As a conclusion to our week on the subject of, Being Fully Reconciled to God and Enlarged in Heart to Represent God Rightly in His Economy, today we want to see some qualifications of a person who represents God rightly on earth.
God created us in His image and according to His likeness so that we would be a corporate man to express Him with His image and represent Him with His dominion.
But the first man, Adam, fell, so Christ came as the last Adam, the second man; through His death He terminated the first man and created a new man in Himself, of which He is the Head, life, and person.
Now we as believers in Christ are part of the one new man, which is the enlargement of Christ as the second man, so that God may be expressed and represented corporately through us on earth.
For us to represent God rightly in His economy, however, we need to be reconciled to God. Yes, all believers in Christ have already been reconciled to God from sin through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, but we need to be reconciled further to Him, that is, be reconciled from living in the flesh and in the natural man to living in the spirit.
When we are fully reconciled to God, we will also be enlarged in our heart; narrowness of heart is a strong indication that we have been reconciled to God only partially, and that we need to be saved much more in His life.
When we have been fully reconciled to God and have been enlarged in heart, we can represent God rightly in His economy.
God wants to have us, His believers, as His ambassadors on earth; He gave all authority in heaven and on earth to Jesus Christ, and He has sent us with His authority to represent Him.
What kind of living and behavior should we have, then, if we are to represent the One who has the highest authority in heaven and on earth!
We are authorized with the heavenly authority as new covenant ministers, so that we may represent the highest authority. This means that as we are with other people and with the saints, we need to be “the acting God”, that is, God needs to live in us, be expressed through us, and do everything through us for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
Paul was a pattern of what it means to be Jesus living again, even “the acting God”, and the case of Moses is a strong warning of what it means to fail to represent God. May we sanctify God in our attitude and actions, and may we not rebel against Him and offend Him! Amen!
Qualifications of a Person who Represents God Rightly in His Economy in the Church
In the second part of his book, Authority and Submission, brother Watchman Nee points out at least twelve qualifications of a person who represents God rightly in His economy in the church. These are to encourage us, train us, and perfect us, so that we may be such ones.
1. A person who represents God rightly needs to submit to authority. The centurion realised that Jesus was a man under the authority of God, and he only asked the Lord to speak a word, and his servant will be healed, for he believed that the Lord had authority (see Matt. 8:8-9).
We should not assume authority but submit to God’s authority and know His authority. God upholds and maintains the whole universe with His authority; He also begets us as His children with His authority (John 1:12) and binds us together with His authority.
Therefore, if we are independent, individualistic, and free from any God-appointed deputy authority, we are an outsider as far as God’s administration over the whole universe is concerned, and we cannot accomplish God’s work on earth today.
2. A person who represents God rightly needs to realize that in himself he has no authority (Matt. 28:18; 2 Cor. 10:8; 13:10). Authority is something that comes out of our being; only God has authority, and all authority in heaven and on earth was given to the resurrected Christ as the Son of God.
We have no authority, and we should not even have the thought that we have authority. We should not claim any authority, we should not impose our authority, and we should realize that we have no authority in ourselves.
If we are proud or arrogant, we are not qualified to have God’s authority. If a person becomes proud as soon as he assumes authority, he’s not qualified to be an elder, for an elder in a local church should feel as if he has no authority at all.
Only the foolish and the narrow-minded are proud; such ones can’t stand the temptation of God’s glory, and they can’t bear God’s commission and assignment. If we think we have authority in ourselves, we can never be entrusted with something in God’s work, for we will fall into a snare if we do.
We simply need to live Christ, take Him as our person, let Him come forth, and the saints will meet Him when they meet us; we will then represent God rightly before others as representatives of the Lord.
No one who truly knows God would like to be an authority; they realize that deputy authority is a great matter, a serious thing.
A proud person cannot exercise authority for God, but those who are conscious of their own inability and unsuitability are qualified to enjoy God, express God, and represent God. Our attitude should be that we are unprofitable slaves, always standing in the position of a slave (Luke 17:10).
Lord Jesus, save us from thinking we are somebody and that we have authority in the church. Save us from being proud or arrogant, and save us from desiring to have authority. Oh Lord, keep us enjoying You, eating You and drinking You, taking You as our person, and living You. May we see our own inability and unsuitability in being useful to You, and may we let You come in, live in us, and do everything in us and for us in the church life!
3. A person who represents God rightly needs to know God and God’s will (Eph. 1:9; 5:17). We need to have divine revelation to see what is the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself.
We need to know God personally and intimately, and we need to know His purpose; His purpose needs to govern our life in all our decisions, living, walk, and speaking.
4. A person who represents God rightly must be one who denies the self (Matt. 16:24). We cannot express both God and the self; to express God and represent Him rightly, we must deny our self and take Christ as our person, so that it would be no longer us who live but Christ who lives in us and is expressed through us.
5. A person who represents God rightly must be one with the Lord and live in constant and intimate fellowship with Him (1 Cor. 6:17; 1:9; 1 John 1:3). We need to be those who speak to God face to face, spending time with Him daily, and seeking to live one spirit with Him.
Whenever we are not in the mingled spirit, we are in the self, and what comes out of us is not Christ. We need to constantly exercise our spirit so that we may live in a constant and intimate fellowship with the Lord. Hallelujah, we are one spirit with the Lord, so we should live, walk, and have our being in the mingled spirit day by day!
6. A person who represents God rightly must not be subjective and not act according to his own feeling (2 Cor. 3:5).
We need to open to the other members in the Body concerning our situation, our feeling, and our real condition, and we need to be open to be adjusted and tempered by others.
We need both the cross personally and the saints corporately to adjust us and temper us, so that we may walk according to the Lord’s feeling in the Body and not according to our own feeling.
7. A person who represents God rightly must be kind and gracious in dealing with others (see Luke 6:35; cf. Rom. 5:15-16; 1 Cor. 2:12). We need to be kind to others, tender-hearted, full of compassion, and gracious toward the saints and toward all men.
8. A person who represents God rightly must be a person in resurrection, living in the resurrection life of Christ (2 Cor. 1:9; 4:14; Num. 17:1-10).
We should not base our confidence in ourselves but on God, who raises the dead; we should not trust ourselves but learn to trust in the Lord, living a life in the resurrection life of Christ.
9. A person who represents God rightly must take a lowly place before God (see Num. 14:5; 16:3-4, 22, 45; Matt. 11:29; Rom. 12:16; Luke 14:7-11; 1 Pet. 5:6).
When others come to us with situations, questions, and problems, we should follow the pattern of Moses and Aaron and always come to the Lord, seeking His word and His advice. Also, in the church life we should not set our mind on the high things but go along with the lowly, and we should not be wise in ourselves.
10. A person who represents God rightly must be able to bear offenses (see Exo. 16:7; Num. 14:2, 5, 9, 27; Matt. 6:14-15; 1 Cor. 4:6-13).
Yes, God’s people is holy and glorious, but many times others will offend us, and as Paul said, those whom God uses the most are considered as the scum of the earth, and both believers and unbelievers pour offenses and even criticism on them…sometimes they consider themselves as the off-scouring of the earth…
We simply need to have the grace to bear all these things, take umbrage when others offend us. Also, we need to realize that it is good to be ill-spoken of, for in this situation we can live Christ.
11. A person who represents God rightly must have a consciousness of his inability and unsuitability (see Exo. 3:11; 4:6-7, 10; 2 Cor. 3:5; 1 Cor. 15:10). If we are inwardly confident in our ability and knowledge, we are not qualified to represent God rightly; if we are proud of our own doing and our capacity, God cannot use us.
Instead of taking the position of being an expert, a CEO, when we speak, we need to express a spirit of inability and unsuitability, feeling that we’re not worthy, but God had mercy on us.
12. Such a person must be one who represents God properly (see Exo. 32:11-12; 2 Cor. 5:18, 20; Eph. 6:20).
We need to live and serve in the reality of the Body, being tempered and blended, and also have many personal dealings with the Lord to have Christ wrought into us. We need to take Christ as our person, live Christ, and represent God rightly.
Lord Jesus, have mercy on us all for the sake of the church where You have placed us to love and serve. Train us day by day to take You as the actual person making His home in our heart. May we abide in You as You abide in us. Train us, Lord, to live in You by walking according to the spirit. Please continue praying for us, saving us, administrating over us, until You see in churches all over the earth the reproduction of Yourself, the second man – the corporate one new man expressing You and representing You. Lord, as soon as possible and as much as possible, please bring forth this expression and representation on earth in this age! Do it for the glory of God and for the shame of Your enemy! Amen, Lord, nullify the work of Your enemy, glorify Yourself, and represent Yourself! May Your kingdom come and Your will be done! Lord, we worship You and we praise You! Praise the Lord!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 47, “Authority and Submission,” chs. 12, 17-20, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking Christ as our Person and Living Him in and for the Church Life (2018 spring ITERO), week 7, Being Fully Reconciled to God and Enlarged in Heart to Represent God Rightly in His Economy.
- Hymns on this topic:
# I will not let Thee go, my Lord, / I will not let Thee go! / Confession glad on Thee outpoured, / Thine own dear heart to know. / My heart desires, my lips request / To be of use to Thee, / That in that day I’d share Your rest / Through serving faithfully. (Song on, I will not let Thee go)
# Dear Lord Jesus, precious Jesus, / How can I still stubborn be? / At Thy feet cast all my hard’nings, / And return with songs and singings; / ’Tis my love to be Thy bondslave, / ’Tis my joy to Thee obey. (Hymns #1158)
# For this cause Your Person, Lord, / We take and stand in one accord; / All the members self forsake, / And of the Body-Christ partake. / We in Christ as one new man / Now come forth to take this land. / For this cause Your Person, Lord, / We take and stand in one accord. (Hymns #1230)
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