In order to conduct ourselves in the church, we must see what God has ordained for the church. If we want our service in the church to be according to God’s ordination, we must first enter into God’s thought in order to see what He has ordained for the church from eternity to eternity. In other words, in order to properly administrate the church, serve the church, and serve God, we must have God’s view. Otherwise, our work will differ from what God has ordained.
Christ, the Son of God, is the center of God’s ordination in the church. With this in mind, we need to focus on the materials that God uses to build the church in addition to how He builds the church. As such, our focus must not be on methods but on materials. We must see the kind of materials God uses to build His church. As we serve God, we should see not only the materials that He uses to build up the church according to His eternal intention but also see what He intends to ultimately obtain from His building work, including the nature of what He intends to obtain. Therefore, I do not need to stress methods and techniques; rather, I want to stress our need to see the intrinsic nature of God’s building.
From the record of the Gospels we can see that even though the Lord was with His disciples on earth for quite some time and had many conversations with them, He rarely spoke of the church. The Lord did not bring up the matter of the church until Matthew 16; this is the first revelation and direct reference to the church in the Bible. Why did the Lord not speak of the church before Matthew 16? When the Lord Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (v. 15), Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). Then Jesus answered and said to him, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in the heavens. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church” (vv. 17-18). The Lord spoke of the church only after He brought His disciples to the point of showing them a transcending view of Himself as the Christ of God, the Son of God. From this we can see that a person can truly speak of the church only when he knows the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. In other words, when a person knows the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, he can speak of the building and the service of the church.
The Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church,” only after Peter realized that the Lord was the Christ of God, the Son of God. This is an important point: when God builds the church, He builds it upon Christ as the rock. We should not understand the Lord Jesus being the Christ, the rock, in a superficial way. We need to see that God will build His church only upon Christ as the rock. In saying that He would build His church upon this rock, the Lord meant that the rock is the foundation of the church. This rock is Christ Himself; in other words, Christ Himself is the intrinsic nature of this rock. The Lord acknowledged that He is the rock and the foundation of the church, but more importantly, He acknowledged that He would build the church upon this rock.
Christ will build the church upon this rock; the rock is the foundation, and He will build the church upon it. What, however, is the building material He uses? When we build a meeting hall, we use cement and rock as the foundation, and on this foundation we use materials such as steel columns, wood posts, and glass panes, doors, and windows. In a theological sense, some people think that the church is built by simply putting Christ together with His believers. This thought is without revelation. When Peter acknowledged that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God, the Christ of God, the Lord immediately said to him, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.” The Greek word for Peter means a “stone,” and the Greek word for rock means a “mass of rock.” When Peter recognized the Lord Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” the Lord immediately answered, “You are Peter, a stone, and upon this rock I will build My church.” The rock refers to Christ, and the stone refers to Peter. Peter was originally called Simon Barjona, but after knowing the Lord as the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord changed his name to Peter, meaning that he was a stone. This is similar to the story in Genesis 32. After Jacob wrestled with God at the ford of the Jabbok, God changed his name from Jacob to Israel.
First Corinthians 15:47 says that we were earthy. Romans 9:21 says that we are also a lump of clay. Peter’s original name was Simon. He was a lump of clay, but a change transpired in him. When he was in the region of Caesarea Philippi, the veil in heaven was lifted for him, and his eyes were opened. Like a camera, he received something of heaven into him; he received a revelation of the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. When this heavenly revelation entered into Simon, he was changed from a lump of clay into a stone. The Lord said to him, “You are Peter, a stone.” The inward nature of this stone is related to the mass of rock, Christ. This means that the church is produced by Christians being built upon Christ.
Formerly we were not Christ-men, but one day God opened our eyes, and Christ shined into us; then we became Christ-men. In Galatians 1:15-16 Paul says that it pleased God to reveal His Son in him. The word reveal in this verse is the same as in Matthew 16:17. When the Father revealed to Simon that the Lord Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, Peter received a revelation of Christ within. With this revelation, he became Peter, a stone. This shows that the Lord builds the church with Himself as the material; He builds the church upon Himself.
We cannot take someone who is Chinese and say, “I will build you into the church.” Neither can we take an American and say, “I will build you into the church.” If we want to build a Chinese or an American into the church, the first step is to dispense Christ into them. If we cannot minister Christ into them, regardless of what we do, we cannot build them into the church. If we cannot impart Christ into others, they will have no way to be part of the church. In Christianity there can be false Christians, Christians without Christ, but in the church there is no such thing because all those who are built into the church must have Christ within them.
Christ uses Himself as the material and builds the church upon Himself by revealing Himself into man and then by building upon what He has put of Himself into man. In Himself Christ is Christ, but when Christ enters into us, He is built upon Himself in us, and He comes out of us, this is the church. In Himself Christ is Christ, but through revelation He dispenses Himself into us. Then upon the Christ who has been dispensed into us, He builds more of Himself; this is the church. This is the meaning of Matthew 16.
Before Matthew 16 Christ, the Son of God, was in the universe, but He was not recognized by Simon. Although He was right before Simon’s eyes, He had not entered into Simon and thus could not be mingled with Simon. One day a revelation from heaven opened Simon’s eyes and shined and revealed Christ to him. From then on, he had a revelation of Christ. With this revelation, he was changed from a lump of clay to a stone. The Lord seemingly said, “You are Peter, and since you are a stone, I am going to build My church. But I am going to build the church upon Myself as the rock. Once you, Simon, have been changed in nature by receiving Me, I will build My church by building you, as a little stone, upon Me, as a mass of rock.” A little stone can become a part of this big rock because the rock has been dispensed into the stone. Therefore, the church is the Lord’s building Himself upon Himself. The material which the Lord Jesus uses for the building is only Himself. Today the Lord is building us, the believers, into Himself.
We need to see the material the Lord uses to build the church. When we see this, we will know what material to use in the administration and service of the church. The Lord builds the church with Himself as the material; He builds Himself into men, causes them to be changed in nature, and then builds the church with the ones who have been changed in nature. We should also serve and administrate the church with Christ as the material. We must use wood to build a wood house, and we must use stones to build a stone house. Likewise, we must use Christ as the material to build the church. Only in this way will the church be Christ. According to 1 Corinthians 12:12, the church is Christ because the Body, the church, is built with Christ as the material.
In the church there is only “Peter,” not “Simon”; there is only stone, not clay. Whereas clay is natural, stone is regenerated; it is produced by Christ’s mingling Himself with the clay. If we have such a view, we will not bring anything natural into the church, nor will we help others with anything natural, because natural things cannot produce the church. We touch Christ by revelation, and only the Christ who has entered into us through revelation can be built into Christ and produce the church.