Eph. 4:15-16 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.

 

Ephesians 4:15 and 16 say,?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.? In these two verses we clearly see growth and building together. One is the cause, and the other is the effect; there is growth, and then there is the building. We need to learn how to grow and how to help others to grow.

The same thought is in 1 Corinthians 3. On the one hand, the apostle Paul says that we are co-workers with God doing the work of planting, so that God?s cultivated land, God?s harvest, may grow. Then on the other hand, we are builders to build God?s house with the material produced from the growth of life (1 Cor. 3:6, 9, 12). This is also what is revealed in Matthew 13. However, we need the vision; otherwise, we can read this chapter time and again and still not see the birth of life, the growth of life, and transformation to produce the materials for the building of God.

The same thought is in 1 Peter 2. First we are the newborn babes who need to grow; then by this growth we are transformed into precious stones to be built up as a spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:2, 5). God?s intention is to have a spiritual house, a building as His corporate expression. How can God accomplish this building? It is by sowing His Son Christ into us that He may grow in us and we may grow in Him and with Him in order to be transformed, changed in nature and in form, to be the precious materials for God?s building. As Christians we need to be very clear about this.

There is no one passage that tells us all the things necessary for our growth. From the New Testament teaching and revelation, the way to grow is comprised of four main items. If we practice these, then not only are we in life but we are on the way of growth, and we also will know how to help others to grow.

LOVING THE LORD

This is absolutely different from any religion. Not one leader of a religion demanded that his followers love him. Only the Lord Jesus demands this. He asks us to believe in Him and to love Him. We must have faith in Him, and we must have love toward Him. It may be good that we pray for a few weeks, even when we come together for the prayer meeting:?Lord, show us this love, and grant us such a love.? We must learn to love the Lord. Then we will see that we are starting to grow. When we start to love the Lord, we start to grow. There is no other way. The only way for Christians to begin growing is by firstly knowing how to love the Lord.

If we do love the Lord, we will spontaneously offer ourselves to Him. When we love the Lord, there is no need for others to tell us that we have to consecrate ourselves. Of the sixty-six books of the Bible, there is only one that deals entirely with the matter of growth, that is, the Song of Songs. This book is a book of growth. Brother Watchman Nee?s study of the Song of Songs shows us all the steps for growth. The Song of Songs tells us that after a person is saved, she realizes the Lord?s love; this is the start. Then at the end of the book we can see maturity and building up. This shows us that growth starts with love, and when we have love, we spontaneously offer ourselves to the Lord. Therefore, I will not tell you that you have to consecrate yourselves, because consecration is included in our love for the Lord. If we do not have love, regardless of how much we consecrate ourselves, we still have not truly consecrated ourselves. The real consecration comes from love and goes with love. If we do not have such a love, our consecration is not real. This is the first main way to grow.

CONFESSION AND CLEARANCE

The second main item we must have is confession, or clearance. After we begin to love the Lord, we must have a clear dealing with ourselves in order to have the real growth in life. We must have a clearance and make a thorough confession before the Lord. In other words, we must deal with our conscience. Then we will have a pure, good conscience without accusation, a conscience void of offense and so much at peace. We have seen how important the conscience is regarding spiritual things. We need a pure conscience, and one who has a pure conscience is one who has thoroughly confessed all the sinful things, dirtiness, failures, and trespasses. We must go to the Lord to have such a dealing. Sometimes we need three days for this. I do not believe you can finish your confession within only one or two hours. If we mean business with the Lord, we will need a longer time to have a thorough dealing. This is not something legal; it is a principle.

KNOWING AND EXERCISING THE SPIRIT

After loving the Lord and having a thorough confession, we right away have to know the spirit. When we say spirit in this way, we mean our human spirit, not the Holy Spirit. This is a difficult matter among Christians today. It is not so hard, however, with new believers. A certain older brother had been a Christian for many years. He studied at Bible institutes and was a preacher for years, preaching, teaching, reading, and listening. After I delivered some messages about the exercise of the spirit, this brother came to me and said,?Brother Lee, what do you mean by the exercise of the spirit? Do you mean to have a whole heart?? I found out that it is difficult to speak concerning the spirit to people with old concepts.

If we do not have a love for the Lord, we cannot exercise our spirit. Likewise, if we constantly have something accusing us in our conscience, we are finished with the exercise of the spirit. To exercise the spirit requires a love for the Lord and a pure conscience. After we have love and a pure conscience, we must learn the lesson of always exercising our spirit. To be soulish is easier than to be sinful. It is not easy for you to induce me to be sinful, but it may be very easy to induce me to be soulish. For many seeking Christians it is not easy to be sinful?it is not easy, for example, to tell a lie?but it is very easy to be soulish, to say things in the soul, to do things in the soul, to contact people in the soul, and to deal with things in the soul. If we do not exercise the spirit, we are merely in the soul.

ALWAYS STAYING IN CONTACT WITH THE LORD

We also must always stay in contact with the Lord. Any time we are not in contact with the Lord, we are in degradation, not in growth.

What I told people many years ago about the way to grow was not this simple. Even ten years ago what I said was not very simple. Today, however, if you ask me how to grow, I will tell you something simple but very practical. The simpler something is, the more practical it is. But even though it is simple, if we do not practice it, it will not work. From my own learning and experiences, I have come to realize that the simplest way for Christians to grow is the above four matters: love the Lord, deal with Him thoroughly, learn to exercise the spirit, and keep in contact with Him. If we do these things, we will see the growth. Then because we are in the growth of life, we will know the right way to read the Word, the right and simple way to listen to messages, and the right and proper way to get help and profit from reading a book. We will not care for anything but one matter: the growth of life in the spirit.