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Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:4-6, 11-24
Ephesians is a book on the church; it reveals the church and presents the way to experience the church, which is to experience Christ. Christ is the mystery of God, and the church is the mystery of Christ. God is a mystery, and Christ is also a mystery. Nothing in the universe is as mysterious as God, and no one in history was as mysterious as Christ. Christ is God, and He became a man; hence, He is both God and man. As a man, He possesses two lives and two natures. He has the divine life and the divine nature as well as the human life and human nature. Our mind cannot comprehend how a person can have two lives and two natures, nor can our mind comprehend how Christ can be both God and man. This does not mean that Christ ceased being God when He became a man. Rather, Christ is both God and man. This mystery has been manifested in the church because the church is the mystery of Christ, just as Christ is the mystery of God (3:4-6; Col. 2:2).
God is a mystery, Christ is a mystery, and the church is a mystery. Many Christians do not know that the church is a mystery. They think that the church is a physical building with a cross on it. However, according to the divine revelation, the church is not a physical building; it is as mysterious as Christ, and Christ is as mysterious as God. God, Christ, and the church are three great mysteries. Those who are in the church are in a mystery. As believers, there is something mysterious in our being, and this mystery is Christ and God. Since we are the church, we have Christ and we have God.
Ephesians 3 says that this mystery includes the unsearchable riches of Christ (vv. 3-8). These riches have been dispensed into us. We have received the dispensing of the riches of Christ. Paul calls this dispensing the economy of the mystery (v. 9). The economy of the mystery is the dispensing of the mystery; God dispenses the mystery that is in Himself into us. Something mysterious has been dispensed into the children of God. Regrettably, many Christians do not know about the dispensing of the mystery, but in the Lord’s recovery we both know and experience the dispensing of the mystery.
Through the dispensing, the riches of Christ are constantly and mysteriously imparted into us. I can testify that this dispensing is imparting Christ into me moment by moment. Furthermore, I have the assurance that all the saints are experiencing this dispensing. The dispensing of the mystery produces the church; that is, the church is produced out of this dispensing. The producing of the church is mysterious and spiritual, for the church is produced out of the divine life. The dispensing is not physical or fleshly; rather, it is the Triune God dispensing His unsearchable riches into all those who believe in Him.
Ephesians 3 says that the church is the fullness of God (v. 19). The fullness of God does not refer to the riches of God but to the overflowing of these riches. Suppose water is poured into a cup until it overflows. The water that overflows is the fullness, the expression, of the water. Likewise, the church is the fullness of God; the church is the overflowing of God, the expression of God. As Christians, we have the privilege of being filled with the Triune God so that He can overflow from within us. This overflow is the fullness of God, the manifestation of God, and the expression of God, which is the church.
The church is the expression of God. We cannot use something physical as an illustration of the church, because the church is mysterious. The church is the flowing within us. When we are filled with God and He overflows from within us, we are the church.
If each of us is not filled with God until He overflows, He will not flow out when we gather together. This is the experience of many Christians; they do not have much Christ in them. Hence, He does not flow out when they sing or pray. We should not be such Christians. Whether we are singing, praying, or praising, we should allow God to flow out. He should flow out in everything that we do. This is the church. The church is the fullness of God, the flowing out of God from within man.
In the previous chapter we said that Ephesians 3 speaks of seven great items: the mystery of Christ; the unsearchable riches of Christ; the economy of the mystery; the church; Christ making His home in our hearts; the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ, which are His immeasurable dimensions; and the fullness of God. Paul wrote chapter 3 according to these seven crucial items. The young people should memorize, understand, and experience these seven items. These seven items tell us what the church is. The church is the mystery of Christ, the unsearchable riches of Christ, and the economy of the mystery of God. The church is Christ making His home in our hearts and our experiencing the immeasurable Christ until we become the fullness of God, the expression of God. This is the church. It is wonderful and glorious.
Chapter 3 presents the riches, and chapter 4 presents the depth. The word rich can be used to describe chapter 3, and deep can be used to describe chapter 4. Chapter 4 is deep because it speaks of mingling, growing, and renewing. Some may think that they know the meaning of the words mingling, growing, and renewing, but they may not understand the significance of these words. Who is mingled with whom? It is not sufficient to say that God is mingled with man. The God whom Paul presents in verses 4 through 6 is the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father — the Triune God. God is one, and He is three — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are not three Gods. God has the aspect of being one and the aspect of being three. God is one in His trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Paul links the Body with the Spirit: “One Body and one Spirit” (v. 4). When there is the Body, there is the Spirit, and when there is the Spirit, there is the Body. This is mingling. Furthermore, if we have the Son, we have the Father (John 14:9-10). Hence, we need to consider how the Triune God is mingled with us.
Ephesians 3 presents the church as the fullness of God, the overflow of God. Chapter 4 says that there is one God, who is the Father and who is over all, through all, and in all (v. 6). The words over all refer to the source, God the Father, the first in the Trinity. The Father as the source is over all. Through all refers to God the Son, the second in the Trinity. The Father is the source, and the Son is the course, flowing through every believer. In all refers to the Holy Spirit, the third in the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is in every believer. As believers, we have the Father as the source of all, the Son as the course flowing through all, and the Spirit dwelling in us. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are the source, the course, and the indwelling. The Father is over all, the Son is through all, and the Spirit is in all.
The mingling in Ephesians 4 is the mingling of the Triune God with His believers; it is man filled with God. Therefore, according to chapter 4, the church is one with the Triune God, who is over all, through all, and in all. This is mingling. The church is the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — being mingled with man. The church is not a building with a steeple. The church is the mingling of the Triune God with His believers.
A form of the word grow is used three times in verses 11 through 16. Verse 13 has full-grown man, verse 15 has grow up into Him in all things, and verse 16 has causes the growth of the Body. These verses speak of the growth in life. The growth in life is the increase of Christ in us. Christ is complete; in Himself He does not need to grow, but He does need to grow in us. In Himself Christ is full-grown, but in us He can be likened to an infant; hence, He needs to grow. We must continually allow Christ to increase in us. His increase in us is His growth in us and our growth in life.
Verse 15 speaks of growing up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ. Our thoughts, love, hate, decisions, and intentions must grow up into Christ. We also need to grow up into Him in the things of our daily life, such as getting a haircut, shopping, and going to school. We should grow up into Him not only in great things but in everything. Many saints grow up into Christ in a few things but not in everything. We daily need to learn to grow up into Christ in everything. Then Christ will increase in us, and we will grow in life.
As we grow in life, we will spontaneously be built up. The building up of the church, the Body of Christ, is not like the building of a physical structure. A physical structure is built by putting together many building materials. The building up of the church is better compared to grafting, in which two living things are grafted together and grow together. Two stones that are put together will never grow together, but a branch can be grafted into a tree, and in time the two will grow together. Growing is building, and more growth means more building. As members of the Body of Christ, we are branches full of life; we are not lifeless stones. We have been grafted into Christ and are growing together with Christ. The more we grow, the more we are built up together. This growth is for the building.
When we are built into the Body, we can no longer leave the Body or the other members. For example, my arm is growing in my body. If my arm is unhappy with the other members of my body, it will find out that it cannot leave my body. All the members of my body must go where my body goes. As long as I am living, no member can leave my body. Likewise, once we are built into the church, we can no longer leave. It is easy to remove stones that are placed one upon another, but we are not stones; we are living members growing in the Body. A member that leaves the Body will die spiritually. If we do not want to experience spiritual death, we should remain in the Body. As members of the Body, we are not installed like various types of building materials; we are built up into the Body by growing.
When I first came to Tokyo in 1958, I saw the expression of the Body of Christ. I can testify that every time I come to Tokyo, I see Christ growing in the saints. The church in Tokyo is growing, and this growing is the building. Building is not a matter of putting many people together; that is human work, not growth in life. The Lord’s recovery involves helping the saints to grow in life.
All mothers know that the way to help their children grow is to feed them. Children grow because they eat. Therefore, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers should do the same work of feeding the believers. Just as waiters in a restaurant distribute food to people, so we should dispense Christ to people. Genuine ministry is not a matter of teaching but of feeding. Every meeting of the church should feed, nourish, and satisfy the saints. Eating causes a person to grow. Hence, if we want to grow, we need to eat.
Calling on the Lord’s name and pray-reading His Word are ways for us to “eat” the Lord. When we read the Bible, we should also pray. This means that we should pray-read the Lord’s Word in order to eat His Word and to breathe His Word. We need to eat, drink, and breathe. Eating, drinking, and breathing make us strong and cause us to grow. We eat and drink by reading the Lord’s Word with prayer, and we breathe by calling on His name. Eating, drinking, and breathing are crucial to our growth. When we grow up, we will be built up.
Ephesians 4:17-24 concerns the matter of renewing. This portion speaks of the new man and the old man. The new man and the old man can be likened to two trees: one is dying, but the other is growing. The tree that is growing is being renewed day by day. Our growing is our renewing.
Chapter 4 has three key items. The first item is that the Triune God is mingled with man, the second item is that the growth of the Body involves the members growing together with Christ and growing up into Christ, and the third item is that the Body is being renewed. The first item concerns mingling, the second item concerns growing, and the third item concerns renewing. Renewing means that old elements are replaced and discharged by new elements. We have a new life, but in certain things we still express the likeness of the old man. Our thoughts, emotions, decisions, and habits are still old. Our conduct is old, and our methods are old. These old elements must be replaced and discharged. If we do not enjoy the new supply and receive the new element of the divine life, our old element will not be replaced or discharged.
There is a metabolic process occurring in our physical body. The new element in this process comes from eating. The food that we eat becomes the new supply, the new element in us. This new supply replaces and discharges our old element. This is the way our body is renewed day by day. We also need to be renewed spiritually by putting off the old man and putting on the new man. The new man is Christ Himself. When we experience and enjoy Christ, He supplies us so that we may put off the old man and put on the new man. This new man is the church.
To say that the church is the fullness of God means that the church is the expression of God. To say that the church is the Body of Christ means that the church is the organism of Christ, growing together with Him. To say that the church is the one new man means that the church is one with Christ, because the church has Christ as its person. The Body of Christ is related to life; the new man is related to person.
The Body of Christ needs Christ as its life; the new man needs Christ as its person. The church is not only the fullness of God and the Body of Christ but also the one new man. This new man lives out Christ and represents Christ. This new man is Christ Himself. My body is my expression, and my person is me. Similarly, the church is the Body of Christ to express Christ, and the church is also Christ. This is the new man.
We have been mingled with the Triune God, but we still need to grow and be renewed. We become the Body of Christ and the new man through mingling, growing, and renewing. If we are renewed daily by putting off the old man and putting on Christ as our new person, we will become the church as the new man.
