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In this lesson we will go on to other aspects of the experience and enjoyment of God as the Father in the love of the Triune God.
Ephesians 3:7-10 shows us that God the Father has given grace to us according to the operation of His power that we may announce to people the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel and enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which was hidden in Him. When God gives grace to us, He dispenses Himself into us, and His dispensing is according to the operation of His power. Because Paul had received God's inner dispensing as grace, he was able to announce the unsearchable riches of Christ and to enlighten all concerning the economy of the mystery hidden in God.
In verse 7 Paul said, "Of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God which was given to me according to the operation of His power." The grace of God is God Himself, especially as life, partaken of and enjoyed by us. The gift of grace is the ability and function produced out of the enjoyment of the grace of God. Hence, the gift is the ability that comes out of life.
This gift is given to us according to the operation of God's power. This power is the power of resurrection (Phil. 3:10), which operated within the apostle and operates within all the believers (Eph. 1:19; 3:20). By such an inward, operating power of life, the gift of grace was given to the apostle, that is, produced in him. As members of Christ, we also have God's power operating in us to produce the ability and function that is out of life, so that we are able to announce the riches of Christ and the economy of God's mystery.
In verse 8 Paul went on to say, "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 indicates that all the saints can receive the same grace as was given to the apostle Paul. As to the ministry of Paul, he was not behind the very chiefest apostles (2 Cor. 11:5; 12:11). Yet, as to the grace he received, he was less than the least of all saints. This implies that all the saints can receive the grace that he received. This is similar to the receiving of the same lifeblood by all the members of our physical body, however small they may be. But the ability (gift) that comes out of the lifeblood differs among the members. All the members of the Body of Christ can have the same grace of life that Paul had, but their gifts differ from one another. These different gifts, however, are for the same thing. The announcing to people of the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel is not for the presentation of doctrines or merely for the teaching of the word in letters. The riches of Christ are what Christ is to us, such as light, life, righteousness, and holiness, what He has for us, and what He has accomplished, attained, and obtained for us.
These riches of Christ are unsearchable and untraceable. We announce to people the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel for the producing of the church as the Body of Christ. In Ephesians 3:9 and 10 Paul went on to say, "And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things, in order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church." God's mystery is His hidden purpose, which is to dispense Himself into His chosen people. Hence, there is the economy (dispensation, plan) of the mystery of God. This mystery was hidden in God throughout the ages, but now the New Testament believers, having been enlightened, are able to see it. When God's chosen people partake of and enjoy the riches of Christ, they are constituted with those riches to be the church, through which God's multifarious wisdom is made known to the angelic rulers and authorities in the heavenlies. Hence, the church is God's wise exhibition of all that Christ is. Therefore, God the Father has given grace to us according to the operation of His power, that we may be able to announce to people the unsearchable riches of Christ and to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery hidden in God is, that is, to have the church.
When the Father dispenses Himself as grace into us the believers and enables us to announce the all-inclusive Christ and make known to people what is the economy of the mystery hidden in God, He makes us competent to bear the ministry of the new covenant.
In 2 Corinthians 3:5 Paul says, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God." The Greek word for sufficient means "competent, qualified, fit, worthy." This shows us that the sufficiency, competency, and qualification for the ministry comes from the living God Himself. This ministry is for God's New Testament economy, which is to dispense Christ into God's chosen people for the building up of Christ's Body. This is not something that man is competent of in himself. We ourselves are of no account, and what we can do is likewise of no account. The Triune God as the all-inclusive Spirit has to become our inner constituent. Only then can we be competent to carry out the ministry of the new covenant.
In 3:6 Paul went on to say, "Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." Unlike the Mosaic ministry for the Old Testament, the apostolic ministry for the New Testament is not of dead letters but of the living Spirit, who gives life. This Spirit, the ultimate expression of the processed Triune God, who became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), imparts the divine life, even God Himself, into the believers and the apostles, making them ministers of a new covenant, the covenant of life. Hence, the ministers of the new covenant are those who are constituted with the Triune God of life by His life-giving Spirit. Therefore, they are competent to bear the ministry of the new covenant.
While we are carrying out the New Testament ministry, God the Father leads us in the triumphal procession of Christ and manifests through us the fragrance of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 Paul said, "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ and manifests the savor of the knowledge of Him through us in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing." Here Paul uses the metaphor of a triumphal procession to illustrate how Christ is the victorious General, how Paul and all the believers are His captives, and how God leads the captives of Christ in a triumphal procession to celebrate Christ's victory. In those days, after a victory the general of the Roman army would always lead the captives in a procession through the capital to celebrate his victory. Among them, some incense-bearers were scattering incense as the procession moved on. Some of the conquered enemies were put to death when the procession reached the Capitol. To them the smell of the incense was an odor of death unto death; to the rest who were spared, an odor of life unto life.
When Christ ascended to the heavens, there was a train of conquered and captured foes celebrating His triumphant ministry. At the same time, however, they were incense-bearers, scattering the savor of the knowledge of Christ in His triumphant ministry. They, being permeated with Christ, became a fragrance of Christ. They were not merely a sweet savor produced by Christ, but Christ Himself was the savor being exhaled in their life and work to God. In those who were being saved, it was a savor out of life unto life, and in those who were perishing, a savor out of death unto death. This is a matter of life and death. Only the captives of God in Christ, who are saturated with Christ by the Spirit, are sufficient and qualified for this.
Paul and his co-workers' move in their ministry for Christ in the Gentile world was like a triumphal procession going from one place to another under God's leading, scattering the fragrance of Christ. This is the issue of God the Father's dispensing in love. When we continually enjoy the Father's dispensing in the love of God, eventually we will be saturated with Christ and become the fragrance of Christ, and we will scatter such fragrance in our life and work in Christ's triumphal procession for God's satisfaction.
Paul's experience in Philippians 2 shows us that the Father's having mercy on us is also His dispensing. In verse 25 Paul told the Philippians, "But I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your apostle and minister to my need." This indicates that Epaphroditus had an intimate relationship both with the Philippians and with Paul. He was an apostle, a sent one with a commission, to the Philippians; he was also a minister who ministered to Paul's need, because in ministering to Paul's material need, he ministered like a priest. In verses 26 and 27, concerning Epaphroditus Paul said, "Since he longed after you all and was greatly distressed because you heard that he had become sick; for indeed he had become sick, near to death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow." Paul did not exercise his gift of healing; rather, he experienced and enjoyed the Father's love in the Father's dispensing. When Epaphroditus was near to death, God had mercy on him and also on Paul. Epaphroditus was healed not by a miracle but by God's mercy. This shows us that Paul and his co-workers were continuously under the dispensing of the loving God. They enjoyed healing as mercy that came from God. If it were not for God's mercy, Epaphroditus would have died. However, through God's mercy he lived, and Paul was able to send him to the Philippians. This mercy is the divine element dispensed into the believers. We all need to experience this kind of mercy that comes from God in His dispensing.
God the Father also encourages and comforts us through Christ that we may be able to encourage and comfort others (2 Cor. 1:4-5; 2 Thes. 2:16-17a). In 2 Corinthians 1:4 Paul said, "Who comforts us in all our affliction that we may be able to comfort those who are in every affliction through the comforting with which we ourselves are comforted by God." This indicates that we must first experience the comfort of God and then we can comfort others with the comfort we have experienced of God. Hence, we must experience God the Father. After we have the experience, we have the necessary spiritual capital with which to comfort others.
In verse 5 Paul went on to say, "For even as the sufferings of the Christ abound unto us, so through the Christ our comfort also abounds." Here, sufferings are not sufferings for Christ, but Christ's own sufferings as shared by His disciples (Matt. 20:22; Phil. 3:10; Col. 1:24; 1 Pet. 4:13). The suffering Christ suffered afflictions for His Body according to God's will. The apostles participated in the sufferings of such a Christ, and through such a Christ they received comfort. Because they experienced the divine riches through Christ, they were able to dispense the Triune God into those who suffered for the Lord's sake that they might be comforted and encouraged. Today we also can enjoy the divine dispensing in the sufferings of Christ as our encouragement and comfort and then dispense the divine riches into those who are in every affliction as their encouragement and comfort.
Philippians 4:7 says, "And the peace of God, which surpasses every man's understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus." This means that the peace of God in Christ is like a guard patrolling before our hearts and thoughts and keeping them that we may be calm and tranquil. This guarding of our hearts and thoughts is the issue of God the Father's dispensing. The peace of God guards our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus through the divine dispensing. The peace of God is actually God as peace (v. 9), infused into us through our fellowship with Him by prayer, as the counterpoise of troubles and the antidote to anxiety (John 16:33).
Bad news or difficult situations may cause us to worry or to be anxious. However, we can find the antidote to this anxiety when we pray, practice communion with God, and enjoy the Father's dispensing in the Father's love. Then spontaneously, even unconsciously, the peace of God is transfused into our inner being. This transfused peace becomes the counterpoise of trouble and the antidote to anxiety. Hence, when we enjoy God as our peace, we are made calm within. This surely is the issue of our experience and enjoyment of God the Father in the love of God.
God the Father cares for the needs of His children in their living. Matthew 6:31-32 says, "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what shall we be clothed? For all these things the Gentiles are anxiously seeking. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things." Since God the Father has created us with a life and a body, surely He will care for the needs of our body. Because we have Him as the One who cares for our needs, we do not need to be anxious about them. He is the source of our supply; hence, we need not be wanting.
In verse 33 the Lord goes on to tell us that if we desire to have the Father's care, we need to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Today the Father's kingdom is the reality of the church life, and the Father's righteousness is Christ who is lived out by God's people. If we seek first the Father's kingdom and the Father's righteousness, not only will His kingdom and His righteousness be given to us, but also all the necessities of our life will be added to us. Hence, whenever He cares for our needs, we experience His dispensing. Actually, what we gain primarily is not His outward supply, but His inward dispensing, that is, His element wrought into us. Thus, we experience His divine dispensing by His caring for our material needs.
First Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has taken you except that which is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow that you be tempted beyond what you are able, but will, with the temptation, also make the way out, that you may be able to endure it." Some believers may think that Satan's temptation to them is too strong to be resisted. But Paul points out here that no temptation has taken us except that which is common to man, and that the faithful God will not allow any temptation to befall us beyond what we are able to bear. This is a promise and an encouragement to the believers. When we are tempted, we should never blame God for the temptation. According to the context in this verse, the responsibility for being tempted rests on us. But we may be encouraged by God's word, knowing that when we are being tempted, the faithful God will provide the way out for us so that we may be able to endure it.
Whenever we are tempted, we may stand on the word of 1 Corinthians 10:13 and say to God the Father, "O Father, You will not allow that I be tempted beyond what I am able, but will, with the temptation, also make the way out, that I may be able to endure it." When we pray to the Father and speak to Him in this way, He knows how much temptation we are able to endure. He will provide a way out for us that we may be able to endure it. This also is our experience and enjoyment of Him in the love of God.
God the Father disciplines us that we may partake of His holiness. Hebrews 12:5-11 tells us that the persecution suffered by the Hebrew believers was a discipline by God the Father on the believers as His true sons. Verse 6 says, "For whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives." Since we are sons of God, we all partake of the Father's discipline. Furthermore, we should respect the Father, who disciplines us, and be in subjection in every respect to the Father of spirits and live. The Father disciplines us for our profit that we may partake of His holiness, His holy nature. This is the work of God the Father's dealing with us, His sons, to make us holy. This work of His, which is related to the sanctifying work of the Spirit, is carried out through His divine dispensing in us and through the dealing in the outward environment. Hence, the Father's discipline on us is related to His dispensing. When He disciplines us, He dispenses His holy nature into our entire being. Therefore, we partake of His holiness through this dispensing.
Verse 11 goes on to tell us that "now no discipline at the present time seems to be a matter of joy, but of grief; but afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised by it." The Father's discipline is for holiness, which brings forth righteousness and peace. God's discipline is not only for us to partake of His holiness but also for us to yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Holiness is the inward nature, righteousness is the outward behavior, and peace is the fruit of righteousness (Isa. 32:17). God's discipline helps the believers not only to partake of His holiness but also to make them right with both God and man, that in such a situation of righteousness they may enjoy peace as a sweet fruit, a peaceable fruit of righteousness.
If we have never been permeated inwardly with God's holy nature, we can never have proper righteousness in our outward behavior. First, God works His holy nature into us; then in our outward behavior we shall have the peaceable fruit of righteousness as the issue of the inward holiness. Hence, we have holiness, righteousness, and peace in the Father's discipline in love by His divine dispensing.
When we experience and enjoy God as the Father in the love of God, God the Father gives grace to us according to the operation of His power, that we may announce to people the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel and enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which was hidden in Him. Thus, He makes us competent to bear the ministry of the new covenant, in which we dispense Christ into people for the building up of Christ's Body. While we are thus carrying out the New Testament ministry, God the Father leads us in the triumphal procession of Christ and manifests through us the fragrance of Christ. God the Father also has mercy on us in that He heals our body by working His divine element into us. Furthermore, He encourages and comforts us through Christ that we may encourage and comfort others; we participate in Christ's sufferings and experience the divine riches through Christ, so that we are able to dispense the Triune God into those who suffer for the Lord that they may be comforted and encouraged. God the Father also guards our hearts and thoughts in Christ by the peace of God, which surpasses our understanding, as the counterpoise of troubles and the antidote to anxiety. He also cares for the needs in our living so that we do not need to be anxious about them. We need first to seek His kingdom and His righteousness; then His kingdom and His righteousness with all the necessities of our life will be added to us. He also will not allow that we be tempted beyond what we are able, but will make a way out, that we may be able to endure. He also disciplines us as sons to dispense His holy nature into our entire being that we may partake of His holiness and yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
