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Eph. 1:4-5, 9-11; 3:9-11; 1 Pet. 1:2-4; 2:2; 1 Cor. 3:6; 2 Cor. 3:16-18; 4:16-18; 1 Thes. 5:16-18, John 2:19
I. To express God through the sonship
II. To make God’s wisdom known to the enemy
III. To head up all things in Christ
[Nearly all of the things revealed about God’s eternal plan for the church are found in the two books of Ephesians and Colossians. The book to the Ephesians is the revelation of the Body, and the book to the Colossians is the revelation of the Head. When put together, these two books reveal a universal man, composed of Christ the Head, and the church the Body!
In Ephesians 1:10 and 3:9, the words “dispensation’’ and “fellowship’’ should be translated “economy.’’ They are both the same word in the Greek. The church is something of God’s economy, and this word “economy’’ is very important. It means dispensation, arrangement, stewardship, and administration. God has something to dispense, so He needs an arrangement and an administration in order to carry out this dispensing. The very substance that God is going to dispense is Himself. God is going to dispense Himself into man, so He arranged and administered the church. The church is the central matter in God’s economy. Putting it into human terms, the church is God’s business.
We all know that business is the key to any economy. Such a large corporation as General Electric has an economy in order to do business. In other words, business reveals the economy of this large corporation. In a similar way, God Himself is a corporation with an economy, and in this economy God’s divine business is the church.
Many Christians do not have such an awareness of the church. Their thought is that the church is a group of fallen people who are saved and who come together to worship God. This is right, but it is a concept far below God’s economy. The heavenly and eternal view of the church is much higher than this. It is the very central matter of God’s economy. In God’s dispensation, in God’s administration, in God’s arrangement, in God’s governmental stewardship, He has eternally planned the church.]
[There are three main items concerning the church in the economy of God. The first is that the church might have the sonship, and that God might be expressed through this sonship. Ephesians 1:5 says that God predestinated us unto sonship. What does this word sonship mean, and what does it include? Briefly, it means the birth, plus the growth, plus the birthright. First of all, we must be born of God. By this divine birth we become the sons of God, because we have the life of God. This is the very beginning of God’s mingling with us.]
[God’s eternal purpose is to work Himself into us that He may be thoroughly mingled with us and expressed through us. When God is born into us, He begins this mingling process. But this is only the start! There must be the growth. If we have the birth, but not the growth, we could never enjoy the birthright. God is born into our spirit, which is the very center of our being. Then His desire is to spread from our spirit to transform all the parts of the soul, and eventually to transfigure our physical body. By this process our whole being will be saturated and permeated with the essence of God Himself.] This is the growth in life.
[After receiving the birth of God’s life and the growth of this life, the Lord will grant us the enjoyment of the birthright.] The birthright is the special portion of the firstborn. According to the Bible, the birthright includes the double portion of the land, the kingship, and the priesthood. [Hebrews 12:15-17 warns us to be careful because there is the possibility of losing the birthright. We may have it, but we may also lose it. Having been born of God, there is the possibility of enjoying the birthright if we are matured, but there is also the possibility of losing the birthright. There will be many Christians who will lose the birthright because they do not have the proper growth. They have the birth of life, so they are the children of God, but they still need the growth of life, the maturity in life, for them to be the heirs of God] in order to enjoy the birthright. By having the birth, growing in life, and enjoying the birthright, we will be able to express God, not only individually, but also corporately as the built up church.
You have been born of God. Would you like to participate in the full sonship? I am sure that you would, since the full sonship is the most enjoyable thing any human being can attain to and experience. All of your friends are seeking enjoyment of some kind; some good and some evil. You too are seeking enjoyment. Imagine, that one day God will fill your spirit and soul and body, and that you will be a priest to God and a king to the inhabitants of the earth eternally. If you seek enjoyment, nothing is more enjoyable than this. This is our birthright. This is our rightful portion, given to us when we were born anew of God in our human spirit. The way to experience the full sonship is by the growth of the divine life in us. Even this process of growth is an enjoyment to us. All of humanity, including you and your friends, experience some sort of suffering every day. All of these sufferings are temporal, and are working for us daily to cause us to grow in life (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Therefore, in 1 Thes. 5:16-18, Paul charges to “Always rejoice; Unceasingly pray; In everything give thanks.’’ We thank Him for all our situations, because through prayer we can rejoice always in our spirit to grow in life. We not only do this individually, but also with one another corporately. By His mercy with our diligence, we will receive the full sonship on the day of the Lord.
[The second item of the purpose of God for the church is to deal with His enemy. In chapter one of Ephesians there is the positive side of God’s purpose for the sonship; and in chapter three there is the negative side against the enemy, that the enemy may be subdued and come to know God’s manifold wisdom. God is not sorry that there is such an evil one as Satan, because without such a one, God’s manifold wisdom could not be manifested. It is through all the troubles originating from Satan that God has a chance to show forth His wisdom. Suppose you have a car, and this car never gives you any trouble. If this is the case, no one could know how wise you are. A car without problems would not demonstrate your wisdom. But if you have a car which needs wisdom to handle, your wisdom will be brought to light, and all of your passengers will marvel. It is a problem car, but what a wonderful driver! The whole universe has been damaged by Satan, but God needs such a one in order that His wisdom might be shown.]
In Ephesians 3 verse 10 [Paul declared that God’s multifarious wisdom is made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies through the church. The church is the Body of Christ, the joint-heirs, and the joint-partakers. The church is composed of those who once were ruined, corrupted, and damaged. Before we were saved, we were vipers, poisonous serpents. Furthermore, we were dead in trespasses and sins. Moreover, we were scattered and divided, utterly unable to be one. Thus, all the members of the church were in a hopeless situation. Nevertheless, God in His wisdom is able to make us the church. Now we are not only redeemed, saved, cleansed, freed, liberated, and regenerated — we are also united. We are one with God and with one another. Therefore, we are the church.
The church is God’s greatest boast. Although you may not care that much for the church, God cares very much for the church. Sometimes God may say, “Look, Satan, I have taken the very people whom you have ruined and I have made them into the church. Do you have the wisdom to do such a thing? You do not have this wisdom, but I have it.’’]
[God created man in His own image and gave him authority to have dominion over all the earth. The image is related to the sonship, to the expression of God; and the dominion is related to dealing with God’s enemy. The sonship is the fulfillment of God’s image, for it is by the sonship that we will eventually be in the full image of God to express Him.]
[But God not only created man in His image to express Himself, He also committed His full authority to man for the purpose of subduing His enemy. So the second item of the purpose of God for the church is related to the second aspect of God’s creation of man.
The church was predestinated to the sonship of God, and it was also purposed to subdue the enemy. The church is built up by the sonship, and through the building up of the church, the enemy is subdued and God’s wisdom is displayed. There is a real order here. The more life we have, the more built up we will become as a display to Satan. This is a real challenge to the enemy, a shame to him and a glory to God.
Satan is so subtle. He causes many children of God to think that it is impossible to have the church built up on this earth. He persuades them to believe that it is not to be built up on this earth, but far away in the future. But is Ephesians 3:9 only for the future? I believe it must include this present age. In this present age and everywhere on this earth, the Lord must work out something as a challenge to Satan. Then God will say: “Satan, look! Even in the territory which you are utilizing, I have built up many lampstands which shine with the light of my life and bring things into order.’’ This display is a challenge and a shame to Satan, but a glory to God. If our eyes are really opened, we will be ready for this at any cost. We will pray, “Lord, I am willing at any cost for the building up of your church in my locality.’’ This is not a small matter, but something very strategic. All of the struggling of the enemy is over this strategic point. Satan will allow people to be saved, as long as they are not built up. Satan will even allow them to seek spirituality, as long as they are not built up. Satan will allow them to be anything, as long as they are not built up. This is because God’s ultimate consummation is a building.]
[In the eyes of the Lord, Satan has already been defeated. If we have this insight, day by day we will sing, “Hallelujah for the victory!’’ We can tell Satan that even his small victory is just a preparation for our greater victory. Eventually, he will be the one that is completely defeated. We do not care how much he attacks and damages. The Lord Jesus said if people destroyed His body, He would build it up in three days (John 2:19). The more Satan destroys, the more Christ will build up. His destroying is just a preparation for the Lord’s building up. We need the vision of how the Lord will use the church to defeat His enemy and to recover the whole earth.] In this way, God is using His church to display His multifarious wisdom to His enemy.
[The third main aspect of the church in God’s economy is the heading up of all things in Christ. We have seen that the first item of the sonship is for the church positively. The second item is that the church might make known to the principalities and powers the manifold wisdom of God, in defeating the enemy negatively. Now the third item is the heading up of all things in Christ universally. The church has to have the sonship, Satan has to be subdued and cast out, and the whole creation has to be brought into the proper order and oneness.
In Ephesians 1:10, the phrase gather together in one is best translated, “head up.’’ It is God’s eternal purpose that in the economy of the fullness of times He might head up all things in Christ.]
[God created the heavens and the earth as a realm within which He placed countless creatures, and at the center God created man as the vessel to contain Himself. But before God could come into man, Satan, the enemy of God, injected himself into man by tempting him to take the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When man took of that tree, the fruit went into his body. This is why we read in Romans 7 of sin being in the members. The apostle Paul says in verse 20, “But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that do it but sin that dwells in me.’’ Here sin is a personified thing; it is something living, because it can dwell in us and have dominion over us. This is the law of sin which is in the members of the body. Sin brings in death, death brings in darkness, and darkness brings in confusion. This influences the whole universe because man was made the head of all things. The head has been damaged, so all of creation is damaged. Sin brings in death and death brings in darkness. We all know that where there is darkness, there is confusion. If we did not have the sunlight or the electric lights, everything would be confused. We are controlled unconsciously by light. If there were no light, there would be no order and everything would be in confusion.]
You have probably witnessed this confusion in your own life, family, neighborhood, and school. There is much confusion. Many of your friends come from broken homes. That is confusion. Some in your school may be ruined by drugs, alcohol, or boy/girl relationships. That is confusion. In God’s ordination, there is no divorce. According to God’s creation, the human body does not need alcohol or drugs. These things ruin people. Boy/girl relationships are a form of fornication which is sin before God. There is confusion and division everywhere you look. This was brought in by the fall.
[God’s way to recover the oneness among His creation is to impart Himself into us as life. Satan injected himself into us as death, but God imparts Himself into us as life. When life comes, there is light. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.’’ Then in John 8 the Lord Jesus says, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life’’ (v. 12). When God comes in as life, there is the light that shines within us as the light of life. This life swallows death, and this light expels the darkness. When we are in the life and under the light, then we are delivered out of confusion and brought into order, harmony, and unity. God’s way of recovery is Christ versus Satan, life versus death, light versus darkness, and order versus confusion. When we are filled with Christ, we will be full of life, and completely under the light. Then we will have the harmony and the unity. If we are not filled with Christ as life, then, at least to some extent, we are in darkness. As long as there is some part under darkness, there is confusion, and no order or harmony. When everyone is full of Christ as life, we all are under light, and there is no need of outward control. Spontaneously, everyone is controlled by this light of life, and there is unity and harmony.]
[God’s purpose with the church is to work Himself into us as life that we may be full of light. When we are controlled by this light, then we have oneness and harmony, which will be the real building. By this building God will shine upon all creation to bring it out of confusion. This will be the fullness of time when creation will be liberated. The old serpent will be cast into the lake of fire; and even death, the last enemy to be dealt with by God, will be cast away. Then the universe will be full of light, and under this light all creation will be liberated from the bondage of corruption in vanity and brought into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God. The shining of the New Jerusalem is the glory of the manifestation of the sons of God, and all the nations will be brought into that light. By this light they will be controlled, and there will be no more confusion, vanity, bondage, or corruption.
But all of this depends on the work of God within us. God is working out such a city as a corporate vessel, that He might be the life and the light to shine through this city to liberate the whole creation. How important it is that the church be built up! Without the building up of the church, God could never head up all things in Christ. It is by being life to the church, and the church being built up by this life, that the light of God shines out as the controlling factor. This will release all creation from confusion and bring it into a liberty under the shining of the sons of God. Then Christ will be the Head of all things through the church. All of God’s problems will be solved, and all creation will be brought into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.
This will be the consummation of God’s eternal purpose for the church: when the sonship of God is fully fulfilled that God may be fully expressed, when the enemy of God is cast out that all of God’s problems may be solved, and when all things are headed up in Christ through His Body that all of the creation may be in full harmony, freed from the bondage of corruption and brought into the liberty of the sons of God. Even today we can realize this in a miniature way here on this earth. When we know how to enjoy the sonship, how to defeat the enemy, and how to be filled with Christ under His headship, there will be the light shining out from us enlightening others and giving a foretaste of the coming consummation of the New Jerusalem.]
You and I must take the lead to live under the light of life to be a testimony against this evil world around us. We should not participate in things of darkness with our friends. Rather, not only should we separate ourselves by this life, we should also testify to our friends how we have been saved from the confusion of Satan into the oneness of God, that is the church. Hallelujah! We have been saved to take the lead to head up all things in Christ. We get headed up first, then we help others around us to be headed up, and finally, we head up the whole universe as the church, the Body of Christ. The three main items concerning God’s purpose for the church are: expressing God through the sonship; making God’s wisdom known to the enemy; and heading up all things in Christ. These items are universally great. We must consecrate ourselves to the Lord and His church as members of His Body so that He will have His builded church to fulfill His purpose. Amen!
