Week 13 - Christ, the Fullness of God

Transcription

1 Monday Scripture Reading: Col. 1:6-7, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins (Col. 1:13-14) THE GOSPEL REACHING ALL THE EARTH The book of Colossians is one of four books that make up the heart of Paul s writings: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. As the center of the revelations given to Paul, these books convey the will of God. While Paul also addresses vital matters in his other epistles, such as the complete gospel of God and His full salvation in the book of Romans, and the arrangement of the church life in 1 Corinthians, the heart of his writings lies in the four books mentioned above. In Colossians chapter 1, Paul says that God has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (v. 13) and that it pleased Him that all fullness should dwell in His Son (v. 19). Verse 15 says that the beloved Son is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of creation. Today, we have received Christ, the beloved Son of God. Now that we have the life of the Son of God, we must allow it to grow and flourish in the church life. Therefore, rather than a place full of doctrines, the church must be a place where the life of Christ can grow in us. This is the gospel of the kingdom. We have learned in previous weeks that Epaphras was a faithful minister of Christ (Col. 1:7) who helped the Colossians understand the grace of God (v. 6). He made sure that the truth of the gospel spreading throughout the world reached them also. Unlike today, the beginning of the Lord s work in Brazil and South America in the 70s was quite rudimentary. When we began the work here, we were few and lacked a proper number of cars. During those years, we labored arduously to make sure that God s Word reached the entire continent. Though we were few, the Lord raised many Epaphrases (Col. 1:8) in every country and region to help propagate His Word. My heart is truly grateful to our God. While my desire is to give myself for the sake of all the saints, my health no longer allows me to be so active. Still, I feel that the Lord has been especially merciful to me. Though I am ninety-five years old, the Lord still blesses me with good health, and I can still minister to you during our conferences. I am very grateful to the Lord for that. This is the fruit of the saints prayers for me. We hope that many more Epaphrases, faithful ministers, can emerge in the churches to help care for them, so that the Lord s testimony can spread everywhere. The Lord needs many Epaphrases. How can the gospel spread everywhere? COLOSSIANS THE MYSTERY OF GOD: CHRIST - Abounding in Every Good Work 1

2 Tuesday Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:11-16 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ... And if you are Christ s, then you are Abraham s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:26-29) GALATIANS LIVING THE CHURCH LIFE TO ATTAIN FULL SONSHIP (1) Among the four books that make up the heart of Paul s writings, the book of Galatians reveals something that is quite important and intimately applicable to us: that we need to grow and mature by means of a proper living and that the church life is the only place where such a living is found. We always emphasize the fact that the book of Galatians is at the center of God s economy. Like the cabin of an airplane, this book carries people to God. While you may spend three to two hours in an airplane cabin as a passenger, we must remain inside this spiritual cabin our entire lives. During our journey, we have two groups of copilots in the church life helping to lead us: the elders and the deacons. When we receive help from those serving us, we grow in life, which is why God put us in the church life. As a child, an heir does not differ at all from a house slave, which is why God put us in the church life, a place where we can grow in life adequately. In the church life, God s children are growing into adulthood. During this process, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers help instruct us, that we would not be tossed about by every wind of doctrine and by the trickery and deceit of men. In the church life, we are helped to speak the truth in love, that we may grow up in all things into Him who is the Head, Christ. This way, all the body, being joined and knit together by every joint of supply, according to the effective working of each part, causes the growth and building of the body in love (Eph. 4:14-16). We, who were born of God, need people like these elders, deacons and other coworkers in every church to look after us and help us grow. Having greater spiritual riches and growth in the divine life, they can share the life they have enjoyed with us. God wants us to have such a living by growing little by little. While we may have the understanding that we are God s children, we need to grow and advance. Rather than remaining a child of God, we must strive to become His mature sons and attain the full reality of the sonship. Having this aspiration will produce in us the desire to remain in the Lord and seek His life provision in His Word and fellowship in the church life. Sharing the divine riches we have enjoyed with others. How can we grow in life? COLOSSIANS THE MYSTERY OF GOD: CHRIST - Abounding in Every Good Work 2

3 Wednesday Scripture Reading: Gal. 3:23; 4:7 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13) GALATIANS LIVING THE CHURCH LIFE TO ATTAIN FULL SONSHIP (2) When we call on the Lord s name in reality, the divine life we received when we were born again grows in us. This divine life we have within must grow gradually until we become mature enough to receive the inheritance God has prepared for us. When the Lord Jesus returns, those who have matured, the overcomers, will enter the millennial kingdom. In order to grow in life, we need to live a normal church life. The book of Galatians tells us that we will arrive at our destination once we reach spiritual maturity. Today, the Lord has given us brothers and sisters who serve us by taking us to church meetings or by bringing the meetings to us, so that we can enjoy the Lord together. We also have teachers who instruct us in the Bible. These shepherds and teachers help us daily, instructing, guiding and feeding us with God s Word. God s arrangement in the church is altogether based on His providence and sovereign will. The book of Galatians also tells us that we remain in this process not for a short period of time, but rather until the time appointed by the father (Gal 4:2b). In our walk with the Lord, we are cared for, worked on and perfected our entire lives, until we reach spiritual maturity. The goal of this process is that we would cooperate with the Lord s work in this age, and ultimately lay hold of the inheritance kept for us in the age to come. When we believed in the Lord Jesus and were born again, we were eternally bound to the Father. We know that we are God s sons because He has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, Abba, Father! (Gal. 4:6). After this new birth, we need to grow and further enjoy the Lord s sovereign arrangement in the church life. His desire is to lead us to the full sonship, the full reality of what it means to be a son of God. He wants the Father s life to grow in us, saturating our whole soul: mind, will and emotion. Let us appreciate the church life! If we live the church life and receive the help of our brethren, we will surely advance spiritually and further our experience with God. This is the way to have more of the element of God s Son. Now that we have been saved, we can cry out, Abba, Father! Though we have already been made sons of God, we still need to allow Him to infuse us with more of His life. Let us enjoy the reality of this full sonship in the church life! We received God s life and became His children when we first believed, but now this life needs to grow. This is the revelation of the book of Galatians. Enjoying the full sonship. Abba, Father! How much time does God s work need to help us reach maturity? COLOSSIANS THE MYSTERY OF GOD: CHRIST - Abounding in Every Good Work 3

4 Thursday Scripture Reading: Eph. 2:1-5; 4:11-14 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3) EPHESIANS THE WORK OF THE TRIUNE GOD The book of Galatians helps us see the need to seek out the reality of the sonship with the help of guardians and stewards: the elders and deacons who help perfect us in the church life. Paul also addresses this matter in Ephesians, declaring that the Lord Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some shepherds and teachers to perfect us for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. This perfecting will carry on till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting (Eph. 4:11-14). The Lord wants His body to reach full maturity in order to express and represent Him. As we mentioned before, like the cabin of an airplane, the book of Galatians is taking us, the passengers, into a deeper experience of God s life. As any airplane needs two wings to take flight, the books of Ephesians and Colossians represent these two wings. Colossians presents Christ in all His magnificence, as the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells, and as the Head of the church, His body. As for the book of Ephesians, it reveals the dispensing of the Triune God into man. Ephesians chapter 1 begins with an overview of God s eternal plan, His economy, to give us all the riches of His life through the work of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Now that the Father has given us His life, He wants to see it grow in us. He does not want us to live an ordinary or sloppy Christian life, thinking that averting eternal perdition is the end of our race. Now the Father wants His life to grow in us, that we may reach the full sonship for which He predestinated us. Although the goal of God s eternal plan is to make us His children, Ephesians 2 tells us that we were sinners whose destiny was the lake of fire. We were saved because of God s great love and mercy (vv. 4-5). When we were on the way to the lake of fire, the Lord Jesus came in and rescued us with His grace. Since then, He has begun a cleaning work within us to make us His masterpiece. Moreover, He put us in the church life with other members of His body, which is the church, the new man, His bride and His warrior. What a wonderful work the Triune God is doing in us! We are the object of God s mercy. Who were we, and who is the Lord transforming us into? COLOSSIANS THE MYSTERY OF GOD: CHRIST - Abounding in Every Good Work 4

5 Friday Scripture Reading: Acts 20:32; 1 Cor. 3:6 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10) GOD S SCULPTING WORK The church life is the place where God works in and on us, the way an artist sculpts one of his works. Today, God is sculpting us! As He works, He removes the things that do not satisfy Him and adds more of Himself (more of His life and nature), that we may express Him throughout eternity as His masterpiece. One of the items the Lord wants to remove from us is the ambition we inherited from Adam through the fall. A brother who leads a meeting, for instance, may think that he is the head and proceed to do everything by himself. While he may have the capacity to do many things for God, these things might still be natural and fallen. In this case, the Lord wants to remove this impurity from him. The Lord works on us throughout our entire Christian life. He sovereignly uses people and circumstances to carry out this transforming work in us, and will continue to do so until we are fully like Him in life and in nature, but not in the Godhead. Today, God is sculpting people from every country, race, tongue, and culture. In the end, He will present His masterpiece to the entire universe, a work He created by adding Himself into us. Do you want God to work on you? If so, you should pray, Lord, work on me according to Your will. Whatever is not in line with Your will needs to go; take it away! If there are things that will prevent me from reigning with You, please remove them. Above all, infuse me with more of You! I am still so natural and selfish. I want to be emptied right now, that I may be filled with You! Thank you, Lord! The Lord uses His own life to carry out His sculpting work in and on us. While He allows what is according to His will to remain, He removes everything that is not, in order to make us His masterpiece. These are some important principles found in Ephesians. Hallelujah! God s masterpiece. How does the Lord work in us to make us His masterpiece? COLOSSIANS THE MYSTERY OF GOD: CHRIST - Abounding in Every Good Work 5

6 Saturday Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:17; Phil. 3:11-14 And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth (Rev. 5:9b-10) PHILIPPIANS THE KINGDOM IS THE DESTINY OF GOD S MATURE SONS Philippians is one of the books that make up the heart of Paul s writings. This book tells us that Christ is calling us upwards. In chapter 3, Paul says, Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (vv ). In fact, in addition to Christ Himself, our goal and destiny is the millennial kingdom, where we will reign alongside Him a thousand years (Rev. 20:6). In Philippians, Paul tells us that the Lord is calling us to the goal. Not only are we going to Christ, but we are going to God s kingdom. God wants us to grow in life and thus lead us into His kingdom. Once we reach maturity in life, we will reign in life, as revealed in Romans 5:17, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. It is through this life, the divine life, that we will reign in the kingdom. Today, it is vital that we remain in the airplane cabin, which represents the book of Galatians, and live the church life intensely, growing in life under the care of others and enjoying the grace that saved us. We should not return to the law or any commandments in the form of ordinances, most of which we have created ourselves based on our personal concepts and religion. Let us remain under the care of the guardians and stewards in the church life. They want us to advance from God s children to God s mature sons in reality, sons who express the Father and take full possession of His inheritance. We need both wings of God s New Testament airplane. While the first wing, the book of Colossians, makes known the mystery of God, Christ, the second wing, Ephesians, reveals the mystery of Christ, the church. With both wings, we can experience a peaceful flight, balanced by Christ and the church. Thank you, Lord! Reigning in life. How can we reach the goal of God s plan, the kingdom? COLOSSIANS THE MYSTERY OF GOD: CHRIST - Abounding in Every Good Work 6

7 Powered by TCPDF ( Week 13 - Christ, the Fullness of God Sunday Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:23; 4:10-16; Phil. 3:13-14; Col. 2:3 Being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints--and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel (Eph. 6:18b-19) ON THE WAY TO THE KINGDOM We learned this week about the Lord s wondrous and divine arrangement in Paul s writings. His epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Philippians are considered the heart of the entire Bible. We also used the analogy of an airplane to help us understand God s plan for His children. In this analogy, while the book of Galatians is the airplane s cabin, Ephesians and Colossians are its two wings. In addition to the airplane itself, we also need a well-defined flight plan in order to reach our final destination safely: the kingdom. The book of Philippians represents this flight plan. The book of Galatians conveys God s desire to have not only children in Christ, but mature sons to whom He can entrust the kingdom as an inheritance. In order to reach our destination, the Lord has given us the safe cabin of the church life. In the church, we have guardians and stewards working to supply God s children with life. Ephesians and Colossians are the airplane s two wings. The wings of an airplane carry some of its most important necessities, including its fuel and engines. These two books reveal Christ and the church. While Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, is the fullness of God and our life (Col. 2:3, 9; 3:4), the church is the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Eph. 1:23). Finally, the book of Philippians provides us a flight plan: Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:13-14). In other words, we can only advance when we forget the things behind, and press on towards the goal. Our goal is the kingdom! May the Lord give us grace to practice the revelation of this book, so that we can complete our journey safely until the Lord s return. Christ and the church. How can we arrive at the kingdom safely? Additional Reading Enrich your reading of the Daily Food by simultaneously reading the books suggested below: Walking According to God s Will 1 Dong Yu Lan Learning from the Apostles 3 Dong Yu Lan COLOSSIANS THE MYSTERY OF GOD: CHRIST - Abounding in Every Good Work 7