In 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 Paul says, “According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon it. But let each man take heed how he builds upon it...If anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble, the work of each will become manifest; for the day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will prove each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built upon the foundation remains, he will receive a reward; if anyone’s work is consumed, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” These verses show that even before the book of Revelation was written, Paul said that gold, silver, and precious stones are the materials for God’s building. He used gold, silver, and precious stones as a sign to show that once we are saved, we possess the life of God.
For over ten years after my salvation, even though I said that I had God’s life and nature, I did not have a deep impression of the divine life. It was not until 1939 in Tientsin that I received a revelation as I was praying and reading the Word in my room. I had a deep sensation that God is in me and that I was made to contain God. We all need to see that to be saved is to have God, to gain God. At the time of our salvation we gained God, and we now have God in our spirit. Gold in the Bible signifies the divine nature of God, which is just God Himself. Therefore, when Paul says that we need to build the church with gold, he means that we need to build the church with God.
How do we build with God? According to the revelation in the Bible, the Christian life is a matter of transformation, not a matter of cultivating one’s character or improving oneself. If we are to be transformed, a new element must enter into us. This means that another essence must enter into us. An example of this is petrified wood, which is wood that has become stone. When wood is in flowing water for a long period of time, the element of the wood is carried away and replaced with various minerals from the earth that are in the water. These minerals change the wood and gradually transform it into stone. This example shows that transformation requires the addition of new elements. As Christians, we do not rely on cultivating our character, nor do we depend on outward improvement. We need transformation; we need to receive a new element into us. This new element is God Himself.
When we wake up in the morning, we need to spend five minutes to pray and ten minutes to read the Word. God is Spirit (John 4:24), and we receive Him into us by praying and reading the Word. When we pray, we breathe in the Spirit, and when we read the Bible, the Spirit of God enters into us, because the Spirit is in the Bible. Hence, we need to read the Word and pray daily.
I preach God’s word, and I work for the Lord in order to build up the church. If I encourage others to cultivate their character or if I promote self-improvement, I am building the church with wood, grass, and stubble, which are of no value before God. My burden and the messages that I release are to let God spread in us so that He can fill us and transform us. We are not here to speak to people about cultivating their character, because our quick temper is wood, and our meekness is also wood. Whether we are quick tempered or meek, it is of no value before God. Consequently, our work is not to improve other people; it is not a work of wood, grass, and stubble. We must not do a work that helps people “wear makeup.” Rather, we need to tell people that man needs to have the life of God and to be sanctified. For this reason, after we are saved, we need to breathe in the Lord through prayer every day. We must learn to put aside the self, and instead of cultivating our character or trying to improve ourselves, we only need to be filled in spirit with God. If we live in this way, we are building the church with gold.