Do you realize that we ourselves are the greatest hindrance to the building? This is the reason Paul does not speak of the Body until chapter twelve, after he has covered redemption, justification, sanctification, and transformation. The building up of the Body comes after all this. Justification is in chapters one through four; sanctification, in chapters five through eight; and transformation, in chapter twelve. Then, beginning with 12:4, Paul begins to deal with the building up of the Body. Those who are still worldly or natural cannot be built up with others. In order to be built up together, we need to be justified, sanctified, and transformed.
We all have problems with our mind, emotion, and will. If we remain in our natural mind, emotion, and will, we cannot be one. The peculiar thoughts, concepts, and imaginations we have in our minds keep us from being built up together. Our emotion is even more difficult to control, and our stubborn will causes many difficulties. Due to these problems, the church has not yet been built up, although it has been in existence for more than nineteen hundred years.
The Lord Jesus has not come back because He does not yet have the building. Revelation 19 indicates that the Lord will come back for the Bride, a corporate entity. Eventually, the Lord will have the building and Bride. If we do not cooperate with Him in this matter, He will find others who will cooperate with Him. Through my many years of experience in the church life, I know the difficulties, even the human impossibility, in having the building up of the Body. Nevertheless, I have the full assurance that the Lord is able to get the building. One day, the Lord will have the building He desires. I believe that many of us are willing to allow the Lord to complete His work of building the church. Our burden is not to do a great deal of work; it is to see the genuine building up of the saints for the Lord’s coming back.
In order to afford the Lord the opportunity to have the building, we should not try to do anything. Instead, we should simply open to the Lord and say, “Lord, we realize that in ourselves we are hopeless. Our mind, emotion, and will are great problems. But, Lord, we believe that You are able. You call things not being as being. Therefore, we open ourselves to You, and we are willing to go along with You. Lord, by Your mercy, we lay ourselves on Your altar. Do whatever You desire with us. Do whatever is necessary to deal with our mind, emotion, and will.”
Our married life tests how much we have been built up. Are you truly one with your husband or wife? In our married life, we have the opportunity to learn what it means to be built up in the church life. A number of times the Lord has pointed out to me that if I cannot be built up with my wife, I cannot expect to be built up with others. In order to be built up with our husband or wife, or with others in the church, our mind, emotion, and will must be dealt with.
In the Lord’s recovery we are for the recovery of Christ and the church for the building up of the Body. The crucial matter with us today is the building. The building depends wholly upon the dealing with the mind, emotion, and will. The problem today is not with our hearts nor with our motives; it is with our mind, emotion, and will. In some areas of the church service, there is no harmony because certain saints differ in their concept or in their feeling. Others are very strong in the will and always want things under their control. Such a strong will is a foreign element in the Body of Christ. Our peculiar concepts and feelings are also foreign elements that damage the Body. Because we all are troubled by our mind, emotion, and will, we need the Lord’s mercy and grace to consecrate ourselves to Him that He may deal with us. Many have consecrated themselves to Christ and the church, but they still have a problem with their mind, emotion, and will. This indicates that the problem regarding the building is not outward but inward. The outward environment of the church life is a test of our inward being; it exposes what we are in our mind, emotion, and will.
Married life also exposes us in these matters. Without a wife or husband, we would not know ourselves adequately. We should thank the Lord for the exposure in our married life. Before we got married, we regarded ourselves as rather holy, as Christians who loved the Lord and who were always seeking Him. But married life exposed us. All our “holiness” was broken to pieces, and we discovered how dreadful our condition was. The church life exposes us even more than married life does because the church life is more intense. Without the church life, we may think that we have no problems and that we are for Christ and the church. However, by being offended by others in the church life, we find out that we have inward problems with our mind, emotion, and will. When we see this, we need to pray to the Lord to save us in His life.
In order to be saved in life from the negative subjective elements within us, we need much of the Lord’s grace. We should pray, “Lord, I have no confidence in myself. I look to You for Your mercy. I place myself in Your hands so that You can work in me. Lord, keep me on the altar and keep me open to You. For the sake of Your building, do whatever You desire with my mind, emotion, and will.” If we are willing to give ourselves to the Lord in this way, it will be possible for us to be built up with others. In order to be saved from individualism and to be built up in the Body, we must be willing for the Lord to deal with our mind, emotion, and will according to His desire.