God’s Economy has Become the Stewardship of God Given to All the Believers in Christ

There are many aspects to arriving at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. One of these aspects is that we need to carry out the stewardship of God to present every man full-grown in Christ (see Col. 1:24-29).

Paul was entrusted by God with a ministry – the unique ministry of the New Testament, which builds up the Body of Christ. This is a work, a ministry, or a stewardship that ministers the completing word of God to us to open up to us the mystery of Christ and the church.

The crux of this ministry is Christ in us (the hope of glory), and the goal of the ministry is for the saints – every saint needs to be full-grown in Christ. The ministry of the New Testament produces the new man for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.

Peter and Paul were entrusted with this ministry, brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee had this ministry, and now we all have this ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ. This ministry is for every believer, so that every man would be presented full-grown in Christ.

Today there’s a great need for the recovery of the function of all the members of the Body of Christ. Not only a few, a minority, should function – every member of the Body should function!

The New Testament stewardship – which was given to all the saints – has to do with God’s economy, has its content related to the indwelling Christ, is a ministry for every believer, is unto the growth of a full-grown man, and is by the way of perfecting of every member.

The Need for Perfecting for All the Members to Function

This stewardship involves some laboring, some struggling, and some filling in of the afflictions of Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ.

We need to realize that every member of the Body of Christ, every born again believer in Christ, no matter how small or big he may be “in Christ”, and no matter how outwardly “useful” he may be or not, needs to be perfected so that each member would become full-grown in Christ.

The goal of the ministry of the New Testament is not that there would be many individually-perfected members, but that there would be a full-grown corporate man for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.

It is good to save people and get them baptized into the Triune God, but we need to go on to perfect the others so that they would be growing step-by-step until they become a full-grown man.

To do this we cannot take the lazy way of Christianity or the traditional way in religion – we need to take a particular way, the way of laboring and struggling. There’s an agonizing involved, as it is with a human baby when he is born – you agonize before the Lord, open to Him, work with Him, minister Him, dispense Him into others, so that they would grow in life unto maturity.

If you take the way in Christianity today, there’s no agonizing – and there’s no growth. But we need to be like Paul, doing our part to fill the lack of the sufferings of Christ for the Body of Christ.

The gifted ones should take every opportunity to perfect others, and all the saints need to constantly be learning to function. The meetings and interactions in the church life should be filled with mutual perfecting and learning.

We all are priests and we all have a part in the ministry (Col. 1:25) to build up the Body of Christ. We need to be perfected in the ministry, in our function, so that we would minister the riches of Christ to other members of the Body for their growth in life unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

The Economy of God has Become the Stewardship of God Given to Us

God has an economy, which is a very great matter (Eph. 1:10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4). Therefore, He needs many stewards to serve, to minister, to manage, and to execute His economy. The first stewards were the apostles – they received the vision of God’s economy and it became their stewardship, their ministry.

Paul and the others were entrusted by God with a stewardship, and they were faithful to minister Christ to others. Now and today, we as the many members of the Body of Christ are all entrusted with the same stewardship, the same ministry.

We are all priests, and whether brothers or sisters, young or old, new ones or more mature ones, we all have a part in the ministry of the New Testament, the stewardship entrusted to us by God (see 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:5-6).

With Paul and some others this stewardship was a bit greater, but they were also stewards just like us. On God’s side, He has an economy, which was made in eternity (see Eph. 3:9-11). On our side, God’s economy has become our stewardship, which was given to us in time to carry out God’s economy in grace (see Eph. 3:2; 1 Cor. 9:17).

We all have the privilege, the right, and the responsibility to eat Christ, enjoy Christ, and partake of all the riches of Christ, and then minister this Christ to others by dispensing the riches of Christ into the saints.

The more mature ones and the elders in the local churches need to take the lead to dispense the riches of Christ into others. God is a rich person, and He has a large family. In His family we all need to minister the riches of Christ to one another so that we may enjoy Him and be perfected in Him.

This is not an ordinary Christian work, and it is not merely teaching the Bible in an outward way, taking care of the poor, donating money for the needs of others, etc. Rather, in our conversations with one another we dispense the riches of Christ. When we eat together, when we invite others for dinner or take the young people out for a snack, we need to dispense the riches of Christ into others.

There is only one ministry, which is related to God’s economy, and this ministry is the stewardship of God, which is according to God’s economy. And we all have a part in such a stewardship for the building up of the Body of Christ!

Lord Jesus, show us a clear vision of Your economy, Your dispensing. Keep us so open to You to have You infused into us day by day. Lord, we want to enjoy You in all Your unsearchable riches, both individually and together with the saints. Dispense Yourself into us, and fill us with Your riches. Thank You for entrusting us with a stewardship, and we have a responsibility to not only enjoy You but also to minister Your riches into Your people. Lord, perfect us and grow in us that we may dispense Your riches into the saints for the building up of Your Body!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Andrew Yu’ speaking in the message for this week, and portions from, A Deeper Study of the Divine Dispensing (chs. 13-14), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Entering into the Fourth Stage of the Experience of Life to Arrive at a Full-Grown Man for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose, week 9 / msg 9, Arriving at a Full-grown Man (3) Carrying Out the Stewardship of God to Present Every Man Full-grown in Christ and Practicing the Church Life in the Consciousness of the One New Man.
• Further reference: recommending msg. 11 from, The Life-Study of Colossians (by Witness Lee).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # 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.
  # 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.
  # God’s economy and goal / According to His heart’s desire / Are to build Himself into our being / And to build us into His being / In order to mingle His divinity with our humanity / Into one entity (one entity)— / The Body of Christ, / Which consummates the New Jerusalem.