The Lord’s greatest promise and prophecy is, I will build My church (Matt. 16:18); the church as God’s building is the center of God’s heart’s desire and the focus of His purpose. Today we are in the age of the church, and God cares only for the building up of the church.
We are in the age of God’s building, and if we see that this is what is in God’s heart, we will be one with Him for His building. If we see that God desires to gain a built-up corporate group of believers to be the Body of Christ, the church, we will allow God’s building to measure us and test us, bringing everything to the Lord in the light of His building.
In Ezek. 43 God asked Ezekiel to show His people the pattern of His house, its design, its measurements, and everything about the house, so that God’s people would be measured and judged by God’s house.
Today God doesn’t measure us or judge us by the law of Moses but by the law of His house, by His building. All our work and living needs to be measured and checked according to God’s house, the church.
If we see that the only thing God cares is the church, we will allow God to examine our living, conduct, and service not merely according to moral regulations or spiritual principles but also according to His house, the church.
When we are measured by God’s house will be exposed of how much we need to be built up with the saints. We will not criticize others or ask them why they didn’t come to the meeting; rather, we will seek to enjoy Christ and be built up with others in spirit.
Whatever we care for the most is what we are fashioned according to; if we care for sports, we will be fashioned according to the sports world, but if we care for God’s building, the church, we will be fashioned according to the church.
Before we can build up the church as the Body of Christ we need to see that the church is what God cares for the most, that the church is not being built up in the religious camps, and that we need to allow God to measure us and check us according to the church life, the Body life.
Then, we will become persons suitable for God’s building, being fitted with others in God’s house and caring for the church as God cares for it.
Allowing God to Measure us According to the Church, His House
According to the book of Ezekiel, the requirements of the indwelling Christ are not according to the law but according to God’s house (see Ezek. 43:10). All believers in Christ need to be measured according to the measurement of God’s house.
In the same way God gave the law to Moses and told him to speak it to the people of Israel so that they would be exposed and judged by it to keep it before Him, so God told Ezekiel to tell His people the measurements of His house and all its pattern so that they would be judged and measured by it.
Today we are in the age of the church, the house of God, and what God measures us by is not the law but the house of God. The house of God is the measurement God applies to our life and work as believers.
We need to allow the Lord to measure our conduct and daily living by the pattern of His house, the church, so that we may know how to behave ourselves in the church life. We need to see the pattern, the arrangement, the exits and entrances, the whole design, and all the laws of God’s house.
We should fashion ourselves according to the pattern and design of God’s house, walking by this rule. We should ask ourselves, How much are we built up in God’s house? How much are we related with our dear brothers and sisters in the church? How much are we one with the saints in the spirit in love, life, and reality?
Satan hates God’s building because he knows that he will be defeated under the feet of the church, so he endeavours to do his best to damage the oneness. We need to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace with all lowliness, meekness, and long-suffering, bearing one another in love, so that God would get a built up church.
We need to apply the test of God’s building to our life, our work, our move, our motive, our intention, our desire, and our point of view. If we allow God to measure us according to His building we will realize how independent and even individualistic we are. We will be exposed under God’s light, we will repent, and we will give ourselves to the Lord to be suitable for His building.
Our living, conduct, and service should not be examined merely according to moral, ethical or spiritual regulations and principles, but according to the house of God, the church as the Body of Christ (see 1 Tim. 3:15-16).
Lord Jesus, show us the pattern, the design, and the laws of Your house! It is Your desire to get a built up church to be Your dwelling place: Lord, measure us and check us by Your house to make us suitable for Your building. Save us from our individualism and independence. Build us up with the saints in spirit. We want to be related to others and built up together in Christ. O Lord, may Your building measure and check our daily living and our conduct so that we may know how to behave in the church, God’s house!
Caring for the Church and Fashioning ourselves According to the Church
We should not be fashioned according to this age but be transformed by the renewing of the mind so that we may be fashioned according to the church, the desire of God’s heart (see Rom. 12:2; ch. 16).
Our main concern as believers shouldn’t be with improving our behavior, becoming more spiritual, or learning the Bible more, but with being fitted into God’s house, the church (1 Cor. 14:12).
We need to build up the church according to God’s building regulations; if we build with wood, grass, and stubble, our work will be burned and destroyed (see 1 Cor. 3:10-15). If what we are and what we do cannot match God’s building, it amounts to nothing in the sight of God – and sometimes can even become a problem in the Body.
The church is the house of God, the place for the soles of His feet, the place where He can dwell for His rest and satisfaction, and the place of His throne. Because the Lord cares so much for the church, we should also care for the church and fashion ourselves according to it.
We shouldn’t pay too much attention to teachings from the Bible, inner life, spiritual gifts, healing, and other things but care absolutely for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22; 4:12, 16).
Today people fashion themselves according to the lifestyle of the “movie stars”, singers, or “sports stars”, and most people live by being fashioned according to this age. But as believers in Christ we need to reject being fashioned according to this age and choose to be transformed, conformed, and renewed in our mind so that we may be fashioned according to God’s building, the church.
First, we need to see the vision of God’s building and realize that this is what cares for the most. Then, we should allow the pattern, the design, the entrances and exits, and the laws of God’s house to measure us and check us. We should be willing to be fashioned according to the church life, the Body life, so that we may be built up with the saints and be buildable into the Body of Christ.
If what we are and do can’t fit into the church life, it amounts to nothing in God’s eyes; if our great work for God and good deeds for the Lord do not fit in the church life, they mean nothing in God’s eyes.
May we see God’s building, allow it to measure us and check us, and be fashioned according to God’s building in the age of the church for God to gain what He is after, a built up church!
Lord Jesus, save us from caring for anything else more than we care for the church. May we care more for the church than for being spiritual or improving our behavior. Lord, we want to be fitted into Your house, the church. Keep us in Your word and in the church life, allowing Your word and the church life to fashion us to make us buildable believers. Oh Lord, we care absolutely for the church as the building of God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ezekiel, pp. 283-284, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Vision, Practice, and Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, week 7 / msg 7, The Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ (1) – The Vision of God’s Building and the Test of Our Spirituality.
- Hymns on this topic:
# We have come, we have come to the house of God … From the house, from the house flows this living stream … Measure us, measure us, measure every day, / Measure us, measure more, measure all the way! (Hymns #1115)
# In the Body we’ll be fitly framed / As the many members Christ supply; / Working in the measure of each part, / All by growth in love the Body edify. (Hymns #1232)
# Lord, anew we give our bodies; / May we be transformed to prove / All Thy will, to know Thy Body, / And therein to serve and move. (Hymns #913)
I never heard such an expression “age of the house”; but I like it. The age of the church feels spot on, and a word we Christians NEED to hear more often, as this strikes to the heart of the matter of divisions that exist among us.
The word itself seems a high level concept/standard as well; something that should be a true test of our willingness to pick up our cross to follow after Jesus and most certainly requires us to see one another as God sees us.
I’m looking forward to hearing more…though the word itself feels bitter sweet.
The hardest part may be our ability to abide in the fellowship of the brothers in regards to practical matters, especially if leading ones haven’t earned the trust of the saints and/or they tend to be heavy handed.
Leading ones bear the bulk of responsibility for this truth. They are, after all, the leading ones…and it is by their example that we pursue after Christ.
This is the age for God’s building. The building of God is our standard and test. We need to test ourselves not concerning right or wrong but by how much we have been built up. This is the test, and it is also the solution for all of our problems and the answer to all of our questions. How much have we been related to our dear brothers and sisters? How much are we one with them in the spirit in love, life, and reality? Satan hates this oneness and harmony. He endeavors to do whatever he can to damage the oneness. Once we lose this oneness, we lose our impact. Our impact is in the oneness of the building. When we are truly one, in harmony, and built up together as one Body, we have a real impact.
We need to see the vision of God’s building, and we need to test our life, work, move, motive, intention, desire, and point of view by the building up of the Body. If we apply the building as the test, we will be fully and thoroughly revolutionized, and we will have a real turn. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 1, “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” pp. 154-155)