THE DIRECTION OF THE LORD'S MOVE TODAY
Message Two
The Intrinsic Building Up of the Organic Body of Christ (2) The Revelation and Building Up of the Body of Christ in Ephesians
Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:17; 2:10, 15; 3:16-19; 4:3-6, 11-16; 5:2, 8-9, 26-27; 6:10-13, 17-18
I. Each chapter of the book of Ephesians unveils the mystery of the Body of Christ as the organism of the Triune God from a particular point of view; we must pray for a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may see the Body of Christ as the top revelation of the Bible—Eph. 1:17-23; 3:3-5, 9-11.
II. Ephesians 1 reveals that the Body of Christ is the issue of the dispensing of the processed Trinity and the transmitting of the transcending Christ:
A. The Father's dispensing in His choosing and predestinating issues in His many sons as His house in sanctification—vv. 3-6.
B. The Son's dispensing in His redeeming and saving issues in the believers as God's inheritance in transformation—vv. 7-12.
C. The Spirit's dispensing in His sealing and pledging issues in God as the believers' inheritance unto their perfection—vv. 13-14.
D. The transcending Christ's transmitting in His rising and ascending issues in His Body as His expression unto the believers' consummation—vv. 19-23.
III. Ephesians 2 reveals that the Body of Christ as the new man is the master-piece of the Triune God—vv. 10, 15-16:
A. The Body of Christ as the one new man is God's masterpiece, His poem, created in Himself through His death and resurrection to express His infinite wisdom and divine design—vv. 10, 15.
B. On the cross Christ created the new man in Himself by abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, all the forms or ways of living and worship that divide mankind—vv. 14-15.
C. The worldly people regard cultural differences as a source of prestige, but in the Body of Christ as the one new man, we have lost this prestige; now our only prestige is Christ and the genuine oneness—Col. 1:18b; Eph. 4:3-4a.
D. In the one new man there is only one person—the all-inclusive Christ; this one new man has one mouth to speak the same thing in one accord—2:15; Rom. 15:6; 1 Cor. 1:10.
IV. Ephesians 3 reveals that the Body of Christ is the fullness of the Triune God by our being supplied with the riches of Christ and by Christ's mak-ing His home in our hearts:
A. God has an economy to distribute the unsearchable riches of Christ into our being so that we become His fullness, His expression—vv. 2, 7-9, 19.
B. Paul prayed to the Father as the source that He would strengthen us through the Spirit as the means into the inner man that Christ, the Son, would move and work to make His home in our hearts, issuing in our becoming the Body of Christ as the fullness of the Triune God—vv. 14-19.
C. We need to pray daily to be strengthened into our inner man so that the Triune God may carry out His unique work to build Himself in Christ into our hearts for Him to become our intrinsic constitution for the mutual abode of God and man—3:16-17; John 14:23.
V. Ephesians 4 reveals that the Body of Christ is the mingling of the proc-essed Triune God with the regenerated believers and that this one Body is built up by the one ministry:
A. The one Spirit, one Lord, and one God and Father are mingled together with the believers into one entity to be the organic Body of Christ—vv. 4-6.
B. The oneness of the Body of Christ is the oneness of the Spirit, and the oneness of the Spirit is the Spirit Himself, who is in our spirit; in order to keep the one-ness, we must stay in our mingled spirit—vv. 3-4; John 4:24.
C. The Body of Christ is built up by the one ministry, which perfects us to grow up into Christ, the Head, in all things and to function out from Him in order to supply the Body for its building up in love—Eph. 4:11-16.
VI. Ephesians 5 reveals that the Body of Christ is composed of the children of light to be the bride of Christ for the satisfaction of Christ:
A. We were once not only dark but darkness itself because we were one with Satan; now we are not only the children of light but light itself because we are one with God in the Lord—v. 8; Matt. 5:14.
B. The lampstand signifies that the church as the reproduction of the Triune God is a living, golden tree, blossoming with resurrection life as the shining light, which is the fruit of the light for the full expression of the Triune God—Exo. 25:31-34; Num. 17:8; Rev. 1:11-12; Eph. 5:9; cf. Gal. 5:22.
C. As children of light, walking in love and light, we will be prepared to be Christ's glorious bride by the life-giving Spirit's sanctifying us, cleansing us by the wash-ing of the water in the word—Eph. 5:2, 8, 18, 26-27.
VII. Ephesians 6 reveals that the Body of Christ is the corporate warrior of the Triune God for the defeating of God's enemy:
A. Spiritual warfare is not an individual matter but a matter of the Body; the church as the Body is a corporate warrior, and only the corporate warrior can wear the whole armor of God—vv. 10-20; cf. Matt. 16:18.
B. All warfare has its source in the conflict between Satan's will and God's will; we must have our will subdued and transformed by Christ through sufferings so that it is submitted to the headship of Christ to choose God's will and to be rich in the defending power of Christ in resurrection—Isa. 14:12-14; Matt. 6:10; 26:42; Phil. 2:13; S. S. 4:1, 4; 7:4a, 5.
C. Prayer is the unique, crucial, and vital means by which we apply the whole armor of God, making every item of the armor of God available to us—Eph. 6:18.
D. We fight the spiritual warfare by being empowered in the Lord, God the Son, putting on the whole armor of God, the Father, and wielding the sword of the Spirit; this is our experience and enjoyment of the Triune God even in spiritual warfare—vv. 10-11, 17-18.