When we allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our heart, we become the place of God’s speaking, and we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly for the one new man.
Many times different parts of our being are at war – there are different parties within our being arguing and quarrelling; at this time we need to give place to the presiding peace of Christ.
We have the peace of Christ – it has been installed in our being, and now we need to let this peace rule and reign in us, having the final word.
One day Christ will be the Judge and have the final word, but until then, we need to keep the oneness of the Body, the oneness of the Spirit, by allowing the peace of Christ arbitrate in our heart.
For this, we need to set aside our opinion, our concept, and listen to the word of the indwelling Referee.
Christ has come into us both as our life and as our peace; He is the indwelling Referee, and He wants to arbitrate in our heart and rule in us as peace.
When we allow the indwelling Referee to have the final word in us, we will have less problems, especially personal problems, for the Lord as peace will arbitrate and will will remove all the disputes within us.
The peace of Christ installed in our being settles all the disputes in our being, causing us to have peace with God and with man.
For the proper Body life we need the peace of Christ to arbitrate, to adjust, and to decide all things in our heart and also in our relationships with the other members in the Body of Christ.
The all-inclusive, extensive Christ is becoming everything to us, and He as peace arbitrates in our heart; in the new man there cannot be any cultural distinctions – only Christ can be in the one new man.
Whenever we sense that there are different parties arguing within us, we need to give place to the presiding peace of Christ, allowing this peace to have the final word.
This means that, no matter what our opinion and concept it, we need to set them aside and listen to the word of the indwelling Referee. When the peace of Christ arbitrate in our heart, we have peace with God and with man, and we keep the oneness of the Body of Christ.
The peace of Christ is actually the uniting bond of peace, the oneness in the Body of Christ. In this peace the church life as the new man is preserved, and as the peace of Christ presides in our heart, the renewing of the new man takes place continually.
Our oneness in the local churches is maintained not by human endeavouring but by the arbitrating peace of Christ. This means that we need to remain on the cross and allow the work of the cross to terminate us and keep us in oneness.
Allowing the Peace of Christ arbitrate in us to Keep us in Oneness so we can have God’s Speaking
It is very interesting in Col. 3 that Paul first mentions the peace of Christ arbitrating in our heart, and then he speaks of the word of Christ dwelling in us richly.
Why does the peace of Christ come first and then the word of Christ? It is because, according to the principle in the Bible, God’s speaking requires oneness.
When God’s people are divided, His word becomes rare; when there’s a division among the people of God, His word becomes rare.
God speaks when there’s oneness among His people, and when there’s division, His word is rare, and there’s no speaking from God.
For example, when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, God spoke in the Tent of Meeting; the Tent of Meeting was a sign of the oneness of God’s people.
Later when the temple was built in Jerusalem as the continuation of the Tent of Meeting, God’s speaking was through the priests as they entered into the Holy of Holies.
Today we need to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our heart so that we may be kept in a situation full of oneness and harmony, and we would become the place of God’s speaking, His oracle (Rev. 2:1, 7).
When we are in a situation with arguments, disputes, unhappiness, and offenses, the word of Christ cannot dwell in us; even if the word wants to dwell, he cannot.
So we need to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in us; this word “let” is not passive but aggressive – we cooperate with Him, we let the peace actively arbitrate in us and keep us in a situation of peace.
We don’t just sit there and somehow the peace of Christ rules in us and the word of Christ dwells in us richly…
We need to read the Word, pray the word, sing the word, absorb the Word, and assimilate the living, rhema Word, the instant spoken word of Christ, and we need to let this word that is life and spirit have a way in us, a free passage in us.
God wants to make home in all our heart with His word; we should allow the peace of Christ arbitrate in us so that we may be kept in a condition of oneness, and we need to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly.
Every time we go to the Lord, before He can speak to us, we need to allow the peace of Christ arbitrate in our heart; even before we bring our gift on the altar, as we remember that someone has something against us, we should go and fix it by repenting and confessing first.
Otherwise, our offering to the Lord will be pretentious, and it may not be acceptable before Him. We need to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our heart, and then let the word of Christ dwell in us richly.
Lord Jesus, we allow the peace of Christ arbitrate in our heart so that we may be kept in a situation full of oneness and harmony and become the place of God’s speaking, His oracle. Amen, Lord, we want to deal with any offense or sin that Your light exposes, and we let Your peace have the final word in us; we enthrone Your peace in our heart so that we may be kept in oneness. Save us from being in a situation of division or unrest; bring us into peace, and may Your peace arbitrate in us. Amen, Lord Jesus, we allow Your peace arbitrate in our heart and we let Your word dwell in us richly!
We need to Let the Word of Christ Dwell in us Richly and Experience the Functions of the Word
What does it mean for us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly? It means that we allow the word of God adequate room in us to permeate and saturate our whole being.
It is crucial for us as believers in Christ to let the word of Christ enter into us, dwell in us, prevail in us, and replace our concepts, opinions, and philosophies (see Psa. 119:130; cf. Rev. 21:23; 22:5).
Even though we love the Lord and are in the church life, there are some philosophies of this age that are still prevailing and operating in us; we picked some things from our background, our upbringing, and the society, and we brought them into our living.
There are some things in us, some ideology, some opinions and concepts, and these do not give the free course to the word to run and enter, dwell, and prevail in us.
So we need to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, allowing it to replace our concepts, our opinions, and our philosophies. e may even need to tell the Lord,
Oh Lord, I love You, I want to let Your word dwell in me richly in all wisdom, so I am willing to let go of my concepts. Lord, may Your word have ground in me. I am willing to forget my opinion and put aside my philosophy, so that Your word may be prevailing in me!
We need to allow the word of the Lord to have the first place in us so that we may experience the functions of the word of God operating within us and ministering the riches of Christ into our being (Col. 3:16).
First we need to allow the arbitrating peace of Christ to preserve us in oneness so that the Lord may speak to us, and we need to give first place to the word of God; if we do this, we will experience the functions of the word of God.
Some of the functions of the Word of God are: the word of God is enlightening us, nourishing us, quenching our thirst, strengthening us, washing us, building us up, perfecting us, and edifying us.
First, the word of God enlightens us (Psa. 119:105, 130); His word is a lamp unto our path and give us understanding, shining on us and causing us to walk in the light of God.
The word of God nourishes us, and we can live on the word of God just as we live on bread; how sweet and dear are the Lord’s words to us (Matt. 4:4; 1 Tim. 4:6).
The word of God waters us to quench our thirst; we can come to the Lord without money to drink and quench our thirst in His word (Isa. 55:1, 8-11).
The word of God strengthens us, and as we heed the word of God, it becomes life to us and brings healing to our entire being (1 John 2:14; Prov. 4:20-22).
The word of God washes us; we are produced to be the bride of Christ without any spot or wrinkle by the washing of the water in the word of God (Eph. 5:26).
God through the word of His grace is able to build us up and give us the inheritance among all those who have been sanctified; the Word of God is able to build us up (Acts 20:32).
The word of God completes us and perfects us; all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-17). Amen!
The word of God edifies us by sanctifying us; when we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, we are sanctified by the Word, by the Lord’s speaking to us in His word (John 17:17).
We should spend more time to muse on the word of God – even spend more time in God’s word than in the news or on the social media. We do have time, but we may waste a lot of our time.
The days are evil – we need to live in these evil days in such a way that we redeem the time by being in the word of God. As we allow the Word of God to dwell in us richly and inhabit us, we can become a proper human being, a God-man filled with Christ as the reality of all the attributes of God (Col. 3:16-25; Phil. 4:5-8).
If we allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in us and if we are filled with the word of Christ, we will have the new man in a practical way. Then all the saints in all the churches throughout the Lord’s recovery will be living Christ in the one new man.
May we pray unceasingly and be steadfast and persevere in prayer, practicing these things, elevating our pro-activeness in seeking the things above, so that the peace of Christ would arbitrate in our heart and the word of Christ would inhabit us for the one new man.
Lord Jesus, we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly by giving it adequate room in us to permeate and saturate our whole being. Amen, Lord, we want to spend time with You in Your word, musing on Your word and praying Your word back to You so that Your word would enter into us, dwell in us, prevail in us, and replace our concepts, opinions, and philosophies. We give the word of the Lord the first place so that we would experience the functions of the word of God operating in us and ministering the riches of Christ into our being for the one new man.
Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Să lăsăm Cuvântul lui Cristos să locuiască în noi bogat și să experimentăm funcțiile Cuvântului.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 33, 35, 64-65 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ (2019 Thanksgiving Conference), week 6 on the topic of, Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ as Our Life and as the Constituent of the New Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Let the word of Christ dwell in you / Richly, in all wisdom / Teaching and admonishing one another / In psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, / Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord / And whatever you do, in word or in work / Do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Scripture song)
– May the Word of Christ dwell richly / In my heart from hour to hour, / So that all may see I triumph / Only through His pow’r. (Hymns #401)
– The living Word is Jesus too, / God-breathed as life to us, / That we be wholly sanctified, / A Bride all-glorious. (Hymns #1228)
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