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Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:8b, 10-11, 16-17a, 19b; 1:13b-14; 4:30; 5:18b; 6:17-18
Almost everyone knows that the subject of Ephesians is the Body of Christ. How does the Body of Christ come into being? We may say that it comes out of Christ. But Paul does not say it in such a brief way. He says that the church comes into being out of the unsearchable riches of Christ: “To me...was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (3:8). The source from which the Body of Christ comes into existence is the unsearchable riches of Christ.
How then can we realize, experience, and enjoy all the riches of Christ? Paul tells us clearly that our inner man must be strengthened. “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith” (vv. 16-17a). Our inner man must be strengthened not by any knowledge but by the Spirit. And this is according to the riches of God’s glory. The issue is that Christ may make His home in our heart. Many Christian teachers have written volumes on the book of Ephesians, but most have not seen that the central point is Christ making His home in our heart. Have you ever read a book that says the key point in Ephesians is the indwelling Christ making His home in our heart? So many Christians today talk about the Body of Christ, but we know that any body without the life of a person is a corpse. A corpse is short not only of life but of a living person. The difference between a tree and a man is that a tree has only life, but a man has life plus a person. A body is a vessel that contains a living person. People talk about the Body of Christ, but where is the living person of Christ? He must be making His home in our heart; otherwise, the “church,” which is supposed to be the Body of Christ, is only a corpse.
How we praise the Lord that today Christ is the life-giving Spirit living in us! And He is going to make His home in us. We all must come back to the pure Word. Christ not only lives in us, but He also must make His home in our heart. This is not something general but so specific. In the past we have pointed out, according to the New Testament, that our heart is bigger than our spirit. Our heart is the circumference, and our spirit is the center. Christ as the life-giving Spirit comes into our spirit as the center, and from the center He is spreading Himself into all the parts of our heart.
It is wonderful that we can say that Christ is in us, but we may only have Christ at the center, in our spirit. There may not be any spreading of Christ into our heart. This is why Paul prayed for the believers that their inner man might be strengthened. Our spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit is our inner man. Our inner man needs to be strengthened and made strong; then Christ will be able to make His home in our heart.
Most Christians, even those who love the Lord, are not strong in their spirit. They are strong in talking, but if you ask them to pray, they are silent. The best way to silence others is to ask for a time of prayer. When the time of prayer is over, however, everyone begins to talk. This means that they are strong in their mind but weak in their spirit, which is their inner man. When we are living in the presence of the Lord, we do not like to talk so much. Rather, we would prefer to pray and to praise. We are strong in our spirit.
Hence, the apostle Paul prayed for us that our inner man might be made strong. The result, then, is that Christ will spread within our heart. For Christ to make His home in our heart means that He will saturate and permeate every part of our heart with Himself. Then our whole being will be a home to Him, and He will be the Dweller. He will not only be our life but the living person who is the Dweller of our being.
According to God’s economy, the Body of Christ must have a living person who is so real, practical, living, and available. This is why God’s intention is that Christ make His home in us. It is not a matter of whether we are right or wrong; it is a matter of having Christ as a living person spreading into our whole being. We should not try to be right, but rather practice taking Christ as our person. If He is making His home in our heart, then we are hitting the mark. The problem is that we try to be so right, yet we do not have Christ making His home in our heart. Therefore, we must see that the central point in Ephesians is Christ making His home in our heart. This is the way we can participate in all the unsearchable riches of Christ.
What a salvation we have in that we can live by another person! The unbelievers do not have another person; they only have themselves. We have someone else, and our person can be replaced by Him. It is altogether not a matter of religion but of a living person making His home in our heart. I can testify that I have experienced the riches of Christ in these past years. I have been enjoying Christ in a rich way. When we turn to our spirit and take Him as our person, we simply enjoy His riches. And it is by enjoying His riches that He makes His home in us. The practical experience of the indwelling Christ is to let Him make His home in our heart. It is not my doing; it is not my behaving; it is altogether my letting Him make His home in me. All day long we must learn to say, “Lord Jesus, I take You as my person.” Then He will take over every part of our being, and our heart will become His home.
The book of Ephesians also tells us that after we were saved, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit: “In Him also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is the pledge of our inheritance unto the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory” (1:13b-14). Many people ask whether we have received the Spirit or not. But this is just talk. We have the facts. Ephesians 1:13 tells us affirmatively that after we believed, we were sealed. God put a seal in us, and this seal is just Himself in His last person. The Spirit is the last person of the Triune God. When we believed in Jesus Christ, at that very moment, God put the Holy Spirit into us as a seal. This seal gives us the impression and the image of God.
But this is not all. This sealing Spirit is also the foretaste of our inheritance. What then is our inheritance? It is altogether God Himself. We are going to inherit God Himself. Some people would like to inherit heaven, but I do not want that. Heaven is not a person. Praise the Lord that we are going to inherit God. God is our inheritance. The Spirit who seals us is a foretaste today of our inheritance. It is an earnest, a guarantee to certify that we are going to obtain that inheritance. Praise the Lord for such a foretaste!
Then Ephesians 4:30 says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption.” Because we are sealed with the Spirit, He is so near to us. It is easy to grieve someone who is close to us. If I am a hundred miles from you, I could never grieve you. But if I am your roommate, I will grieve you every day. The sealing, indwelling Spirit is so close to us; so it is easy to grieve Him. Therefore, Paul tells us not to grieve the Spirit.
If the Holy Spirit were far from us, we could never grieve Him. But, praise the Lord, He is within us. When we are not happy, enjoying the Lord, it means that He is grieved. So we must turn to the Lord in our spirit, taking Him as our person and letting Him make His home in our heart. Then we will not grieve the Spirit. Anything that keeps us from the enjoyment of the Lord grieves the Spirit. Whenever we are not joyful and praising the Lord, we can be sure that the Spirit is grieved. This is the guideline of the Christian walk. All Christians should be joyful. They should be happy. We should not have a long face but a wide face. Whenever we have a long face, we must realize that we have grieved the Spirit. We must learn to enjoy the Lord by taking Him as our person.
Paul also tells us in Ephesians that we should be filled in spirit: “Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit” (5:18). This is related to the matter of grieving the Spirit. If we are filled in our spirit with the fullness of the Lord, surely we will not grieve the Spirit.
To help us to be filled in spirit, we need to pray-read the Word. This is seen in Ephesians 6:17-18: “Receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit.” Paul tells us to receive the word of God by means of all prayer. We must learn to pray with the Word, pray over the Word, and pray about the Word. This is what it means to pray-read. If we pray-read the Word wherever we are, we will be filled in spirit. Whether we pray-read loudly on the freeway or silently at work makes no difference. We must learn to receive the word by means of all prayer. It is so simple, so easy, and so satisfying. Just pray, “O Lord Jesus, keep me from grieving the Spirit. Thank You, Lord, that I have been sealed with the Spirit, and the Spirit is the foretaste of my inheritance of You. So keep me filled in spirit with Your fullness.” If we would pray-read the Word in this way, we would be so joyous and happy, and we would be filled in our spirit with all the fullness of God.
These few things are the main points in the book of Ephesians. We must let Christ make His home in our heart. We must keep from grieving the Spirit. And we must be filled in our spirit with Christ by pray-reading the living word. Then we will enjoy all the unsearchable riches of Christ, which will produce the Body of Christ, the real church life.
