We have seen that to build up the Body of Christ, the best gift, the excelling gift, is to prophesy. To prophesy is not mainly to predict, but rather to speak for the Lord, to speak forth the Lord, to speak the Lord into others. This is the excelling gift that is needed for the building up of the Body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians there is the principle of speaking Christ but not the details concerning how to help and make all the saints speak forth Christ. To speak gossip is easy. No learning is required for this. However, if you are going to speak Christ, you must learn much and practice much. You must practice not only your utterance but also your boldness. To talk to people about the weather, about your family, about the world situation, or about the news is easy; you do not need to exercise any energy or any boldness. But when you speak Christ to people, it seems that the whole universe is trying to frustrate you. When you talk about something other than Christ, you do not feel ashamed, but when you talk about Jesus, you may have a feeling of shame. This is why you need to practice speaking Christ. When someone begins to play the piano, it is easy for him to make mistakes. To play the piano properly, one must concentrate his entire being and be under strict instruction with much practice. It is the same with speaking Christ.
To speak Christ requires much learning. This is why we have Ephesians 4 in addition to 1 Corinthians 14. Ephesians 4 says that Christ as the ascended Head has given many gifts, many gifted persons, for the perfecting of the saints. Paul and Peter were given to the church as gifts. How about all of us? We need to realize that all of us are gifts to the Body also (Eph. 4:8). Not only the big shoulders are gifts to our physical bodies but also our little fingers are given to our physical bodies as gifts. Christ has given us as gifts to His Body. The practice of traditional Christianity, however, does not give all the members of the Body of Christ an opportunity to function. The traditional way annuls the function of nearly every part of the Body of Christ.
Those who are practicing the traditional way are still taking the excuse that not everyone is capable. Since not everyone is capable of singing properly, they feel that they must have some who have the talent of singing. But the Bible tells us that all the saints should sing (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). The Psalms tell us to make a joyful noise to the Lord (95:1; 100:1). Although I have composed many hymns, I am not an accomplished singer. However, I still have to sing, and I enjoy singing to the Lord. The Lord enjoys the singing of all the saints. He does not care for a proper melody, but He likes to hear a joyful noise full of praises to Him. When we sing in the spirit and with the Spirit, this is pleasing to God.
We must learn one thing—whatever we do in the meeting, we must do it with our spirit and with Christ as the content. We all have to speak for the Lord so that the Body of Christ can be built up (1 Cor. 14:4). The Bible does not charge us so much concerning how to speak or how to sing. It simply charges us to speak and to sing. Even though we cannot carry a tune, if we sing in the spirit with Christ as the content, this singing is sweet to the Triune God. Furthermore, we do not need to speak eloquently. We need to learn to speak Christ. All of us need much learning to speak Christ in a proper way.
In the traditional way of one person speaking and the rest listening, a congregation is built up. When all the saints exercise to speak Christ in the church meetings, however, the Body of Christ is built up. We need to see the difference between building up a congregation and building up the Body of Christ. A congregation is a kind of gathering, or assembly. There are many congregations in the Christian denominations, but none of these congregations practice the very building up of the Body of Christ. To build up a congregation, there is the need of a learned, eloquent speaker. This speaker needs to know how to tell stories, give illustrations, and even tell jokes. He learns the techniques of how to attract people and how to keep people coming to hear him speak. Eventually this speaker has built up a congregation. If he were to die, however, this congregation would gradually disappear. To build up a congregation in this way is to build up an organization.
The meeting in the congregational way seldom touches your life; it seldom touches what you are; it seldom touches your very being. Many are devoted members of certain denominational congregations, and they might be regenerated, but their lives are never touched by these congregational meetings. The speaking by the pastors there rarely touches people’s inner being.
The practice of building up the Body of Christ is absolutely different from the traditional way of Christianity. It is not so easy for all the saints to speak something in a big congregation. According to Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3, we need to speak the hymns in the meetings. The speaking of the hymns works best in small group meetings. When we speak the hymns one to another with the exercise of our spirit, every sentence touches our being and every sentence ministers Christ into our being. Such speaking does not build up a congregation but builds up the Body of Christ. In a meeting with everyone speaking, it may seem that nothing is attractive. The singing may be poor, and the speaking may not be eloquent. The traditional way to meet in Christianity is meant to be attractive. There are eloquent speakers, talented choirs and soloists, and magnificent chapels and cathedrals. Furthermore, there is no requirement on the audience to do anything except listen and give some offerings, but hardly anything in this way of meeting touches a person’s life. In the scriptural way of meeting without any outward attraction, the speaking, singing, praying, and praising touch our being.
We could speak verses five and six of hymn #537 to one another:
Christ to me is so subjective,
Regulating all the day;
He corrects and rules and guides me,
And adjusts in every way.
Christ to me is so subjective,
All my thirst He satisfies;
With His riches He supplies me,
Thus God’s fullness testifies.
When we speak these verses to one another, our being is touched concerning our fellowship with the Lord and concerning how much we have been regulated by Him. The words “regulating,” “corrects,” “rules,” “guides,” “adjusts,” “satisfies,” and “supplies” touch us. All of us are touched by speaking such a hymn.
Hymn #537 describes how subjective Christ is to us in our daily life. He is subjective to us for the building up of His Body. He causes us to repent and be regenerated, sanctified, and transformed. He is adjusting and correcting us all the time, even with many rebukes. He is correcting, rebuking, regulating, ruling, guiding, supplying, satisfying, and comforting us. We are under His transforming work all day long, and we are being conformed to His image. We are growing in life, and our growth is actually His increase [growth] in us. The very indwelling Christ is increasing in us. His increase in us is our growth in Him. By growing into Him, we are being transformed and we become the living members of Christ. In our transformation, we will realize that we cannot be individualistic and that we have to be built up with others for the building up of the Body of Christ.
After meeting in the proper church life and experiencing the building up of the Body of Christ, one will have the sensation that he is an organic member of the Body of Christ. If he goes to a place where there is no church life, he will feel isolated. He will feel that he has no place to get more growth in life, to have some fellowship, to get the supply, and to supply others. He will have the sensation that he has lost the enjoyment of Christ in His Body. This shows that such a brother has experienced the riches of Christ and has been organically built up with many of the saints on this earth.
When you have such a Body-consciousness, you can discern the difference between the building up of a congregation and the building up of the Body of Christ. You are able to discern that the ones who meet in the congregational way may only know how to participate in outward and social things. They may not know the fellowship in the Body or the growth in life. If you go to a place where the building up of the Body of Christ is being practiced, you can sense it. You may go to a place where they speak another language, but when you listen to their prayers and to their “amens,” you have the enjoyment of Christ with the fellowship. You have the inner feeling and sensation that these are your brothers, the members of the Body of Christ on this earth. This shows that you are a member of the Body of Christ that has been organically built up with other members.
A congregation meeting according to the traditional way does not need to speak Christ. They may need a pipe organ, good singing from a choir, and an eloquent speech from one person. However, they do not learn to speak Christ. In a proper church meeting according to the revelation of the Scriptures and for the building up of the Body of Christ, there is the need of much speaking of Christ. It is much sweeter to have a meeting of seven persons speaking Christ to one another than to have a meeting of a large congregation with only one man speaking. When these seven persons pray, sing, and converse with you, you will feel that Christ is with them. For this kind of small group meeting, we must learn to speak Christ, to prophesy. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:26, “Whenever you come together, each one has....” Some need to have a psalm to speak Christ and to sing about Him. There is the need for much prophesying. The saints in the meeting need to speak for Christ, speak forth Christ, and speak Christ into one another. After this kind of meeting, we will feel that we have had a good meal. We will all be satisfied and return home with much joy. Such a meeting supplies us to live a victorious life. This is absolutely different from the traditional way of one man speaking and the rest listening.
Even if the person speaking in the traditional way knows how to speak Christ and minister Christ to the audience, his capability and riches can never replace the capability and the riches of the many members of the Body of Christ. One man speaking cannot replace the riches of ten people speaking Christ. Regardless of how wonderful a person’s messages are, the congregation may eventually get tired of his speaking. The saints may get bored with one person speaking to them again and again all the time. This indicates that the traditional way of one man speaking easily becomes old, but the scriptural way of all the members speaking Christ is always fresh and refreshing.
If we go to a church meeting and do not speak, we may not feel that the meeting was so good. Whenever we speak Christ in a meeting, however, that meeting becomes a wonderful meeting to us. When a husband comes home from a meeting in which he does not speak, he may tell his wife that the meeting was not so good. However, if the husband speaks in the meeting, he will tell his wife what a marvelous meeting it was. If we speak Christ in the meetings, participate in the meetings, we will continually come to the meetings. We will be strong, trustworthy regulars in the church meetings. We will be those who look for any occasion to speak Christ in the meetings. The riches of Christ can only be displayed thoroughly when many speak Christ. Each member has a particular experience of Christ to speak forth that the other members do not have.
We have to learn to serve the Lord by ministering the Lord to others. We need to be perfected to speak Christ to others. What is needed for the building up of the Body of Christ is for us to minister or to dispense Christ into others. The most excelling way to minister Christ to others is to speak Christ. If we do not know how to speak Christ, it is hard for us to minister Christ to others. This is why Paul exalted the speaking of Christ to the uttermost in 1 Corinthians 14. In the first verse he says, “Pursue love, and desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy.” Near the end of the chapter in verse 39 he says, “Therefore, my brothers, desire earnestly to prophesy.” The entire chapter is an encouragement, encouraging us to prophesy, that is, to speak for or to speak forth or even to speak Christ into others, for the building up of the church.
The way for the truth of 1 Corinthians 14 to be accomplished is by Ephesians 4:11-16. The gifted members must exercise their patience to teach, instruct, and train the saints to do what they do. They need to take the way of a coach by giving the saints every opportunity to function. A coach instructs and guides while letting the others play. The saints need to be perfected by the gifted persons to speak Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ.