When we hold to truth in love, the result will be that we grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ (Eph. 4:15). God loves us and wants to be like us; we love God and want to be like God. Truth is God becoming man, and truth is also man becoming God. In love we hold to the truth so that He becomes us, and we become Him. He loves us, and we love Him. In this way, we will grow up into Him in all things; this means that we will grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things. How sweet this is!
When we grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, the result is that everything we do will come out of Christ the Head and will be Him. We love our Lord in the way He loved us by becoming flesh. The result of our holding to truth in love is that we grow up into the Head, Christ.
Our dealings with the brothers and sisters may be natural and may come from tradition in Christianity, from society, or from the world, not from the Lord. One day, however, after receiving mercy, we will love the Lord Jesus and give ourselves to Him; in this way, we will hold to truth in love, and as a result, we will grow. When we see that our dealings with the brothers and sisters are outside of Christ and are not pleasing to the Lord, we will pluck out our dealings and plant them into Christ. From that point forward, our dealings with the brothers and sisters will be from Christ and in truth.
We hold to truth by loving Christ and having fellowship with Him continually. When we live in Christ continually, our every action will come out of Him, and we will grow to the extent that we grow up into Him in all things; this is genuine growth. We have genuine growth, not by listening to many doctrines or by understanding many teachings but by having more love for Christ and by having more of the element of love for the truth. When we hold to truth in this way, we will discard anything that is not the truth.
We need to realize that truth refers to the union of God and man; we must reject anything that is not related to this union. In regard to our clothing, we should not put on anything that is not out of our union with God; we should not have any dealings with people that are not out of our union with God. We need to hold to the truth of the union of God and man in every matter so that we will grow up into Christ the Head in all things.
Ephesians 4:14 and 15 are in contrast to each other. In verse 14 the believers, as little children, have been deceived, have fallen because of craftiness, and have been carried about by winds of teaching. Consequently, they are in a system of error. In verse 15 the believers hold to truth in love and grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ. In the first situation, the believers are carried about by the winds of teaching and have fallen into the enemy’s craftiness. In the second situation, they are holding to truth in love. In the first, they have entered into a satanic system of error, but in the second, they are growing up into Christ the Head.
After we have experienced Ephesians 4:15, every brother and sister will come out of their culture and flesh and grow up into Christ. Then out from the Head all the Body will function and cause the growth of the Body; Christ in the Body will increase. This kind of increase causes the Body to build itself up in love. Such growth and building causes the entire Body to be Christ, to be full of the Son of God, and to be the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The entire Body will be the Word becoming flesh and the flesh becoming the Word; the entire Body will be full of truth. In order for the Body to build itself up in love, there must be the functioning of every joint of the rich supply.
Colossians 2:19 says, “All the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews.” This shows that joints are for the supply of the Body and that sinews are for knitting together the members of the Body. Hence, when Colossians speaks of joints and sinews, it speaks of the supply and of being knit together. Ephesians also refers to the supply. In the church some of the brothers and sisters are like joints and sinews in the Body, who can supply others and be knit together with others. Because they are the joints and sinews, the Body can be properly coordinated and knit together.
The brothers and sisters who are the supplying joints in the church should not minister winds of teaching. If they minister winds of teaching, the Body will be dismembered. They need to receive the riches of the Head and the rich supply of life from the Head in order to supply all the members. Only in this way can the members coordinate with one another and arrive at the oneness of the Body. In the Body, not every brother and sister is a joint; however, some brothers and sisters are joints of supply. The building of the Body is not only through every joint of the rich supply but also through the operation in the measure of each one part. Each one part of the Body has its operation, life, function, and activity, and all the parts need to be coordinated with one another and joined to the Body. Such a Body, on the one hand, is out from the Head, and on the other hand, it is coordinated and joined together through the joints of supply and the operation in each one part. This Body builds itself up and gradually grows until it is inwardly full of the Son of God and the Christ of God. This is the goal we should attain in our service.
Colossians 2:19 shows that the growth of the church is due to the growth of God. When God grows in the church, the Body will also grow. The content of the church is Christ, and the result of the growth is that Christ increases in the church. This should be the goal of our service in the church.
As we are discussing the administration of the church, we should not focus merely on the technical aspect, like conducting an administration course. The church is not a governmental organization; the church needs Christ inwardly. If we want to administrate in the church, there is only one way, and that is to live out Christ and to minister Christ; only this is genuine service in the church. I hope that we will have more prayer to eliminate the winds of teaching so that we may hold to truth in love and grow up into Christ the Head in all things. Then out from the Head and through the supply of the joints and the operation in each one part in the Body, the Body will grow and attain to the building up of the Body.