In this message we will consider the move of God in man in the building up of the church. Such a subject may not seem to be very organic, but the building up of the church as the Body of Christ is altogether an organic matter within our being. In the building up of the Body of Christ, God moves intrinsically, not in an outward way.
When I was young, I was instructed that the term the Body of Christ was merely a metaphor signifying what the church is to Christ. I accepted this teaching at that time, but gradually, after many years, I found out that the Body of Christ is not a metaphor; it is a great reality in the universe. Rather, our physical body is a metaphor portraying the Body of Christ. To know what the Body of Christ is, we must study our own body. I have learned a great deal about the Body of Christ by studying my own body over a number of years and through a number of illnesses.
First, God's move in the building up of the Body of Christ is in Christ. According to Matthew 16:15-18, it is Christ who builds up His church. In verse 15 the Lord asked the disciples, "But you, who do you say that I am?" In verse 16 Peter responded by saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." The Lord then said to Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because 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, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (vv. 17-18). This rock in verse 18 refers not only to Christ but also to the revelation concerning Christ that Peter received from the Father.
In verse 18 Christ said clearly that He would build up His church. However, we should not forget that Christ is not separate from God. Actually, Christ became the Builder of the church by being appointed, that is, commissioned, to do the building work. As the Christ of God, He was appointed and commissioned by God to be the Builder of the church. The Christ means "the anointed One." The anointed One is the appointed One, and the appointed One is the commissioned One. Christ has been anointed, appointed, and commissioned by God to build the church. So actually it is God who builds up the church. God is the source of the building because God is the anointing One and the appointing One. He is the One who commissioned the Christ of God to build the church.
In one sense, Christ builds the church, but in another sense, He did not initiate this work. The initiation of the building up of the Body of Christ was from God. Therefore, God is the source. From this we can realize that to study the Bible is not an easy thing. In my speaking in the past I stressed only the point of Christ building the church. However, in this message the stress is not the building of the church by Christ, but on the source, the initiation, of the building. The source and initiation of the building of the church is not Christ but God. God initiated this matter. God anointed His Son to carry out His commission to build up the church. Thus, the building of the church by Christ is actually God's move.
In 1976 we built the meeting hall in Anaheim, California in about nine months. One brother was appointed to purchase all the materials, and another brother was appointed as a kind of superintendent to oversee the entire project. All who worked on the building carried out the instructions of the superintendent without any opinion. This was one of the main reasons that the work progressed so quickly. On the one hand, the brother who served as superintendent built the meeting hall. He was appointed and commissioned for this. But on the other hand, the person who commissioned this brother was the one who built the hall. In the same way, Christ has been commissioned by God to build up the church. Christ builds the church only according to the Father's will, according to the Father's instruction. Thus, the building of the church is actually the move of God.