As the enjoyment of Christ solves our problems by taking away the negative elements within us, there can be the growth in life. This is similar to the physical food that we eat taking care of our bodily problems and helping us to grow. The issue of our enjoyment of Christ is the growth in life, producing precious materials for the building up of the church (3:6, 9-14). By enjoying Christ, our inward problems get cleared up and we grow. In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made to grow.” The very purpose for God to fill us with Christ is to make us grow, and the growth in life is for the producing of precious materials—gold, silver, and precious stones—for the building up of the church. As we grow in life, we become more golden, more precious, and more shining from week to week.
The enjoyment of Christ not only solves our problems and issues in the growth in life, but it also develops our gifts by the growth in life (12:1-11). The word gifts may be considered as a synonym for the word talents. By our physical birth, all of us have received some talents. We have the talent to see, to hear, to speak, to walk, and to think and understand. We have received these talents by our birth, but all of these talents need to be developed. They are developed by the growth of our physical body. As a little child grows, all of his talents, or gifts, will be developed. The more a child grows, the more he can function in seeing, hearing, speaking, and other things. It is the same in our spiritual life. The initial gifts were given to the believers at their spiritual birth (1:7). The divine life and the divine Spirit were the two main gifts we received at our spiritual birth. Each one who has been regenerated has received these two great gifts. Within the divine life there are many talents, gifts, which need development. We have to enjoy Christ so that we may grow. As we grow, the gifts that we received by our spiritual birth are developed.
If our enjoyment of Christ is real and without problems, the spontaneous result will be the development of our gifts. A brother who has been saved for ten years may claim that he has been enjoying Christ every day. After ten years, however, we cannot see him functioning by speaking something concerning the Lord and for the Lord. After ten years, he still comes to the church meetings to sit and be silent. He may feel that to speak in the meetings is not his business but the business of other brothers. This means that his enjoyment of Christ has some problems. As a child eats every day, his talents should be developed by his growth in his physical life. If he eats much without such development, there are some problems. It is the same with our spiritual life. We should not be deceived. If we are enjoying Christ, there should be the development of the gifts by the growth in life. The initial gifts need to be developed by the believers’ seeking (indicated by “earnestly desire” in 12:31a) through the growth in life. To desire something earnestly means that you are seeking after something.
The excelling gift produced in the growth in life through the enjoyment of Christ is prophesying (14:12). First Corinthians 14 stresses that the top gift, the gift that excels all the other gifts, developed by our enjoyment of Christ is prophesying. Prophesying in chapter fourteen does not mean predicting. This is proven by verse 3 which according to the Greek says, “He who prophesies speaks to men building up and encouragement and consolation.” If a brother is speaking building up, encouragement, and consolation to others, this proves that his prophesying is not predicting. To prophesy in 1 Corinthians 14 is to speak for the Lord, speak forth the Lord, and speak the Lord into others, ministering (dispensing) the Lord to others (14:3-5). As proper, growing believers whose spiritual gifts are being developed, we must speak the Lord into others every day. If we practice this every day, we will all have something to share when we come together for fellowship. This will be the fulfillment of 1 Corinthians 14:26—whenever we come together, each one has.
The first item that we should have for the church meetings, according to 1 Corinthians 14:26, is a psalm. The New Testament shows us that psalms and hymns are firstly for speaking not singing. Ephesians 5:18-19 says that we are filled in spirit by speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. To speak the composed, poetic writings is more accurate, concise, and powerful than ordinary speaking. This is why we have to learn how to speak the hymns in our meetings. First Corinthians 14:26 also speaks of having a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, and an interpretation. All of these items are for speaking. The last two items, a tongue and an interpretation, are miraculous speakings. They are not by learning but by the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. A psalm, a teaching, and a revelation require learning.
Speaking for the Lord, speaking forth the Lord, and speaking the Lord into others is for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. With only one man speaking and the rest listening a congregation can be built up, but the Body of Christ as an organism can never be built up. To build up the organic Body of Christ, all of us need to speak. If we come together every week to listen to a pastor give a good sermon, this may build us up as a congregation, as a big facade to make a show. This kind of practice is prevailing in Christianity. For us to come together to build up the Body of Christ organically, the practice of one man speaking and the rest listening is not prevailing. All the members need to speak for the Body of Christ to be built up. One saint can speak for two minutes, another for five minutes, and another for three minutes.
Suppose that we have two hundred meeting together always with one speaker. Regardless of how good, how marvelous, and how excellent this speaker is, many would become tired of his speaking after two years. Even the speaker himself may feel the same. Suppose that, on the other hand, two hundred meet together for ninety minutes and everyone bears the responsibility to have something to speak for the Lord. If each one speaks for three minutes, thirty saints will be able to speak. This will be a refreshing meeting. Whenever a new one speaks, his speaking is especially fresh and refreshing. Everyone will say “amen” to his speaking. To build every part of the Body of Christ, we all need to rise up to speak for the Lord.
Our church meetings should be a feast of the riches of Christ. When we are invited to a feast, we do not partake of only one dish. A feast is full of many different kinds of food. Some Chinese feasts are composed of twenty-four courses of food. If we had many kinds of dishes in a meeting, how wonderful that would be! None of us would get bored of such a meeting. Our meetings need to be feasts full of enjoyment.
A meeting in which all the saints are speaking for the Lord is full of nourishing, cherishing, adjusting, and correcting. A brother may be in the meeting who has a habit that is not so fitting for the church life. With only one person speaking and the rest listening, a message may never be given that touches this brother’s habit. But if twenty or thirty saints speak in the meeting, eventually someone will speak something that touches this brother’s habit. Because many portions are presented in the meeting, many things can be touched. In such a meeting, the saints get corrected without anyone knowing. Furthermore, the saints get built up, supplied, furnished, and equipped. This is why the Apostle Paul had the burden to stress prophesying.