Message Nine

The Work of the Divine Building

Scripture Reading: Eph. 2:21-22; 3:17a; 1 Cor. 3:6-17

1. The work of the divine building is carried out through renewing and transformation—Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:16; Eph. 4:23; Titus 3:5:
   1. We need to be renewed and transformed, and then we can do the work of building—Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23, 12, 16:
      1. To be renewed is to have God’s element added into our being to replace and discharge our old element—2 Cor. 4:16; Titus 3:5.
      2. The renewing Spirit is mingled with our regenerated spirit as one mingled spirit to spread into our mind to renew our entire being—Eph. 4:23.
      3. In renewing, we are transferred from the realm of the old creation to the realm of the new creation to be the new man to fulfill God’s eternal purpose—2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10.
      4. Transformation is the metabolic function of the life of God in us, by the addition of the element of the divine life into our being, so that we may express the image of Christ outwardly—2 Cor. 3:18.
      5. Transformation is for the mass reproduction of the firstborn Son of God as the prototype of a God-man so that we may be shaped in the divine image to be exactly like the firstborn Son of God—Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:10.
   2. Renewing issues in transformation, and transformation issues in building up; the building up of the jasper wall of the New Jerusalem goes along with transformation—Rom. 12:2; Rev. 21:18a.
2. The work of the divine building is the believers’ growth in the divine life and their being joined together in the divine life—Eph. 4:15-16; 2:21:
   1. When we grow in the divine life and when we are joined together in the divine life, we are in the building—v. 21.
   2. The building of the church as the house of God is by the believers’ growth in life; the growth in life is the building—1 Cor. 3:6-9, 16-17; Eph. 4:15-16.
   3. The boards of the tabernacle typify the believers joined together to be the dwelling place of God; the bars signify the initial Spirit becoming the uniting Spirit, who joins all the members of Christ into one Body—Exo. 26:15, 26-29; Eph. 2:21-22; 4:3-4:
      1. In the uniting Spirit there is not only the divine element but also the human element; here we have both divinity (the oneness of the Spirit) and humanity (the keeping of the oneness)—Exo. 26:26a, 29b; Eph. 4:2-3.
      2. The uniting bars signify not the Holy Spirit alone but the Holy Spirit mingled with the human spirit—1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:4.
      3. The uniting bars are the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit to become the uniting bond of peace—Eph. 4:3.
   4. The members of the Body are fitted together by holding the Head; there are no direct relationships among the members in the Body, for all relationships are indirect, that is, through the Head and under the Head—Col. 1:18; 2:19.
3. The work of the divine building is the believers’ being built together in Christ into a dwelling place of God by the Spirit in their spirit possessed by Christ, both of which are mingled as one spirit—Eph. 2:22; 1 Cor. 6:17:
   1. Ephesians is a book on the Body, and every chapter contains a verse concerning the human spirit; this indicates that the Body is absolutely a matter in our regenerated spirit—1:22-23, 17; 2:22; 3:5, 16; 4:23; 5:18; 6:18.
   2. Our spirit, as today’s Jerusalem—the place where the God of our spirit dwells—is universally spacious, including not only our individual spirit but the spirits of all the saints—Rom. 8:16; Num. 16:22; Heb. 12:9; Eph. 2:22.
4. The building is by the Spirit’s operation, distributing to each member different gifts for the building up of the Body—1 Cor. 12:4, 7-11:
   1. The Triune God moves in the believers for the accomplishing of His eternal purpose to build up the church, the Body of Christ, for the expression of God—vv. 4-6.
   2. The manifestation of the Spirit is “for what is profitable,” that is, for the growth in life of the members of the Body of Christ and for the building up of the Body—v. 7.
5. The building work with gold, silver, and precious stones will be rewarded by Christ at His coming back—3:12-17:
   1. The central work of God is to work Himself in Christ into our being, making Himself one with us and making us one with Him—Gal. 1:15-16a; 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:16-17a:
      1. The intrinsic element of the work of the divine building is to minister the building and builded God into others for the building up of the Body of Christ—Matt. 16:18; Eph. 3:17a; 4:4, 12, 16.
      2. The unique work of the ministry is to carry out God’s economy to build Himself into man for the building up of the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem—3:9-11; 4:11-12; Rev. 21:2.
   2. A work to which God can fully commit Himself has four essential features—1 Cor. 15:58; 16:10:
      1. There must be a revelation of the eternal purpose of God—Eph. 3:11.
      2. The source and initiation of the work must be of God and not of ourselves—Matt. 15:13; 1 Cor. 8:6:
         1. God is the Father, and everything proceeds from Him—Rom. 11:36.
         2. In our work we must avoid the sin of presumption—the sin of acting outside of God to do what He has not commanded and to begin a work that He has not instructed us to do—Psa. 19:13; Num. 18:1-7.
      3. The continuance and advance of God’s work must be by God’s power and not our power—2 Cor. 3:5; Phil. 3:10.
      4. The result of God’s work is for God’s glory and not for our glory—John 7:17-18; 8:50; 12:43; Eph. 3:21.
   3. If our work in building up the church is by our natural man (wood), by our fallen, fleshly man (grass), or by anything that issues from an earthen source (stubble), our work will be burned—vv. 12-13, 15.
   4. We all need to consider how we are building the church; we should be those who are building with the Divine Trinity as the precious and transformed materials—vv. 8, 10, 12-13.