Our Christian life is a life of enjoying Christ personally to enjoy Him corporately with God and with the saints; for this, we need to labour on Christ as the good land.
In order for us to be the overcomers of today, we must enjoy Christ with God on the ground of oneness both personally and corporately for the exhibition of Christ, the building of the church, and the preparation of the bride of Christ (Matt. 16:18; Rev. 19:7).
Our God is very particular concerning the ground, the place, the location of His people worship of Him; on one hand all His people can pray to God personally and enjoy the rich produce of the land where they are, but on the other hand, He wants that corporately they would come to the place of His choice to worship Him.
In the Old Testament this place was Jerusalem with Zion where the temple was built, and in the New Testament there’s the unique ground of oneness, the ground of the locality for the keeping of the oneness of the Body of Christ.
Our God is one; Christ is one; His salvation is one; His church is one; and His expression is also one. There is one universal church, and there is only one church in each locality; this is for the keeping of the oneness.
Today we are in the church life on the ground of oneness; we are today’s Jerusalem.
However, within the church life there must be a group of people who are the overcoming ones, those who overcome anything that is not Christ and that stands against Christ, and they overcome the degradation of the church.
The Lord wants to gain the overcomers in the churches, those who are today’s Zion; they are not super-humans or extraordinary believers but rather, they see God’s purpose and desire, they answer His call, and they are His overcomers to fulfill God’s purpose in the church and on behalf of the church.
Zion is the highlight and beauty of the holy city Jerusalem; the overcomers are the high peak, the center, the uplifting, the strengthening, the enriching, the beauty, and the reality of the church.
We all should aspire to be the overcomers in the churches; the local churches are the right place for us to be the Lord’s overcomers, for the Lord speaks to us and He calls us.
However, merely being in the local church on the ground of oneness doesn’t mean that we are overcomers; it is one thing to be in the church life, and it is another thing to be an overcomer.
Christ today is calling for His overcomers; He is the Son of Man walking as the High Priest among the churches, and He is calling His overcoming ones, those who overcome the degradation of the church and are the Zion within Jerusalem!
Enjoying Christ as our Portion Personally and Enjoying the Top Portion of Christ Corporately
Regarding the enjoyment of the riches of the good land, the children of Israel had two ways: personally they could enjoy all the riches of the land allotted to them, and corporately they can enjoy the top portion and the firstfruits at the place chosen by God.
The common, private way to enjoy the good land was to enjoy it as a common portion at any time, in any place, and with anyone (Deut. 12:15); they could eat within their gates, they could enjoy all the riches of the land allotted to them personally and with their family.
However, the special, corporate way was to enjoy the top portion, the firstfruits and the firstlings, with all the Israelites at the appointed feasts and in the unique place chosen by God (Deut. 12: 5, 8, 11, 13-14, 17-18, 21, 26-27; 14:22-23; 15:19-20; 16:16-17).
Similarly, we believers in Christ can enjoy Christ in two main ways: personally and corporately.
The enjoyment of Christ by His believers is of two aspects: the private or personal aspect of our enjoying Christ as our God-allotted portion, and the corporate aspect of enjoying Christ in the meetings with the saints.
The common, private aspect of enjoying Christ is enjoying Him as our God-allotted portion at every time and in every place (Col. 1:12; 1 Cor. 1:2, 9; Eph. 6:18; 1 Thes. 5:16-18; Rom. 10:12-13).
Christ is our God-allotted portion for us to enjoy, and we can enjoy Him wherever we are, for He is rich, sweet, enjoyable, available, and we can call on His name to enjoy all His riches.
At every time and in every place, we can rejoice, unceasingly pray, give thanks to the Lord, and call on His name to be those enjoying Christ personally.
The special, corporate aspect of our enjoyment of Christ is to enjoy the top portion of Christ in the meetings of the proper church life on the unique ground of oneness, the place chosen by God (1 Cor. 14:3-4, 26, 31).
When we come together in the meetings of the church on the ground of oneness, we enjoy Christ in a richer, fuller, and higher way, for we enjoy the top portion of Christ.
This is why, unless there are some particular reasons, we should not miss the church meetings; in the meetings of the church in oneness we enjoy the top portion of Christ.
In the meetings of the church we enjoy a portion of Christ which we cannot enjoy at home – the top portion of Christ, even the firstfruits, enjoying Christ with God and with all the saints.
May we have both of these aspects of the enjoyment of Christ – enjoying Christ personally in every time and at every place, and bringing the top portion of Christ to the meeting to enjoy with God and with the saints, feasting on the Lord corporately.
Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy You personally as our God-allotted portion in every time and at every place. Keep us calling on Your name, breathing You in, thanking You, praising You, and praying unceasingly so that we may enjoy all Your riches. Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy You and bring the top portion of Christ to the meetings of the church on the unique ground of oneness to enjoy You corporately with all the saints in the church life! May the meetings of the church be a rich exhibition of the riches of Christ enjoyed and experienced by all the saints!
Living a Life of Enjoying Christ Personally to Enjoy Him Collectively for the Body
Our Christ is all-inclusive and extensive; He is the rich land allotted to us for our enjoyment, and our daily life as believers in Christ is a life of laboring on Christ to enjoy Him and experience Him in every situation.
After the children of Israel entered into the good land and subdued it, they each were allotted a portion of the land and lived a life of laboring on the land; they tilled the ground, sowed the seed, watered the plants, nurtured the vines, and pruned the trees.
Our Christian life today is a life of working diligently on Christ as the good land so that we may enjoy His all-inclusive riches.
Our Christ is rich beyond measure, but do we enjoy Him, or are we indolent and in poverty? Do we exert ourselves to labor on Christ, or do we grovel in poverty, not enjoying our rich Christ?
If we look around us we realize that the church today is groveling in poverty because the Lord’s children are indolent; they languish in the land, and they don’t exert themselves to labor on Christ.
We need to live a life of laboring on Christ, a life of enjoying Christ personally day-by-day so that we may enjoy Him together collectively for the building up of the Body of Christ (Rom. 3:16; 1 Tim. 3:15; Rom. 14:17-18).
God’s will for us is to enjoy Christ; we must seek to enjoy Christ and experience Him in every situation (Heb. 10:5-10; Phil. 3:7-14; 4:5-8).
May we not be lazy but be industrious daily, enjoying Christ, laboring on Christ to enjoy Him personally, so that we may have not only the daily portion of supply of grace, but also an extra portion to minister to others for the building up of the Body.
May we live a life of enjoying Christ personally so that we may enjoy Him together collectively for the building up of the church as the house of God for God’s expression and as the kingdom of God for God’s dominion.
Our wonderful Christ is rich and all-inclusive, but we may be groveling in poverty if we are indolent (see Prov. 6:6-11; 24:30-34; 26:14; Matt. 25:26, 30; cf. 1 Cor. 15:58).
If we are lazy, if we don’t spend time in the Word of God to pray, read, study, and enjoy the Lord, if we are not laboring on Christ as the good land, we do not have a portion of Christ to bring before God when we meet with all the saints.
Whenever we come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, etc; we all offer these portions of Christ we have enjoyed for the edification of the saints unto the building up of the church, even the Body of Christ.
If we want to build up the church, we need to come to the church meetings; this is where we build up the church.
If we are lazy and indolent, and if we don’t labor on Christ as the good land, we will have nothing to bring when we meet with the saints on the ground of oneness, and God and the saints will miss our portion.
We all must labor on Christ, our good land, so that we may reap some produce of His riches to bring to the church meetings and offer.
When we do this, when we all are laboring on Christ as the good land personally and bring a portion of Christ to the meeting, we will have an exhibition of Christ in His riches and there will be a mutual enjoyment of Christ shared by all the attendants before God and with God for the building up of the saints and the church (Col. 2:6-7; 1 Cor. 1:9; 14:3, 31).
Whenever we come to the meetings to worship the Lord, we shouldn’t come with our hands empty but rather, our hands need to be filled with the produce of Christ (1 Cor. 14:26; Deut. 16:15-17).
We meet together to have an exhibition of the Christ upon whom we have labored, experienced, and enjoyed (Deut. 14:22-23); this is why we need to be those laboring on Christ to be enjoying Christ personally so that collectively we may enjoy the top portion of Christ with God in the meeting of the church.
Lord Jesus, we seek to enjoy You and experience You in every situation. Save us from being indolent and not laboring on Christ, the good land! Oh Lord, we come to enjoy You and experience You day by day; we give ourselves to labor on Christ, our good land, so that we may reap some produce of His riches to bring to the church meeting and offer to God and to the saints! Amen, Lord Jesus, may the meetings of the church be an exhibition of Christ in His riches, a mutual enjoyment of Christ shared by all the attendants before God and with God for the building up of the saints and the church!
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, CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” chs. 15-16, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 9, Enjoying Christ with God on the Ground of Oneness.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Laboring on the good land, laboring in the morning, / Laboring through the noontime to the early eve, / Laboring for a harvest, reaping all the produce, / Coming to the meeting, bringing in the sheaves. (Hymns #1167)
– Laboring on Jesus, the good land so real, / Plowing and planting and watering the field. / He yields the produce of reality, / God reaps a harvest of Jesus in me. / O Jesus! You’re God’s good land / For me to labor on! / I’ll bit by bit possess You / Until the whole is won! (Hymns #1168)
– Whene’er we meet with Christ endued, / The surplus of His plenitude / We offer unto God as food, / And thus exhibit Christ. (Hymns #864)
