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Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 1:3-5, 7; Eph. 3:2; Col. 2:8; John 15:1
The two Epistles to Timothy were written by the apostle Paul during a time of the church’s degradation. Because Christianity today is under degradation, what is covered in these two Epistles fits our present situation. There are some crucial points in these two books, which are not covered thoroughly anywhere else in the Bible.
The crucial point in the Epistles to Timothy that we will cover in this chapter is God’s economy. The way Paul presented this matter is very impressive and full of revelation. He presented God’s economy in a practical way, not in a doctrinal way. To teach a doctrine is one thing, but to practice something real is another thing. Paul did not teach the doctrine of God’s economy; rather, he practiced it.
Paul wrote to Timothy, “Even as I exhorted you, when I was going into Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus in order that you might charge certain ones not to teach different things” (1 Tim. 1:3). Paul did not exhort Timothy to charge certain ones not to teach wrong teachings or heresies; on the contrary, he exhorted Timothy to charge them not to teach different things. In verse 4 Paul continues, “Nor to give heed to myths and unending genealogies, which produce questionings rather than God’s economy, which is in faith.” The myths Paul speaks of probably include stories of the children of Israel from ancient times. Genealogies were the records of the Old Testament. Some of the teachings among Christians today minister not the riches of Christ but questions. God’s economy is a matter not in the mind but in faith. Anything that is in faith does not arouse questions.
In verse 5 Paul writes, “The end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and out of a good conscience and out of unfeigned faith.” Here we can see three subjective things related to God’s economy — a pure heart, a good conscience, and unfeigned faith. Our heart needs to be pure, our conscience needs to be good, and our faith needs to be unfeigned. We need to have these three things within us for the practice of God’s economy. If our heart is impure, if our conscience has some offense, or if our faith is not true but hypocritical, we cannot practice God’s economy.
God’s economy requires us first to have a pure heart. We all need to consider if our heart is pure. This is a basic question. To care for God’s economy, we must have a pure heart, which is a heart that seeks nothing but God Himself. Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” When God is the unique goal of our seeking, and we fix our heart only on Him, we have a pure heart. A pure heart is a sincere heart seeking after God and having no other goal.
To practice God’s economy, we also need a good conscience. According to Paul, a good conscience is a conscience without offense (Acts 24:16). If we do not have any accusation or condemnation against our conscience, it is a good conscience. We can keep our conscience without offense by confessing in order to be cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus. Anytime we have the sense that we are wrong in something, there is an offense on our conscience. A good conscience is one that is void of offense. Perhaps when a brother comes home for dinner, he does not feel that his wife’s cooking is good and becomes somewhat unhappy, although he does not lose his temper. He thinks that after he has worked hard all day, his wife should have cooked something that would make him happy, but it is just the opposite. Because he is somewhat unhappy, when his wife tries to talk to him, he does not answer but only has a sullen countenance. After such an instance, the brother will have an offense on his conscience, and this offense will bother him.
It does not require a great offense for our conscience to have a problem. As soon as we sense the smallest offense on our conscience, we should confess to the Lord in a simple way and ask for forgiveness. After a sincere confession the Lord applies the blood to us and cleanses us. In this way the offense on our conscience is washed away.
Unfeigned in Greek means “not hypocritical.” We should not perform or pretend but should have genuine faith. A pure heart, a good conscience, and unfeigned faith are required for our practice of God’s economy.
In order to see what God’s economy is, we need to consider each instance in which the word economy is used in the New Testament. Economy in the New Testament does not mean what we understand by the modern usage of economy. The word economy in the New Testament is not a translation but an anglicized Greek word that means “stewardship.” In ancient times large, wealthy families had stewards to take care of the household affairs. Stewardship is the title of the service of a steward. The Greek word for economy also indicates an administration. In a large family the stewardship was an administration; the stewards administrated the affairs of the family. The Greek word also indicates the dispensing of certain things. All the supplies of a large family, such as food and clothing, were taken care of by the steward. Thus, there was the need of the dispensing of these supplies. The steward served the family by dispensing the necessities of life to the members of the family. Hence, the word economy means a stewardship as an administration to dispense the life necessities to the members of a household.
God has a large family, a great household, and He has a number of stewards. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God which was given to me for you” (Eph. 3:2). Paul’s ministry, which was part of this stewardship, was to dispense Christ as the supply to all those in God’s house. God’s economy is simply the dispensing of Christ to all God’s chosen people as their life supply. In other words, God’s economy is simply to work Christ into God’s children. All the apostles, from Peter to Timothy, were stewards in this one stewardship, dispensing Christ to God’s children.
The entire New Testament was written to carry out God’s economy to dispense Christ as the life supply to the children of God. There are twenty-seven books from various writers, but these books do not teach different things. Apparently, the four Gospels are different from one another, but actually, they all teach Christ, only from different angles. This may be likened to taking four photos of one person from four different sides. Each photo will show different aspects of the person, but together they will give a complete picture of the person. The twenty-seven books in the New Testament teach different aspects of one person, Christ.
The New Testament deals uniquely with Christ. However, this one person is not simple. According to the sequence in the four Gospels, He is a king, a servant, a man, and God. Concerning who He is, we can list many different titles, such as Redeemer, Savior, Lord, Master, Creator, Shepherd, Bridegroom, and High Priest. Concerning what He is, He is the life, the light, the way, the truth, the door, the pasture, the water, the bread of life, and the Lamb of God. According to Colossians 2:16-17 every positive thing in the universe is a shadow of Christ. The light we see with our eyes is not the real light; the real light is Christ. The real air and the real food are Christ. The reality of every positive thing in the universe is Christ. Verse 16 tells us that Christ is the new moon, a light appearing in the darkest, blackest, most hopeless time. Christ is this new beginning in the midst of darkness. Whenever we are in a dark time, we should not be disappointed but realize that Christ is our bright new beginning at that very moment. Christ is also our feast, a time of special enjoyment. Also, Christ is the real Sabbath. In the new man, which is the Body of Christ, the church, Christ is all and in all (3:10-11). Because Christ is all in the new man, we all must be Christ. In the church there are no natural persons; we are all crucified (Gal. 2:20). In the church we are all constituted with Christ.
Paul’s exhortation in 1 Timothy 1:3-4 indicates that even in the first century there were different teachings; some were teaching things other than Christ. These different teachings included myths, which are different kinds of interesting stories. Young and old people alike all like to hear interesting stories. The stranger and more peculiar the story is, the more we like it. Besides myths, some also taught unending genealogies. Verse 7 indicates that there were teachers of the law. Colossians 2:8 reveals that there were also teachers of Greek philosophy, referring to Gnosticism.
While the apostle Paul was still on the earth, different teachings had already crept in. All the apostles from Peter to Timothy taught the same thing, God’s economy, which is to dispense Christ into the believers. Christ for the church is the unique topic of the New Testament. Anything else is a different teaching. However, even as early as the first century, other teachings crept in besides the one teaching concerning Christ for the church.
Different teachings produce questionings, but the teachings that minister Christ do not cause questionings. The teaching of the law was according to the Old Testament and was therefore scriptural, yet it was different from God’s New Testament economy, which is to dispense Christ as the life supply to God’s children that the church might be built up. Although teaching the law is according to the Scriptures, it is different from God’s economy, and it therefore produces questionings rather than building up the church. When the law is taught, questions may be stirred up regarding matters such as the keeping of the Sabbath, circumcision, and diet. However, when we minister only Christ to God’s people, there are no questions.
The Lord brought His recovery to the United States in 1962. For more than ten years, nothing but Christ for the church was ministered here, and there were no questionings. In the past few years the enemy has crept in with dissenting, distracting talk of different ways, producing questions. Certain churches have been in confusion as a result of different teachings and the questionings they produce. For example, some have taught that the saints do not need to go to the Lord’s Day morning meetings. They say that whoever goes to the Lord’s Day morning meetings is religious.
Life is mysterious and profound, but the experience of life is always simple. The most crucial matters of life are the simplest. For example, nothing is as simple as breathing. Christ is mysterious and profound, but to experience Christ is simple. We do not need to be complicated by considerations of whether or not we should do certain things or go to certain places. We need to forget about teachings that are different from God’s economy and experience Christ in a simple way. We should care only for God’s economy, that is, for Christ being ministered and dispensed into our being. We should not care for any other thought, concept, idea, or opinion. We should reject any teaching other than God’s economy. In the Lord’s recovery we do not care for anything other than Christ.
The Lord’s recovery is not the recovery of certain concepts or of so-called good meetings. Also, the Lord’s recovery is not the recovery of excitement. The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of Christ. Our meetings should minister Christ.
We need to experience Christ in our daily life. We need to live by Him, live Him, and live Him out. Every day we need to pray, “Lord, You are one with me. You are my life and my person. I am one with You. Lord, You are God’s economy. You are the vine, and we are the branches.” The branches in the vine simply live. But they do not live themselves; they live the vine, grow the vine, and produce the vine. This is God’s economy.
In John 15:1 the Lord said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.” God the Father is a farmer, and His economy is to grow a universal vine that includes Christ and all the believers. The Lord’s recovery is for God’s economy. Christians today are divided according to different teachings, concepts, ways, activities, and organizations. In the Lord’s recovery we reject these things. We have nothing but Christ. Our “dictionary” has only one word — Christ. To this word we would add a footnote — and the church. We care only for Christ and the church.
We need to come back to Christ and take the simple way of life. God’s economy is Christ for the church. Christ is within us. As branches in the vine, we simply need to be one with Him and live Him. Christ is our life, our person, and our everything. He is our life necessity. We do not need to care for any concept. We need to care only for Christ and to live Him. Whatever He does, we do. Wherever He goes, we go. This is to live Christ. As the unique life necessity, Christ is the One we need to experience for the church life.
