The Economy of God becomes our Stewardship of the Grace to Dispense the Riches of Christ

As believers in Christ enjoying the grace of God in the economy of God, we have been entrusted with the stewardship of the grace of God to us for the saints; the grace of God we enjoy is for us to minister to the others also. Hallelujah!

On one hand, we enjoy the grace of God in the economy of God, and we are filled with the enjoyment of God as grace until it’s no longer us who lives and does things but the grace of God which is with us.

On the other hand, the grace we enjoy and experience becomes a stewardship – the stewardship of the grace of God, which is given to us for others, for our God is flowing into us so that He may flow out of us into others also. Praise the Lord!

First of all, we receive the Spirit through faith, not through works; we receive the all-inclusive, life-giving, compound Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, and this is by the hearing of the faith.

When we hear the word of God and see the wonderful person of the Lord Jesus, an appreciation rises up in us; this is Christ being infused into us to be our believing ability.

In ourselves we’re not able to believe, for faith doesn’t originate from us; when we see the Lord, when we hear about Him, we spontaneously react by receiving Him and enjoying Him. This is grace.

Grace is God embodied in Christ as the Spirit coming to us, reaching us, and imparting the riches of Christ into us for our enjoyment.

This grace that we enjoy is with our spirit; from the day of our regeneration, grace is with our spirit, and whenever we turn to the Lord – whether consciously or unconsciously – grace infuses the elements of God into us.

The issue of our enjoyment of Christ as grace is that we build up the church as the Body of Christ; the consummation of our enjoyment of grace is the goal of God’s economy, the corporate expression of Christ.

One particular aspect related to the Body of Christ is its building up; the way the Body is built up is by speaking.

In our speaking, we need to speak words of grace that give grace to the hearer; we should not let any corrupt word proceed out of our mouth but rather, give grace to those around us.

If we enjoy God as grace in the big and small things, if we partake of grace in all the details of our living, we will have words of grace to minister to others for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ.

And this is our stewardship of grace, which is the ministering of Christ to others for their growth in life and for the building up of the Body of Christ.

God’s Economy becomes our Stewardship for us to Dispense God into others as Grace

God has an eternal intention; He wants to dispense Himself into man so that man would be filled with God, occupied with God, and be made fully one with God so that man and God, God and man, would be one entity that does things together and lives together.

The intention of God’s economy is to dispense Himself into us, His chosen and redeemed people, making us one with Him; He wants to dwell in us and make us fully one with Him.

In His economy, God intends to dispense Christ with all His riches into His believers, so that they become the living and functioning members of the Body of Christ.

The believers in Christ were chosen by God in eternity past for the constitution of the Body of Christ, the church, to express the processed Triune God (Eph. 3:8-10).

God’s intention in His economy is to head up all things in Christ (Eph. 1:10); He wants to head up all things in the universe and in our personal universe in Christ, and He does this by heading us up first, and then through the church He will head up all things.

In order to accomplish His eternal intention, God made an economy, as revealed in Eph. 3; on His side, this is His economy, and on our side, it is our stewardship.

God has an economy; when we see God’s economy to dispense Himself into man for the producing of the church as the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem, this economy becomes our stewardship, also called the stewardship of the grace of God.

God made an economy in eternity past (Eph. 3:9-11); this is His eternal economy. In time, we are being given the stewardship of the grace of God for us to carry out God’s economy in grace (Eph. 3:2; 1 Cor. 9:17).

Hallelujah, God’s economy becomes our stewardship for us to dispense God into others as grace.

In Eph. 3:2 the apostle Paul says that the stewardship of grace was given to him for the members of the Body.

In both v. 2 and v. 9 the word in Greek is the same, oikonomia; in v. 2 it is translated as “economy” and in v. 9 it is “stewardship”.

The stewardship of the grace of God was given to us, to each one of us, for us to live and serve for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Throughout the ages God’s economy was hidden; many prophets and seekers of God tried to figure out what was in God’s heart, but His economy was hidden from them yet it was revealed to the holy apostles and prophets in the New Testament in spirit.

God, who created all things, has an eternal intention according to which He made an economy; this economy was hidden from generations but today we can see it and be in it in spirit.

When today we exercise our spirit and contact the Lord, enjoy Him, and experience Him as grace, we are in the economy of God, and this economy of God becomes our stewardship – the stewardship of the grace of God.

When we receive the divine dispensing of grace into us, when we receive, digest, and assimilate the grace of God, we are entrusted with the stewardship of the grace of God, that is, we cooperate with God to dispense Him into others also.

The goal of God’s household administration, His economy, His household law, is to dispense all the riches of God’s house into His household so that all may receive the bountiful supply.

When we receive this bountiful supply by means of His dispensing, we will cooperate with God to carry out our stewardship to dispense God as grace into others also.

Thank You, Lord, for unveiling us to see God’s economy, which is in faith. Hallelujah, God’s intention in His economy is to dispense Himself into us and make us one with Him so that He may dwell in us and we may express Him! Praise the Lord, God is dispensing Himself in Christ with all His riches into us to make us the church, the Body of Christ, for His corporate expression! Hallelujah, in His economy God intends to head up all things in Christ through the church! Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You to receive the divine dispensing of grace, be filled with God, and carry out our stewardship of grace by dispensing God into others. Make us good ministers of the varied grace of God – make us those who minister grace to others for the carrying out of our stewardship of grace!

Carrying out the Stewardship of the Grace of God by Dispensing the Riches of Christ into others

In our eyes, Paul was the greatest apostle, for he wrote more than half of the books in the New Testament; according to his estimation of himself, he was the least among the apostles, even less than the least of all saints (Eph. 3:8).

This is not because he humbled himself so he considered himself the lowest; rather, because he persecuted the church of God and was shown mercy and grace by God, he considered himself to be less than the least of all the saints.

Yet such a one was qualified to receive the stewardship of the grace of God.

The economy of God has been given to Paul as a stewardship; if he as less than the least of all saints was qualified to receive such a stewardship, how much more are we qualified!

Because of what Paul saw and wrote, we now inherit all the riches and the completing ministry of Paul, and we are qualified to be stewards of the grace of God.

In a sense, Paul was our initiation, for he took the lead to receive God’s economy and carry out his stewardship, and we are his consummation, those learning to carry out the stewardship of the grace of God.

God’s economy has become our stewardship to dispense the grace of God. The grace of God is the riches of Christ.

The stewardship of grace is mentioned in Eph. 3:2 and the unsearchable riches of Christ are mentioned in v. 8; therefore, the stewardship of the grace of God is the ministry to distribute, dispense, and impart the unsearchable riches of Christ to the believers as grace for their enjoyment. Hallelujah!

It is amazing to realize that, in eternity past, even before the creation began, God made an eternal economy to dispense the riches of Christ into His chosen people so that He may obtain a corporate entity, the Body of Christ, to be His organism for His expression.

Through this organism, through the dispensing of Himself with all His riches into His chosen people, He will head up all things in Christ.

The entire universe is in a heap of collapse, and rebellion and immorality is everywhere; God is dispensing Himself into a group of people to head them up in Christ, and then through the built-up church as the Body of Christ, He will head up all things in Christ.

How does He do it? How does God accomplish His divine economy?

Such an economy seems so lofty, so high, and so unattainable if we look outwardly and even if we look at our situation and the condition of the Christians today.

God accomplishes His economy by dispensing Himself into us in a fine way; day by day, He dispenses what He is into us.

By our saying Amen to His word, even by a quick turn to Him here and there, we enjoy His divine dispensing.

Day by day we are under the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity into us for us to enjoy the grace of God and be constituted as members of the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem.

As we enjoy the riches of Christ as grace being dispensed into us, God’s economy becomes our stewardship, and we are entrusted with the stewardship of the grace of God.

Just as stewards on an aeroplane dispense food to others according to their need, so we today are stewards of the varied grace of God for us to dispense the riches of Christ as grace into others for their enjoyment.

This is our full-time ministry today; whether we are serving the Lord with our full-time or we have a job in the secular world, our full-time job is to minister the riches of Christ into others.

And age is not a limitation; even a high-school student can speak something of their enjoyment of Christ to others, thus carrying out their stewardship of the grace of God.

Such a dispensing of Christ into others is the stewardship according to God’s economy.

Lord Jesus, we come to You to enjoy the grace of God with our spirit; we enjoy You as grace and we want to minister the riches of Christ to others also. Hallelujah, the economy of God has become our stewardship to dispense the grace of God! Amen, Lord, keep us enjoying Your divine dispensing so that we may carry out the stewardship of the grace of God to minister the riches of Christ into others for their enjoyment. Head us up in Christ in all things of our daily life so that You may have a way to head up all things in Christ through the church. Amen, Lord Jesus, we open to You, again and again, to receive Your fine divine dispensing until we overflow with the riches of Christ and minister Christ to others for their enjoyment and experience of the grace of God!

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“, pp. 353-354, 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:
  – Lord, I fully consecrate myself to be / A normal Christian in Your economy. / I would live solely with the Body in view, / Fulfilling my stewardship—“to me for you.” / In Christ as Spirit You dispense all to me, / Making me a steward in Your economy. / Ever faithful to the measure I have received / To impart You to others, life conceived. (Song on, O Lord, You have from days of eternity)
  – Of which I became a minister / According to the stewardship / Of God, which was given / To me for you, / To complete the word of God, / The mystery which has been hidden / From the ages and from the generations / But now has been manifested / To His saints; / To whom God willed to make known / What are the riches / Of the glory of this mystery / Among the Gentiles, / Which is Christ in you, / The hope of glory. (Scripture song)
  – We on Christ, as land, must labor, / Harvest Him for all our fare; / Tasting Him to overflowing, / Christ with others we may share. / Holding Christ, as members growing, / Each his function must observe; / Christ receiving, Christ partaking, / To His Body Christ we serve. (Hymns #912)