As the Church of God in Christ Jesus we Stand upon Grace and Receive Grace upon Grace

A genuine church is based upon the grace given to it in Christ Jesus; this grace is not given to the church based on the spirituality of the church but in Christ Jesus, and we receive grace as our base and stand upon grace to receive grace upon grace. Hallelujah!

A very simple and practical way for us to receive grace is to exercise our spirit and call upon the name of the Lord.

Grace can be received and enjoyed only in our spirit, for grace is with our spirit, and grace is nothing else but the processed and consummated Triune God dispensing Himself into us to be our enjoyment and experience for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

We need to be those who receive grace continually.

Day by day and even moment by moment, we need to turn to our spirit, live in spirit, and remain in spirit, so that the Father embodied in the Son and realized as the Spirit would be our bountiful supply for our enjoyment and experience.

As we enjoy grace with our spirit, we have a certain kind of inward constitution; God Himself becomes our inward constituent.

The way we can become the same as Christ to be conformed to His image is not by doing things outwardly or trying harder to be like Him; the way is grace, the enjoyment of the processed Triune God as grace.

We are saved by grace, and the grace of the Lord is with our spirit; therefore, day by day we need to have grace with us in every aspect of our life.

In our family life and church life, in our work life and in shepherding the new ones, in all the details and aspects of our daily life, we need to have grace.

We need to remain in the enjoyment of Christ in all the aspects and details of our daily living until our total living becomes a living of grace, an experience of grace.

The result will be that we will minister grace and others will see the grace of God with us. In big things and in small things, we need to have grace with us.

All other things are like refuse, like dung; only God in Christ is grace, and only by enjoying the divine dispensing can we live Christ and build up the church.

May we enjoy the grace of the Lord with our spirit until our total living is a living of grace.

May we stay away from merely doing the right thing and rejecting the wrong thing, and may we not focus merely on doing good versus doing evil.

God’s life is coming to us to be our grace; our living should be the living of grace, having a daily living under the grace of God in the economy of God.

The Church of God in Christ Jesus Stands upon Grace and Receives Grace upon Grace

A genuine church is based upon the grace given to it in Christ Jesus; the church of God is in Christ Jesus and stands upon grace and receives grace upon grace.

The book of first Corinthians deals with many negative things among the Corinthian believers, but in the first chapter, right in the introduction, Paul writes something marvellous concerning the church.

1 Cor. 1:2-4 speaks of the church of God which is in Christ Jesus.

Although this book deals with and exposes many negative things in the church in Corinth, in the opening of this book, Paul speaks not of the condition of the church but of the church of God in Christ Jesus.

Here we see a beautiful, marvellous, and excellent picture of the church of God. In this small portion, we see five qualifications of a genuine church.

First, it is the church of God; this indicates that the church is not only possessed by God but even more, the church has God as its intrinsic nature.

The intrinsic nature and essence of the church are divine, general, universal, and eternal; the church is of God.

Second, the church is in Corinth; the church in Corinth is a church in a city, remaining in a definite locality and taking its locality as its standing, ground, and jurisdiction for its administration in business affairs.

As such, it was physical, particular, local, and temporal in time.

Third, the church is sanctified in Christ; this indicates that the church has been sanctified, made holy, in Christ, having Christ as its inward element and outward sphere. Fourth, the church is composed of the called saints.

The church is composed of the saints who have been called by God out of the evil world ruled by Satan.

Fifth, the church is with all those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus in every place.

A genuine church is not isolated or divisive; it is not separated from the other saints. The church should be related to all the saints who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in every place.

When a church possesses these five qualifications, it has the standing and the ground to receive the dispensing of God’s grace and peace.

1 Cor. 1:3 says, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

After presenting a genuine church – which has nothing to do with the condition of the church but with the standing and ground and vision of the church as seen by God – Paul says that this church is under the dispensing of grace and peace.

Grace is the embodiment of the processed and consummated Triune God to be the enjoyment of the called ones who meet and are built up in a genuine church.

When we enjoy this grace, the issue of that is that we experience God as our peace through the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.

This divine dispensing is from God the Father as the source of the Divine Trinity, from the Lord Jesus Christ as the course of the flow of the Divine Trinity, and from the Holy Spirit as the reaching of the flow of the Divine Trinity.

Grace and peace can be dispensed into the church for us to receive, enjoy, and experience the processed and consummated Triune God as our grace. Hallelujah!

How we always need to thank God concerning all the saints based upon the grace of God which was given to them in Christ Jesus (v. 4)!

The grace of God has been given to us as the genuine church in Christ Jesus, and we stand upon this grace and receive grace upon grace!

May we be those who remain in the genuine local churches as the local expressions of the universal church of God, and may we enjoy grace upon grace as we stand in grace one with the Lord and one with the saints for His testimony!

Hallelujah, the church is of God, having God as its intrinsic nature and essence! Amen, Lord, thank You for bringing us into the genuine church life standing on the ground of locality to enjoy the Lord as grace with all the saints. Thank You for sanctifying us in Christ Jesus, making us holy in Christ, and making Christ our inward element and outward sphere. Hallelujah for the church of the saints, the church composed of all the saints and who fellowships with all those who call on the name of the Lord! Amen, Lord, we stand on the ground of oneness in Christ Jesus and of God, and we receive grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Keep us under the divine dispensing to enjoy grace and peace with all the saints in the local churches!

Receiving Grace, Standing upon Grace, and Enjoying Grace upon Grace

If we read the book of 1 Corinthians we will be very encouraged because, even though we may think that the situation in our local church is not that great, it cannot compare with the condition of the church in Corinth.

However, the church in Corinth in God’s eyes is a genuine church in God the Father, sanctified in Christ, composed of the saints, meeting on the ground of oneness, and fellowshipping with all those who call on the name of the Lord.

In God’s eyes, He considers that the church is excellent and beautiful, and He gives grace to the church not based upon the condition of the church.

The grace of God is not given to the church based upon the spirituality or condition of the church; God freely gives grace and peace to the genuine church.

The grace of God alone is the base of the church (1 Cor. 16:23).

Paul’s thanks to God in 1 Cor. 1:4 was based upon the gift of grace which was given to the church in Christ Jesus.

Praise the Lord, as the church, we are standing on the base of grace in order that we may receive further grace, even grace upon grace (Rev. 22:21; John 1:16).

We have already received grace as our base, and we are standing upon grace. We stand not upon our attributes, virtues, excellencies, or attainments; we stand upon the grace of God, and based on this grace we are qualified to receive more grace, even grace upon grace.

Praise the Lord, He qualified us to receive grace upon grace, and we simply need to be those enjoying grace upon grace in our daily experience!

We may think that there are many storms in the church life, so how can we receive and enjoy grace; however, the more storms there are in the church, the more “waves” of grace there are.

Every storm brings in another wave of grace, and this grace issues in peace. In His Divine Trinity, God is grace to us for our enjoyment and also peace to us for us to enjoy Him.

After we receive grace, we are at peace, and we simply praise the Lord with the saints.

How we thank the Lord that, even though there are many difficulties and storms in the church life, we can stand on the base of grace to enjoy the waves of grace coming to us.

When in the church life where the Lord placed us we face storms or difficulties, we should, even more, enjoy the waves of grace coming to us.

God is dispensing Himself as waves after waves of grace, bringing us peace; this peace is the issue of enjoying the Triune God as grace.

When we look at the Lord’s recovery, which is composed of genuine local churches, we should not merely see some outward situations or conditions of the different local churches.

If we merely look at the outward condition of the church, we will be very easily deceived.

We need to go deeper and higher to see the many intrinsic items of the church, including the inward nature, element, and essence of the church, and the standing and ground of the church.

If we look at the church in this way, we will be kept and not deceived; we will be able to stand on the base of grace in the corporate church life.

May we lift our eyes from our condition and situation and see the church the way God sees it; when we do this, we will receive grace, experience grace, and receive grace upon grace.

If we can have such a personal Christian life and corporate church life that is a living under the grace in God’s economy, we will be able to advance to reach the goal of God’s economy, which is the Body of Christ.

This Body of Christ will consummate in the New Jerusalem; in the New Jerusalem, we all will have such a living that is under grace in God’s economy.

Thank You, Lord, for giving us grace not based on our condition but simply because of Your heart’s desire. Amen, Lord, the grace of God alone is the base of the church, and we stand upon the grace. We open to You, Lord, and we receive You as grace. Grant us to have grace upon grace. Amen, we stand on the base of grace to receive further grace, even grace upon grace. May our daily personal life and our corporate church life be filled with receiving grace upon grace. Amen, Lord, may our personal Christian life and corporate church life be a living under the grace of God so that we may reach the goal of God’s economy, the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1990, vol. 2, “A Genuine Church“, pp. 373-382, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Grace of God in the Economy of God (2021 International Chinese-speaking Conference), week 3, entitled, The Believers’ Experience of the Grace of God in the Economy of God Consummating in the Church as the Organic Body of Christ.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – O Christ, He is the fountain, / The deep, sweet well of life: / Its living streams I’ve tasted / Which save from grief and strife. / And to an ocean fulness, / His mercy doth expand; / His grace is all-sufficient / As by His wisdom planned. (Hymns #206)
  – I’m so happy in this lovely place, / In the garden growing in His grace! / There is no finer pleasure / Than to eat the living tree / And to get the living water into me. (Hymns #1237)
  – Elect from every nation, / Yet one o’er all the earth, / Her charter of salvation, / One Lord, one faith, one birth; / One holy Name she blesses, / Partakes one holy food, / And to one hope she presses, / With every grace endued. (Hymns #833)