The members of the Body need to be joined closely together and knit together. We are joined closely together by the joints, and we are knit together by each one part. In our physical body we have two classes of members—the joints and all the parts. It is the same with the Body of Christ. For the joints of the Body, there is the need of joining. For the parts of the Body, there is the need of knitting. In a physical building of stones, there is also the joining and the knitting. The frames of the building need to be joined closely together. The knitting is the interweaving of the stones. The stones of the building are put together by being interwoven. The joints of the Body of Christ are joined closely together, and all the parts of the Body are interwoven together. We have to be rescued from the thought that we can be individualistic and separated. There is not such a thing in the New Testament.
For the joints to be joined closely together is for them to be articulated and fitted closely together in harmony. The joints of our physical body should be articulated and fitted closely together in harmony. If they are not, our physical body will be in pain. Some in the church are the joints. The Bible tells us that brothers such as Peter, James, and John were the pillars of the church (Gal. 2:9), the joints. The joints should be articulated in harmony. Then there is the possibility of the building up. If the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers are not one, how can the Body be built up? The joints must be joined closely together in harmony. Then the Body can act.
There is also the need for each one part of the Body to be knit together, which is to be compacted together solidly through the growth in life. To be knit together is to be interwoven to become one entity. Every piece of stone in a stone building has been interwoven together, knit together, by being compacted together in a solid way. In the Body of Christ, we are being knit together, being compacted together solidly, through the growth in life. If certain members of the Body need healing, this healing will take place by the growth in life. The more that we rebuke others, condemn others, reason with others, or argue with others, the more wounds there are. The best way to turn from our rebuking, condemning, reasoning, and arguing is to call “O Lord Jesus.” We need to forget about right or wrong, good or evil, and yes or no and come back to “O Lord Jesus!” If we come together to call on the name of the Lord, we will enjoy the tree of life and stay away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Calling on the name of the Lord to enjoy Christ as our life supply issues in the growth in life. The joining and the knitting come from the growth in life. We must learn to serve the saints with some nourishment with which they may grow.
The Body is fitted and knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in measure of each one part. Through every joint of the rich supply means through every gifted person, as listed in Ephesians 4:11. This rich supply is the particular life supply of Christ. For the joining of the joints and for the knitting of each one part, we need to minister, to dispense, the rich supply to all the joints and to each one part. By this rich supply of Christ, all the members of the Body will get the nourishment with which they will grow in life. The joining and the knitting come through the growth in life.
The knitting together is through the operation in measure of each one part, that is, through the operation in measure of every member of the Body of Christ. The joints are the gifted persons, and each one part refers to every member of the Body of Christ. Every member has a function, so every member has a measure. In our measure, we have to operate, to function, to move, and to act in our spiritual life. The real knitting of all the members comes from the operation of each one part in his measure. We need to meet according to what is revealed in 1 Corinthians 14:26 so that each one part may be perfected and developed in his function. The way to meet in Christianity can only build up a congregation. It cannot build up the Body by all the members exercising their function in their measure.
Through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in measure of each one part, all the Body, joined closely together and knit together, will cause the growth of the Body. All the Body causes the growth of the Body. This is also true with our physical body. If our physical body takes in the proper nourishment and functions in a healthy way, it will cause our body to grow in life. This will result in the building up of our body. A mother feeds her child, but she cannot cause her child to have the growth. The child’s mouth takes in the food, and his stomach digests the food. Then the food is assimilated by his body, and this causes the growth. The child’s body causes itself to grow. In like manner, the Body of Christ causes the growth of itself for the building up of itself.
We have pointed out that in Matthew 16:18 the Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church.” Some may think that because the Lord Jesus said this, there is no need of anyone else to build the church. But we need to realize that the Lord Jesus does not build the church directly. He builds His Body through the gifts given by Him as the Head. The gifts build the Body by their nourishment, their perfecting, of all the members. Then all the nourished members, the perfected members, build the Body directly. There are three levels of building: the Head’s building is to give the gifts, the gifts’ building is to perfect the saints, and then the perfected saints build the Body directly, thus causing the Body to grow. Because our situation does not match this revelation, we cannot be content.
I returned to Taipei in October of 1984 because I realized that we needed a change in our practice of the church life so that it could match what is revealed in the Scriptures. During the three and a half years that I was in Taiwan beginning in 1984, I gave many messages on the Triune God and on Christ. I also studied our situation in the recovery with a view that we could be brought into the scriptural way of meeting and serving for the building up of the Body of Christ. What I can release of what I have seen depends upon how much the saints can receive. What kind of food we serve a person depends upon the situation of his health. The patients in a hospital have different diets according to their situation. I cannot serve the saints with certain food if their condition is not healthy.
In the winter training of 1987 in Irving, Texas, I told the saints that we have to take the scriptural way gradually and positively (see chapter twenty-nine of The Scriptural Way to Meet and to Serve for the Building Up of the Body of Christ). Gradually and positively, the Lord will work out His desire. He will perfect His church to serve, to act, to enjoy Him, and to meet together absolutely according to the Scripture. We need to meet according to what is revealed in 1 Corinthians 14:26 for the building up of the Body of Christ.
The Body builds up itself in love. This is the divine love, with which God and Christ love us. We love God and Christ in return with the divine love. We love the Lord with the very love with which He loves us. With this love we also love one another. All the members of the Body should love one another with the divine love. In the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus was very concerned for the oneness and for our loving one another. In John 13:34 the Lord Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” In John 15 the Lord reveals that the branches need to love one another to express the divine life in fruit-bearing (vv. 12-17). We must be one in the Triune God and we must love one another with the divine love for the building up of the Body of Christ.