Fresh Speaking
(Judy's notes from Lord's Day, May 16, 2010)
Over this past year, we have seen that from the first chapter of Genisis, where God said, "Let there be light", to the last chapter of Revelation, where the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!", something" has taken place. In Genesis, it was just God speaking, we weren't included, we weren't there, however, in Revelation, we are!
Last week, we saw that God has an economy. God's economy is Anglicized from the Greek word, oikonomia, which is translated, as stewardship. God has an economy, and when it becomes ours, it becomes our stewardship. Humanly, an example of stewardship, is when a family has a business, and the children take care of that business, along with its day to day operations. A second example is if one becomes a "steward" of a house, he or she might "run" the kitchen.
Another translation of God's economy is dispensation, the dispensing of Himself into us. In the Old Testament there is the picture of Passover lamb, and in the New Testament, there is the reality of the lamb, and the dispensing of God into us! In John 1:29, John the Baptist says, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" That the Lamb of God took away sin is just the beginning of His dispensing Himself into us, it is not the end of His dispensing! Eph. 3:8 reads, "To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace give to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel". Although Paul writes that he announced the gospel, but what we hear is, "Paul announced the redemption of the gospel". Paul however did not say "redemption of the gospel", or the forgiveness of sins. His announcing the gospel was the announcing the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.
The unsearchable riches of the gospel is all the riches of Christ dispensed into us! Surely, the unsearchable riches of Christ includes such items as the forgiveness of sins, and redemption, but we shouldn't stop there, these are not all the riches of Christ! We shouldn't even stop with the fact that Christ lives in me! Paul didn't stop there! In Eph. 3:8 he says to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel, and in 3:9, he continues, "And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is. In Eph. 1:17 Paul speaks "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him, and in Eph. 3:3, he speaks, "That by revelation, the mystery was made known to me". Paul's background was that of a Pharisee, one who studied the scriptures inside and out, however, he had never before seen the mystery, but it was there, hidden in God, and it had to be made known to him! You can read and study, yet just as Paul, never see the mystery, it has to be revealed to you. In the Bible, there are only a few references of those who really saw something of the mystery, such as the High Priest, Caiaphis, who prophesied that Christ was to die for the nation (John 11:49-51), or Simeon in Luke ch. 2, and Gamaliel in Acts ch. 5, but these were only glimpses When the mystery of God was opened to Paul, he saw that to announce Christ, and to enlighten the Gentiles to see the mystery was a part of his function. Now the mystery became unveiled, and the door was opened for the Gentiles to see too! All of what Christ went through during His 33 ½ years upon the earth, led to the cross. Upon the cross, Christ took every problem that there ever was in the universe, including you and me. The last Adam became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 5:45). The crucifixion took care of every negative thing, and today, as the life-giving Spirit, He is living, and installed in you and me, but, this is just the beginning! Now the dispensing is out from our spirit and spreading to every corner of our heart. He is spreading into those corners that we have been "hiding" for X number of years. The mystery is that He is in us and is now moving in us, shining His light into those corners.
Eph. 3:9 -11 speaks of God's eternal purpose. "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 through the church, according to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord" You might say, "What is this that God has an eternal purpose?" Maybe you have heard that God has a purpose for your life, but, an eternal purpose? Before time was, God's purpose was, and everything He's done in eternity past, step by step, was aimed at this eternal purpose for the unsearchable riches of Christ to be imparted into you to experience and for you to be enlightened to see. We need to realize that it is not enough to be enlightened or to see the mystery in order that sometime in the future, No we need to be enlightened to see "in order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God may be known through the church! We don't naturally think this way. We have our own understanding of what this all means. The multifarious wisdom of God is all the many sides and the many riches of God and it is that these would be made known through the church according to God's eternal purpose! The cross should never be belittled, but it should be included as a part of God's eternal purpose, related to the church. God is working, being dispensed into every part of our being the result is the church, which displays everything of God! The result of the dispensing is the display to the universe, that to all the principalities and powers, the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church, God's treasure!
In Matt. 13, we saw that the church is the treasure hidden in the field, and today, we are that treasure hidden in the field. You can't see it, but something's hidden there. It is the pearl of great value which Christ purchased upon the cross. We were the grain of sand wounding the Lord on the cross. The blood and water which He shed works something in our lives, and a little pearl started to be formed! Eph 2:1says, you were dead in your offenses and sins, and Eph. 2:10 says that we are His masterpiece, God's poem. We are God's poem which He is still writing, but, where did He start out to write this poem? It was from us being dead in our sins and offenses, and where do we go? We become His masterpiece created in Christ Jesus! How do we get there? By His dispensation!
In Eph. 2: 1 and 12, Paul writes, "And you though dead in your offenses and sins that you were at that time apart from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world." This was about as low as you can get, - dead in offenses and sins, apart from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope, without God in the world this was our condition. We go from such a very low place to the highest place in the universe, "In whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit (E ph. 2: 21-22). How does this happen? How does this take place? It is through God's economy, God's dispensation! Eph. 1:4-5 is from God's side, "Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love, predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will". From God's side, we have been chosen and predestinated, we only see from our little side of Eph. 1:22-23 "And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all". Our God is the One who fills all in all. He does not just come to us in little packets, like empathy, or in His virtues, He dispenses Himself to us! We are in the most glorious place in the universe! He comes into us as a beachhead and from there He is spreading and spreading out into every corner of our being! When the unsearchable riches of Christ are announced to us, our first reaction to the Lord's imparting Himself is a soft, tender heart and love toward Him. When we are enlightened to see what the economy of the mystery is, this also should do something within us, and should also produce a reaction "My feet have been going the wrong way, You have a direction of where You are going. As for me, I've done many things, even doing good things, but now I see that God has economy working within me. At the same time, there is a revelation that "Lord, You are a purposeful God!" All the time He is working to produce something. Everything He does, every move He's made in our life, is towards this purpose. We may think it is haphazard, but it's not He knows! His eye is focused and centered. On His last journey to Jerusalem, He set His face as a flint on the way to the cross. The result of cross was His producing something, the church, to shine forth to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies that the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known! The church is not a brick building down the corner. The church should change our life and shine forth all that He is.
We've seen step by step the Old Testament prophesies, and the institution of the new covenant, and we've gotten a glimpse of the New Jerusalem where it is no longer God alone. Where can He take us from here?
The cap, the top, the center focus of God's revelation is coming out of the church through which God is expressed to the universe. There are so many high points that we've seen, but God would focus us not to teach other things, but rather to stay in the center focus of God's economy. It is here that we see so many things of the Bible opened up to us such as the tree of life in Genesis, which was God's intention to get into man, and His breathing into His disciples after His resurrection (John 20:22). Verses such as "It is no longer I who lives, but it is Christ who lives in me (Gal. 2:20), Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27) are opened to us.
Lord, open our eyes, gives us a poor spirit and a heart not to assume we know or see. Lord, we open to You that You would shine Your Word and Your heart to us.
Some testimonies:
All things on earth are a show, what really matters is God's opening His heart to us. There is an assurance that His goal will happen! We need to look beyond the surface of the world as we see it, in order to see God's economy.
Today, God's economy is shining in those who believe, but Lord, work more in us that all will see Christ.
Eph. 2:10 and 3:10 says that we are His masterpiece created in Christ Jesus and Paul speaks of the multifarious wisdom of God. People marvel at the creation for it shows the Creator, but in Ephesians, we really see His masterpiece through His infinite wisdom. God sent His Son, and the marvelous Christ was put into us. Don't discount the little experiences we have with Christ, or our reading the Word, or our praying with one another, for this is how He gets His masterpiece in spite of his enemy coming into us. The Lord has a marvelous plan to show to the universe who He is through His church.
Satan would have us think that the world knows what it's doing, but no, it does not! Paul spoke to enlighten all that we're in an economy where the real God with the real economy is dispensed and worked into little brothers and sisters like you and me!
God has a house and we've been made members of the household of God with each member doing whatever his function is. The main thing is that we dispense to others (as well as being dispensed into), and His house will grow.