The Consummation of our Experience of the Grace of God is the Church as the Body of Christ

The consummation of our experience of the grace of God in His economy is the church as the organic Body of Christ; grace is the circulating Triune God dispensing all that He is into us for our enjoyment, and the entire church life depends on grace. Amen!

As believers in Christ, we are those who are qualified by God – not of our own works, so that no one would boast – to come to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help (Heb. 4:16).

We have been transferred out of the authority of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love; in this kingdom, we enjoy God in Christ as the Spirit as our grace together with all the saints.

Our base in the church life is nothing but the grace of God; we receive the grace of God not because of our spirituality, our spiritual attainment, or our condition, but based on the Lord’s sacrifice on the cross which qualifies us to come by faith and enjoy Him. Hallelujah!

We may look around us in the church life or we may analyze our condition and think that we’re not worthy and that the situation is not that positive; however, we need to lift our eyes and see the real situation and position of the church.

We have been given grace, we stand in grace, and we continually receive grace upon grace, waves of grace upon waves of grace.

The church is standing on the base of grace so that it may receive further grace; we stand in grace, we open to the Lord to receive more grace, and we enjoy God as grace in our daily living.

John 1:16 says, Of His fullness we have received, and grace upon grace.

We are daily receiving of His fulness as we spend time with Him, as we call on His name, and as we fellowship with Him and with the saints; of His fulness we receive, and grace upon grace.

May we thank the Lord that He has brought us into the proper and genuine church life where we are learning to receive and enjoy grace upon grace.

In all the local churches today we are learning to not look at our outward condition or the spirituality of the church but focus on Christ, enjoy Christ, experience Christ, and receive grace upon grace.

May we go on with the Lord to advance with Him and see the intrinsic nature of the church, the element and essence of the church, and even the standing and the ground of the church, all of which have to do with grace.

When we see that we stand upon the base of grace in the corporate church life, we will simply open to the Lord, in spite of our failures and mistakes, to receive more grace until there’s an overflow of grace for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

The Consummation of our Experience of the Grace of God is the Church as the Body of Christ

The consummation of our experience of the grace of God in His economy is the church as the Body of Christ (see 1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27; Eph. 1:6-8, 22-23).

The believers’ experience of grace has a common goal, a common purpose, which is the church as the Body of Christ, for the church as the Body of Christ is God’s goal in this age.

God wants us to have a total living by grace and in Spirit so that we may be completely be one with God.

In Eph. 1 we see how the church is the center of God’s economy and His ultimate goal and purpose; the consummation of our experience of the grace of God is the church as the Body of Christ.

Before the foundation of the world, God made a counsel, a decision, according to the good pleasure of His heart and His will, that we would be in Christ, holy and without blemish before Him in love.

Furthermore, He predestinated us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, that is, the pleasure of His heart, to the praise of the glory of His grace in us.

This grace with which we are graced is imparted into us in the Beloved so that it would make known to us the mystery of His will unto the economy of the fullness of the times.

This mystery hidden in God, this economy of God, is to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him (Eph. 1:10).

This shows us that God has a plan and He also has a way to accomplish it.

In time, God became a man in the person of Christ; the Word became flesh (John 1:1, 14) and passed through a process that consummated with His resurrection and ascension.

God became flesh so that He could die and be resurrected; God caused a great power to operate in Christ, raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, exalting Him far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

God subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fulness of the One who fills all and in all (Eph. 1:22-23).

This is God’s eternal economy. Eph. 1:7 says that we, those who are chosen and predestinated in the Beloved, Jesus Christ, can have redemption by His blood, the forgiveness of offenses according to the riches of His grace.

God caused His grace to abound in us in all wisdom and prudence.

God exercised His multifarious wisdom and prudence to cause grace to abound to us; this is the abundance of His grace.

God causes all things to work together for good in order that His grace can be richly received by us and abound in us; this is for the building up of the Church as the organic Body of Christ.

Our experience of the grace of God in His economy consummates in the church as the Body of Christ.

God causes us to experience the grace in His economy for one goal: for Him to gain His church as the Body of Christ for His corporate expression.

This process through which He gains His church is great, and His grace multifariously multiplies and abounds to us.

We simply need to receive His grace and enjoy His grace, experience His grace and have the living of grace, and our experience will consummate in the church as the Body of Christ, the fulness of the One who fills all and in all.

Lord, enlighten us to see that the church is the center of God’s economy and His ultimate goal and purpose. Praise You, Father, for choosing us and predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Yourself according to the good pleasure of Your will. Thank You for imparting grace to us in the Beloved. Hallelujah, we are now qualified to partake of all the riches of Christ as grace in spirit, and we are joined to the Lord to be one spirit with Him! Thank You, dear Lord, for making us members of the Body of Christ and thus partake and participate in all that Christ has and has accomplished! Hallelujah, Christ was given to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all!

Enjoy the Circulating Triune God Dispensing Himself into us to be the Church as the Body of Christ with the Triune God as its Everything

In 1 Pet. 5:10 we see that God is the God of all grace, and He called us into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus; this One, after we suffer a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us.

All grace here refers to the many steps of the divine operation on and in us in God’s economy; these are the steps God takes to minister to us the riches of the bountiful supply of the divine life in many aspects.

The first step He took is regeneration, and the last step is glorification; in between, there are many processes, many steps, in which we experience the grace of God in the economy of God consummating in the church as the Body of Christ.

The consummation of our experience of the grace of God is the church as the organic Body of Christ.

Grace is the circulating Triune God dispensing all that He is into us for our enjoyment; grace is not something God does for us or in us but it is Himself being dispensed into our being for our enjoyment.

The entire church life depends on grace as the circulation of the Divine Trinity within us (1 Pet. 5:10; Acts 4:33; 2 Cor. 8:1; 13:14).

Our God is a circulating Triune God; he flows continually in our personal experience and in the universe.

He is a mighty flowing out God – He flows throughout the ages, and He flows into us, his believers.

He continually flows in us, starting by regenerating us and continuing with renewing us, transforming us, and conforming us until in Him we’re fully conformed to the image of God’s Son, the same as he is in order to bring us into His glory.

This is the circulating Triune God dispensing Himself into us; grace is the circulation of the Triune God in us to dispense more of Himself into us to accomplish His economy and make us His glorious church.

The practical life and building up of the Body of Christ come forth out of the inward enjoyment of the grace of God.

God is faithful, through whom we were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord (1 Cor. 1:9).

This fellowship brings us into the fellowship of the Divine Trinity; this is the going and coming of the Spirit through our fellowship before Him and in Him.

This means that in this grace we are brought into God and God is brought into us.

2 Cor. 13:14 is another verse that shows us the flow, the fellowship of the divine life; the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is with us all.

This is not something outward; rather, it is the Triune God entering into us to be with and dwell with us.

As we enjoy the grace of God in the economy of God, we become the church as the Body of Christ to express Him corporately.

Every part of the organic Body of Christ is an issue of the grace of God in the economy of God (Rom. 12:4-6).

Grace is the enjoyment of the Divine Trinity – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – as life.

The Body of Christ takes God the Father in His nature as its substance, as pure gold (Rev. 21:18; 1 Cor. 3:12); gold signifies the divine nature of the Father as the source with all its attributes.

The Body of Christ takes God the Son in His redemption as its element, as pearls (Rev. 21:21; cf. 1 Cor. 3:12).

The Body of Christ takes God the Spirit in His transforming work as its essence, as precious stones (Rev. 21:18-20; 1 Cor. 2:12).

Gold signifies the nature of the Father as the source; pearls signify Christ the Son in His overcoming death and life-imparting resurrection with all the virtues and attributes; precious stones signify the transforming work of the Spirit with all its attributes.

As believers in Christ, we experience and enjoy the Triune God in His dispensing and in His work in us, and the consummation of our enjoyment of grace in the economy of God is the church as the Body of Christ.

May we take the processed and consummated Triune God as grace in our living and work today, living according to the principle of the divine life and focusing only on His life in us.

This life is the rich grace with God the Father as the substance, God the Son as the element, and God the Spirit as the essence, and this life is God coming to be our grace for our enjoyment.

The more we enjoy the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity, the circulating Triune God to dispense Himself into us as grace, the more we will reach the consummation of the grace of God in the economy of God, the church as the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we open to the circulating Triune God dispensing all that He is into us for our enjoyment. Amen, Lord, dispense Yourself into us with all Your divine attributes and cause us to experience the grace of God in the economy of God for the church as the Body of Christ. May we realize that the entire church life depends on the grace as the circulation of the Divine Trinity within us. Amen, Lord, keep us in the inward enjoyment of the grace of God with our spirit for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ. Work Yourself into us little by little, day by day, so that You may gain the church as the Body of Christ for Your corporate expression!

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, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Law and Grace of God in His Economy“, ch. 4, 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.
• Further fellowship on this topic:
  – Listen to, The believers’ experience of the grace of God in the economy of God consummating in the Church as the Organic Body of Christ (via Heavenly Foods – Local Conferences podcast).
  – The grace of God in the Economy of God, article via Affirmation and Critique here.
  – The organic operation and consummation of grace in Ephesians, an article by John Pester for Affirmation and Critique here.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God is incarnate in the flesh that we / Him may receive, experience ourself; / This is the grace which we receive of God, / Which comes thru Christ and which is Christ Himself. / Paul the Apostle counted all as dung, / ’Twas only God in Christ he counted grace; / ’Tis by this grace-the Lord experienced- / That he surpassed the others in the race. (Hymns #497)
  – God’s Spirit His transmission is, / In Him God enters into us; / It is in Him that God in Christ / May be experienced by us. / God as the Father is the source, / And God the Son doth Him express; / God as the Spirit enters us, / That God as all we may possess. (Hymns #610)
  – Riches of Christ we should enjoy / And then His fulness we will be; / Partaking of His very self, / His testimony men will see. / Riches of Christ are what He is / To us who are His members true; / His fulness is what we become / As body doth to man accrue. (Hymns #820)