HOME MEETINGS
Chapter 3
THE WAY TO EQUIP OURSELVES
FOR THE HOME MEETINGS
WEEK 2 – WEDNESDAY
Bible Reading: Ps 133:1-3; Eph 1:23; 2 Cor 1:21
Read and pray: “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Cor 6:17)
PREACHING THE UNSEARCHABLE
RICHES OF CHRIST
In reality, you need to understand that “preach the gospel” (lit.) in Greek is one word. This word is not the normal Greek word for preach. This word, to preach something as the gospel, means to preach something as the good news. Therefore, for Paul, his gospel is the all-inclusive Christ. In other words, his gospel is the unsearchable riches of Christ.
In this sense, the entire book of Ephesians is a gospel because the content of the gospel preached by Paul is the unsearchable riches of Christ.
His gospel does not deal only with sin. It does not deal only with going to hell. It does not deal only with repenting and believing for the forgiveness of sins so that one may be reconciled to God, saved from eternal perdition, and have eternal life.
Although it includes eternal life in the content of the gospel, nevertheless this does not compare to Paul’s preaching. He preached the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.
THE RICHES OF CHRIST
PRODUCING THE FULLNESS
In Ephesians Paul not only refers to the riches of Christ but also to the fullness of the One who fills all in all (1:23). What are the riches? And what is the fullness? The fullness is the issue of the enjoyment of the riches. The riches of Christ are all the details of what He is, what He has, what He can do, and what He is doing.
But the fullness of Christ is the church produced by the believers’ enjoyment of the riches of Christ. This is illustrated by the situation in America. In the supermarkets we have the riches of the United States. But a strong American is the fullness of the enjoyment of all the riches of the United States. The riches of America are here; however, if we do not enjoy them, there will be no fullness of America. Only the riches remain.
Some young people from the churches in Taiwan and Hong Kong were small and weak. But since coming to America, the riches of America have been digested and assimilated into their blood, strengthening the tissues and elements of their being. Today, although they are Chinese, they are the fullness of America.
Spiritually speaking, we Christians are very weak. We do not have the proper weight. Why are Christian meetings, whether large or small, for the most part very weak and very poor?
Even though Christians love the Lord and love to meet, they have nothing to minister. We are weak in the meetings because we do not enjoy the riches of Christ. We do not experience the riches of Christ.
WHO CHRIST IS AND WHERE HE IS
To enjoy, that is, to experience the riches of Christ, we need to understand who Christ is and where He is. This is something very practical in our daily life.
Second Corinthians 1:21 says, “But the One who firmly attaches us with you unto Christ and has anointed us is God.” Christ here in Greek means the Anointed One. “Firmly attaches us with you unto Christ” is related to “has anointed us.” These two things cannot be separated. To firmly attach is actually to anoint. God has firmly attached us unto Christ, and Christ means the Anointed One. God has firmly attached us unto the Anointed One.
Psalm 133 says that the oil upon Aaron’s head went down upon his beard, even to the hem of his garments. The high priest Aaron was God’s anointed one, full of oil. If you attach yourselves to Him, in the same way you will be anointed.
When we paint a house, we warn that the paint is fresh. If someone touches the freshly painted wall, he will be stained. In the same way God has firmly attached us to the Anointed One; this is how God has spontaneously anointed us. Christ has the ointment, the paint, with which God has painted us.God has firmly attached us to the Anointed One. Christ is the Anointed One. This has to do with the place where He is. Where is Christ today? To say that Christ is in our spirit is too doctrinal. The entire New Testament shows us that economically our Christ is in the heavens.
Essentially, He is in us. Romans 8:34 says that Christ is at the right hand of God. But in the same chapter, verse 10 says that Christ is in you. Are these two Christs—one in the heavens and the other on the earth?
Today Christian teachings are very objective. Christians know that our Lord is in the third heaven and wait for His coming. However, we also know that the New Testament tells us that the heavenly Christ is a Christ in resurrection. This Christ in resurrection is in us essentially.
I will use electricity as an illustration. In the meeting hall there is only one current of electricity. However, this current of electricity is both here and there in the power station many kilometers away. Even before finishing the sentence, the electric current is interconnected between the hall and the power station. This does not mean that there are two currents of electricity, but one.
The one Christ is both in the heavens and in us. God has firmly attached us to this anointed Christ who is now in us. First Corinthians 6:17 is even stronger than this. It says, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”
Young sisters, do you believe, as genuine believers in Christ, that you are one spirit with the Lord? Do you have such a verse in your Bible? Do you believe that this is revealed in the Bible and that we, the believers in Christ, are one spirit with Him?
I not only believe it but have practiced it for years. I must tell you the truth: every time I am about to share, my prayer is, “Lord, be so real in the sharing, for I am one spirit with You. It must not be only I who speak. Lord, it must be I as one spirit with You who shares.”
🌿 Enjoy more:
Hymn: The Church – Oneness – “Oh, how good it is to live in oneness”
https://hinario.org/detail.php?tab=1&mainmp3=admin/Uploaded-mp3-Files/1244.voz_piano.mp3&id=1323
No comments:
Post a Comment