The Increase of Christ for the Building Up of the Church
Message Six
The Increase of Christ for God’s Building
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
…Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it—Matt. 16:18.
But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love—Eph. 4:15-16.
Word of Appetizer
The universe is for the human race, the human race is for the church, and the church is the increase of Christ. What is the growth of the church?
Since the church is the Body of Christ, His embodiment, the growth of the church is the growth of Christ; the growth of the church is not determined by an increase in its strengths or merits but by the increase of Christ; only the increase of Christ is the growth of the church.
Spiritual Burden
God’s desire is for Christ to increase and grow in the church and for Christ to become the content and element of the church so that the church would arrive “at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The universe is for the human race, the human race is for the church, and the church is the increase of Christ.
The greatest prophecy in the Bible is in Matthew 16:18: “I will build My church”.
Since the church is the Body of Christ, His embodiment, the growth of the church is the growth of Christ.
The building up of the church as the Body of Christ is the increase of Christ in the believers, and this increase is their growth in life.
The Experience of Life
Since the day of His resurrection, the Lord Jesus has been enlarging His Body in His resurrection life; He is still working for the building of His Body under the process of resurrection, working on us through the process of resurrection; Christ, who is resurrection and life, changes death into life for the building of the house of God; our living as Christians is a life of changing death into life for the building up of the mystical Body of Christ.
Practice and Application
In order to have the increase of Christ for God’s building, we must take four steps in our practice: preaching the gospel to gain an increase, having home meetings to keep the increase, having group meetings to teach and perfect the increase, and having church meetings in which all the saints function by prophesying for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
…and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it—Matt. 16:18.
In whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit—Eph. 2:21-22.
The Church Is the Increase of Christ
God Desires a Building—God’s House, His Dwelling Place
I. The universe is for the human race, the human race is for the church, and the church is the increase of Christ.
II. The greatest prophecy in the Bible is in Matthew 16:18: “I will build My church“:
• The central and divine thought of the Scriptures is that God desires a building that is the mingling of Himself with humanity; such a building is God’s house, His dwelling place.
Key Verses (2)
Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age—Matt. 28: 19-20.
Building Up the Church as the House of God and the Body of Christ—Disciple All the Nations
III. For the building up of the church as the house of God and the Body of Christ, we need to “disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”:
• To baptize someone into the name of the Triune God is to immerse him into all that the Triune God is, into the sum total of the Divine Being.
• All those who are transferred into Christ are the increase of Christ.
• We must take four steps in our practice: preaching the gospel to gain an increase, having home meetings to keep the increase, having group meetings to teach and perfect the increase, and having church meetings in which all the saints function by prophesying for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Key Verses (3)
But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love—Eph. 4:15-16.
The Growth of the Church Is the Growth of Christ
The Increase of Christ in the Believers
IV. Since the church is the Body of Christ, His embodiment, the growth of the church is the growth of Christ.
V. The building up of the church as the Body of Christ is the increase of Christ in the believers, and this increase is their growth in life.
VI. In His resurrection the Lord Jesus is building the temple, the Father’s house, in a larger way, making it a corporate temple, the mystical Body of Christ.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 The central and divine thought of the Scriptures (Exo. 25:8; 1 Tim. 3:15)
(Please explain that God desires a building that is the mingling of Himself with humanity.)
T2 The mingling of God with man is the real, divine building (Eph. 2:21-22)
(Please use examples to explain that in every spiritual experience, God must be mingled with us as the divine building.)
D2
T1 God’s creation and God’s building (1 Pet. 2:5)
(Please explain that creation was a work of preparation, God’s main work is the work of building.)
T2 Life and building are the two key words in the entire Bible (John 11:25; Matt. 16:18)
(Please explain what the principle of God’s building is.)
D3
T1 “Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:27; Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 12:13)
(Please explain that the disciples baptized the converts, not only into water, but also invisibly into the death of Christ, into Christ Himself, into the Triune God, and into the Body of Christ.)
T2 Begetting, feeding, perfecting, and building (Matt. 28:19; 1 Thes. 2:7; Heb. 10: 24-25; 1 Cor. 14:31)
(Please explain that in order to have the increase of Christ for God’s building, what the four steps we must take in our practice are.)
D4
T1 The growth of the church is the growth of Christ (Eph. 4:15-16)
(Please explain that the growth of the church is not determined by an increase in its merits but by the increase of Christ.)
T2 The Body of Christ, as the church of God, is an organism of the Triune God (John 15:1-5).
(Please explain that the building up of the church is organic, not organizational.)
D5
T1 The Body grows to build up the Body (Eph. 4:15)
(In your daily living, how can you exercise to grow up into Christ, the Head, in all things?)
T2 The Lord Jesus has been enlarging His Body in His resurrection life (John 2:19-21)
(Please explain that the Lord is still working for the building of His Body under the process of resurrection, working on us.)
D6
T1 The purpose of life is to build the house of God (John 11:25; 2:19-21)
(Please explain that our living as Christians is simply a matter of the changing of death into life for the building up of the mystical Body of Christ.)
T2 The Father’s house is the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed people to produce a mutual dwelling place (John 14:2, 1:23)
(Please explain that the Lord Jesus Christ, is not building a heavenly mansion, on the contrary, He is building an organism, the church, which is His Body and the Father’s house.)
