Enjoying the Transmission of Grace in the Church Life to become God’s Masterpiece

In Acts 20:24 Paul said that he considered his life of no account as if precious to himself, so that he might finish his course and the ministry which he had received from the Lord Jesus to solemnly testify of the gospel of the grace of God. Paul was entrusted by the Lord with the gospel of grace, and his whole mission was to preach the gospel of grace; in Ephesians he said that God gave him a stewardship of the grace of God, which was given to him for others.

As believers in Christ we have received the Lord, we are daily enjoying Christ as grace, and we are also entrusted with a stewardship: we have the stewardship of grace of God, which was given to us for others.

What is this grace that we are entrusted with? Grace is nothing else but God Himself in Christ as the Spirit given to us, gained by us, and enjoyed by us; when we enjoy the Triune God in Christ as the Spirit, we spontaneously are stewards of the grace of God to dispense God into people for their enjoyment.

Today the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is with our spirit; when we exercise our spirit and enthrone the Lord, grace flows from the throne of God into us and through us to others. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is the bountiful supply of the Triune God enjoyed by us through the exercise of our spirit.

Our Christian living should be the living of grace, that is, the experience of grace; we need to enjoy the Lord every day and live in the enjoyment of Christ so that we may carry out our stewardship of grace, the dispensing of grace. If we enjoy the Lord day by day, the practical life and building up of the Body of Christ will come out of this enjoyment of grace.

The enjoyment of Christ solves all the problems in the church through the work of the cross; then, this enjoyment issues in the growth in the divine life so that precious materials may be produced for the building up of the church, and all kinds of spiritual gifts will be manifested as a result.

Enjoying Christ as Grace through Sufferings as Ministers of the New Covenant

The new covenant ministers enjoy Christ as their all-sufficient grace through sufferings. We are not ministers of the letter (which kills) but ministers of the Spirit (which gives life) – see 2 Cor. 12:7.

God’s New Testament economy is His New Testament ministry, and to take part in this ministry we need to experience revelation plus sufferings. In 2 Cor. Paul tells us that he received revelations from God, but at the same time a thorn was given to him in the flesh so that he would not boast or be puffed up.

Our experience of grace in God’s economy is the experience of the Lord’s sufficient grace through sufferings. The Lord has revealed to us much in His word, but at the same time there are sufferings, and our weakness is exposed; Christ’s overshadowing power, His all-sufficient grace, is available to us in our weaknesses.

If we are strong and can do many things, we don’t need the Lord, but when we are weak, we suffer for the Lord’s sake, and we open to Him, He as grace can overshadow us, and He can come in us and do in us what we cannot do in ourselves. God comforts us in all our afflictions.

For us to have a part in the stewardship of grace, which is the ministry of the new covenant, we need revelation plus sufferings; the ministry of the new covenant is produced by revelation plus sufferings (2 Cor. 12:7; 1:3-4, 8-10). The more we suffer, the more we experience grace, until we can testify with Paul, I labored more abundantly than the rest, yet it is not I but the grace of God.

Christ as grace becomes power tabernacling over us as the new covenant ministers, overshadowing us in our weakness to become our dwelling place to sustain, support, maintain, protect, and keep us (see 2 Cor. 12:9). Day by day we need the grace of God in Christ applied to us as strength and power for our move and our protection (see Ezek. 1:6b, 9a; Exo. 19:4; Isa. 40:28-31; 2 Cor. 4:7; 1:12; 12:9; 1 Cor. 15:10; Psa. 17:8; 57:1; 63:7; 91:4).

None of us like sufferings; we don’t have to pray for sufferings, but the Lord knows that we do need sufferings. Through our sufferings we can make up the lack of the afflictions of Christ for His Body. We can NEVER share in the sufferings of Christ for redemption, but we can share in Christ’s sufferings for the building up of His Body. The more we experience such sufferings, the more we enjoy grace.

One of the ways we suffer for Christ is simply by going out on the gospel. The gospel needs to become our living, not just an event at a special time with a special meeting and great speaker. Talking to people on the street or knocking on their door for the gospel is challenging; people have a long face, they may despise and mock you, and your self-esteem may be hurt.

But the more we turn to our spirit as we preach the gospel, the more the Lord’s grace overshadows us, we dwell in grace, and the Lord will bring people to us – He will bring the sons of peace to us, and they will be remaining fruit. We may be like the small sparrow and the little swallow between the altars, but we can take refuge in the bronze altar, the redeeming Christ, and beget our young there, having the Lord’s grace tabernacle over us.

Lord Jesus, we want to be the new covenant ministers who enjoy You as our all-sufficient grace through sufferings for the producing of the ministry of the new covenant. Give us the experiences that we need to produce this ministry. Keep us enjoying You as we take care of the things in our daily life, and keep us enjoying You as we go out on the gospel. Lord, we are weak and in great need of You: overshadow us, tabernacle over us in our weakness to become our dwelling place and sustain us, support us, maintain us, protect us, and keep us by Your grace!

Enjoying the Transmission of Grace in the Church Life until we become God’s Masterpiece

The more we enjoy and experience God in Christ as the Spirit as grace, the more we realize that Christ is the good land: we have been rooted in Him, we absorb Him as the riches of the good land, we grow in Him, we are being transformed by Him, and we are built up and walk in Him.

Christ as the grace of God is the good land for us to enter into, enjoy, experience, partake of, and possess (see 2 Cor. 1:12; 12:9; 13:14; Col. 1:12; 2:6-7a; cf. Exo. 3:8). The love of God, the grace of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is with us for our enjoyment day by day in the church life (2 Cor. 13:14). Wow!

Grace is the Divine Trinity transmitted into us for our enjoyment, the manifestation of the Triune God in His embodiment in three aspects – the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14; Num. 6:22-27; Psa. 36:8-9).

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord Himself as life for our enjoyment (see John 1:17; 1 Cor. 15:10), the love of God is God Himself as the source of the grace of the Lord (see 1 John 4:8, 16), and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the Spirit Himself as the transmission of grace – the grace of the Lord – with the love of God for our participation.

The love of God is the source, the grace of Christ is the course or the springing up, and the fellowship of the Spirit is the flow of the love of God and the grace of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the circulation, the transmission, of the grace of Christ with the love of the Father to be our supply in our Christian life and in our church life!

We have two circulations within us. One circulation is the circulation of blood within our physical body, and the other circulation is the circulation of the Divine Trinity in our spirit. Without either of these circulations we would die either physically or spiritually. Second Corinthians 13:14 gives us a detailed description of this inner, spiritual circulation. This circulation is the supply in our Christian life and church life….The entire church life depends upon 2 Corinthians 13:14. It depends upon the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Spirit to flow as a current within our spirit. Witness Lee

We need to daily enjoy and experience and remain in the flowing of the Divine Trinity in our being, because this current of the Divine Trinity within us is our spiritual pulse. Our entire Christian life and church life should be an experience of grace. The Lord is our grace, the Father is the source of the grace, and the Spirit is the transmission of grace.

Practically, we need to daily be in the flow of the Divine Trinity in our daily living, doing everything in the flow – whether we’re in the meeting or at work, at home, or on the street, we should give the flow of life within us the preeminence, and we should not do anything that is not in this flow.

If the flow of blood in our body stops, we die; if the flow of the Divine Trinity in our being is interrupted or stopped, our growth in the divine life is stopped and we experience spiritual death.

The product of the grace of God in His economy is the church as the poem of the Triune God to exhibit and show forth to the whole universe the surpassing riches of His grace with His infinite wisdom and divine design (Eph. 1:6-8; 2:10, 7).

Day by day the Triune God is continually working Himself in His Divine Trinity in our being through our enjoyment of Him and the experiences of Christ we have, and we will be eventually produced as His masterpiece, a poem to exhibit the surpassing riches of His grace.

Eventually, the grace of the Lord Jesus dispensed into His chosen ones throughout the New Testament age consummates in the New Jerusalem, in which the processed and consummated Triune God will be the grace enjoyed by all the believers for eternity (Rev. 22:21).

Not only in this age do we enjoy the grace of God, but in eternity we will be an exhibition of this grace, enjoying the Triune God continually. In the New Testament grace is the top revelation, the highest revelation; today we have received the grace to be stewards of grace and testify of the gospel of the grace of God.

Lord Jesus, keep us in the flow of the Divine Trinity in our being all day long. May there be an uninterrupted circulation of the Spirit with the grace of Christ with the love of the Father in us so that we may be constantly supplied in our Christian life and church life. Lord, keep us under the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity until we are being produced as God’s masterpiece exhibiting the surpassing riches of His grace with His infinite wisdom and divine design! Amen, Lord, we want to receive grace to be the stewards of grace who testify of the gospel of the grace of God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the sharing in the message for this week, and Living in and with the Divine Trinity, ch. 13 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Gospel (2016 International Chinese-speaking Conference), week 2 / msg. 2, The Gospel of Grace.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # The new covenant ministers are persons / Whose hearts have turned to the Lord, / Who are enjoying the Lord as the Spirit, / And who are being transformed / into the image of the Lord / by beholding and reflecting Him. (Song on the new covenant ministry)
  # Lord, grant me the experiences / To produce such a ministry. / Through revelation and sufferings, / Lord, constitute Yourself in me. / By Your all-fitting life, / Lord, I learn to live. / By Your sufficient grace, / Lord, make home in me. (Song on the new covenant ministers)
  # The love of God and the grace of Christ / And fellowship of the Holy Spirit / Be with you, be with you all, / Be with you all, be with you all. / From the throne of our God and the Lamb / Flows a river of water of life, / Bright as crystal, reaching man. (Scripture song)