In God the Father, we have His life and nature as the gold; in God the Son, we have His redemption as the silver; and in God the Spirit, we have transformation as the precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12). Day by day, three things are growing within us. God's nature is growing. Christ's redemption also is growing. When we believed in Christ, we did not know anything about His redemption. But after we are saved, the knowledge and realization of Christ's redemption increase within us day by day. This means that the silver is increasing within us. Moreover, the Spirit's transformation also is growing within us. All the three things are going on and advancing within us every day until we are fully redeemed, transformed, and even transfigured to have a glorious body.
The growth that Christians need is the growth in the nature of God the Father, the redemption of God the Son, and the transformation of God the Spirit. This growth makes us precious like gold, silver, and precious stones, which are the proper materials for us to be built up together as the church of God. The church of God is not a group of so-called Christians gathering together in a fleshly, worldly, or soulish way. That is not the proper church. The proper church must be one that is not only composed together but also constituted together. All the believers must be built up together as gold, silver, and precious stones, which are produced through the divine nature of the Father, the redemption of the Son, and the transformation of the Spirit. These three things should go on in us all day long.
The hall where we are meeting has a strong foundation. That foundation holds and supports the entire building. In the same way, Christ as a living foundation holds and supports the entire church. While He is holding and supporting, He is dispensing and imparting His divine element of life into all the members. The physical foundation of a building cannot impart anything, but Christ as the living foundation is imparting while He is holding and supporting all of us.
An electric blanket dispenses when the electrical power is turned on. When the electric current passes through the blanket, heat and warmth are dispensed. Christ is the "electric" foundation. This "electric" foundation holds and supports the whole building. While He is holding and supporting, He is also dispensing. He does not dispense heat and warmth; rather, He dispenses the element of life. This foundation also grows. When it grows, it imparts His growth into us.
We should say to the Lord every day, "Lord Jesus, I thank You that You are my foundation. You are the living foundation." Whenever we say, "Lord Jesus," with a purpose, we have the feeling that He is imparting something to us and that a dispensing is going on. As we call, He imparts to us the "heat" and the "warmth." As one hymn says, we should say His sacred name a thousand times a day (Hymns, #208). This will make us overcomers. We will experience the Lord as a real foundation that holds and supports us with His impartation. This kind of dispensing of Himself as the element of life into our being will transform us into precious materials.