2006感恩节
总题:为着基督身体的实际活在调和的灵里
Message Four Living in the Mingled Spirit for the Reality of the Body of Christ as Revealed in Ephesians (1)
Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:17-23; 4:3-4, 17-24
I. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians reveals that we can live in the reality of the Body of Christ by living in the mingled spirit—Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17; Eph. 1:17; 2:22; 3:5, 16; 4:23; 5:18; 6:18:
A. The reality of the Body of Christ is the reality in Jesus, the actual condition of the God-man living of Jesus recorded in the four Gospels, duplicated in the many members of His Body to be the corporate God-man living of the one new man, a living by the Spirit of the glorified Jesus mingled with our spirit for us to keep the oneness of the Spirit with the transformed human virtues enriched by and with the divine attributes—4:17-24; John 7:37-39; Eph. 4:3-4.
B. The reality of the Body of Christ is the Spirit of reality, who is the reality of the processed Triune God mingled with our spirit; when we live in the mingled spirit, we are learning Christ as the reality is in Jesus in order to have a corporate living of being conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection for His corporate expression—1 John 5:6; John 14:17; 16:13; Acts 16:7; Phil. 1:19-21a; 3:10; Gal. 6:17.
II. We must pray for a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened to see the mystery of God's economy, which is to dispense Christ as the mystery of God into God's chosen people to make them the reality of the Body of Christ as the mystery of Christ— Eph. 1:9, 17-18; 3:3-5, 9; 5:32; 6:19; Col. 2:2:
A. The Body of Christ is not a doctrine but a realm; only a revelation from God in our spirit will usher us into the realm of the Body, and only then will the Body become our experience—Eph. 1:17-23; 3:14-19; cf. John 3:3, 5.
B. In order to receive the revelation of the great mystery of Christ and the reality of the Body of Christ, we must cooperate with the Lord to be poor in spirit and pure in heart—Eph. 1:17-18a; 3:16-17a; Matt. 5:3, 8; Isa. 57:15; 66:1-2; 1 Pet. 3:4.
C. We need a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see and know Christ as the hope of God's calling—Eph. 1:17-18; 4:4b; cf. 2:12; 1 Cor. 15:19:
1. God's upward calling is for us to fully enjoy and gain the all-inclusive Christ in this age so that we may be rewarded with the uttermost enjoy-ment of Christ as our prize in the next age—Phil. 3:8, 14.
2. The hope of our calling, our living hope, our hope of glory, is the resur-rected Christ Himself as the life-giving Spirit mingled with our spirit— 1 Pet. 1:3; Col. 1:27; Rom. 5:2-5; 15:13.
3. Christ Himself as the eternal life in our spirit enables us to have a hope for this age, for the coming age, and for eternity—Titus 1:2:
a. In this age we have the hope of growing in life, of maturing in life, of manifesting our gifts, of exercising our functions, of being transformed, of overcoming, of being redeemed in our body, and of entering into glory—Rom. 8:2, 4, 6, 11, 23-25; Phil. 3:21.
b. In the coming age we have the hope of entering into the kingdom, of reigning with the Lord, and of enjoying the blessings of eternal life in the manifestation of the kingdom—Matt. 19:29; Rev. 5:10.
c. In eternity we have the hope of being fully deified to become the New Jerusalem so that we may participate fully in the consummate enjoyment of Christ as the consummated blessings of the eternal life in its ultimate manifestation—1 John 3:2-3; Rev. 21:1-7; 22:1-2, 14.
D. We need a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see and to know Christ as the riches of the glory of God's inheritance in the saints—Eph. 1:18b; Acts 26:18:
1. We are being designated by God to be His inheritance for His enjoyment so that we may inherit God as our inheritance for our enjoyment—Eph. 1:18b, 14.
2. We are being designated to be God's inheritance for His enjoyment by remaining in the finer dispensing of the sealing Spirit in our spirit so that we are inscribed with the Spirit of the living God as the divine element of God, causing us to bear the divine image of God to display His divine ownership of our entire being—v. 13; 4:30; 2 Cor. 3:3.
3. We are inheriting God as our inheritance for our enjoyment by remaining in the fresh dispensing of the pledging Spirit in our spirit so that we are filled with the unsearchably rich Christ as a foretaste of what we will inherit of God in full at the redemption, the transfiguration, of our body— Eph. 1:14; 3:8; 2 Cor. 4:7; Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:21.
E. We need a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see and to know the transcending Christ as the surpassingly great power of the Triune God (Eph. 1:19-23) "toward us who believe" (v. 19) and "to the church" (v. 22):
1. Christ as the Spirit of the resurrecting Triune God mingled with our spirit (Rom. 8:10-11) is our resurrecting power (Eph. 1:20a), ascending power (v. 20b), subjecting power (v. 22a), and heading-up power (v. 22b); this four-fold power is transmitted to the church, the Body of the Head (vv. 22-23a).
2. Toward us who believe and to the church indicate that the divine power, which includes all that the Triune God has passed through, has been installed into us once for all and is being transmitted into us continually, causing us to enjoy Christ richly and to have the proper church life.
3. Since the transcending Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, His transcending transmission includes all the rich dispensing of the Triune God; when the riches of Christ are assimilated into our being metaboli-cally, they constitute us to be the fullness of Christ, the Body of Christ, as His expression—vv. 22-23; 3:8.
4. In order to participate in the transmitting of Christ as the resurrecting, ascending, subjecting, and heading-up power to the church, we must know, use, and exercise our spirit; because Christ as the power of God (1 Cor. 1:24) dwells in our spirit, our spirit is a spirit of power (2 Tim. 1:7); by exercising our spirit, we are able to do all things in Christ, and He is able to do all things in us as the empowering One (Phil. 4:13; 3:21) to transform us from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18) for His glory in the church (Eph. 3:20-21).