.
How much He builds Himself into us depends not only on Himself but also on us, for there are some nutrients we can supply for the seed of life to grow.
Matt. 13 speaks of the seed of life growing in the soil of our heart, and the growth of the seed depends on the kind of soil we have in our heart.
The Lord sows Himself as the seed of life into man’s hearts, the soil, so that He might grow and live in them and be expressed from within them (Matt. 13:3).
The seed is sown into the soil to grow with the nutrients of the soil; as a result, the produce is a composition of elements from both the seed and the soil (v. 23).
We human beings have within us certain nutrients created by God as a preparation for His coming into us to grow in us.
God has created the human spirit with the human nutrients along with the human heart as the soil for the divine seed to grow in us and develop in our being (see 1 Pet. 3:4).
The rate at which we grow in life depends not on the divine seed but on how many nutrients we afford this seed, for the more nutrients we supply, the faster the seed will grow and the more it will flourish (Psa. 78:8; Matt. 5:3, 8).
For example, if we remain in our soul, in our natural man, there will not be any nutrients for the growth of the divine seed, for our natural man and the flesh have no nutrients for the Lord to grow in us.
But if we’re strengthened into our inner man and if we pay attention to our spirit, exercising our spirit, the nutrients will be supplied, and Christ will make His home in our hearts (Eph. 3:16-17; Rom. 8:6).
May we be those who supply the nutrients the Lord as the seed of life needs to grow in us for the producing of precious materials to build up the church as the Body of Christ.
If we want to have the Lord as the seed of life grow within us to be our full enjoyment for the building of the church, we have to open to the Lord absolutely and cooperate with Him to deal thoroughly with our heart (Matt. 13:3-9, 19-23).
Sometimes we may wonder why don’t we or others grow in the Lord, why doesn’t the Lord grow in them; one of the reasons is that there are no nutrients supplied to the seed of life to grow in us.
On the one hand, God strengthens us with Himself as the element so that our inner man is strong.
On the other hand, we afford Him the nutrients by exercising our spirit and turning our hearts to the Lord.
Through these two God in Christ carries out His intrinsic building – the building of His home – in our entire being.
Christ as the seed of life is perfect and complete, containing everything He needs to develop and conform us to the image of Christ.
But what about the soil of our heart?
Christ as the seed is sown in the soil of our heart, and He contains the divine DNA with all the characteristics of God that can be developed and expressed through us.
However, the human heart needs to be dealt with and proper in order for the seed of life to grow.
The growth of the seed is the building; the more Christ as the seed of life grows in us, the more the church is built up.
All the divine things, the perfect humanity of Christ, the death of Christ, the resurrection and ascension of Christ, and all the wonderful things Christ has accomplished are in the seed of life that grows in us, in our heart.
The soil of our heart needs to supply the necessary nutrients for Christ as the seed of life to grow, develop, and produce the precious materials for the building of God.
We need to enjoy the riches of Christ in our spirit by being filled in spirit, and let these riches spill over and spread into our heart.
If we do this, there will be something of the riches of Christ in our heart to supply the seed of life with the nutrients it needs to grow.
We need to deal with any rocks of hidden sins in our heart that hinder our growth, and we need to deal with the thorns of anxieties of life so that the Lord can grow.
How we thank the Lord that in our hearts we have certain nutrients for the divine seed to grow, and the more nutrients we supply, the more the Lord grows and the more the church is built up!
May we cooperate with the growth of Christ in us for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!
Lord Jesus, we turn our heart to You and we exercise our spirit to cooperate with You so that You as the seed of life may grow in us. We want to supply the necessary nutrients to the seed of life so that You may grow in us for the building up of the church. We want to afford the nutrients that You need for You to grow in us and produce the precious materials needed for God’s building. Amen, Lord, we refuse to remain in the soul or in our natural man; we exercise our spirit to cooperate with You! Strengthen us into our inner man so that we may be strong in spirit and supply the nutrients for Christ to make His home in our heart! Amen, Lord, carry out the intrinsic work of the building of Your home in our heart a little more 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 Minoru Chen in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msgs. 26-27 and 31-32 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery Before His Appearing (2023 July Semiannual Training), week 3, entitled, God Building Himself in Christ into Our Being.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– The day-by-day Christian life, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Crique.
– Does the Believer Have the Divine Nature? Article via, Contending for the Faith.
– The Ministry Bearing the Mark of Death and Resurrection (5), article via, Shepherding Words.
– Life-Study of Genesis: Message 120, enjoyment via, Living to Him.
– A Seed is Sown, Grows, Becomes Stone for Building, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– 3 Benefits of Reading the Bible Every Day, article via, Bibles for America blog.
– The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ through the Process of Spiritual Metabolism according to the Believers’ Inner Experience of the Indwelling Christ, a video message via YouTube by R. S.
– Christ making His home in our hearts, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Samuel, Chapter 30, by Witness Lee. - Hymns on this topic:
– His Son, Jesus, is our Savior. / Once in human form He came. / Now as Spirit He can enter / As the breath of life to man. / As a seed within our spirit / Christ takes root and starts to grow, / Spreading in our inmost being / Till His life we come to know. / Time is short, oh, brothers, hear it, / Christ is longing for His Bride. / We can hasten His returning / Simply by the growth in life. / No more struggling, no more striving, / Simply turn to Christ within. / See the seed begin to blossom. / Growing fully into Him. (Hymns #1299 stanzas 3-4)
– Lord, You’re the seed of life; / You’ve sown Yourself into our heart, / And now You have a start; / So day by day more life to us impart— / Lord Jesus, grow in us. / Lord Jesus, soften us; / You know the source from which we came. / By calling on Your name, / Lord, let no earth unturned nor rocks remain— / Lord Jesus, grow in us. (Hymns #1132, stanzas 2-3)
– The seed is planted, wheat is grown / And meal is the sum / Of all the growth upon God’s farm, / Where Christians grow as one; / But all the growth in life is for / The building of the church, / That God and man may have a home / And both may end their search. / The farm is for the building, / for God and man a home, / Where both may dwell among / His people gathered into one. (Hymns #1242 stanza 4 and chorus)
About aGodMan
Life-study of 1 Corinthians, p. 245, by Witness Lee
The Lord as the seed of life has come into our spirit to grow in the soil of our heart for the producing of precious materials to build up the church.
We need to supply the nutrients that the Lord needs by turning to our spirit so that He may grow in us for the building.
Amen Lord, we give you the soul of our heart
Lord, grow a little bit more in us and all the saints and may our heart be good ground 🙏🏽
Amen brother.
On the one hand, Christ has planted Himself as the seed within our being; on the other hand, the seed can only grow by being nourished by our own transformed humanity. How marvellous.
Christ doesn’t grow simply by Himself; He needs us to provide the right material from our regenerated & transformed spirit.
We very much need to see that in Matthew the seed is divinity and the soil is our transformed humanity.
We must exercise our spirit, look to the Lord and pray in order to grow Christ.
This growth equals building.
The building takes place by the growth of the divine seed within us.
Wow brother, the seed of life sown into our being has the element of God, for this seed to grow Christ needs the nutrients we afford Him by paying attention to our spirit and exercising our spirit!!
In Matthew 13 the seed is divinity, and the soil with its nutrients is humanity!
The more nutrients we supply the faster the seed will grow and the more it will flourish!
Ameeen brother!
The foundation is unique, but the building may differ because different builders may use different materials.
All the Corinthian believers had accepted Christ as the foundation.
However, some Jewish believers among them attempted to build the church with their Judaistic attainments, and some Greek believers attempted to use their philosophical wisdom.
They were not like the apostles, who built with their excellent knowledge and rich experiences of Christ.
The intention of the apostle in this Epistle was to warn the believers not to build the church with the things of their natural background
They must learn to build with Christ, both in objective knowledge and in subjective experience, as Paul did.
As God’s farm we are to grow Christ – who is the seed of life for God’s building.
So long as there are the good nutrients – a living of exercising our mingled spirit, denying our old, natural man, by being strengthened into our inner man, Christ can make His home in our hearts and we will be transformed persons for God’s building.
Amen!
May the Lord bless you with Himself as your enjoyment for the building up of the church!
Much Grace!
Amen dear brother.
Today we must be those who are strengthened into our inner man, pay attention to our spirit and exercise our spirit. Then the nutrients will be supplied, and Christ will make His home in our heart. Amen.
Also if we are going to have the Lord as the seed of life grow within us to be our full enjoyment, we have to open to the Lord absolutely and cooperate with Him to deal thoroughly with our heart.
Amen, Lord!!! 🙌
What a wonderful Lord we have! He came down to this world just to share our being as dust.
Then He passed through the long way to die, burying under the heart of the earth as a seed.
He came out with the life giving Spirit from the earth and interred into us (the soil) so that He can multiply and grow Himself in us.
In order to build His home in us, Christ must have the material. These two main materials are:
According to the Bible, growth equals building. (Matthew 16:18)
Therefore, we would not build His Church with our natural beings like jealousy, strife, or envy. But we want to build His Church with the gold of the Father’s nature, with the silver of the cross which redeems, terminates and replaces us, and with the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
Listen to the audio version of this article at,
Amen Lord! And grow in us, the good earth, the organic earth fed and tended by You, the earth You have chosen!
The degree of growth depends not on the divine seed but on how many nutrients we afford this seed…
Only the good soil (13:8, 23) affords the adequate nutrients for the growth of the divine seed.
💡👌💡👌
Amen, Lord keep us from working which isn’t your desire, feed us and constitute us with yourself to build up the church as the body of Christ!
Ameeen!!!
May we afford the divine seed the materials/ nutrients to grow, develop and mature.
Oh how we need to not only exercise our spirit to contact the Lord but to exercise our heart to turn to the Lord, believe and receive the Lord, and to love Him.
May our spirit be strong and may our heart be pure, loving, soft, and at peace.
Yes Lord, with the Father’s nature, the Son’s redemption and the Spirit’s transfoming work.
Amen, we Love you, Lord Jesus!
Oh Lord we open to you and give our cooperation to you so you can have the grounds in us to grow for the building up of the body of christ and for the consummation of the the new jerusalem praise you Lord ,we love and we are one with you, gain us to the uttermost.
PRAISE THE LORD!
* God too is a worker. While the ministers of Christ, His fellow workers, are working on His cultivated land, He too is working. What a privilege and glory that men can be God’s fellow workers, working together with God on His cultivated land to grow Christ!
(cf. Matt. 13:3, 8; Rev. 14:4, 15-16)
* The believers, who have been regenerated in Christ with God’s life, are God’s cultivated land, a farm in God’s new creation to grow Christ that precious materials may be produced for God’s building. Hence, we are not only God’s cultivated land but also God’s building. Corporately, we as the church of God have Christ planted in us. Christ must grow in us and, in the sense of this chapter, produce out of us not fruit but the precious materials of gold, silver, and precious stones for the building of God’s habitation on earth. Thus, the building of God, the house of God, the church, is the increase of Christ, the enlargement of Christ in His unlimitedness.