In Matthew 16:18 the Lord said, “I will build My church.” In Acts 4:11 Peter said that Christ is the stone, the material for God’s building. Then Paul came in to tell us something further—that we are not only being built but are also building. Paul himself was a wise master builder (1 Cor. 3:10). We may think that Christ was the Builder, that the apostle Paul was a builder, and that today the leading brothers are builders, but that we ourselves are not builders. However, every member of the church should be a builder. Eventually, the church will be built not directly by Christ or the apostles but by every small member.
According to Ephesians 4:16, the building of the church as the Body of Christ is accomplished by every part of the Body. This verse says, “Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” Out from the Head the Body builds itself up by the operation of each one part. Each one of us is a part. Regardless of how small and insignificant we consider ourselves to be, as long as we are in the church, we are a part of the Body. As a part of the Body, we each have a measure for the building up of the church. Thus, the church is not built directly by Christ or by the apostles but by us all.
We need to see the way in which Christ builds the church. Through His death, resurrection, and ascension He produced the apostles (vv. 8, 11). This was Christ’s part. The apostles’ part is to equip and perfect all the saints. The apostles perfect us by feeding us. We are all like newborn babies, who have all their organs but whose organs do not function fully because of their immaturity. Therefore, we need the feeding that will cause us to grow. The growth in life will help all our spiritual “organs” to develop into full function. A newborn baby has ears, but his ears cannot hear distinctly. He has eyes, but his eyes cannot see clearly. He has legs and feet, but he cannot walk. However, as his mother continually feeds him, after a certain period of time, his eyes begin to see clearly, his ears begin to discern different sounds, and his legs and feet begin to stand and then to walk. These functions all come by the growth in life. In like manner, the apostles feed us that we may grow for the development of our spiritual function. The more we grow in life, the more our function will be developed. This is the perfecting by the apostles. As we are perfected, we will all begin to function, and our functioning will build up the Body directly.
We should not merely sit in the meetings as “pew members.” Remaining in our seat will cause us to be dead and eventually fall out of the church life. If we have the inspiration to stand up in a meeting to speak something for the Lord, but we are stuck in our seat, our seat has become a pew. Today some saints are functioning members. Whenever there is an opportunity, they stand up and speak something. However, others are pew members stuck in their seats. They come to listen to a brother give a message. When they tire of hearing messages, they may come to hear the testimonies. When they feel that a testimony is good, they will nod in agreement. When they do not like a testimony, they will shake their head in displeasure. The churches in the Lord’s recovery should not be like this. This is a tradition that comes to us from degraded Christianity. I do not like to say this kind of thing, but the situation forces me to say it. Because I am burdened and commissioned by the Lord, I must be honest before Him and before the saints. Degraded Christianity has passed on many deadening practices to us.
It would be good if all the saints, whether old or young, stood up in the meetings to speak for the Lord. One may shout, “Praise the Lord!” Then another may declare, “The Lord Jesus is so good.” A third one may testify, “Amen, I can testify that He is good.” In this way one by one, hundreds of people can say something. All the saints’ functioning will send Satan to the lake of fire. However, the situation in Christianity today is not like this. Christians are talkative people outside the meeting hall, but when they come into the meeting hall, they are silent. Perhaps they believe that they should be seated and silent in order to be pious, godly people who are meeting in a decent order. However, this situation is deadening and killing. After the meeting is over, everyone goes outside, and the order is lost as everyone begins to talk. Some may criticize the pastor or the sermon. This is the poor situation in Christianity today. In the Lord’s recovery we must all rise up to function for the building up of the church.
We need to realize that salvation is for the building up of the church. The way this building occurs is first by Christ the Head producing the apostles by His death, resurrection, and ascension. Through the ages He has produced a number of apostles. The apostles then come to us to perfect us, feed us, and minister Christ to us that we may grow. As we grow, our functions come forth. Each one of us has a function. By the functioning of all the members of the church, the Body is built up directly. We all need to build the church in this way.
In every meeting we are all being built, and at the same time we are all building. We all build and are built by one another. Even saying Amen is a small way to function to build up the church. When we say Amen to a brother’s speaking, we build him up as he is speaking to build us up. If no one says Amen to a brother’s speaking, he will be discouraged and will not want to speak again. He will be deadened. However, if many saints say Amen to a brother’s speaking, he will be encouraged and look forward to coming to the next meeting to function again. This is building; it is not a small thing.
We should not be a group of quiet Christians when we come together. As a young believer, I met with a group of quiet Christians. We were taught to be quiet. It was often said that our meetings were so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. This kind of quietness deadens the whole situation. In those quiet meetings a distinguished speaker would give a good sermon on a certain topic, such as the Lord’s teaching that we must love not only our neighbors but also our enemies (Matt. 5:43-44). However, the only thing we could say afterwards was, “Doctor So-and-so is truly a scholar. His speech was very good.” Regardless of how good the sermon was, no one would receive help. We would all still be dead after the meeting.
In contrast, in the Lord’s recovery a brother may stand up in a meeting and testify briefly, “I was born in an unbelieving family. One day I met the Lord Jesus, and He saved me. Hallelujah!” If the meeting goes on for an hour with other saints functioning in a similar way, all the saints will be nourished and go home living. By rising up to speak in this way, even the smallest member can build the whole church. As each member is building, we all say Amen, and the building member is thus also being built. In this way we are being built while we are building. We should not depend on famous preachers. Instead, we should simply depend on all our fellow small members. We should come together with a living spirit and with the Stone-Savior, whom we have enjoyed and experienced, to exercise our spirit and release our portion of Christ with short sentences. If we do this, our meetings will be living, rich, uplifting, strengthening, enlightening, and comforting. This is the way that the church will be built up.
The first time I visited a certain locality, there were a small number of saints meeting in a rented hall. Because no ministering brother went to that locality to give a conference or stay for any length of time, when I visited that church a second time, I did not think that it would be as living as it was. When I returned and saw the situation, I was greatly encouraged to see that the church truly builds itself up. The angels do not have the privilege to build the church. We alone are privileged to be able to build the church. Most of the saints in that locality were young ones, but when I heard their prayers and testimonies, I inwardly praised and worshipped the Lord, saying, “Lord, thank You. You have confirmed Your recovery, Your commission, and Your revelation. Here is a church where there is not a ministering brother doing the building, but the church is being built by the functioning of all the small members.”
Even if we function only a little, it is good enough. An older sister may stand and say, “Do not think that I am old; in the Lord I am younger than you all. I love the Lord Jesus. He is so good to me.” Even such a brief word will build all the saints. Building is not a matter of doctrine, teaching, or giving a sermon; it is a matter of releasing our spirit to build and to nourish others with Christ. Whenever we release our spirit, the Holy Spirit will come out of our spirit to bring Christ to others, and this Christ will become nourishment, light, life supply, strengthening, and comfort to many saints. This is the proper way to build the church. The church is built not directly by the Head in the heavens or by the apostles but by all the present members of a local church.
Ephesians 2:20 says that we are being built, and 4:16 indicates that we all are building. While we are building others, we are being built. Actually, our building of others is our being built. While we are being built, we are building others. This is wonderful! The key, the secret, for us to build and be built is the exercise of our spirit (2:22). Just as the members of a basketball team warm up in order to prepare to play before a game begins, we must be exercised in spirit and be ready to participate before a meeting begins. In this way, when the meeting begins, we will each be able to function in turn to speak something of Christ to one another, just as the players on a basketball team pass the ball to one another. All the saints should come to the meeting in a prepared, vigilant way by being exercised in spirit. This will result in the building up of the church.
In response to this word, some saints may ask me, “Brother Lee, what about all the needs? Some sisters love the Lord, yet they still wear short skirts. Some dear brothers still have long hair. Don’t these ones need to hear some teaching to be helped? Many sisters override their husbands at home, and many brothers are mean to their wives. You need to teach us.” My answer to these saints is that my teaching means nothing; it is in vain. However, when the saints return home after a living meeting in which all the members exercised their spirit to function and build up one another, something will be different. When the domineering sisters are about to override their husbands, something they received in the meeting will stop them. They will be stopped not by my teaching but by the living Jesus. This is the way to take care of all the needs among the saints. I have seen this way work in a number of specific instances.
A little over a year ago a certain young man was saved and became a brother in the church in my locality. When he was saved, he had a very noticeable beard. This brother loved the Lord and loved the church life, but his beard was a distraction to many saints. However, recently I saw that this brother’s beard was totally gone. He testified that the Lord began bothering him to get rid of his beard a year ago, but he thought that this bothering might have been only his religious concept. Because he did not want to be religious, he waited. However, the more he waited, the more he was bothered. This inward bothering continued for over a year until one day he realized that this was surely not something religious but was the Lord Jesus. If this bothering had merely been a religious concept, it would have left him. The brother testified that finally one day he said to himself, “How could this bothering stay with me for a year? This morning it is bothering me even more. Therefore, I must say Amen and get rid of my beard.” I know of many similar testimonies of saints who have experienced a real change, a real transformation. If the brother who shaved off his beard simply stood up in a meeting with his shining, glowing face, it would build all the saints much more than a good sermon would. The building of the church by the functioning of all the members is not merely a matter of doctrine; it is the actual way that the church is being built in the Lord’s recovery today.