Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:10; 3:8-10; 1 Tim. 1:4; Gal. 1:15-16; Col. 3:4a; John 12:24; 19:34; Rom. 5:10; John 3:3, 5-6; Titus 3:5; 1 Pet. 2:2; Eph. 4:12-13; 1 Cor. 14:3; Eph. 4:15-16; Rom. 8:2; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Phil. 1:19b; 1 Cor. 12:13b; John 7:37-39; Gal. 5:16, 25
There are two great things in the Bible — the divine dispensing and the divine economy. In this message we will cover these two matters.
The word economy is an anglicized form of the Greek word oikonomia, which means "household law" or "household management" or "household administration" and derivatively "administrative dispensation," "plan," "economy." The divine economy is God's eternal plan to dispense Christ into His chosen people to produce, constitute, and build up the organic Body of Christ (Eph. 1:10; 3:8-10; 1 Tim. 1:4). Since Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, for God to dispense Christ into His chosen people actually means that God dispenses Himself in Christ into His chosen people. In brief, God's economy is to gain a Body for Christ. This Body is the enlargement of the Triune God for His expression that He may be satisfied.
The divine dispensing is to impart Christ as life and the life supply into His believers (Gal. 1:15-16; Col. 3:4a).
This dispensing of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God is first in God's redemption (John 12:24; 19:34). The central point, the goal, of God's redemption is not merely to redeem us from our sins and from the condemnation of sin (eternal perdition), but to release, that is, to dispense, God Himself as the divine life into His redeemed ones. John 12:24 says that Christ in His incarnation as a grain of wheat fell into the ground and died. Just as there is life in a grain of wheat, within the human shell of Christ's physical body there was the divine life. When He was on earth in the flesh, the divine life within Him was concealed in the shell of His human body. He went to the cross and died, and the death of the cross broke this human shell and released the divine life to produce many grains. This is to release the divine life into all these grains. Also, John 19:34 says that when Christ died on the cross, two elements, blood and water, flowed out of Him. Blood is for redemption, and water is for the releasing of the divine life. Thus, the redeeming death of Christ becomes the life-releasing death.
The divine dispensing is also in God's salvation (Rom. 5:10). God's redemption is the foundation of His salvation. Based on His redemption, God has to save us by the life of Christ. The first step of this saving is to regenerate us, which is to impart the divine life into us. Thus, God's salvation is centered in life-dispensing.
The divine dispensing is involved also in the saving of sinners (John 3:3, 5-6; Titus 3:5). When God saves sinners, He regenerates them, dispensing Himself as life into their being. When we go to seek sinners for Christ, we need to point out to them that they need God's life and that the way to receive God's life is to be born of God, to be regenerated.
God's ordained way is first to regenerate us and then to nourish us. First Peter 2:2 says that as newborn babes we need to drink of the milk of the word so that we may grow unto salvation.
Ephesians 4:12-13 speaks of perfecting the saints, something which is needed by all believers. To perfect the saints is to dispense Christ into them so that they can grow to maturity. When we preach the gospel, we impart Christ into sinners. When we nourish the new believers, we dispense Christ into them as food, as the nourishing element. Likewise, when we perfect the saints, we minister Christ to them, dispensing Christ into them not only as milk but also as solid food (1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:13-14).
The divine dispensing is also in prophesying (1 Cor. 14:3). When we prophesy in our meetings, our prophesying must minister Christ. We should not merely speak concerning a part of the Bible or merely talk about doctrine; we should do our best to put Christ into our prophesying. Then the reality of our ministry will be Christ Himself.
All the foregoing items — to save sinners, to nourish the new believers, to perfect the saints, and to prophesy — are to build up the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:15-16).
We need to see that God's economy is to dispense Himself in Christ into us, beginning with regeneration and continuing with nourishing and perfecting until we become mature. Then we will be built into the Body of Christ.
The divine dispensing is carried out by the Spirit of life as the life-giving Spirit with His bountiful supply (Rom. 8:2; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Phil. 1:19b).
The way to receive the divine dispensing is first to drink the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13b; John 7:37-39) in our spirit by exercising our spirit.
The way to receive the divine dispensing is also to live and walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25). This requires that we exercise our spirit.
God has done everything necessary to consummate Himself into the one Spirit. This Spirit today is the totality of the processed and consummated Triune God. When we were attracted by Christ, believed in Him, and called on the name of the Lord Jesus, a living person entered into us. This One is the Spirit as the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God. When He as the Spirit dwells in us, that indwelling One is Christ, and Christ is the Triune God. This One is all-inclusive, and today as the consummated Spirit He indwells our spirit.
When we were saved, the Spirit came into our spirit to regenerate our spirit, to enliven our spirit, and to be mingled with our spirit. The Christian life is a story of this mingled Spirit. To live a normal Christian life is to care for the two spirits — the divine Spirit in our regenerated human spirit.
When we contact the Lord, when we pray to Him, and when we praise Him, our part is to receive His dispensing, and His part is to dispense. The more we receive, the more He dispenses. In this way we gain all the elements of the Triune God in His person, in His nature, and in His life. As a result, the Triune God grows in us. When He grows in us, we grow in Him. This is all a story of life-dispensing.
Through the abundant receiving of the divine dispensing, we have the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and we grow in the divine life. This is the Christian life, and this Christian life is altogether due to the divine dispensing of the divine economy.
