This growth by feeding on the Lord causes us to be transformed into living stones. Originally, we were not living stones; we were merely clay, something made of earth and dust. However, here it says we are living stones. This is due to transformation. God’s building throughout all the Scriptures is always with stones. God’s building is never built with bricks. The city and tower of Babel as well as the two treasure cities of Pharaoh were built with bricks. Bricks are formed of the dust, the constituent of our natural life. Genesis 2:7 says that we were made with dust, and 1 Corinthians 15:47 tells us that “the first man, Adam, is out of the earth, earthy.” Second Corinthians 4:7 also tells us that we are the earthen vessels. Bricks signify something formed of the natural life. Satan builds up his building with the human natural life.
In God’s building there are only stones, not bricks. Therefore, we must be regenerated and have a change in nature to be no longer natural. Second, we need to be transformed from something earthly into something spiritual. All our natural concepts, natural energy, and natural elements must be transformed. When bricks are made from clay, they are formed but not transformed. To produce stones, however, the clay must be not merely formed but transformed. It is by transformation that we have the living stones as the material for the building. The way to have this transformation is by feeding on Christ. By feeding on Christ we have growth, and this growth causes us to be transformed. The more we feed on Christ, the more we grow in Him, and the more we grow in Him, the more we are transformed. We must have neither an American concept nor a Chinese concept. All our natural concepts must be transformed to be the spiritual, divine, and heavenly concepts. The natural life, the muddy life, the life of clay, has to be transformed into stone.
Without growth and transformation, there is no possibility of building. In many places I have observed that a sister may be very good, nice, humble, and sweet and have much love in the natural life. The church may even commit significant responsibilities to her. After only a few weeks, however, this sister may be influenced by a number of small matters to stop coming to the meetings. In the same way, a brother who was so good last year may be in worldly pursuits this year. We may compare this goodness to a building of clay. The clay appears to be very solid, but if water is poured on it, the clay falls apart, and there is a hole in the building. Anything built of clay cannot stand against water. However, if water is poured on a piece of marble, it only cleans the marble. The more the water is poured on the marble, the more the marble becomes clean. Are we marble or clay like an adobe house? If we are marble, any kind of rain that falls on us will only cleanse us and make us more shining. However, if we are clay, we will be washed away. After only two months we will disappear from the meetings. People talk much about the church life, but without growth and transformation there can be no church life.
This is why we must once again stress the need for the inner life and the growth. Without the inner life and the growth, there is no possibility to have the church life. Regardless of what we build up, it will be a building of mud, clay, wood, grass, and stubble, not of stones. It will not be able to stand any kind of test. The building comes from transformation and growth.
A certain spiritual co-worker in China was arrested by the Communists and put into prison. The Communists were not able to accuse him of anything, so they simply asked him to say two things: that as a mere human Watchman Nee was not perfect and could be mistaken, and that the church also was not perfect and had shortcomings. If the brother would say this little word, he would have been released right away. However, he would not say it. The Communists then worked on his wife who, as a weaker vessel, was more or less convinced by them. She then was brought to the prison to speak with her husband to convince him. The brother told his wife, “I cannot say anything like this in order to save my life. If the Spirit within me leads me to say this, I will say it. If not, I will not say it simply to save my life.” Then the Communists worked on his son to do the same thing. After the son’s first talk with him, the brother would not listen to him, and the son was unable to do anything. No one could shake the brother or move him. Eventually his kidneys degenerated, and he died. This brother was strong in his spiritual character, like a piece of marble. He was trustworthy, and no one could change him. The church can be built up with this kind of material, a strong, transformed character, not one like a piece of clay. The real building of the church requires this kind of stone, this kind of material transformed by growth.
How much responsibility the church can assign to certain brothers or sisters depends on how much transformation they have. Without transformation, a person is not trustworthy. We cannot trust in someone if his person is muddy. Today he may be good, but tomorrow he may be gone. The building of the church is possible only by transformation through the growth of life. This is why in 1 Peter 1 and 2 we have birth, growth, transformation, and the material for the building, in that order.