This week in the morning revival we come to two practical ways for us to live in the focus of the Lord’s recovery – being the inoculators and the ministers of the new covenant. On the one hand we are “the inoculators” – inoculating the saints against the decline of the church – and on the other hand we are “ministers of the new covenant” – ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit, who gives life.
The focus of the Lord’s recovery is the corporate expression of the Triune God, the testimony of Jesus. For us to live in this focus, we need to be inoculators and ministers of the new covenant.
Being an inoculator
In 2 Tim. 1:1-16 the apostle Paul presented himself as a pattern and an inoculator. He described an inoculator as being teachers, soldiers, contenders, husbandmen, and workmen.
In the physical realm, no one likes to be inoculated – getting a shot is not a very pleasant thing for many. But the spiritual inoculation is a pleasant one, the pleasant inoculation of the word of grace of the Triune God. Whenever we are in the meetings, conferences, trainings, etc. we are inoculated against the decline of the church!
The divine antidote of the divine inoculation is the divine word of God. The way we are being inoculated against the decline of the church is by receiving and taking in the God-breathed word of God, the word of the Scriptures. Also, as Paul was mentioning this in 2 Tim. 2, the word of God’s grace is an inoculation – many times it is a pleasant thing to be inoculated with the word of God’s grace!
Entrusting the riches of God’s grace to faithful men
Timothy received a good deposit and he has been nourished with the riches of grace – that’s why Paul charged him to commit these things to others who would be faithful and competent to carry on the same ministry (2 Tim. 2:2).
On the one hand, we need to be those who are in the things of God’s economy, the healthy teaching, being constituted with the truth and the riches in the word of God. We need to dive into the New Testament with the footnotes and the life-studies which open up the Word of God, so that we would receive a good deposit of the riches of grace concerning God’s New Testament economy.
On the other hand, there is a great need for some who would rise up and entrust these things to faithful men by teaching the riches of God’s economy! God needs some faithful ones who firstly are constituted with the truth and then find others who commit these things to. By passing on the riches of grace to others and by imparting the healthy things of God’s economy into the saints we inoculate others against the decline of the church and we even hasten the Lord’s return! Lord, make us these ones who gain a good deposit of the riches of God’s economy and then commit these things to faithful men!
Shepherding by dispensing and teaching
We all need to shepherd the saints with the teaching of God’s economy (see Eph. 4:11 and 1 Tim. 3:2, 4:11-16). How do we shepherd the saints? It is mainly by dispensing the divine life in the humanity of Jesus to cherish them (to make them happy, comfortable, and open) and by teaching them the divine truths in the divinity of Christ to nourish them (Eph. 5:29).
The Lord Jesus was a pattern for us in this by denying His natural human life and living by the divine life in resurrection – He was charming and attracting people in His humanity, and He fed them in His divinity with the words of God!
We all need to learn to be pleasant persons, even charming persons, in order to make others happy for them to receive the inoculation by the imparting of the riches of God’s economy. But we shouldn’t be charming or pleasant in a natural way – by putting on a mask.
No, we need to deny ourselves, not live by our natural life, but live by the divine life in resurrection – and Christ as the great Shepherd will have a way to care for others through us. How we need this divinely enriched humanity of Jesus to be lived out in us, so that we would cherish others in His humanity and nourish them in His divinity!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from, The Vital Groups, and, Life-study of 2 Timothy, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Focus of the Lord’s Recovery, week 5;
Lord, fill us with the riches in the New Testament economy of God! We want to be those who give ourselves to be constituted and saturated with the healthy teaching of God’s economy so that we would be inoculated ourselves! Also, Lord, make us those who commit these things to faithful ones – make us the inoculators of today! May our teaching and our speaking be filled with the riches of God’s economy to inoculate others against the decline of the church!
