Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:23; 3:19b; Eph. 4:13; John 1:16
We have seen that the church is the expression of Christ. In Ephesians 1 we are told that the church is the Body and that this Body is the fullness of the One who fills all in all. The church is the Body of Christ, and this Body is the fullness of the Person who fills all in all.
The words “all in all” in 1:23 refer to the universe. Christ fills the entire universe. This is proved by 4:10 which says, “He Who descended is the same Who also ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things.” For Christ to fill all things is for Him to fill the universe. Christ is so universally vast that He fills all things. This vast Christ needs a Body to be His fullness.
The fullness of Christ is the overflow of Christ. Christ is so unsearchably rich that He has an overflow, a fullness, a surplus. As His Body, the church is Christ’s fullness, His surplus. This is a matter of great significance.
The Lord’s recovery is not concerned mainly with the recovery of outward things. In God’s economy outward things have relatively little value. God’s economy is Christ with the church. The church comes into existence as we inwardly experience the riches of Christ and thus become His fullness.
There is a big difference between the church and a social organization. The church may seem to be a social group composed of different kinds of people. Worldly people view the church in such a way, as just another social organization. We need to see the difference between the church and a social club. Social clubs may have high requirements for their members. They may insist on superior standards of dress, behavior, and character. Outwardly, the members of such clubs may be better than the saints in the churches. However, no matter how good a club may be, it is merely a human organization. In contrast to the church, it has nothing of Christ. But the church is the overflow, the surplus, of Christ.
The members of a club may be regulated outwardly according to certain requirements. Those who fulfill these requirements may have a very good appearance in the eyes of man. In certain respects, they may seem better than those in the churches. However, in the eyes of God the best of human standards and behavior is nothing but dung. In the church we do not need outward improvement or correction. On the contrary, we need Christ to swallow up all our shortcomings with Himself. If the members of the church are short in certain respects, this indicates that they need more of Christ. We must resist the temptation to change the church into a social club with standards and regulations. This has nothing to do with the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is constituted solely of Christ wrought into the saints.
I am fully aware that in Ephesians, a book concerned with the church, Paul speaks about such things as wives submitting to their husbands, husbands loving their wives, children obeying their parents, and slaves obeying their masters. These things, however, are not the focal point of God’s eternal economy. God’s economy is not to have a good family life; it is to have a Body for Christ. If we are in the Body of Christ in a proper and practical way, we shall no doubt have a proper family life. However, we may have an outstanding family life and yet have nothing to do with the Body of Christ. I have known unbelievers whose family life was better than that of many Christians. Although the family life of these unbelievers was good, it had nothing to do with Christ or with God’s economy. It is crucial for us to see that the focal point of God’s economy is not a standard of character or behavior; it is Christ with the church.
In his subtlety, Satan, the enemy of God, has used such things as Bible knowledge, spiritual gifts, and evangelism to keep believers from seeing God’s economy. During the time of the Lord Jesus on the earth and of the Apostle Paul, Satan utilized the Old Testament to veil the Jewish people. When the Lord Jesus appeared to them as the very incarnation of God, they were not able to recognize Him. On the contrary, with the Scriptures in their hands, they sentenced the Lord Jesus to death. According to their concept, they were serving God in so doing.
Christians today should not regard themselves as superior to those Jewish religionists. It is entirely possible for Christians today to be deceived just as the Jews were. The enemy still uses the knowledge of the Bible to keep people from seeing Christ. Furthermore, he will use almost anything as a substitute for Christ and to keep people from seeing the revelation of God’s economy concerning Christ and the church.
We have pointed out that the church is the overflow of Christ. In order to be in reality the overflow of Christ, we need to be transformed. Second Corinthians 3:18 says that as we behold and reflect the glory of the Lord with an unveiled face, we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. Yes, the saints still have their shortcomings and failures, but they are nonetheless undergoing the process of transformation. The more we are transformed, the more we become the overflow of Christ.
It is easy to adjust people outwardly by asking them to conform to certain regulations. But it takes time for the divine life to grow within us. For example, in a very short period of time you can make an artificial flower. But to produce a real flower, a flower that has life and fragrance, may take several months. If we regulate others outwardly, we shall only delay the process of the growth in life. Therefore, we should be patient and allow the Lord to grow in the saints. Eventually, the growth in life will produce the desired change. This is the difference between the church and a social club.
As the Body of Christ, the church is a living organism constituted of the divine life. The divine life came into us at the time of regeneration, and now it is working within us to saturate every part of our being and to swallow up all our negative element. By this process the church becomes the Body in a practical way.
In the recovery the Lord is not working mainly to recover teachings, gifts, or practices. On the contrary, the recovery is a matter of experiencing Christ as life for the church life. If some feel that the goal of the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of certain teachings and gifts, I would say that time will prove that this is a false expectation. More than ten years ago certain ones claimed that the Lord desires to recover the vast field of Pentecostal gifts. Those who made this claim were living in a dream, and they are no longer in the Lord’s recovery. At the time I told them that they were dreaming and that if they would not wake up from their dream, they would suffer loss. They would be deceived by their dream. Those who did not give up that dream have in fact suffered loss spiritually. Today many of them are apart from the Lord’s presence and grace.
The indwelling Christ can keep us safely in the way of the Lord. It is crucial that we all know the indwelling Christ and allow Him to make His home in our hearts. We should not desire to do a great work. Instead, we should be satisfied to allow Christ to live in us and for Him to use us to impart His element into others. If this is our situation, it is not we who work for the Lord, but Christ who does the work from within us. If we experience Christ in this way, then in reality and in practicality the church will be the Body of Christ. The church as the Body comes out of Christ Himself, for it is His overflow, His surplus.
Some years ago I spent ten hours talking to a certain brother. He did not believe that the Lord’s work could be accomplished by the indwelling Christ. Rather, his full confidence was in the recovery of Pentecostal gifts. I told this brother that the Lord does not intend to have a great movement. On the contrary, His move will be on a relatively small scale, perhaps, as it often is, in a hidden way. The Lord will not do anything that is out of proportion to His Body.
Furthermore, anything that is of the Body of Christ must be of the life of Christ. For example, nothing artificial can truly be part of our physical bodies. Not even the best dentures are part of our bodies because they do not have the life of our bodies. Only what is produced by the life of our bodies can be part of our bodies. If you lose an arm, it may be replaced by an artificial limb, but that limb will not be a genuine part of your body. In the same principle, the Body of Christ must be of the life of Christ. There can be no foreign element in the Body. However, in today’s Christianity there are many foreign elements or artificial things. None of these has anything to do with Christ as life. However, as we have pointed out, the church as the Body of Christ is the very fullness of Christ.
In 4:13 Paul says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” According to this verse, we need to arrive at three things: at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, and at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The fullness of Christ, which is the Body, has a stature, for Paul speaks of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The stature of the fullness of Christ is equal to the stature of the Body of Christ. Chapter one reveals that the Body of Christ is the fullness of Christ, and chapter four, that the fullness of Christ has a stature. Therefore, the stature of the fullness of Christ is the stature of the Body of Christ.
In 4:13 Paul speaks not only of the stature of the fullness of Christ, but of the measure of that stature. As the Body of Christ, the church has stature. Because this stature grows, 4:13 speaks of its measure. This measure is the full-grown man.
In many believers the stature of the fullness of Christ has not grown very much. For this reason, with them there is very little measure. But as Christ grows within them, they will gradually increase unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We need to press on until we all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Presently we are on the way toward a full-grown man, toward the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The day is coming when we shall all arrive at a full-grown man. Until then, we are still in the process. Because we are in the process, Paul speaks of the time when we shall “be no longer babes tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching” (4:14).
As the Body of Christ, the church is the fullness that is daily growing within us. It is vital for us all to see that the church is an organism that comes out of Christ. Anything that is not of Christ cannot be part of the church. No matter how disciplined, regulated, or improved we may be, none of this is of the church if it does not issue out of Christ. Self-regulation, self-discipline, and self-improvement may produce an excellent society, but it cannot produce the church. As far as the Body of Christ is concerned, nothing that we have in ourselves has any significance. In relation to the Body, natural goodness is of no advantage. Whether we are good or evil, we still need Christ. Those who are evil surely need Christ. But those who are very good need Christ just as much. No matter what kind of disposition we may have, our natural being needs to be swallowed up and even consumed by the indwelling Christ. Then in reality we shall be the Body of Christ, His fullness.
John 1:16 says, “For of His fullness we all received, and grace upon grace.” What is important is not that we merely learn about Christ or that we imitate Christ, but that we receive of His fullness. Christ is so rich that He has an overflow called the fullness. Of this fullness we may all receive grace upon grace. If we daily receive of His fullness, we shall eventually become His fullness, for we shall be constituted according to what we have received. This means that the more we receive of His fullness, the more we shall be constituted of His fullness and become His fullness. If we see this, we shall say, “Lord, save me from anything that is not Your fullness. Lord, I am willing to pay any price to enjoy You and to partake of Your fullness.” May the Lord be merciful to us that we may daily experience Him and enjoy Him and thereby become the church that is His very fullness, His overflow.
