In learning to shepherd one another according to God we need to enjoy Christ and bring one another into the enjoyment of Christ, for the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ solves the problems in the church through the work of the cross.
First, we must see God’s desire, His good pleasure, which is to dispense Himself in Christ into His chosen people to be the fountain of living water to quench their thirst.
Instead of drinking of Christ to become His increase for His corporate expression on earth, we can become like Israel by forsaking God as the fountain of living waters to hew out cisterns (typifying idols) to replace God as our enjoyment (see Jer. 2:13).
May the Lord save us from the evil of not enjoying the Lord and not drinking of Him as our unique source of life, supply, and enjoyment! May the Lord save us from the evil of having idols, that is, of seeking replacements of Christ as the source of life, supply, and enjoyment!
God loved us so much that He gave to us His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, so that we may believe into Him, be joined to Him organically, and drink of the living water flowing in and from Him (John 3:16).
May we be saved from the evil of not believing into the Lord to be organically joined to Him and drink of Him as the living water. May we take the Lord as our safety, health, peace, and possessions, so that we may drink of Him deeply and daily.
God is faithful to take away the things that would hinder us from enjoying Him, and to remove anything that replace Him in our being.
God is faithful in leading us into His economy, and His economy is to enjoy Christ, to absorb Christ, to eat Christ, and to assimilate Christ so that God may increase in us for His expression.
We may be like Job, a good and righteous man worshipping God and doing our best to keep our family in line with God’s word and His demands, but God wants not good men but God-men, those who enjoy Christ and allow the cross to operate in them so that they would be His corporate expression.
Just as in Job’s life, God may allow things in our life to remove our health, our peace, and even some of our possessions, so that He may be wrought into us and remake us, reconstitute us, and fill us with Himself.
The gospel doesn’t say that as long as we believe into the Lord we will be rich and peaceful and have all things in abundance. Rather, we are told that God is faithful, who called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 1:9).
God is faithful to keep us in the constant fellowship and enjoyment of Christ so that His cross would operate in us and remove any obstacles, problems, and replacements of Christ. God wants to be our real supply and satisfaction, and He truly is such a One to us.
We simply need to be brought back to the enjoyment of Christ as our everything, taking the all-inclusive Christ as our unique source and supply.
Being brought Back to the Enjoyment of Christ and Helping others Enjoy Christ in Simplicity and Purity
We need to be brought back to the realisation that we need Christ as our enjoyment, and we also need to help others know how to enjoy Christ.
We need to be brought back to the enjoyment of Christ and help others to return to the simplicity of the genuine appreciation, love, and enjoyment of the precious person of the Lord Jesus Christ himself as their life and everything (2 Cor. 11:2-3; 1:24; Rev. 2:4, 7).
We all need to be simple enjoyers of Christ, being in the enjoyment of Christ all throughout the day, and we need to be skillful to bring others also into the enjoyment of Christ. God wants us to enjoy Him and to bring others into His enjoyment.
He doesn’t want to merely correct people, teach them, or put demands on them – He wants His people to enter into His enjoyment.
We need to have a single-hearted loyalty toward Christ, a single-minded faithfulness toward Him, not being distracted or corrupted by the enemy’s lies, accusations, and enticement.
Just as Satan enticed and deceived Eve through his questioning in the garden of Eden, so today he wants to undermine God’s word and distract us from the simplicity of eating Christ as the tree of life (Gen. 3:1-6).
And there may be other people who come and preach another Jesus, a different spirit, and a different gospel as seen in 2 Cor. 11:3-4.
We need to refuse to be distracted by any different teaching that seeks to separate us from the genuine appreciation, love, and enjoyment of the precious person of our Lord Jesus Christ as our life and everything.
Our need is not to be corrected or adjusted, and our work shouldn’t be to adjust others or put demands on them. We simply need to be in the enjoyment of Christ and bring others to enjoy the Lord in simplicity and purity.
We need to know to enjoy Christ not as a duty or formality but in simplicity and purity, loving the Lord and enjoying His precious person. Our heart needs to be purified so that we seek nothing else but the Lord, and our mind needs to be simplified so that we would focus only on Him to enjoy Him.
And we need to help other saints to enjoy the Lord. To shepherd others is not to impart doctrines, sound teachings, or correction to others, but to help them enjoy the Lord Jesus in purity and simplicity.
How much we need to be simplified and purified, and to return to the Lord to just enjoy Him, be in His presence, and be one spirit with Him! How much we need to be saved form being distracted from the simplicity of having a genuine appreciation, love, and enjoyment of the precious person of the Lord Jesus as our life and everything!
Lord Jesus, bring us back to the realisation that we need Christ as our enjoyment day by day and even moment by moment! Save us from being distracted from the simplicity and purity of just enjoying the Lord. Bring us back to Yourself, Lord, and draw us to enjoy You. Lord, we want to be simple and genuine in our appreciation, love, and enjoyment of Christ. We take You as our life and our everything. Make us those who help others to enjoy the Lord in simplicity and purity! Oh Lord Jesus, keep us in the pure enjoyment of Christ!
The Enjoyment of Christ Solves All the Problems in the Church through the Cross
In the church in Corinth there were many problems, even such problems that today we may not have in our own local churches; however, Paul’s solution was not to adjust, correct, or rebuke, but to present the all-inclusive Christ to the saints.
First Corinthians is a book on the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, for the enjoyment of the crucified and resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit solves all the problems in the church (see 1 Cor. 1:2, 9, 24, 30; 2:2; 5:7-8).
In the church life today our primary matter and practice should be to enjoy the Lord as our life and life supply.
The content of the church life depends on the saints’ enjoyment of Christ; the more we all enjoy the Lord, the richer the content of the church will be.
To enjoy Christ requires that we love Him with the first love, for if we leave our first love for the Lord, we will miss the enjoyment of Christ and lose the testimony of Jesus (see Rev. 2:7).
We need to realize that the enjoyment of Christ is the cure to all the problems in the church and the unique way for us to advance in the Lord, propagate Him, and become His corporate expression.
When we eat Christ as the all-inclusive One, in Him there’s an absolute, wonderful, excellent, and killing death, and this will operate in us to kill all the germs, all the problems, and all the negative things.
If we eat Christ every day to enjoy Him, we will be nourished and the negative elements within us will be killed. The enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ solves the problems in the church through the work of the cross (see 1 Cor. 1:13, 18, 23-24; 2:2).
The Christ we enjoy is all-inclusive, and in Him there’s the operating of the death of Christ; when we enjoy Christ and abide in the enjoyment of Christ, the death of Christ operates in us to remove anything negative.
We may be offended with a brother, and nothing that the brother says may appease us; when we enjoy the Lord sufficiently, the death of Christ will kill the offense in our being, and the germs of hatred toward the other brother will be unconsciously killed.
In our married life there are many offenses, for the husband offends the wife and the wife offends the husband, with the result that there’s criticism, resentment, and bad feelings. The way to clear all these things is by enjoying the all-inclusive Christ and allowing His cross to operate in us.
When the husband and the wife enjoy the Lord and remain in the enjoyment of Christ, the cross will operate to remove the offenses, kill the hatred, and deal with all the bad feelings; the result will be that love will be present, and anything negative is removed.
The enjoyment of Christ solves all our problems through the work of the cross. Therefore, we should concentrate not on teachings, doctrines, practices, or people, but on Christ, the rich and all-inclusive One who is our unique center appointed by God.
We should focus on enjoying Christ and help one another to enjoy the Lord in the church life, having the enjoyment of Christ as the primary matter in the church life.
On His side, God is faithful to call us into the fellowship, the enjoyment, of Christ; on our side, we need to take the lead to enjoy the Lord so that He may grow in us, transform us, build us up, and remove anything negative through the work of the cross.
Lord Jesus, keep us in the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ so that we may be filled with You and grow in life, and so that all problems may be terminated. Lord, may the primary matter in the church life be the enjoyment of Christ. Increase our enjoyment of Christ so that the church life will be richer and more abundant. Lord, we give ourselves to enjoy You and to help one another be in Your enjoyment! May You have a way to operate in all the saints through the cross to remove anything negative so that we may enjoy You in purity and propagate You on earth for Your corporate expression!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1988, vol. 4, “The Excelling Gift for the Building Up of the Church,” ch. 1, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Propagating the Resurrected, Ascended, and All-inclusive Christ as the Development of the Kingdom of God (2018 fall ITERO), week 4, Shepherding the Flock of God according to God by Being Patterns of the Flock.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Lord, we would our every thought be captured / By the rich enjoyment in Your Word. / In it we’re supplied, our mind there will abide, / Till our thoughts are wholly sanctified. (Hymns #1193)
# Splendid church life! His green garden! / He has brought us, praise the Lord, / To experience the Christ Who’s growing here! / He is full of rich enjoyment / To His saints in one accord; / He is new and fresh, available and dear. (Hymns #1237)
# The enjoyment of the crucified Christ / as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit, / Solves all the problems in the church, / And issues in the growth in life, / And issues in the growth in life, / For the building up of the church. (Song on, God has called us into the fellowship of His Son)
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