As believers in Christ, we have been called into the fellowship of Christ so that we may enjoy Him as our allotted portion given to us by God for our enjoyment; we need to focus on nothing else but enjoying the all-inclusive Christ in all that He is to us, and all our problems will be gone! Hallelujah!
This week in our morning revival we come to a new series based on the speaking released in the 2023 Thanksgiving Blending Conference with the general title, The Enjoyment of Christ and our Growth in Life unto Maturity.
This week, week 1, we come to the topic of, The Enjoyment of the All-inclusive Christ as the Unique Solution to All Problems in the Church.
In the church life, we speak a lot concerning the matter of enjoying the Lord and growing in life, and we encourage one another to enjoy Christ or enjoy the Lord.
For many Christians today, however, this is a foreign concept; they know about worshipping God, serving God, praying to God, and knowing God, but they never heard about enjoying God.
May this matter not become so common about us that we lose the fresh impression and intrinsic significance of enjoying the Lord.
May we not languish in the land, losing the freshness of enjoying the Lord.
May our original impressions of what it means to enjoy the Lord would not be blunted by force of custom or long residence in the same spot. Oh, Lord.
If we do not enjoy the Lord in reality, if we don’t pay the price daily to get out of ourselves and enjoy the Lord, speaking of enjoying the Lord may be something common among us, but to us, it may mean nothing.
We need to come to the Lord again and again poor in spirit and with a hungry heart so that we may see the matter of the enjoyment of the Lord in a fresh and deeper way.
Did we enjoy the depths of God?
Did we enjoy something of the deep things of God?
Umplumbed depths still lie beneath us, unscaled heights rise far above; our Christ is all-inclusive, and He has been allotted to us by God to be our portion for our enjoyment.
We need to come to the Lord in a fresh way and ask Him to show us more concerning Himself so that we may appreciate Him and enjoy Him.
We want to do active research into the riches of Christ to enjoy Him and partake of His riches.
When we speak of enjoying Christ, when we enjoy Him, we have joy.
We not only experience Him but we also enjoy Him.
When we eat broccoli or some green vegetables which we have to eat but do not like, we experience these healthy foods, but we do not enjoy them.
Similarly, we may experience Christ, but what about enjoying Christ? We know that Christ is good for us to eat, but do we enjoy Him?
We need to enjoy Christ and take God as our exceeding joy.
As we enjoy the Lord, we grow in life unto maturity. God needs our growth in life unto maturity because He wants to gain a mature bride for Christ.
We have been called into the Fellowship of Christ to Enjoy Him as our Allotted Portion
The book of 1 Corinthians is on the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the unique solution to all problems in the church (1:2, 9, 32, 30).
This book reveals that we have been called into the fellowship of Christ, that is, we have been called into the enjoyment of Christ (1 Cor. 1:9).
The word fellowship includes the thought of enjoyment, for in Greek, fellowship is koinonia, joint participation into something.
Christ is our God-allotted portion for us to enjoy (v. 2; Col. 1:12).
Before Paul addressed the problems in the church in Corinth, he reminded the saints that they have been called into the fellowship of Christ for them to enjoy Him.
We have been called into the joint participation of Christ, the fellowship of Christ, for us to enjoy Him and partake of Him.
There is a joint participation here in which two parties are not just in mutual communication but also in a mutual participation and enjoyment.
On the one hand, we enjoy the Lord; on the other hand, He enjoys us.
1 Cor. 1:2 says that Christ is theirs and ours; Christ has been allotted to all the saints for their enjoyment, and we have been called into the fellowship of Christ to enjoy Him.
The more we enjoy Christ, the more our problems will disappear and be dealt with.
Christ is the unique center for us to enjoy, and this will solve the problems among the saints, especially the problem of division.
In 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul’s intention was to solve the problems among the saints in Corinth; for all the problems – especially the matter of division, the only solution is the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ.
God called us into the fellowship of Christ so that we may enjoy Him; therefore, we should concentrate only on Christ and enjoy Him.
We should not focus on any persons, things, or matters other than Christ.
We should focus on Christ as our unique center appointed by God so that all the problems among the believers may be solved (1 Cor. 1:9; Col. 1:17-18).
May we look away from anything and anyone else unto the Lord, focusing uniquely on Him.
Many situations happen around us and among us, and even in the church life we may have certain situations, disagreements, arguments, and problems.
How do we deal with all these problems? It is not by deciding who is right and who is wrong; it is by enjoying Christ.
It is easy for us to focus not on Christ but on a person or a problem, and we may try to solve the problem or deal with a person.
But if we focus on any person or thing, we will lose our enjoyment.
If we focus on a situation or a matter to try to solve it, we will lose our joy.
But if in the situation we’re in we look at Christ, we will enjoy the fellowship of Christ, and we will realize that we are one spirit with the Lord.
1 Cor. 6:17 clearly says that we are joined to the Lord as one spirit, and 2 Cor. 13:14 says that we have the fellowship of the Spirit; whatever Christ is, is carried and dispensed into us by the fellowship of the Spirit.
In any situation, we need to return to our spirit. We need to come back to the Lord in our spirit.
May we learn to lift up our eyes from looking at any person, situation, or matter, and look unto Jesus, coming back to our spirit to enjoy the Lord!
When we come back to the Lord in our spirit, we are joined to Him as one spirit, and there’s much grace, much supply to meet the need and to make us the happiest saints in the church!
Many situations will come to us and we may find ourselves in many complicated matters; instead of trying to solve the situations, we need to leave them to the Lord and pray – just pray to contact the Lord, for we have been called into the fellowship of Christ to enjoy Him!
The Lord is sovereign, and the church belongs to Him; He’s the One qualified to deal with the problems in the church, and we simply need to enjoy Him.
May we look away from persons. May we look away from things and situations.
May we just look away unto Jesus, the One who called us into the fellowship of Christ for us to enjoy Him!
The only way we can go through things and still remain in the church life and go on with the Lord is by focusing only on Christ and on the enjoyment of Christ.
When we fellowship with the Lord and enjoy Him as our God-allotted portion, we enjoy what He is and He enjoys what we are.
We may think that yes, we need to enjoy what the Lord is, for He’s so rich, but we’re not sure about Him enjoying what we are.
Well, in this fellowship of Christ, we enjoy Him and He enjoys what He is working in us and what He is depositing of Himself into us.
Even when we’re weak and low, the Lord still comes to us to enjoy us, for He is one spirit with us; He wants to bring us again and again back to the enjoyment of Christ.
It’s good to tell the Lord again and again,
Lord Jesus, we want to look away from anything and anyone else unto You so that we may just enjoy You! Thank You, Lord, for calling us into the fellowship of Christ Jesus, our Lord, for us to enjoy Christ. We want to focus on nothing and no one else except Christ. Oh Lord, You are our portion. We come to You to just enjoy You. We do not look at the problems we have or the situations we’re in; we look away unto Jesus! Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to remain in the fellowship of Christ, enjoying all that God is in Christ as the Spirit for our enjoyment and experience. We come to You again and again to just enjoy You. Keep us in our spirit, enjoying You in the organic union of the Spirit with our spirit. Amen, Lord, we just want to enjoy You and let You take care of all our problems. You are our Head and You are everything to us. Praise the Lord for Jesus Christ, our God-allotted portion for our enjoyment with the saints in the light!
God has given us the All-inclusive Christ for our Enjoyment: the Secret of the Christian Life and the Church Life is for us to Enjoy Christ!
The book of 1 Corinthians reveals that God has given us the all-inclusive Christ to be our portion; on the one hand, we have been called into the fellowship of Christ to enjoy Him, and on the other hand, He is everything to us in an all-inclusive way for our enjoyment.
In this book there are at least twenty aspects of Christ presented to us for our enjoyment both personally and corporately.
The secret of the Christian life and the church life is for us to enjoy Christ.
When we are doing well, we need to enjoy Christ; when we’re down, we still need to enjoy Christ.
When we have everything we need, we need to enjoy Christ; when we lack something, we need to enjoy Christ.
When we have a good relationship with the saints, we need to enjoy Christ; when there are problems among the saints, we need to enjoy Christ.
We need to enjoy Christ as the portion given to us by God (1 Cor. 1:2). He’s our portion.
May we learn to give the Lord our preferences for things, matters, or persons, and just enjoy Christ.
May there be no competition or rivalry in the church life but just the enjoyment of Christ.
There is no us versus them; Christ is theirs and ours – He has been given to us by God to be our enjoyment.
Christ is the saints’ portion – He is their portion and He is our portion.
And He’s our portion in every place, as we call on the name of the Lord.
Christ has been given to us as our portion, and He is God’s power and God’s wisdom to us as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to us (vv. 24, 30).
God gave Christ to us to be our righteousness for our past, sanctification for our present, and redemption for our future.
He is given to us as our portion for our enjoyment for our past, present, and future!
The process we go through – our sanctification – is Christ; He is everything to us for our past, present, and future. He is sanctifying us for us to gain more of Him and possess more of His riches.
We need to enjoy Christ as the Lord of glory, even as the King of glory (2:8) for our glorification (v. 7; Rom. 8:30; Psa. 24:6-10).
He’s the Lord of glory for us to enjoy, and as we enjoy Him, we are being glorified.
We need to enjoy Christ as the deep things of God; He’s the depths of God, the deep things of God for us to enjoy and participate in (1 Cor. 2:10).
We need to enjoy Christ as the unique foundation of God’s building (3:11); no other foundation man may lay except Christ, the unique foundation laid by God.
We need to enjoy Christ as our Passover (5:7), the unleavened bread (v. 8), the spiritual food, the spiritual drink, and the spiritual rock (10:3-4).
Christ is our Passover; He’s not just the Passover Lamb but the whole Passover, including the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs.
We can enjoy Christ as the sinless life and life supply, and when He is enjoyed by us, He eliminates all the sinful things in us.
We may notice some sinful things either in our life or the life of the saints; this should not discourage us but rather, cause us to eat more of Christ.
The more we enjoy Christ as the sinless life, the more our sins are removed.
Furthermore, we will have the experience of Christ as the bitter herbs; we feel sorrowful concerning our sinful deeds, and to some extent, that bitterness will not allow us to sin again.
Christ is the spiritual rock that follows us wherever we are to give us living water to drink.
May we open to Him to eat Him as our spiritual food, drink Him as our spiritual drink, and partake of Him as our sinless life supply.
We need to enjoy Christ as the Head (11:3; Col. 2:19; Eph. 1:19-23) and the Body (1 Cor. 12:12, 24-25a; Eph. 4:15-16).
Furthermore, we need to enjoy Christ as the firstfruits (1 Cor. 15:20, 23), the second man (v. 47), and the last Adam, who became the life-giving Spirit (v. 45), to be everything to us.
He is everything to us as the life-giving Spirit.
Everything He is and has for us is in this life-giving Spirit, and we have been called into the fellowship of Christ for us to enjoy Him as the Spirit.
Without Christ being the life-giving Spirit, everything of God and of Christ is mere doctrine and something outward; but when we exercise our spirit to partake of the reality of what Christ is as the life-giving Spirit, we enjoy Him, He becomes real to us, and we become happy Christians, with no problems.
Lord Jesus, we come to You to enjoy You as the all-inclusive One who has been allotted by God to be our portion. We exercise our spirit to partake of all that You are to us in spirit. Hallelujah, Christ is the portion given to us by God to be our enjoyment today! Amen, Lord, we take You as God’s power and God’s wisdom as righteousness for our past, sanctification for our present, and redemption for our future. We exercise our spirit to enjoy You as the Lord of glory for our glorification. We come to You in spirit to enjoy and partake of the depths of God, the hidden things of God. Oh Lord, You are the unique foundation for God’s building, and You are the Head of the church and the Body of the Head. Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy You as our Passover, our unleavened bread, our spiritual food, our spiritual drink, and our spiritual rock that follows us to supply us. You are the firstfruits, the second man, and the last Adam, and You have become a life-giving Spirit! Hallelujah, the life-giving Spirit is one with our spirit to make real to us all that God in Christ is to us! Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit to enjoy You and partake of You as the Spirit!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by James Lee in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msgs. 3-5, 16 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Enjoyment of Christ and our Growth in Life unto Maturity (2023 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 1, entitled, The Enjoyment of the All-inclusive Christ as the Unique Solution to All Problems in the Church.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– Shepherding materials – The Spirit and Life, a portion via, Shepherding Literature.
– Called into the fellowship of the Son through the faithful God, a portion from, A Genuine Church, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
– The All-inclusive Christ in 1 Corinthians, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
– The River, the Spirit, Brings All God’s Riches to Us, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– What is the All-inclusive Christ? Read more via, Radio Newsletters.
– The fellowship of God’s Son, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 50.
– 7 Ways to Gain Christ as Your Enjoyment Every Day, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– The all-inclusive Christ as the believers’ portion, a portion from, The Economy and Dispensing of God, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee. - Hymns on this topic:
– Look away! O look away! / Look to Jesus now today! / Look away from everything unto Jesus, / Look away from everything to Him! / Look away from all around—Hallelujah, / Look away from all the strife and din; / Look away where peace is found—Hallelujah, / Look away from everything to Him. (Hymns #1206 stanza 2 and chorus)
– I’ve found the One of peerless worth, / My heart doth sing for joy; / And sing I must, for Christ I have: / Oh, what a Christ have I! / My Christ, He is the Lamb of God, / Who full salvation brings; / He is the Sun of Righteousness, / With healing in His wings. / My Christ, He is the Tree of Life / With fruit abundant, sweet; / My hunger He doth satisfy; / Of Him I daily eat. (Hymns #510 stanzas 1-3)
– God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, / That we may partake of Christ and enjoy Him / As our unique center and as our God-given portion. / God has called us into the fellowship of His Son. (New song on, God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, stanza 1)
Life-study of 1 Corinthians, 2nd edition, pp. 23-25, by Witness Lee
We have been called into the fellowship, the enjoyment of Christ; God gave Christ to us as our allotted portion for our enjoyment.
When we enjoy Christ, He becomes our unique center, and all our problems are gone!
May we concentrate on Him, not on any persons, things, or matters other than Him.
We enjoy Him and He enjoys us.
amen we love you Lord Jesus and may You be our life and our everything
Amen, Lord! Oh brother the very Christ into whom we have been called is all-inclusive!
We should concentrate on Him, not on any person, things or matters other than Christ!
Amen! Thank You, Lord You are the all-inclusive one given to us for our enjoyment.
We have to exercise our spirit to only concentrate on Him.
We have been called to this oneness which we enjoy one’s another presence.
Amen, brother. Every truly positive thing begins with the enjoyment of Jesus.
The first sign of degradation among the churches was the leaving of Christ as our first love.
We need to recover the loving enjoyment of Christ as our everyday reality.
Instead of focusing on problems, we should simply turn to our spirit and enjoy Jesus as our allotted portion & birthright.
May we seek always to be one spirit with our Lord, to enjoy what He is so that He may enjoy what we are.
Yes, Christ wants to enjoy what we are! How amazing! How wonderful!
Amennnnnnn!
Lord be our focus and enjoyment and for the swallowing up all of our problems 🙏🏼
Praise the Lord!😃🙌🙋🏽
Amen, brother this mutual dwelling with our Lord Jesus is a mutual enjoyment! We receive him as our all and everything and he enjoys us as a father enjoys his child because he is one spirit with us!
Hallelujah!
Amen brother.
Lord, keep us focused on You, and all the problems among us in the church are solved.
We want to enjoy You, Lord.
When we focus on You all other concerns are gone, how great!
When we fellowship we become one with You.
Hallelujah Oh Lord, amen
What a mercy and a blessing to be those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus!
As the called saints, we have been called into a union and joint partipation with the Son – Jesus Christ our Lord.
We must concentrate and focus on this one, giving Him the first place in all things, so that we may enjoy this one as the unique solution to all the problems in the church, especially where we are locally.
O Lord Jesus!
Our enjoyment of Him today will issue in gaining the uttermost enjoyment in the coming age!
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Ameeen!!!
Hallelujah!!! There is a unique solution to all our problems – enjoyment of the all inclusive Christ. This wonderful person not only has the solution, He is the unique solution to all problems in the church. Most of the times the way to deal with the problems is not to deal with them directly. It is to turn to Christ and to enjoy Him.
Hence, God’s intention in His recovery is to recover Christ as the unique center of God’s economy and as everything to us as our portion for our enjoyment.
1 Cor. 1:9, footnote 2 on “into the fellowship”, Recovery Version Bible
The relationship I have with Jesus is romantic