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In the previous chapter we saw that the church is the fullness of Christ. In this chapter we will consider the riches of Christ. Ephesians 3:8 says, “To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.” This verse speaks of the unsearchable riches of Christ. Ephesians 1:23 says that the church, “His Body,” is the fullness of the One who fills all in all. This verse speaks of the fullness of Christ. These two verses contain two very significant terms: the riches of Christ and the fullness of Christ. These two terms refer to two different things.
There is a difference between the riches of Christ and the fullness of Christ. The riches of Christ are the gospel that the apostle preached (3:8). The apostle Paul received grace to preach the gospel. The gospel that he preached was just the riches of Christ. When we received the gospel, we received the riches of Christ. By enjoying the riches of Christ, we become the fullness of Christ. Many people mistakenly understand riches and fullness to mean the same thing. However, these are two different Greek words: riches is ploutos, denoting “wealth,” and fullness is pleroma, denoting “completeness.” Thus, riches and fullness refer to two different things.
Christ is rich; He is the unsearchable riches. The apostle preached these unsearchable riches as the gospel. When a person receives the gospel, he gains, enjoys, and experiences these riches. Those who gain and enjoy the riches of Christ become the fullness of Christ. Hence, if we enjoy the riches of Christ, we will become the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians uses the general term riches of Christ but does not define what the riches of Christ are. The entire Bible is needed to define the riches of Christ. For example, in the Epistles of Paul we are told that Christ is wisdom to us as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). Wisdom as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption refers to different items of the riches of Christ. Christ as wisdom to us from God has at least three functions. First, Christ is the righteousness of God. By Christ as our righteousness we were justified, accepted by God, and saved (Rom. 5:18). Second, after we are saved, Christ is our sanctification so that we can live a sanctified life (6:19, 22). Third, when we meet the Lord in the future, Christ will redeem our body; He is redemption to us for the transfiguration and glorification of our body (8:23; Phil. 3:21). Christ justified and saved us in the past, He is sanctifying our whole being in the present, and He will redeem our body in the future. These different items of the riches of Christ are God making Christ wisdom to us.
Wisdom is displayed in the way that we solve problems. A wise person has the best way to solve a problem. Hence, God has the best way to solve problems. As sinners, we did not have righteousness, but God gave Christ to us as righteousness. We cannot sanctify ourselves, but God gives Christ to sanctify us gradually. We cannot redeem our body, but God has given us Christ to transfigure and redeem our body by His resurrection power. Therefore, Christ is our God-given way. Christ is wisdom to us from God as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. These are a few items of the unsearchable riches of Christ.
The New Testament is full of the items of the riches of Christ. First Corinthians 1:30 gives three items of the unsearchable riches of Christ, but these three items involve many details. For example, sanctification involves our living, conduct, thoughts, emotions, and intents. For this reason Paul says that we can have the mind of Christ (2:16), that we should let the mind that was in Christ Jesus also be in us (Phil. 2:5), that we can enjoy the love of Christ (Rom. 8:35-39), and that we can experience the power of Christ (Phil. 3:10). These items are included in Christ being our sanctification.
The Gospel of John speaks of the Lord Jesus as the way, the reality, and the life (14:6), the true vine (15:1, 5), the good Shepherd (10:11, 14), the door (v. 7), and the resurrection life (11:25). How rich Christ is! Hence, the Gospel of John says that the Lord’s name is I Am (8:58). The name I Am means that Christ is whatever we need. If we need life, Christ is life. If we need comfort, Christ is comfort. If we have no way to resolve a problem, Christ is our solution. If we do not have a way through, Christ is our door. If we have no joy, Christ is joy. If we are dying, Christ is life, and if we are dead, Christ is resurrection. Christ is everything. These are the riches of Christ. Whatever He is, is ours. He is like a blank check given to us so that we can write in what we need. The riches of Christ are unsearchable.
In 1933 I was in Shanghai. While I was there, I often fellowshipped with a brother who had much experience in the Lord. One afternoon he asked me, “Brother, what is patience?” I thought that this was a very basic question. Who does not know the meaning of patience? However, I felt that his question could not be that simple. Therefore, instead of answering him quickly, I thought for a long time. He asked me a second time, “What is patience?” Although I was not sure how to answer his question, I knew that I had to answer. So I said to him, “Patience is trying one’s best to endure the mistreatment of others.” He said that my answer was not correct, so I asked him, “What is patience?” He continued rocking in his chair and asking, “What is patience?” without telling me the answer.
I was unable to answer such a basic question. Eventually, he said, “Patience is Christ.” As I walked home, I asked myself, “What does it mean to say that patience is Christ?” Because I did not understand and was troubled, I prayed and asked the Lord how patience could be Christ. One morning I received light while I was praying, and I began to offer praises. I understood that patience is Christ, and Christ is patience. Christ is my life, and He is living in me. When He is lived out from me, He is patience for me to handle any situation. Likewise, Christ is love. When I am in a situation that needs love, and Christ is lived out from me, He becomes my love. From that day onward, I began to see that patience is not gritting one’s teeth while enduring beatings or ill speaking. Patience is Christ lived out from me. Patience is not my enduring; it is Christ living out from me. Love is not my love; love is Christ living out from me. These are the riches of Christ, and these riches are unsearchable. Christ is whatever we need.
We have no need other than Christ. If the elders want to know how to be good elders, they need Christ. Christ is the way to be an elder. If the elders will allow Christ to gain ground in their being, they will be very good elders. What should the young co-workers who minister do when they cannot find a topic? Christ is their topic. Christ is their speaking. If they will allow Christ to gain ground in them and to pass through their being, they will experience Christ as their inexhaustible topic. A wife with a difficult husband should allow Christ to gain ground in her being and to be lived out from her. Then she will have a way with her husband, because Christ is her way and her solution.
Christ is rich, His riches are unsearchable, and He is everything to us. If we need Him, we will draw out His riches. A person who does not realize his need for Christ will not be able to enjoy the riches of Christ. When there is a sense of need, the riches of Christ will be drawn out. Careless, lazy, and indifferent Christians are not able to enjoy the riches of Christ. Christians who are serious with the Lord and who desire to overcome, to be holy, and to be acceptable to God are not loose. Such Christians know that they have no way and no power and, hence, develop a sense of their need for Christ. It is difficult for Christians to experience Christ as their victory, holiness, and way if they do not pursue victory or holiness and do not serve. Some Christians regard the meeting hall as a place for them to be entertained. They want others to sing to them, to preach to them, and to serve them. Such Christians want only to watch and listen. They do not sense their need for Christ; hence, they do not experience the riches of Christ.
A Christian who receives burdens realizes how much he needs Christ. If none of the believers in a local church rise up to minister or to lead, some should be concerned about this situation and receive a burden from God. These ones are not proud, nor do they want to be leaders. Rather, they know that the church cannot go on without the grace of the Lord. A brother who receives such a burden might initially feel that he does not know how to speak or what to say. However, the burden within him will force him to go before the Lord to experience and enjoy the riches of Christ. If he continues in this way, he will not merely give messages, but he will minister the Christ whom he has experienced. His experiences will enable him to speak, because his words are Christ.
In the same principle, a brother may see that the church needs some to rise up to bear the responsibility and pay the price to administrate matters related to the children of God. This brother might not know how to serve, but the burden within forces him to experience and enjoy Christ until Christ becomes his administration and service. We must remember that the church is not a society that needs natural capabilities and talents. The church needs only Christ. The messages that the church needs are Christ, the administration that the church needs is Christ, and the service that the church needs is also Christ.
There are two kinds of service that have two different results. One kind of service is natural, and the other kind of service is of life. A capable person tends to do things by his natural ability. Such a person usually does things well, but it is easy for him to be proud. Because he serves by his natural ability, he cannot tolerate criticism; he reacts when others touch a lack in his service. This kind of service does not lead others to touch life.
The second kind of service is of life. A brother may not have a natural talent, but he loves the Lord. When this brother sees that no one in the church is serving, he prays and is willing to receive the burden to serve. This can be compared to the case in Matthew 14 of the Lord feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish. The disciples told the Lord to send the crowds away into the villages to buy food for themselves, but the Lord told the disciples to give the crowds something to eat (vv. 15-16). A brother who does not have natural eloquence or ability may receive the burden to pray, “Lord, the church needs people to serve. Raise up such ones.” Then the Lord might tell him to rise up and receive the burden to serve. The brother might say, “I do not know how to serve,” and the Lord might answer, “I am your way.” This need of the church forces the brother to go before the Lord, to enjoy His riches, and to serve by the Lord’s grace. Initially, this brother may be confused in his service, but he should humble himself before the Lord and continue enjoying the riches of Christ. As a result, when his service is criticized, he will ask the Lord and the saints for forgiveness and will continue endeavoring to minister life. Eventually, even if his messages seem awkward and he is inexperienced in managing matters, his service will always lead others to touch the Lord’s life. This is the way that the church should take today.
The church needs people who can minister life more than just manage things. Human society looks for people to manage things in a clever and effective way, as if they were running a business. But this is not the need in the church. The church should minister the riches of Christ. We need to see that there is only Christ in the church. The service needed in the church is to enjoy and minister the riches of Christ. Then the church can become the fullness of Christ.
A brother and I have been together for nearly twenty years. When he was appointed as an elder, he was not good at giving messages or administrating, but he could minister Christ to people. Because he enjoyed and experienced the riches of Christ, the saints always sensed that the presence of Christ was with him. Furthermore, because he loved the Lord and the church and was willing to receive the burden of administrating, he prayed for many matters in the church and often fellowshipped with the Lord. As a result, he experienced the Lord in administrating the church. His messages were not impressive or powerful, but they were filled with Christ, and those who listened to him were supplied. Hence, our needs compel us to experience and enjoy the riches of Christ.
The environment that God arranges for us and the sufferings that He measures out to us also enable us to experience and enjoy the riches of Christ. Our environment and sufferings help us to experience more of Christ. It is not easy for a person who is always prosperous to experience Christ. There is a difference between the riches of Christ that we experience in sickness and the riches that we experience in health. There is a difference between the riches of Christ that we experience in poverty and the riches that we experience in wealth. There is a difference between the riches of Christ that we experience in failures, oppositions, and attacks and the riches that we experience with success and popularity. God often raises up different environments and allows us to experience suffering so that we would experience Christ. Therefore, it is unlikely for a genuine seeker of the Lord to always live a life of ease. However, we should not fear the circumstances that the Lord arranges, because He will also look after us and guide us. He arranges our environment to meet our specific need so that we would experience Christ.
We must learn to worship the Lord, for His deeds are wonderful and perfect. The Lord arranges a precious wife for a brother and a precious husband for a sister, and His arrangement is never wrong. A brother needs the dealings that come from his wife, and a sister needs the dealings that come from her husband. A good brother may love the Lord but have a strong natural disposition that cannot be touched or changed by anyone. Therefore, the Lord arranges for his wife to deal with him. After a few years of married life this brother becomes pliable, open to suggestions, and no longer insists on his own opinions, because the Lord measured to him a precious wife. The Lord also arranges the children for parents and parents for the children, and His arrangement is never wrong. All parents experience both sweetness and bitterness in raising their children. Parents always feel helpless with regard to their children and feel that others’ children are better behaved and more obedient than their own. The same applies to children. Children always feel that other parents are more loving than their own parents. We need to believe that what the Lord measures to us is never wrong. Our spouse was chosen by God before the foundation of the world. Our parents and children were also prepared by God. Even the brothers and sisters who coordinate and serve with us in the church were arranged by the Lord before the foundation of the world. There are often conflicts among the brothers and sisters who are placed together to serve and coordinate. Such conflicts force them to experience and enjoy the riches of Christ. Our environment and sufferings are arranged by the Lord for us to experience Christ so that we may minister life to people.
Ephesians shows that the riches of Christ are unsearchable. We need the entire Bible to explain these riches, and we need our whole life to experience them. May the Lord burden us and may He enable us to sense our need so that we may experience His riches in our environment and sufferings. Only by enjoying the riches of Christ can we become the fullness of Christ, which is the Body of Christ. This is the church that He is after.
