2022-5丨General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

Message Seven Being Perfect as the Heavenly Father Is Perfect by Being Perfected in His Love

D. To be perfect is to have God added to us, as seen in God's word to Abraham in Genesis 17:1—“I am the All-sufficient God; / Walk before Me, and be perfect”:

1. The divine title All-sufficient God (El Shaddai in Hebrew) reveals God as the source of grace to supply His called ones with the riches of His divine being for the fulfillment of His purpose; the Lord's grace being sufficient for us is the Lord's power being perfected in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9; Phil. 4:13; John 15:5b).

2 Cor. 12:9 And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over me.

Phil. 4:13 I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me.

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

2. To walk before God is to walk in His presence, constantly enjoying Him and His all-sufficient supply.

3. To be perfect is to have God added to us as the element and factor of perfection; practically, it means that we do not rely on the strength of the flesh but trust in God as the all-sufficient Mighty One for our life and our work.

E. Before God gave Moses the law, He spent time to infuse Moses with Himself—Exo. 24:16-18:

Exo. 24:16 And the glory of Jehovah settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

Exo. 24:17 And the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like consuming fire on the top of the mountain to the eyes of the children of Israel.

Exo. 24:18 And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

1. God's intention is to infuse us with Himself so that He will have a way to do everything in us and for us to fulfill the commandments He gives to us.

2. The emphasis in the Bible is that we need God to come into us and do everything in us and for us—Phil. 2:12-13.

Phil. 2:12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much rather in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;

Phil. 2:13 For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.

3. The requirements of the law in the Old Testament were given to prove that man is not able, and the requirements of the commandments in the New Testament were given to prove that God is able; outside of us He gives us many commandments, but inside of us He is keeping all these commandments for us—Heb. 13:21.

Morning Nourishment

Gen. 17:1 ...When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah appeared to Abram and said to him, I am the All-sufficient God; walk before Me, and be perfect.

2 Cor. 12:9 ...My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over me.

We need to learn the meaning of the title of God in Genesis 17:1, the All-sufficient God. In Hebrew this title is El Shaddai. El means “the Strong One, the Mighty One,” and Shaddai, implying the meaning of breast, udder, means “all-sufficient”... An udder produces milk, and milk is the all-sufficient supply, having water, minerals, and many vitamins in it and containing all that we need for our daily living. So El Shaddai means the “all-sufficient Mighty One.”

When Abraham did things by his natural self, he forgot the source of his supply. In other words, he forgot God as his all-sufficient source of supply. Therefore, God came to Abraham and seemed to say, “...Come to this udder. The source of your supply is not your natural self, but I, the Mighty One with an udder. I am the all-sufficient One who can supply everything you need for your living and everything you need for the fulfillment of My eternal purpose. I am the source. You are not the source. You should not live on your own or by yourself. You have to live by Me as the source of your supply.” (Life-study of Genesis, p. 630)

In Genesis 17:1 God told Abraham to walk before Him... Walking before the Lord means that we constantly enjoy Him and the supply of His udder...To walk before God does not mean that we walk before Him fearfully as before the Holy One. No, the Mighty One with the all-sufficient udder supplies all of our daily need. As we are enjoying His supply, we are walking in His presence.

God also told Abraham to be perfect... For Abraham to be imperfect... meant that he was short of God. None of us can be perfected without God...Without Him we are always lacking something. Regardless of how perfect we may be in ourselves, we are still short of God and need to be perfected by and with God. If your home life is without God, your home life is not perfect. If God is not in your married life, your married life is imperfect. There is no perfection without God. Suppose your hand had only four fingers. Although it might be a good hand, since it did not have the thumb, it would not be perfect...To be perfect means that we need God to be added to us. To walk before God means to enjoy Him, and to be perfected means to have God added to us.

Since [God] is the all-sufficient Mighty One, there is no reason or excuse for us to be imperfect. Whatever we lack, God is. Do you lack strength? God is strength. Do you need energy? God is energy. God is whatever we need...There is no reason for us to be poor; we have a large deposit in the heavenly bank.

Practically speaking, to be perfect means that we do not rely upon the strength of the flesh but trust in the all-sufficient Mighty One for our life and work. We should not rely upon the exercise of our natural self or upon the energy of our flesh. We must always trust in God’s all-sufficiency for everything...Why do we lose our temper at certain times? Because at those times we do not trust in God. The losing of our temper should force us to learn one lesson—never to stay away from God but to trust in Him every moment... If you forget your temper and trust in God every moment, your temper will be overcome. Every imperfection is due to one thing: that we keep ourselves away from the all-sufficient Mighty One. When we keep ourselves away from Him, we are like an electrical appliance that will not work because it is cut off from the supply of electricity. We all must learn to keep ourselves constantly in God. This is the way to be perfect. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 631-633)