We will be using the same verse that I used last night: Matthew 16:18. This is what our Lord Jesus said:
And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we come to Thee in a worshipping spirit. We worship Thee because Thou art our Lord. Thou art everything to us.
We pray that by Thy Spirit Thou wilt grant us wisdom and understanding, that Thy Spirit would lead us into Thy truth. Lord, we pray that Thy truth may be our reality and experience instead of just some mental knowledge. Do deliver us from just mental knowledge.
Lord, we desire to know Thee in a living way. We do pray that, as Thou hast said, Thou wilt build the church upon Thyself, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. We believe in Thy word.
We commit this time into Thy hands, and we pray that Thou wilt Thyself come to our midst and speak to us by Thy Spirit. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
As we mentioned last night, what we will share together during this time is on this one word: build. The Lord said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
We mentioned last night that the first mention of the word build is found in Genesis 2:22:
And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man.
Now, when you think of the word build, you know it is not a casual word. It is a technical word. It means something with purpose, something with design, something for which you need to prepare. It is something through which you have to go through a process until finally something is built that can be presented and can serve a definite purpose for which it is built.
So, what we would like to consider together is these five stages. Last night we mentioned, first of all, that in the building of the church there is a definite purpose behind it.
It is not something conceived by human beings. It is not something that is the product of history. We find that the building of the church is a preconceived thought of God, even before the foundation of the world.
God purposed, in His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus. It is out of that purpose that the church is to be built. So it is not something insignificant, something that we can ignore in our spiritual life and spiritual pursuit.
As a matter of fact, you will find this is something uttermost, most important in the mind of God, because He wants to satisfy His beloved Son. Nothing can satisfy His beloved Son aside from the church that God intends to build for His Son.
So I hope that, first of all, we will all be impressed with the thought that the church is not something we can just lay aside. It is in the centre of God’s thought, and it should occupy a central place in our spiritual pursuit.
Now, number two: we mentioned that in order to build something, you need a pattern. Thank God, we find that He always builds with patterns. He never does anything just at a moment, without any design, without any plan, without any blueprints.
Even in the building of the tabernacle, you will find He gave the pattern on the mount to Moses. He warned Moses again and again that everything had to be done exactly according to the pattern on the mount.
Moses was faithful in God’s house. In what sense? In the sense that, in spite of his great learning in architecture, he refused to try to improve the pattern that God had given to him. He followed closely everything according to that pattern.
The same thing is true about the temple. We find that God, by His own finger, drew for David that blueprint, and that blueprint was to be closely followed.
So the question is: in this matter of the building of the church, does God have a pattern? Unfortunately, we find there are many people who think that there is no pattern for the church. It is just left to the ingenuity of man. It is just left to history.
That is why, in church history, you find various changes, different forms, and fashions, as if it is something that God just left with man. How can God leave such an important building—the one building that He is building, the work in which He is engaged—without any pattern, and let men do whatever they think is best? It is impossible.
We mentioned also last night that some people try to find a pattern in Old Testament times. You find this everywhere in Christianity: a pattern after the Old Testament. Yet the Old Testament types are shadows. We are playing with shadows, and we are not really dealing with reality.
Some people seem to be better and try to find a pattern in the New Testament. But unfortunately, they try to find it in a technical, mechanical way, instead of seeing that the church is a living organism. The pattern has to be living; it has to be spiritual; it has to be heavenly.
So where is the pattern of the church? Very simple, very clear in the word of God: the pattern is Christ Himself. He is the pattern.
To build the church, we have to build it according to Christ. That is the reason why you find in 1 Corinthians 12:12:
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is the Christ.
You know, when we first read this verse, we think there must be a mistake in translation, because what is described before us is the church. The church is the body of Christ: one body, many members; many members, one body. We expect it to say, “So also is the church.”
But thank God, He makes no mistake. We find that in the original it is, “So also is the Christ.” In other words, the church is Christ Himself in a corporate, mystical sense.
It is Christ Himself who is the pattern of the church. So when the church is built, all you see is Christ. You do not see man, even though men are involved.
We think of the church as ekklesia, the called-out ones gathered together. Thank God, we are the called-out ones, and we gather together. But when the called-out ones are scattered all around, that does not make a church.
When the called-out ones gather together, does it mean that you have the church? No. The Bible says, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name.” In other words, it is not just the gathering of the called-out ones. They have to gather in the name of the Lord, which means under the headship and the authority of Christ.
If we do not gather under the headship and the authority of Christ, we still do not have the church. Why is it so? It is because the church is the Christ. In other words, aside from Christ Himself, there is nothing else in it.
We are in it, and in a sense we are not in it. Why? Because even though we are in it, we are eliminated by the cross. Our old man, our flesh, our old nature—anything that belongs to us in the old realm—has all been crossed out by the cross of our Lord Jesus. So what is left is nothing but Christ Himself.
Now, I often try to use a kind of formula. The first time I tried to use that formula was when I was ministering together with Brother Austin-Sparks. If you know Brother Sparks, you know that, to him, formula is taboo, because he feels that everything is spiritual. Now, when it is spiritual, how can you reduce it to a formula?
So when I used it, I had to apologise to him and say, “I just use it temporarily in order to illustrate something in a clearer way.”
What is the church? The church is the called-out ones gathered together. Now, suppose in the very beginning of church history you had only three called-out ones. Let us use the best three: suppose you have Peter, John, and James.
These three are all the called-out ones in the very beginning, and these three are gathered together. Does that make a church? Peter, John, and James?
No. We say it is the Christ in Peter, plus the Christ in John, plus the Christ in James, equal to the church. Now, do you see the church?
You find Peter: he always wants to be the leader. John and James want to be the leaders too, because you remember how they outmanoeuvred all the disciples by asking their mother to help them. Their mother was the aunt of our Lord Jesus, so the word of the aunt had weight.
At the last minute, they came in—unexpected by all the other disciples—and said, “Well, we have a request. Let my two sons sit on Your right and on Your left.” They got it all arranged. The ten, of course, were indignant because they were outmanoeuvred.
So you find that if you put Peter, John, and James together, even though they have the life of Christ in them, you will find lots of problems and lots of troubles—not because of the Christ in them, but because of what is outside Christ. Their natural life is there.
So what really makes the church? It is the Christ in Peter minus Peter, plus the Christ in John minus John, plus the Christ in James minus James. Now that equals the church: the Christ.
You will find that the church is patterned after Christ and Christ alone. Everything has to be according to Christ. It cannot be according to the world. It cannot be according to the law. It cannot be according to the flesh or according to the natural man. Everything has to be according to Christ. It is Christ Himself who is the pattern.
I hope we are very clear on this point, because then we realise that the church is so holy, so sacred. When we put forth our natural hand, it destroys the very nature of the church. When we put in our own opinion, immediately you find the church suffers, because anything that is not after the pattern will destroy the very nature of the church.
That is what we had last night. This afternoon, we would like to continue with the other three points. After you have the purpose and then the pattern—the blueprint drawn—then, of course, you begin to prepare for the building.
The builder, the construction company, begins to collect materials according to the blueprint, in order that you may have the right material to build that building.
We mentioned at the very beginning that when God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him,” that was the purpose. The pattern was Adam himself, because all the animals and all the fowls of the air were eliminated. Adam could not find anything that would really answer to him. So it proved that the pattern was Adam himself.
Then God began to collect the material for building that woman. He did not try to collect it somewhere else; He collected it in Adam.
The same thing you find all along in the types. When God wanted to build the tabernacle, what happened? In Exodus 25:1, God said to Moses, “Ask the people to bring Me an offering.”
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they take Me an offering: of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take My offering.
Now we know this offering is a love offering. But remember: when the children of Israel were in Egypt, they were slaves. As slaves, they owned nothing—not even their lives.
But when God said to Moses to deliver the children of Israel, even in Exodus 3, God had already told Moses that Pharaoh would not let the people go, but that God would do wonders to deliver them.
When God delivered them out of Egypt, He told the women to ask of their neighbours and those who lived in their houses for gold, silver, and garments. When they left Egypt, they despoiled the Egyptians.
Formerly they had nothing; they were slaves. But in the redemption of the Lord, you find that God not only redeemed the man, the woman, and even the children; God redeemed the whole family. Not only that, God also redeemed what rightfully belonged to them.
These were their wages—all those years serving the Egyptians without being paid. God is righteous. So here you find everything—their own lives, as well as all the gold, silver, garments, and everything they had—was really redeemed by God Himself.
Out of what God had redeemed, God said, “Give Me a love offering.” In other words, it all belonged to God. These things did not belong primarily to the Hebrews; they belonged to God. Yet, in His redemptive work, God gave them these things, and God said, “Give Me a love offering. Whoever’s heart prompts him, let him do it.”
Unfortunately, you find the enemy knew about it. So when Moses went to the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, you know what happened.
The children of Israel came to Aaron and said, “We do not know what happened to Moses. He went to the mountain, and he did not come back. Now make us a god to lead us.”
Aaron said, “Let all the women, the children, and even the men bring their earrings, their gold earrings.” Aaron melted them and moulded them into a golden calf. The children of Israel said, “This is our god. This is the god that led us.” They began to eat and drink and rejoice.
God said to Moses, “Go down. The children of Israel have sinned.” Moses came down and saw the situation. You remember how he smashed the two tables of stone, because the law was already broken.
He melted that golden calf, threw the powder into the river, and asked the children of Israel to drink their own sins. Some gold had already been lost—the gold that was supposed, first of all, to be offered to God. The enemy came in and tried to take away what rightfully belonged to God.
But thank God, what He gave was so abundant. So God gave them a second chance.
Again, you find in Exodus 35 that God gave the children of Israel a second chance. He said, “Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, the Lord’s offering: gold, silver, brass, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, acacia wood, precious stones, oil, and spices.”
They were to bring these things as a love offering to God. Here you find that the material for the tabernacle actually came from God Himself. He gave it to His people, and yet the people had to give it back out of love. God would not force them to give it, but out of love, that offering became the material for the building of the tabernacle.
The same principle is found in the building of the temple. Even though David was not allowed to build the temple, he was given the pattern.
Now, for a person who does not love the Lord with all his heart, he might say, “Well, I have done my best, so there is nothing left for me to do. God will not require anything more of me.” But not David.
Even though he was not allowed to build the temple in his lifetime, how he prepared materials for the building of the temple—abundant materials.
If you read 1 Chronicles 22:14 onward, you will find that David said, “In my affliction I have prepared gold and silver and these things in abundance.” In his affliction.
Now, I wonder what that affliction really means. Does it mean that in the days when he had to make many wars, he set apart the spoil of war and gave it as a heave offering unto God?
When you come to 1 Chronicles 28, again you find David saying, “I have prepared, according to all my power.” All that he was able to do, he gathered.
Then it is followed by this: “Because of my affection for the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good given to the house of my God.” He gave the best of gold and silver—everything most precious.
So you find that it was a love offering: out of his affliction, according to all his power, and out of his affection for the house of God. He encouraged the people to give willingly, and thank God, they gave willingly.
As you read 1 Chronicles 28, you find how David praised God because God had made His people willing to give willingly for the building of the house of God.
Now, brothers and sisters, these are just types. But now we come to the reality: the building of the church. Where do you get the material for the building of the church?
We mentioned last night that when God first created man, actually He had in His mind the material for the future building of the house of God. But unfortunately, man sinned. Since then, God began to work and to prepare the material.
He called Abraham, and out of Abraham came a nation. To that nation Christ was to be born, and our Lord Jesus came into this world.
If you read the Gospel according to John, you find that our Lord came as a Bridegroom. He came to find His bride, but she was nowhere to be found.
So He had to call people out. He called His disciples out. He prepared His disciples to be the material for the future building of the house of God, of the church.
Even in His lifetime, during His ministry, you find He mentioned the word church only twice, and that was towards the end of His ministry. He came for that purpose, and yet He was not able to share what was upon His heart even with His disciples—not until He had the cross in view, until He had Calvary in view.
Then He began to open His heart to His disciples, and He said, “I will build My church upon this rock.” But where is the material? He said, “Thou art Peter.”
You are a stone, a small stone. I am the Rock, the massive Rock. You are a stone out of the Rock, so you are to be built upon Me. That is what I will be doing.
The Lord did not say, “Thou art stone, and upon this rock I will build My church.” No, “Thou art Peter.” Peter understood this very clearly.
In 1 Peter 2:4-5, Peter himself wrote:
Unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God chosen, precious,
ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
When we come to the Lord, the living Stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious to God, we all become living stones. Out of the Rock, the old Rock, we all become living stones and are built up as a spiritual house.
So, brothers and sisters, what are the materials for the building of the church? The material is in those who have the life of Christ in them. Formerly we were just dust, dead dust. But when we come to the Lord, we become living stones.
There is a regeneration that happens to us. A new life, a divine life, the very life of our Lord Jesus—the very life of God—is given to us. So we become living stones.
The Lord said, “I will use these living stones, these Peters, and I will build them upon Myself. And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” The material is none other than that which is out of Christ.
But then there is another element in it. These living stones have to be lovingly, voluntarily, offered back to Him.
Even though we are living stones, if we do not offer ourselves voluntarily, lovingly, and willingly to Him, He cannot build us as He desires. That is the reason why you find in Romans 12:1-2:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual service.
And be not fashioned according to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
What is the perfect will of God? If you read to verse 5, you find one body. That is the will of God.
In other words, even though we are living stones, if we do not offer ourselves—our bodies, our redeemed bodies—then God cannot build us. The reason I use the word bodies is because we are entering into the practical area. It is with the body that we do things. Actually, the body means our whole being.
God does not want our gold or silver. He wants us. He wants us to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, just like the children of Israel. They had to come with a willing heart, prompted by the Spirit, and give a love offering out of what God had given to them.
If a person is not willing, he can keep it for himself. But he will waste what God has destined it to be.
So, brothers and sisters, the same thing is true with us today. Why is it that the church is not built? There are so many people redeemed and saved, but why do you not see the building there? The reason is because we retain everything to ourselves. We do not voluntarily and willingly give ourselves to the Lord.
The enemy knows very well that what God has done in our lives is meant to be for God, for the building of the church. So he tries to tempt us and lead us away to use what God has given to us for other purposes.
Just like the children of Israel, they used the gold to build a golden calf. It is a waste. Brothers and sisters, do you realise how much we have wasted of what God has given to us, which was meant for the building of the church?
We waste it upon ourselves. We waste it in the world. We waste it for other purposes than the purpose of God.
Only those who present their bodies as a living sacrifice, withholding nothing from God, and give God a love offering—our love offering is ourselves; we give ourselves to Him—only when we do that will God take us in and start to build us.
So it is a tragedy that it takes so long to build the church. It is because God’s people do not come willingly and offer themselves as living, loving offerings—living sacrifices. That is all that God desires.
I do hope, especially with the younger brothers and sisters, that as soon as you are redeemed, that is the time you should offer yourself completely to the Lord. Because of your first love, it is easy. The longer you delay it, the harder it becomes.
You begin to accumulate so much that you find it very hard to separate from those things. So I encourage young brothers and sisters, from the very start of their Christian life, to offer themselves as a living sacrifice.
Then God will take you and start to build you into the church—the glorious church, the living church of God. So that is the material: we are the material. But we have to offer ourselves willingly to Him before He can use us.
Then, number four: after you have collected all these materials, you go through a process. That is to say, you use these materials and build them into a house.
In the case of Adam, God took out of Adam a rib and used that rib to build a woman. That was the process.
In our case, you find the process is much more complicated. Why? Because we have sinned. We are not what God originally designed. We have sinned; we have fallen.
So how can God really get the material for the building of the house? You find that our Lord Jesus came to this world. He lived a perfect life.
But His perfect life cannot save us. His perfect life actually condemns us. Yet His perfect life qualified Him to be our Redeemer, to be our Substitute.
When you come to John 19, you find that after our Lord Jesus was crucified, He said, “It is finished.” The work was done, and He gave up His spirit to His Father.
Then the soldiers came. They wanted to make sure that Jesus had really died, so one soldier thrust a spear into His side, and out of it came blood and water.
The Apostle John was there, and he said, “I saw it, and I bear witness to it. The witness is true.” He made it so emphatic. Now, brothers and sisters, sometimes you wonder, why did John do that? There must be significance behind it.
Here you find that our Lord had to go through that—not like Adam. Adam just went to sleep, but our Lord had to go to death. Actually, He tasted eternal death for us during the last three hours. It was painful, because our sins were involved.
But out of that side came blood and water: blood for the remission and atonement of our sins; water, His life poured out as water, to give us new life.
So with this blood and water comes the material for the building of the church. Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus paid a tremendous price for us. It is the Christ in you and the Christ in me that is the material for the building of the house of God.
In the building of the tabernacle, God not only gathered the materials—the children of Israel, after their repentance and forgiveness, were so touched by the love of God that they came and gave, and gave, every day and every morning. Those who were willing came and gave until finally they had to be stopped, because it was too much.
Then in Exodus 35, you find that God not only asked the people to give, but God also called Bezaleel and Aholiab. These two men He filled with His Spirit, giving them wisdom and understanding that they might be able to do all the work.
In the following chapter, you find that those who had wisdom and understanding all came and worked together. They worked on the materials and turned them into a tabernacle. It took them less than a year to finish it.
But in the case of Solomon building the temple, you find Solomon was the symbol of wisdom. In other words, it takes wisdom to turn material into a finished product. Knowledge is not enough. You need wisdom.
Wisdom is how to apply the knowledge, to make use of the knowledge you have. So you find that it is wisdom that builds the house. Solomon, the symbol of wisdom, was used of God to build the temple, and it took him seven years to build it.
Now, brothers and sisters, in the building of the church, who is the wisdom? The Lord said, “I will build My church.” In other words, the Lord Himself alone has the wisdom to build the church.
We think of the church as nothing. Anybody can build a church, plant a church. We have this term, “church planters.” You just go out and plant, as if we have all the wisdom to build a church, to turn the materials into finished products. We do not.
Only the One who is greater than Solomon—the Son greater than Solomon—is the One who is wisdom itself to build the church. He alone can do it. Yet He gives His Spirit to those whom He fills with wisdom and understanding, and these people can work under Him to turn all the materials into finished products.
We are living stones, but unfortunately there are so many other elements bound together with us. We have the life of Christ in us, but unfortunately the whole Adamic life is still there. We have the new nature, but we still have the old nature. You find that we are a mixture.
God has to purify us and sanctify us by the washing of water with the word. He has to do much work in our life—not only to take away all the trash and rubbish, all that is of the flesh, all that is of the world in us, all that is of sin in us, and even some satanic things.
He has to purify us. Not only that, He has to make these living stones precious stones—not just living, but precious.
In order to make us precious stones, you need pressure—great pressure, almost unbearable. You need heat, intensive heat. You need darkness, pitch darkness, to turn the stones into precious stones.
Brothers and sisters, does that speak to us? Why is it that when we offer ourselves to the Lord—if you keep everything to yourself, it seems that you can live a rather smooth and easy life—but once you give yourself wholly to the Lord, your life becomes more difficult?
Things begin to happen: pressure, heat, darkness, many things you do not understand. “If God loves me, why does He allow this thing to happen to me?”
The Holy Spirit is disciplining us. He is arranging our environment. He is putting some people with us in order to deal with us. He is arranging our circumstances and what happens to us in order to turn us into precious stones. The Holy Spirit is doing much work in our lives.
Not only does He make us precious stones; He does not make us precious stones merely to be exhibits in a museum. He wants these precious stones to be built together. That is further work to do.
He has to chisel, He has to cut, He has to smooth. He has to do much work in our lives so that we can fit in with one another.
All our strong points are the difficult points in being knitted together. It is not our weakness; it is our strength. The Spirit of God has to deal with us by the cross.
When we are weak, there we are strong. We are being knitted together, united together, fitting one with another. There is much work the Holy Spirit has to do in our lives.
It took less than a year to build the tabernacle. It took seven years to build the temple. But how many years has it taken to build the church? Two thousand years have gone by, and the building is still not finished.
But God is working. He is working. He is building up. In His wisdom, He turns these raw materials into finished products.
Brothers and sisters, that is what God is doing today. When we understand this, we will not be offended by the Lord. Otherwise, it is so easy to be offended. Thank God for that.
Then finally, of course, the finished product is to be presented. God took Eve to Adam. As soon as Adam saw Eve, he knew right away:
This is now bone of my bones,
and flesh of my flesh:
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.
The two were united into one. Brothers and sisters, when Moses finished the tabernacle, everything was according to the pattern on the mount. When they set it up, you know what happened: a cloud filled the tabernacle. The glory of the Lord descended upon it, and even the priests could not remain in the tabernacle. They had to come out. The people just worshipped.
The same thing happened to the temple. When the temple was finished, when Solomon offered the burnt offering, fire came down from heaven, and then the cloud filled the temple. The priests had to retreat, and everyone just worshipped.
Brothers and sisters, how much more glorious it will be when the day comes that which is in the mind of God is realised.
As you find in Ephesians 5, Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. He is sanctifying it by the washing of water with the word, to make it holy.
That He might present the church to Himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without blemish.
The glorious church is to be presented to Him as His bride. When you come to the end of the Bible, the book of Revelation, you find the holy city, New Jerusalem, prepared and adorned for the Bridegroom, descending and full of glory.
You see Christ in His corporate expression, completed. There is nothing we can do but worship.
So, brothers and sisters, thank God. This is the work of God. Our Lord Jesus said, “My Father worketh even until now, and I work.” This is the work of God.
We believe that what God has begun, He will finish. Even humanly speaking, the more you look at the condition today, your heart will sink. But by faith, we know that the Lord is working. He has not finished working. He is always working, working, working.
We believe that the day is coming when the glorious church will be manifested. May God give us faith and also give us obedience.
Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, we want to thank Thee for Thy precious, glorious thought: that Thou dost desire to give Thy beloved Son something that will completely answer to His heart.
We do praise and thank Thee that it is Thy will that man should be that. Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for giving Thy life to us. We want to thank Thee for all the cost that Thou wast willing to pay for us.
We pray that we may be people who are touched by Thy love and willing to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, allowing Thee to work with us and in us by Thy Spirit until the glorious church can be presented to Thy beloved Son.
O Lord, speed it up. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
We thank Thee that Jesus is the yes to every promise. Lord, may it be in us. May we be purified, that we can be that holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices and a spiritual temple for Thee.
Thank You for Your promise. You began this work.
Because our time is short together, I would like to ask you a question. I can ask you privately, but I will just ask you publicly, and then you can tell me whether this is a good question to discuss.
Over the years, a lot of us have become familiar with what you said today through Watchman Nee’s writings and through your own ministry. There is a particular problem, I think, and I have seen it in other people’s lives and know that it has affected my own life.
It has to do with our personalities and our temperaments—who we are as individuals. When you speak of John plus Christ, not John, and Christ is left—what is left of us? That is my question. We can talk privately, but if it would be good to talk about it, I think it would be helpful. Do you understand?
Yes. When you say, “John plus Christ,” yes, John is John. What is left of us when we talk about our personality and our temperament? I think we need to see the difference between temperament and personality.
In other words, when God created us, He created every one of us differently. Bodily speaking, no two persons are physically exactly alike, even twins, because God loves variety.
I believe, personally, that this is also the way God creates our soul. The shape of our soul is the temperament. God made us with different temperaments.
Some have a temperament that is more outgoing; some are more reserved. Some are quicker; some are slower. Everyone has his different temperament.
So far as temperament is concerned, just like our physical body, it is neutral. Whatever God builds is beautiful. People with quick temperaments are beautiful, and people with slow temperaments are also beautiful.
The problem is: who is using the temperament? That is the problem. If the old man is using the temperament, no good will come out of it.
If you are quick, you are too quick. If you are slow, you are too slow. If you are too outgoing, just like Peter, you get into trouble. If you are too meditative, you get into trouble too.
So far as temperament itself is concerned, it is the shape of our soul. That is what you are. Actually, it is more real than our body. What you really are is the soul, and the shape of your soul is where your individuality is. So our temperament determines our individuality.
God loves us as individuals. God does not want us to be like a lump of meat. It is a body, and every member is different. That is the beauty of it.
We try to imitate other people, or we think, “If only I had that person’s temperament.” No. God says, “Stay where you are. That is why I made you to be what you are.”
If you allow Me to use your temperament, if you allow My life to control your temperament, it is very useful. Peter is useful. When he is using his own temperament, he causes problems. But when God uses him at Pentecost, what a difference!
John could not do that—stand up before great multitudes and give a message like that, and three thousand are saved. John was so timid; he could not do that. Only Peter could do that, because he had the temperament for it.
Yet John had his own temperament. That is why you find he is the one who mends everything, as if he is hidden, but mending things.
So do not worry about your temperament. You are not able to change it. You can moderate it a little—that is true, because of control—but you cannot change your temperament.
Thank God, He often puts two different temperaments together to make a husband and wife. That is the wonder of marriage. If you put two of the same temperament together, it would be disastrous.
You have to learn—there is much cross, of course—but that is where we try to complement each other. So there is no problem with temperament or individuality. The problem is what we call personality.
Personality is the sum total of our character. Through the years, with the old life, we build up different characteristics. The combination of these characteristics becomes our personality—that which appears to people, what we are.
After we are saved, I personally believe our personality has to change. God will deal with our personality. That is to say, He will deal with our old nature, our old habits, and our whole way of life. These become the background of our personality.
Personality is your person. It is what expresses you. In Adam, that is what we are. So personality has to change.
In other words, with the new nature—the life of Christ in us—we are to be partakers of His new nature. Being partakers of His new nature means that gradually we are transformed, and a new character is built.
Now, this is Christian character. Christian character is not ethics. It is not something that man himself tries to improve. Some people think that by improving themselves and their character, they become Christians. No. Christian character is Christ.
The Holy Spirit begins to work in us, using the cross to cross out the old habits, the old thinking, the old way of life, the old mind, and all these things. He begins to enable us to follow the new nature in us.
As you follow the new nature, it becomes a habit: a new habit, a new character. The combination of this new character is your new personality.
So you find that even in eternity, the twelve foundation stones representing the apostles are all different precious stones. They are different combinations.
Peter is still Peter. John is still John. The individuality is still there, but the personality is Christ. Nothing of the old Simon is there; it is all the new Peter.
That is what the Lord is working. I understand that sometimes we feel there is a problem with the church because of personality. But actually, that is why you need a new personality. The old personality is always a problem; it is left over from the old creation.
That is why we need the renewing of our mind. We need gradually to build up new habits and new character, and let the character of Christ characterise us.
You know the fruit of the Spirit. Even with the fruit of the Spirit, you have different combinations in different people. That makes us different stones—precious stones—and that is the beauty of it.
But so far as personality is concerned, one day what expresses our personality will be Christ. Oftentimes, when we have problems, we say, “Well, it is a personality problem.” Of course, no one can deal with a personality problem except God. That is the specialty of the Holy Spirit.