I.　According to the entire revelation of the New Testament, the unique goal of the Christian work should be the New Jerusalem, which is the ultimate goal of God's eternal economy—Rev. 21:2, 10:

A.　The Triune God who passed through all the processes, the all-inclusive Christ who was incarnated to die and resurrect, and the life-giving Spirit who was consummated to indwell us all take the New Jerusalem as Their eternal goal.

B.　The Father as the fountain, the Son as the spring, and the Spirit as the flowing river all take the New Jerusalem as Their eternal goal—John 4:14b.

C.　The degradation of the church is mainly due to the fact that nearly all the Christian workers are distracted to take many things other than the New Jerusalem as their goal.

D.　Hence, under the degradation of the church, to be overcomers answering the Lord's call we need to overcome not only the negative things but even more the positive things which replace the New Jerusalem as the goal.

E.　An overcomer's goal should be uniquely and ultimately the goal of God's eternal economy, that is, the New Jerusalem—Rev. 2:7; 3:12.

II.　The New Jerusalem is the Triune God, the Divine Trinity, as three basic factors, wrought into and structured together with His redeemed to be a miraculous structure of treasure as the conclusion of the whole Bible:

A.　The first main aspect of the New Jerusalem is seen in its structure with its base signified by the gold as the Father's nature, its gates signified by the pearls as the issue of the Son's redeeming death and life-dispensing resurrection, and its wall signified by the precious stones as the consum-mation of the Spirit's transforming work—21:12-13, 18-21.

B.　The second main aspect of the New Jerusalem is seen in its furnishings with the reigning center of the Father signified by the throne, the abiding place of the Son signified by the temple, and the enlightening and shining light of the Spirit signified by the oil in the lamp—22:1; 21:16, 22-25; 22:3, 5.

C.　The third main aspect of the New Jerusalem is seen in its supply being the flow of the Divine Trinity; its base and source for the flow is the Father signified by the street, its flow is the Spirit signified by the river of water of life, and the element of its flow is the Son signified by the tree of life—vv. 1-2.

D.　Thus, the entire constitution of the New Jerusalem is the processed and consummated Triune God built with His regenerated, transformed, and glorified elect in His Divine Trinity in a threefold way—cf. Eph. 4:4-6.

III.　As co-workers and elders, we must have the realization that we are working with God to carry out His divine building in three aspects— the church, the Body of Christ, and the New Jerusalem—1 Cor. 3:9, 12a, 15:

A.　We must establish and shepherd the churches by the pneumatic Christ, the Christ who is the life-giving Spirit, with His organic salvation.

B.　We must build and constitute the Body of Christ by Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit with His sevenfold intensified organic salvation.

C.　We must adorn and consummate the New Jerusalem with God the Father as its golden base, God the Son as its pearl gates, and God the Spirit for the wall of precious stones, by drinking the Spirit, the flowing Triune God, as the river of water of life and eating Christ, the overcoming Lion-Lamb, as the tree of life with His rich and fresh supply:

1.　The New Jerusalem needs not only to be consummated but also adorned; she is "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband"—Rev. 21:2, 18-21.

2.　We need to adorn the divine building by coordinating with the trans-forming Spirit to minister the Triune God into others, perfecting them with the attributes of the Triune God so that these divine attributes become their human virtues for the building up of the Body of Christ— 2 Cor. 3:18; S. S. 1:10-11; Eph. 4:11-12.

D.　Even today the New Jerusalem is still under construction; we are building up the Body of Christ for the building of the New Jerusalem:

1.　We are working together with God to build up the New Jerusalem; the Lord's concern is to gain the New Jerusalem through the precursor of the organic Body of Christ produced in the churches.

2.　As we grow in the divine life and minister the Triune God to others for their growth in the divine life, we are building up the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem—Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:16.

IV.　What is crucial with our building work is "of what sort it is"—1 Cor. 3:13:

A.　If we build upon the foundation with gold (God the Father in His divine nature), silver (God the Son in His judicial redemption), and precious stones (God the Spirit in His transforming work), we will receive a reward— v. 12a, 14.

B.　If we build upon the foundation with wood (the human nature), grass (man in the flesh), and stubble (lifelessness), we will suffer loss; our work will be consumed, but we ourselves will be saved, yet so as through fire—v. 12b, 15.

V.　"In the past there was a large frame in my study in which these words were written: ‘…he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire' (1 Cor. 3:15). If you build the temple of God with gold, silver, and precious stones, you will receive a reward. However, if you build with wood, grass, and stubble, your work will be consumed, but you yourself will be saved, yet so as through fire. This may be likened to a piece of land that was on fire, and the wood, grass, and stubble upon it were burned. The land itself could not be consumed, yet it went through the burning by fire. I hung that portion of 1 Corinthians on the wall in my home so that I might always be reminded: ‘Man, be careful; do not try to build the Body of Christ and the New Jerusalem with your nature, disposition, old "I," old creation, self, inclination, and preference. If you do, you will destroy the Body of Christ.' Whenever we touch the eternal goal of God, the New Jerusalem, we need to be very pure; we must not be careless" (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, pp. 89-90).