This organic building is realized by our growing in life. If we are going to perfect others, we must help them to grow in life. In order to be perfected, we must grow not in our natural life but in the divine life, in the life of God which is Christ.
We grow in Christ by holding to truth—things that are true and real (Eph. 4:15a). “Holding to truth” literally means “truthing it.” Solomon told us in Ecclesiastes that all is vanity. “Vanity of vanity...all is vanity” (1:2). Because everything is vanity, the Apostle Paul said that he counted all things as refuse that he might gain Christ (Phil. 3:8). In this universe full of vanity, there are some true things. The true things in this universe are the processed Triune God and His New Testament economy, the all-inclusive Christ, and the organic church, the organic Body of Christ. In the universe of vanity these are the true things. We need to hold to these true things in love, that we may grow up into Christ. The content of God’s New Testament economy is the processed Triune God Himself. The content of God’s New Testament economy is not the “raw” God, but the very God in His Trinity processed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. We have to hold to the processed Triune God and His New Testament economy, which is the dispensation (arrangement) of God’s hidden mystery (Eph. 3:9) to have a church to be the Body of Christ (Eph. 3:10; 1:23). We also need to hold to the all-inclusive Christ, the One who fills all in all (1:23), whose dimensions are immeasurable (3:18), and whose riches are untraceable (3:8b). Finally, we have to hold to the church, the Body of Christ, an organism (1:23), as the fullness of Christ to be His expression.
If we do not hold to the truth—the processed Triune God and His New Testament economy, the all-inclusive Christ, and His Body, the organic church—we cannot grow up into Christ, the Head. Many Christians do not grow in life because they do not know how to hold to these true things, but we need to know how. By holding to these true things in love, we grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things, both small and great things (4:15b). We can grow up into Christ by recognizing the right and authority of Christ as the Head. We are His members under His authority, under His headship. To grow up into the Head, Christ, is to allow Christ to grow and increase in our inward parts. For us to grow up into Christ means that Christ grows in us. Christ should increase, and we should decrease. When we grow in life, this means that we decrease and allow Him to increase. When He increases in us, that is our growth in life. When we have more of Christ wrought into us and interwoven into our being, we are growing in Christ and with Christ.
Our growing into the Head is in the divine life of the processed Triune God. We grow in this divine life until eventually we are a full-grown man (4:13). This full-grown man is not an individual man, but a corporate, universal, great man. When we are a full-grown man, we will have the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (4:13). Christ’s fullness is His organic Body, the expression of His unsearchable riches. His Body as His fullness has a stature, and this stature has a measure.
Ephesians 4:14 says that when we are a full-grown man, we will be no longer babes. To be carried about by any wind of teaching is a strong indication of being babyish. Babes cannot discern what teachings distract them from God’s central purpose and what teachings are according to God’s New Testament economy. It would be hard for little children to discern the difference between G, C, O, and Q; nor could they discern the difference between I and 1. Much ability is needed to discern things properly. The apostles are those who are qualified by being able to discern the truth. They know how to cut straight the word of the truth with a definite direction for a definite purpose in the way that a carpenter cuts wood straight (2 Tim. 2:15). A carpenter is trained to cut wood in a proper, unbiased way. A sign of being babyish is not being able to discern the truth. An adult can discern the difference between G, C, O, and Q because he is no longer a babe. Are we no longer babes in the spiritual things? If we are no longer babes, we should be able to discern the truth and the teachings that are according to God’s New Testament economy for the building up of the Body of Christ. For the protection of the babes, a mother always chooses the proper food so that her child will be healthy and will not be poisoned.
The Body grows and is built up by being joined together and knit together in the divine element (Eph. 4:16a). The divine element is the element of the processed God, who is embodied in Christ. With such an element we grow up into the Head in all things. After growing up into Him, we issue out from Him the rich supply to the Body. We are joined together through every joint (every gifted person) of the rich supply. This is like the joining together of the frame (the structure) of a building to be one system. Every building has a structure, a frame, and all the parts of this frame, this structure, are joined together to be one system. We are also being knit together through the operation in measure of each one part (each one member of the Body). The knitting together (the interweaving) of all the parts of the building is not only to have the parts joined together but also to have them interwoven for the one Body as a whole. A stone building is put together by the interweaving of the stones. All the pieces of stone are interwoven together, knit together, by being compacted together in a solid way. The joining and the knitting are the real building up. To be joined together and to be knit or interwoven together is to be built together. The joining and the knitting issue in a built up church, a built up Body of Christ.
Through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation of each one part in its measure, the Body of Christ, being joined together and knit together, is built up as a whole, and this is the genuine building of the Body of Christ as an organism. The vision of this organic building will not only cause us to drop the old, traditional way and pick up the new, scriptural way, but it will also revolutionize our entire being. If this building is not realized in my time on this earth, at least this fellowship is in print for future generations. This printed fellowship concerning the building up of the Body of Christ will speak to our generation and to future generations until what is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14 and Ephesians 4 is completely fulfilled.
The direct building of the organic Body of Christ is by the Body itself. The Body is built directly by all the members of Christ functioning, each in his own measure, mainly in prophesying—speaking for the Lord. All of us have a measure, and we can function in our measure. My little finger functions, and I am so happy with its function. Without my little finger, it would be hard for me to take care of the itching within my ear. My little finger really functions in its measure to comfort me. In like manner, all the members of the Body of Christ can function in their own measure. We all function mainly in prophesying, in speaking for the Lord.
I am expecting to see meetings all over the earth in which everyone is speaking Christ, speaking forth Christ, speaking Christ into others in the way of dispensing Christ into others. Then an organism will come into existence which can be seen not only by God but also by all His lovers. This direct building by all the members of Christ takes place through the perfecting work of all the gifted persons under the bountiful supply of the divine element of the ascended Christ in His ascension. We need to practice the fellowship in this book so that we can see the reality of such an organic building on this earth.