The Divine Dispensing is the Base for our Living a Holy Life for the Church Life

As believers in Christ we are the holy people of a holy God, and we need to enjoy the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity as the base for living a holy life for the church life.

Leviticus 18-20 speaks of the holy living of God’s holy people and corresponds to Eph. 4:17 – 5:14, where we see Paul charging us as God’s holy people to put off the old man and put on the new man, living a life that is holy, as God is holy, for His expression.

We know that our God is holy, and Christ came to fulfil all the holy, righteous, and glorious requirements of God so that we, sinners, may come forward to God in the blood of Jesus Christ.

When we believe into the Lord, the blood of Jesus cleanses us, and the life of God regenerates us to make us children of God, born of God. Now that we have God’s life in us, we need to live a holy life as God’s holy people for God’s expression on earth.

But how can we live a holy life in and for the church life so that God may obtain His corporate expression? It is not by our trying and striving to improve, be better, or adjust our behavior so that we may fulfil what the Bible requires of us.

In Eph. 4:17-32 we see Paul telling the believers in Ephesus to live a holy life for the church life, and the base of their living is the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. Only when we enjoy and are under the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity can we live a holy life to be God’s holy people for His expression on earth.

Even in such matters as not stealing from others and not letting the sun go down on our anger we need to experience the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.

The truth is that it is not easy to have a kind of living that matches, backs, supports, and affords all the needed elements, factors, and essences for the building up of the organic Body of Christ.

Living a holy life for and in the church life for God’s corporate expression is not something we do by default; rather, many times we need a practical word to help us concerning our living, and we need to be under the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity so that we may live such a life.

In this article we want to see how we as God’s holy people can live a holy life for God’s corporate expression by having the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity as the base, and how God’s life and the reality in Jesus is being sealed and infused into us for our living a holy life today.

The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity is the Base for Living a Holy Life for the Church Life

In Eph. 4:17-32 there are three significant verses that show us the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity as the base for us living a holy life for the church life.

Intermixed with this very practical word from Paul concerning our living we see the Father, the Son, and the Spirit being dispensed into us for us to live a holy life for the church life and be the one new man in reality.

The first verse related to the divine dispensing is Eph. 4:18, which speaks of being alienated from the life of God.

This mainly refers to the life of God the Father, and Paul here warns us that, just as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, so we as believers in Christ who have the life of God may also walk in the vanity of our mind, being alienated from the life of God in our spirit.

It is a serious matter for us to be alienated or separated from the life of God, for this life is for supplying us, God’s children, with His riches in His divine dispensing.

The second verse related to the divine dispensing is v. 21 which speaks of the reality in Jesus; we are learning Christ as the reality is in Jesus.

The reality in Jesus is the practicality of the life of God that took place in Jesus while He lived on earth. The reality in Jesus is the actual condition of the life of Jesus as recorded in the four Gospels.

If we read the Gospels we see the life of Jesus, and we realise that in His daily life there was something very real, which is God’s divine life realised and practiced as the reality in Jesus’ humanity.

He lived a holy life and He expressed the Father in all He did and said, and the reality in Jesus is for infusing us, the believers in Christ, with His godly living in His humanity, in His dispensing.

The third verse related to the divine dispensing is v. 30 which admonishes us not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom we were sealed unto the day of redemption.

The Holy Spirit is the sealing Spirit; He seals us unto the day of the redemption of our body, and He is even the sealing ink with which we all have been sealed.

The sealing Spirit is the sealing ink; the contents, elements, and essence of this sealing ink are the divine life plus Jesus’ practical humanity spoken of earlier in the chapter. This sealing – the Spirit’s sealing us – needs to remain wet forever to saturate us, permeate us, and soak us with the Triune God.

When you seal something, you impress the seal that is saturated with ink onto a piece of paper, and what results is the saturation of the paper with the ink, the image of the seal being imprinted, and the ownership being stated.

The sealing of the Spirit saturates us with the elements of the Triune God under His divine dispensing, and we bear His image, expressing Christ to others.

The more we are sealed with the Spirit, the more we are saturated with the Spirit, the more Christ is expressed through us, the more His essence is mingled with us, and the more we belong to Him.

These three verses related to the divine dispensing show us that we can live a holy life for the church life only by being under the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.

Lord Jesus, keep us under the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity so that we live a holy life for the church life. Save us from living in the vanity of our mind like the Gentiles. Save us from being separated or alienated from the life of God. Lord, we want to learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus. May the reality in Jesus as seen in the four Gospels be infused into us so that Christ’s godly living in His humanity may be expressed through us. Amen, Lord, infuse us with Yourself and saturate us with Your element under Your divine dispensing so that we may live a holy life for the church life today!

The Life of God, the Reality in Jesus, and the Sealing of the Spirit are for us to Live a Holy life for the Church Life

In Eph. 4:17-32 Paul was seemingly writing something quite ordinary, but within these ordinary words he put the wonderful elements and factors of the Divine Trinity; here we see the Father’s life, the Son’s living in His humanity, and the Spirit’s sealing.

The life of God, the reality which is in Jesus, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit are three sources of the divine dispensing, and as we remain under the divine dispensing, we can live a holy life for the church life.

God the Father is the source, and He is life; this life has been dispensed into us through our regeneration, and this life must become the reality in our daily living.

Our daily living must be the reality of the divine life within us, which reality is in Jesus; we need to learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus.

How can we do this? It is by the sealing of the Spirit; as the Spirit seals us, the divine element and essence saturates us, permeates us, and soaks us with the Father’s life and the practicality of Jesus’ daily life, making us a duplication of the life of Jesus, which is the practicality of the Father’s life.

We cannot live a holy life for the church life in ourselves and by ourselves; we need to be under the divine dispensing so that the sealing Spirit would infuse us with God’s life and the Lord’s perfect living, and the spontaneous result will be that we express Christ.

Hallelujah, as believers in Christ we have the life of God the Father within us! We also have a model, an example, which is the life of Jesus in His humanity, as recorded in the four Gospels. Even more, we have the sealing ink, which is constituted with the divine life and the human living of Jesus.

The more we exercise our spirit, pray-read the word of God, and contact the Lord both personally and corporately, the more we are sealed with the Holy Spirit as the ever-wet ink.

This sealing of the Spirit goes on all the time; we should not grieve the Spirit by being non-cooperative with Him, but we should simply say Amen to God’s word and let the Spirit seal us to saturate us with God’s elements!

This sealing is wet all the time; the Spirit seals us, saturates us, and permeates us with God’s life and the reality which is in Jesus, and this enables us to be living a holy life for the church life and have a daily life that is suitable for the building up of the Body of Christ.

We simply need to remain under the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity and be sealed with the Spirit, learn Christ as the reality is in Jesus, and enjoy the Father’s life, and we will become a duplication of Christ’s life, which is the practicality of the Father’s life.

Lord Jesus, we want to live a holy life for the church life by remaining under the constant divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. May the Father’s life become the truth in our daily life, and may we learn Christ as the reality which is in Jesus. Amen, Lord, we don’t want to grieve the Holy Spirit but enjoy the sealing of the Spirit so that we may be saturated, permeated, and soaked with the divine life in the practicality of Jesus’ daily life so that we may become a duplication of Christ in our daily living!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1990, vol. 3, “The Economy and Dispensing of God,” ch. 10, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (2), week 7, Chosen to Be Holy with a Holy Living to Express the Holy God and Become the Holy City.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Th’ anointing’s here! ’Tis God Himself that blends with us, / And now the two are mingled into one. / And hour by hour we live, and move, and have our life / In God Himself—the Spirit through the Son. (Hymns #1118)
  # This Spirit as the living seal, / To us God’s image now imparts; / Conforming us unto the Son, / He stamps His image in our hearts. (Hymns #1120)
  # Day by day we’re under sealing, / That we may His likeness share. / By the impress of His Person / We will Jesus’ image bear. (Hymns #1121)