The Intrinsic and Organic Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ
Message Five
The Intrinsic Factor of the Winds of Teaching for Their Evil Purpose
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
(Day1 ¦ Day2 ¦ Day3 ¦ Day4 ¦ Day5 ¦ Day6)
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Eph. 4:14-15 That we may be no longer little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error, but holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ.
Titus 1:9 Holding to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching of the apostles, that he may be able both to exhort by the healthy teaching and to convict those who oppose.
Word of Appetizer
What’s the intrinsic factor of the winds of teaching?
These teachings are different from the New Testament teaching concerning the economy of God for the building up of the Body of Christ; apparently, every wind of teaching is good; however, within the winds of teaching, intrinsically, is something different from the apostles’ teaching and is not good; the winds of teaching overthrow the believers’ faith and devastate the church life; the teachings that become winds, carrying the believers away from the central lane of Christ and the church, are deceptions instigated by Satan in his subtlety, with the sleight of men, in order to frustrate God’s eternal economy, which is to build up the Body of Christ.
Spiritual Burden
As members of the Body, we should no longer be “little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error”.
The crucial point of the healthy teaching of the apostolic ministry concerns the Triune God processed to dispense Himself as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit into His chosen ones so that they may be brought into an organic union to receive the divine transfusion and thereby become sons of God and members of Christ; as a result, they can become the Body of Christ to express Christ, the One in whom the fullness of God dwells.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The teaching of the apostles is the unique and healthy teaching of God’s eternal economy; the teaching of the apostles is the holding factor of the one accord, causing us to have one heart, one way, and one goal.
As members of the Body, we should no longer be “little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error”.
The Experience of Life
Healthy teaching is always related to life and is able either to nourish us or to heal us. Only something living can be healthy. We take only the apostles’ teaching as the healthy words of the Lord Jesus.
There is a good test for discerning the winds of teaching. Certain teachings cause us to be cold and even deadened. If any teaching, regardless of how good or scriptural it may appear to be, has any of these negative effects, this is strong evidence that this teaching is a wind that will blow us away from the central lane of God’s New Testament economy.
Practice and Application
We must be those who are “holding to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching of the apostles”; we must avoid differing teachings and concentrate on God’s economy concerning Christ and the church.
The only way to escape from the waves that are stirred up by the winds of teaching is to grow in life, and the safe way to grow in life is to stay in the proper church life with Christ and the church as the safeguard.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
T1: Fellowship is not “socializing” (1 John 1:3)
(Please illustrate that fellowship is joint participation, common participation.)
T2: To see and enter into the intrinsic fellowship of the churches: (1 John 1:3, 7)
(Please illustrate that the circulation of blood in the human body is a picture of inner fellowship in the body of Christ.)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Apostles’ Teaching,” ch. 1; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “How to Be a Coworker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations,” ch. 3; Life-study of Acts, msg. 12
T1: Fellowship is the issue of the eternal life (2 Cor. 13:14)
(Please illustrate that the fellowship is carried on by the Spirit in our regenerated spirit. Hence, it is called “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit”.)
T2: The intrinsic fellowship of the churches is the unique fellowship of the apostles (Acts 2:42)
(Please illustrate that the fellowship of the Body of Christ, which is the fellowship among the churches, is the fellowship of the apostles.)
Further Reading: Life-study of Titus, msgs. 1-3; CWWL, 1988, vol. 3, “The Building Up of the Body of Christ,” ch. 2
T1: The divine fellowship is an interwoven fellowship—the horizontal fellowship is interwoven with the vertical fellowship (1 John 1:2-3)
(Please illustrate that the divine fellowship has the horizontal aspect with the vertical aspect.)
T2: Entering into the experience of the divine fellowship in its two aspects by the two spirits (2 Cor. 13:14; 2 Tim. 4:22)
(Please illustrate with experiences that our Christian life is a life of the fellowship of the divine life.)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1986, vol. 1, “Elders’ Training, Book 7: One Accord for the Lord’s Move,” chs. 3, 8; CWWL, 1952, vol. 2, “How to Administrate the Church,” ch. 4; CWWL, 1989, vol. 3, “The Experience and Growth in Life,” ch. 26
T1: The organic relationship of all the local churches is based upon the organic fellowship of the divine life (1 Cor. 12:28)
(Please illustrate with experiences that there is no organization, but there is the fellowship of the Body of Christ.)
T2: In the divine fellowship there is no separation (Acts 9:31)
(Please illustrate that to practice autonomy or federation among all the local churches is wrong.)
Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 44, 70; CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” ch. 6
T1: The divine fellowship blends us; harmonizes us (1 Cor. 10:17; 12:24-25)
(Please illustrate with experiences that we all have to learn not to do anything without fellowship.)
T2: By being restricted in the divine fellowship, the Body of Christ is kept in oneness (1 Cor. 12:24-25)
(Please illustrate that the local administration still exists, but in the spiritual element all the churches should be blended together as one.)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 1: The Ministry of the New Testament,” chs. 1, 5;
CWWL, 1988, vol. 4, “Further Light concerning the Building Up of the Body of Christ,” ch. 2
T1: The Lord blended the seven churches in Asia into one (Rev. 1:4, 11)
(Please illustrate that in the eyes of the Lord the churches are one.)
T2: The apostle Paul blended the two churches in Colossae and Laodicea together as one (Col. 4:16)
(Please illustrate that we need to imitate the apostle to bring the local churches into the fellowship of the Body of Christ.)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Advance of the Lord’s Recovery Today,” ch. 4; CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “A Brief Presentation of the Lord’s Recovery,” pp. 413-420