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Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:1-11
Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God’s masterpiece, God’s poem, to express His desire and wisdom. When we were far off from God and even far off from one another, God did a wonderful thing in a hidden place in the universe. This hidden place is our spirit. Through the gospel God entered into our spirit so that we not only were reconciled to Him but also gained a position of peace with one another and a condition of love for one another. Regrettably, today’s religion involves only outward regulations and rituals; it neglects the reality that has transpired in our hidden human spirit, which involves the Holy Spirit entering into our redeemed and regenerated human spirit so that the two are mingled together to become one spirit. Today God wants to recover the experience of this reality.
Verses 4 and 5 say, “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ.” Being made alive is like the sprouting forth of a seed, but even a plant that has sprouted needs to grow. Likewise, even though we have been made alive to become one new man with God’s life (v. 15), this life must grow. The more this life grows, the more we are joined together with one another. Death separates man, yet life joins man. All the dry bones in the valley in Ezekiel 37 were scattered, but once God breathed on these bones and His breath entered into them, they were joined together and became alive to be an exceedingly great army (vv. 1-10). We were dead and scattered, but Christ entered into us to enliven us and to grow in us so that as the building of God we may be fitted together and grow into a holy temple in the Lord, being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit (Eph. 2:21-22). This is the poem that God is writing in the universe; this is God’s masterpiece. In eternity God’s poem will express His infinite wisdom and divine design.
Verses 1 and 2 of chapter 3 say, “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you, the Gentiles — if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God which was given to me for you.” The phrase for this cause indicates that the revelation Paul received in chapter 2 made him a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of the Gentiles so that the stewardship of the grace of God would have an outlet through him. The Greek word for stewardship is the same word for economy in 1:10; hence, the stewardship of the grace of God is linked to the economy of the grace of God. In the universe God has an economy of grace; in other words, grace is the capital of God’s economy. God’s economy is God working Himself as grace into redeemed and regenerated believers to bring them into the reality of the Body of Christ. When the Body is manifested, God’s masterpiece, God’s poem, will be complete. We all are the material for His poem, and in His economy He is working in us to complete His masterpiece.
This was a mystery hidden from the generations before the apostles (3:5). Not even Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, or the prophets knew this mystery. This mystery was revealed to the apostles, especially to the apostle Paul, only in the New Testament age. Prior to the New Testament age this mystery was hidden in God, who created all things. Paul was clear that God created the heavens, the earth, all things, and even man so that Christ could gain His Body. God called Jews as well as Gentiles and put Himself into them as His called ones so that they would be made alive and become one Body in their enlivened human spirit to be built as the Body of Christ to express Christ.
The mystery hidden throughout the ages was foreordained by God in His eternal plan to be accomplished through the unsearchable riches of Christ. In other words, all that God is and has, everything in the Godhead and divinity, are in Christ. Paul said that he preached the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel (v. 8); he did not preach the doctrine of going to heaven rather than to hell. He preached the unsearchable riches of Christ, which are the riches of God in Christ as everything to us. God in Christ has become our light, love, righteousness, holiness, power, wisdom, and so forth; all these riches are inexhaustible. All human virtues, such as endurance, humility, and respect for family, are nothing but shadows; the reality is Christ. Only when a person has Christ does his endurance, humility, and respect for family become real.
I have been a Christian for nearly fifty years, and I have experienced prosperity and poverty, highs and lows, and honor and dishonor. I know for certain that if a man does not have Christ, he has only vanity. Only the rich Christ is the excellent treasure; only He is reality. We should experience Christ and His riches in our daily living so that in the meetings we can testify that Christ has become our life, endurance, guidance, and support rather than testifying about blessings, peace, or healings. The release of such testimonies will present the riches of Christ to others.
Ephesians 2:10 speaks of God’s masterpiece, and 3:9 speaks of God’s economy. God’s economy accomplishes God’s masterpiece, using the riches of Christ as the capital. The more Christ’s riches enter into us and constitute us, the more we become God’s masterpiece. Today God’s main desire is that we be focused on experiencing Christ practically in our living, not on outward things, including such things as saving souls, being zealous, speaking in tongues, or praying with fasting. Christ is not a doctrine or a thing; He is the Spirit to be our reality. As the Spirit, He is in our spirit to be one spirit with us (1 Cor. 6:17). We have to take Him as our life, power, and wisdom in our spirit. We need to fellowship with Him, contact Him, and be joined to Him in our spirit. Our walk should be governed not by outward regulations and restrictions but by living out the riches of Christ. When we experience Christ and enjoy His riches, we are in God’s economy. God is operating in us so that we will become His masterpiece through our experience of the riches of Christ.
We encourage the brothers and sisters to release their spirit in the meetings. However, it is not adequate to release our spirit if we have no content. The riches of Christ must be the content released from our spirit. We must exercise our spirit and experience the riches of Christ in our living; then in the meetings we can release our spirit to testify of the riches of Christ. In this way God will carry out His economy in us to make us His masterpiece so that the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies, including Satan and his angels, will see a display of God’s multifarious wisdom (Eph. 3:10).
The world-famous area in Los Angeles known as Hollywood is filled with lies devised by Satan. However, God has come, because the church has been established there. Through God’s operation hippies, who were dead in their sins, have been enlivened by the life of God; they have been sanctified, and as members of the Body of Christ, they are being built together so that the Body of Christ can be manifested. The Lord is working His riches into them to such an extent that they are becoming a masterpiece, a poem written by the Lord. The more recklessly Satan acts, the more brilliantly God writes His poem. Regardless of Satan’s distractions, God has a way. Even though Hollywood influences the whole world, the church in Los Angeles is influencing the whole world. Satan’s lawless activities there only manifest God’s economy and multifarious wisdom all the more.
The church that God is producing with the riches of Christ is not today’s so-called Christianity; it is the crystallization of God’s work in our hidden part, our spirit. We simply need to exercise our spirit and release our spirit. Then when we are at home, our home will be bright and joyous, and when we are in the meetings, we will manifest the heavenly New Jerusalem. This is the way that the Lord is taking in His recovery today. The manifestation of the church is not an accident; it is according to the eternal plan that God purposed in Christ Jesus. It is so glorious that we can participate in God’s eternal plan.
