The central vision of the completing ministry of Paul is man being a vessel to contain God and be filled with God, Christ as the mystery of God, and the church as the mystery of Christ. Seeing that Christ is the mystery of God is not such a simple matter – we need the entire Bible, and especially the Epistles of Paul, to at least see a glimpse of how Christ is God’s mystery.
Yesterday we saw that Christ is everything to the believers – He is everything we need! Today we want to see more about how Christ is everything to the church, and how God wants us to realize that the entire Triune God in Christ has passed through a long process to become the Spirit to be received by us so that we may become members of Christ’s Body, the church, His fullness.
Somehow, very mysteriously, God is dispensing Himself into man and makes us His Body, His expression, His testimony on the earth. Paul’s Epistles are very mysterious, and he is the only one who mentions “the Body of Christ”.
Through his writings we can understand a little more of God’s economy, His purpose, His plan, and we can see more about Christ as the mystery of God and as everything to the church.
Lord, unveil us to see Christ as the mystery of God. May any veil of religion and tradition and Christianity be lifted up from our eyes that we may have a clear view of Christ. Lord, we want to see Christ as everything to the church. May we see Your divine dispensing, Your process, and Your heart’s desire. Enlighten the eyes of our heart that we may see such a Christ!
Christ is Everything to the Church
The church is the Body of Christ, and Christ is everything to the church. Christ is the Head of the Body (Col. 1:18) and He is the Body of the Head (1 Cor. 12:12). In the Body of Christ – since it is Christ’s Body – Christ is everything. As the Head, Christ is the source of life, the One whom we hold to receive the growth, the Counselor, the Boss, and everything to us. Every member of the Body is joined to the Head and is one with the Head.
Also, in the church as the building of God Christ is the foundation stone (Isa. 28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11), the living stone, the cornerstone, and the topstone (1 Pet. 2:4, 6-7; Eph. 2:20; Zech. 3:9; 4:7).
We live in “the stone age”, where Christ is our foundation stone (no other foundation man may lay) and He is the cornerstone joining us together in Himself. Christ is preciousness from God to us, and in Him as the cornerstone we grow as a dwelling place of God in spirit. Also, Christ is the top stone of grace – He is the grace of God as the covering of God’s building.
We believers as living stones (1 Pet. 2:5) are becoming the reproduction of Christ as the stone. In the church as the building of God, Christ is all the stones, and all the believers are becoming Christ to be part of God’s building.
In the church as the new man, Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:10-11). This means that Christ is in all the members and Christ is all the members. There’s no Jew or Greek, there’s no British or American, there’s no Chinese or Filipino, and there’s no other race, culture, color, tribe, etc – in the new man Christ is all and in all!
We all take Christ as our person, and we all live Christ! No matter how different outwardly we may be, how different our disposition or background is, as long as we live Christ, we take Him as our person and Christ is all and in all in the new man!
The Triune God in Christ Passed through a Process to be Able to Regenerate Man for His Body
As we read the Gospels in the light of Paul’s Epistles we realize that there’s a deep desire in God for us to know that the entire Triune God in Christ has passed through a process so that God would be able to regenerate man for His Body, the church.
First of all, God became a man – by incarnation, Christ brought the infinite God into the finite man (John 1:14). Then, Christ passed through human living in which He expressed the bountiful God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues (John 14:9-11). There was something aromatic and distinctly attractive about the person and the words of Jesus Christ, who drew many people to Himself by expressing divinity in humanity in His living on earth.
After 33.5 years, Christ died on the cross and terminated the old creation (Col. 1:15), Satan, sin, death, and everything negative in the universe. After three days Christ resurrected and in His resurrection, He germinated us as the new creation (1 Pet. 1:3), He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b), and He produced the church as the Body of Christ.
By ascension Christ was glorified, exalted, enthroned, and appointed Lord over all, being commissioned with the divine government (Acts 2:33, 36). After this, Christ came down upon the church as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (Acts 1:8; 2:4).
Now Christ is the life-giving Spirit, waiting for people to receive Him by believing into Him so that they may become children of God and members of the Body of Christ (see 2 Cor. 3:17; John 1:12-13; 3:15).
Today, as soon as someone calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, Christ as the Spirit will immediately come into him, regenerate his spirit, and He will dwell in him. This starts the process of mingling of God as the Spirit with man to make man truly one with God (John 3:6; 1 Cor. 6:17).
Now we all as believers need to know the two spirits – our regenerated spirit and the life-giving Spirit – so that we may be transformed and built up with other believers to be the Body of Christ, which is the organism of God to express the Triune God for the fulfillment of His purpose (2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 2:21-22; 4:16).
Caring for Being God’s Living Testimony on Earth Today
Today we shouldn’t care for doctrines, practices, or traditions; rather, we should care ONLY for becoming the living testimony of God on earth. We should care for what Paul cared when he lived on earth – being God’s living testimony on earth by having the Triune God dispensed into us to make us members of His Body to express Him!
In the Lord’s recovery we need to see that, in a very mysterious way, Christ as the Spirit is mingling Himself with us to make us the living members of His Body. The Lord today is recovering Christ as life and everything to us and the church as His Body, His fullness (Col. 3:4, 11, 16; 2:19). This is what we should pay attention to!
The Lord wants a built-up church composed of many believers who are infused, filled, and saturated with God to be Christ’s Body for His expression! This living Body will become Christ’s loving bride, who will draw the Lord to come back the second time (Eph. 1:22-23; Rev. 19:7-9).
When we see this, we will not be distracted by anything else but we will care more than anything for becoming a living testimony of God by having the Triune God dispensed into us daily! This is the central vision.
Not many will pay the price to see this and live this, but the Lord needs some, a remnant, who love Him, seek Him, and who are brought into this central vision that they may grow in life and be transformed by the Spirit to become parts of the living Body of Christ manifesting God on earth today. Hallelujah!
Lord, may we see the central vision today. Lord, infuse us with Yourself, fill us with Yourself, and saturate us with Yourself so that we may be living members of Your Body for Your corporate expression! Keep infusing us, filling us, and saturating us with Yourself today! Lord, we care only for Your dispensing, Your infilling, Your infusing, and Your saturating, so that You may gain a living organic Body on earth that is built up to express You! Gain the Body! Obtain the Bride! Come, Lord Jesus!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: the outline in this Holy Word for Morning Revival, and brother Ed Marks’ sharing in this message, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, “The Completing Ministry of Paul“, week 2 entitled, The Central Vision.
- Further reading on this topic:
# Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 20;
# The Mysteries in God’s New Testament Economy, ch. 1;
# The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 190;
# The Practical Way to Live a Life according to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation in the Holy Scriptures, chs. 4, 6 - Hymns on this topic:
# 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!
# In the new man, Thy Body, / Thou art the all in all; / Our all-inclusive Savior, / Thyself we’ll ever call.
# I give You the first place in all things by faith. / Let nothing take Your place in all my heart. / Infuse me with Yourself abundantly / ’Til we meet, dear Lord. / I’ll love You with the best love.
# Will you be an overcomer, / Simple, real, and pure? / Overcome all evil mixture, / Ruling pow’r secure.
About aGodMan
Thank
You Lord for imparting Your life giving Spirit into our being that we
might become Your many sons to make up this One New Man, Your body with
You as the Head! How awesome is this!!!
Col. 1:18 And He is the
Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from
the dead, that He Himself might have the fist place in all things.
1 Cor. 12:12-13 For even as the body is one and has
many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one
body, so also is the Christ. For also in one Spirit we were all baptized
into one Body…and were all given to drink one Spirit.
‘We were
God’s creation, we were not His sons. But God chose us, predestinated
us, & called us to sonship. Now through partaking of the life of
God, we become the sons of God.’
(Some of my enjoyment from today’s Morning Revival)
PTL!
🙂