Treasure the Blessings We Have and Lay Hold On the Common Faith (1)


	Treasure the Blessings We Have and Lay Hold On the Common Faith (1) Introduction It is not an easy matter for the Lord to gain what He is after in the churches through the operation of the leading ones. If it were, I don't believe the Lord would have had to delay this long! What is the reason the Lord has had to tarry? One reason is that there is a shortage of proper leading ones. The saints in the church life are faithful and willing to follow, but their growth and ability to progress has much to do with those who lead them. Therefore, the condition of the church life is based upon the condition of the leading ones. The higher and more prevailing the leading ones are, the higher and more prevailing the church life will be. If the leading brothers are filled with vision and revelation, geared with healthy exercise, and saturated with the Spirit and with burden, surely the church life in their locality will become prevailing and able to bear the Lord's testimony. Satan's attack among the churches is thus firstly upon those who lead. Paul asked the saints in Ephesus to pray for him so that he would be enabled to make known the mystery of God with boldness (Eph. 6:19). This reveals how much Satan hates those who operate among the churches. In the same principle, Satan also attacks all the leading ones in the different localities. Thus, to take the lead in the church life is to be involved with warfare and difficulty. But unlike earthly warfare, our fighting is based upon our being in a position of victory already. We fight because of what was won! Our fighting is not focused on the outward things. Our fight as those bearing responsibility in the church life is to enter into the divine mystical realm and to bring others into it, for the church life is something in the divine mystical realm. The Church Life in the Divine Mystical Realm Since the church life is in the divine mystical realm, those who lead in the church life must do so in the divine mystical realm. Therefore, what is the divine and mystical realm? First, this realm is of the heavenlies! When you touch this realm, abide in this realm, enjoy this realm, and live a life in this realm, you discover it is nothing but heavenly. When you come to the Lord in this realm, He is a heavenly Lord; when you come to the word in this realm, it is a heavenly word; when you receive encouragement within this realm, it is heavenly encouragement; when you receive revelation, it is heavenly revelation. Everything in this realm is in the heavenlies! This is why in Ephesians chapter one we are told that we are predestinated, chosen, and marked out by God according to His will; that Christ has redeemed us; and that the Spirit has sealed us. All of this is written to cause us to realize that we are in a heavenly realm! Second, in this realm we see the processed Triune God (Eph. 1:3-7, 13-14). God is in this realm; and He is our enjoyment in this realm. Our salvation is much more than being saved from the lake of fire! The Lord in His salvation has brought us into the divine mystical realm where the Triune God Himself is operating. Third, in the divine mystical realm we also see the Christ (Eph. 1:3; 1 Cor. 12:12). The Christ is not only Triune God, but also includes all the faithful saints who enjoy and participate in the blessings of the Triune God. In this realm we have Christ and His Body. Fourth, in the divine mystical realm we enjoy the Spirit. This realm is substantiated by the Spirit. Whenever we touch the Spirit, we are touching this realm. Fifth, in the divine mystical realm, the Spirit gives us life (1 Cor. 15:45), which is God's eternal life. So in this realm, we enjoy God's very life! Sixth, we enjoy resurrection in this realm (Eph. 1:19-23). The divine mystical realm is a realm that is totally in resurrection. Therefore, it is not a small thing to ask ourselves whether or not we are in the experience of this realm! In this heavenly realm we find the processed Triune God, Christ with His Body, and the operation of the Spirit to bring us life and, in this life, resurrection! Serve in the Divine Mystical Realm When you consider your local churches need as one who serves within it, it is crucial to realize it is not a matter of striving and working, but a matter of enjoying this divine mystical realm! In this realm I am so rich; in this realm I am heavenly; in this realm I have the processed Triune God; in this realm I am joined to the Christ; in this realm I enjoy the Spirit and have eternal life, and in this realm this life operates in resurrection! Brothers, if you have the six items related to this realm, what else do you need, and what else does your church need? Therefore any brother who takes the lead in a local church and cares for the church from the perspective of being in the divine mystical realm is a good leader. Too many times when we try to work with the saints, raise up the saints, or shepherd the church, the basis of our leading is insufficient. We may say, "Another person has received the Lord! More headaches!" It is true that the more children you have, the more headaches you have. Another brother may say, "Now we have to raise him up. Let's pray together to get ourselves ready to serve this young believer." This reveals that you are faithful, but such faithfulness is not necessarily something in the divine mystical realm. Do you realize the Lord has put you into such a high place for you to serve and operate? You are in the divine mystical realm! Above and below, within and without, you are in something divine and mystical. Even underneath you there is something divine and mystical. You are in the divine mystical realm! Before I came to this country, I thought I knew what the United States was, for I had seen it portrayed in movies as a child. Everything looked beautiful; the people were attractive and carefree; and everyone seemed to have such an easy life. But from the moment I stepped off the airplane, I could see it was not at all as I had thought! However, after having been in this country for over forty years now, I have a true appreciation of how beautiful the United States really is. It is truly a land of opportunity. It is a place where, if you are healthy and proper, everything is for you! But even when compared to America, how much greater and more wonderful is the divine and mystical realm into which we have been brought! It has so much for us to enjoy! As one who is taking the lead and operating in a local church, treasure the divine mystical realm. Treasure it because it is where you are. America is a great country because of the opportunities it affords those who live within it. Those who truly appreciate what America has to offer are those who truly discover its riches. It is the same in the church life. As leading ones, appreciate the divine mystical realm and treasure it. It is where you already are, but your appreciation of it will determine your effectiveness as one who is leading the saints. Treasure the Divine Mystical Realm - the Realm of the Processed Triune God for His Economy and Good Pleasure Therefore, when you are in your local church, treasure it, because it is something in the divine mystical realm. Whatever you treasure you value so highly that you cannot depart from it lightly. I treasure my children, so no one can take them away from me. I will pay a price for them and do whatever I can for their profit, for they are my treasure. In the same way, we must treasure those in the church life. The divine mystical realm exists for the economy and good pleasure of the processed Triune God. His pleasure is obtained in this realm. God doesn't do anything apart from this realm. When God carries out His economy, He carries it out in this realm. This realm is where God finds His satisfaction. Before the Father, We are Holy and Without Blemish (Judicially) When did you begin to participate in this divine mystical realm? According to truth, it was from before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4). But according to your experience, your participation in it began the day you received the Lord as your Savior. Why did God choose us? He chose us to be holy. Even if we had not fallen, we would still have needed to become holy. He not only chose us to be holy, however, but also to be without blemish! To take the lead and to learn to serve in the church life, you must realize that all the brothers and sisters are much more beautiful than you know them to be. When you consider the brothers and sisters, what you may see is their "blemishes." When older brothers look at young brothers, they may groan, and the same is true when younger brothers look at the older brothers. But God sees everyone holy and without blemish! When I look at myself now, I have so many physical blemishes. But to God, I do not look so, for God sees me not as an old man, but as someone who is holy and without blemish! How often we look at the saints as being blemished! We see how one brother cannot tie his tie properly. We see another as having some other defect. But God would say, "If you want to serve, then you must see the saints as I see them. To me they all are sweet, holy, and without blemish." How can God say this? It is because of Christ's redemption. The moment we received the Lord, reality came to us. Now, before God we are holy and without blemish. This is something judicial. When the Lord sees the church, He is much more encouraged than we are. When we are healthy before the Lord, and take the Lord's view of the saints, everyone is holy; and everyone is free of blemish. When you are in your spirit, your church life will be filled with praise rather than stress from all the problems everyone seems to have, for you will be able to see the saints as God sees them. Before the Father, We are Growing unto Sonship (Organically) But even beyond being judicially redeemed, all the saints are organically going through a process! They are in the process of being perfected! They are all growing! This is why Paul writes that we are predestinated unto sonship (Eph. 1:3). Our growth unto maturity is according to the good pleasure of God's will. Even if you feel you are too lazy to grow all the way unto sonship, your growth will still take place in such a way that it fulfills God's good pleasure. You are predestinated by God unto sonship, and your growth unto sonship is what makes God happy. Some may feel that the choices they make have little impact upon God. But when you make an effort to touch the Lord, read the Bible, be with the brothers, and grow, you become a reason for God to be happy. He has predestinated you unto sonship, which means unto maturity. To become mature means growing to be just as Christ Himself. The process of sonship means you becoming a person who is transformed and conformed to Christ. Thus, as someone serving in the church life, learn to care for two things. First of all, appreciate the beauty of the saints. Judicially, they are holy and without blemish! They are beautiful! Second, endeavor to help the saints organically to grow in life. Help them to become mature! Thus, in the church life, don't look at what is wrong with the saints, but rather minister life to them. Appreciate them, and help them to grow. If you do this, you will be involved with what brings pleasure to God. In the Son, We are Redeemed and Our Offenses are Forgiven We were redeemed by means of the shed blood of Christ. Experientially, we received forgiveness of offenses. Only the Lord could do this great thing for us. The Lord tells us, "I have redeemed you with My blood. Your offenses are forgiven!" Is this not wonderful? We, who have been the cause of so much offense, have been forgiven! Suppose a brother truly hurts you, yet he seems to not really care, although he apologized. It is not easy to forget such a thing. Yet the blood, when it washes away sin, leaves no stain! As we serve, however, it is not an easy thing to forget of others' offenses, even though they have been forgiven by the Lord. To be able to forgive is a virtue. The Lord has forgiven your offenses. Has not the Lord also forgiven the offenses of the one who offended you? The secret of the church life is to see not only the Father's predestinating, but also the forgiveness of offenses through the Son. To properly serve in the church life requires that you take no account of offense from others. Since the Lord Jesus has forgiven all offenses, no one should be able to offend you. If the Lord has forgiven the saints, then you cannot take account of what He does not. Therefore, you certainly cannot demand that others apologize before they receive your forgiveness. Instead, you should give room to the Spirit so that others might repent on their own before the Lord, and then to you if they feel so led! Through the Abounding Grace, We are Growing and Being Headed Up The church life is made up of all of us terrible sinners who are redeemed and forgiven. There is something more, however. These redeemed sinners are growing organically! They are enjoying the abundance of the Lord's grace, and this grace abounds in all wisdom and prudence (Eph. 1:7-8). What is grace? Grace is when God reaches you. For instance, when you spend time with your children, you treasure it because such times are so "gracious." When my granddaughter kisses me, that is an experience of "grace" to me! Grace is Christ becoming so fresh and sweet to you. It is not a term! Grace is the experience of the intimacy of Christ. His presence becomes so appreciable. This grace, however, needs to become something that is abounding, for the church life is a place of abounding grace! When grace is abounding, it means that grace is found whatever direction you take. If you turn one direction or another in some matter, there is grace. Whether you take a route that leads to the top floor or to the basement, you find grace. When grace is abounding, you cannot escape it, regardless the direction. It is simply so much with you for your growth and encouragement! This abounding grace is something that has been given in all wisdom and will be given in all prudence. "Wisdom" refers to God's planning and purposing in eternity past to have grace abound to us, so that, regardless the direction we take, we might find grace! Since this wisdom is according to God's plan and purpose, it is something eternally complete. "Prudence," however, refers to the executing of God's purpose and plan in time. In God's wisdom, this grace is complete; in His prudence this grace is being administrated in the best possible way. The church life in God's plan is a place of abounding grace, not a place of abundant demands! In every direction you turn in the church life, you find grace! Therefore do not say, "Oh, I need morning watch," but rather, "Oh, I need to find grace this morning!" Do not say, "Oh, it is time for the meeting," but rather, "Oh, it is time to enjoy more grace"! Enjoy grace in the church life. It is in this grace that we see the mystery of God's will - we find what it is He really wants. Grace grants you growth, and this growth yields spiritual understanding. The more we enjoy grace, the more the mystery of God's will is unveiled to us. We are able to realize what God is after. We realize that God desires to head up all things in Christ. How does Christ head things up? Christ heads up all things by dispensing Himself as grace. As a leading one, how do we become a blessing to the church? Only by abiding in this grace. Grace is the means by which the Lord is heading up all things. How can a young brother in your locality be raised up to function as an elder one day? This will only come about through his constant abiding in grace and his receiving of the dispensing of life. If he has the habit of reading the Bible, every time he is in the Word, the Lord will become more precious to him. Every time this happens, the Lord is able to head him up a little more. Every time he comes to fellowship with the saints in the meetings or calls upon the Lord, he will receive a further supply of life and experience being further headed up in Christ. When you experience the dispensing of life, you are being headed up in Christ and you are strengthened to become a real servant of the Lord. We are Becoming Christ's Inheritance and He Ours As we are headed up by Christ, we are also being designated His inheritance (Eph. 1:11). Why do you consider your wife to be beautiful? It is because she matches you. Therefore she is your inheritance, and you are hers. This means your wife matches you and you match her. No human being would ever consider marrying a dog! You only marry or inherit what matches you. No husband is ever ashamed of being seen in public with his wife, nor is any wife ashamed of being seen with her husband. This is because they match one another. How do we become someone who matches Christ, and who can be His inheritance? It is by our growth in life and our being conformed to His image. In such a way we match Him and He matches us. Thus, organically we need to grow in the church life. Eventually, Christ will one day be able to say, "You have really grown and now match Me. I am not ashamed of you. You can now be My inheritance." And whatever matches Christ within us, the Spirit also seals as the pledge of our inheritance. The Spirit seals us to tell us what we will inherit. We match Christ, so we will inherit Christ as Christ inherits us! Enjoy the Divine Mystical Realm in Spirit All these matters are matters of life, and all are matters of the church life. This is the divine mystical realm. It is heavenly, and it is where we have the processed Triune God, Christ, the Spirit, life, and resurrection. If we can see the church life from this angle, we realize how marvelous it is. However, as you serve and take the lead, even though you may say that the saints are precious, for some reason they still bother you. What is the secret? The secret is not only to appreciate the divine mystical realm, but to also enjoy the divine mystical realm, which is totally a realm of the Spirit. Therefore, when you are strong and burning in spirit, this divine mystical realm becomes very real to you, and the saints become as precious to you as they are to God. A Spirit of Revelation, Full of Wisdom and Revelation In the divine mystical realm, our spirit becomes a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Wisdom allows you to see something. Revelation enables you to interpret the beauty of what you see, to understand what you see. The more you grow, the more your growth will bring you the knowledge of Christ. You really come to know Him. And remember, anything that does not bring you to Christ is not real growth! Therefore, this knowledge is not the same as that gained in a theological school. The knowledge of Christ we gain in the divine mystical realm leads us to the real living Christ. This is the real value of this knowledge: it will bring you into a more intimate relationship with Him. Because of this knowledge, Christ will become more precious to you; you will love Him more; you will apprehend something further of this living Person and what He has accomplished! If He is not living and real to you, then the knowledge and revelations you possess are vain. All the knowledge and the revelations must lead you to a living Christ. You also must see the church, for the church is Christ's inheritance in the saints. If you want to grow, then pray; call on the Lord; read the Bible; and apologize for your offenses. All these things will help you grow. The Lord's desire is for you to have Him. It is also the Lord's desire that you become His inheritance. Operating According to the Power of Resurrection Let me be honest with you. When you have a desire to become the Lord's inheritance, all that I am teaching you "works," but you will not be able to sustain it. Many times when I was young, I gave myself to follow the Lord and consecrated myself to Him, but that resolve did not last. It is easy to be stirred up, but it is difficult to persevere and see the realization of what we desire. Therefore we must experience more than desire: we must experience the power of resurrection. Within me, there is a power that constantly is operating as a part of the divine mystical realm. When I was young, many times I determined to give up the church life, but this power kept bringing me back to follow Him. Many times I kept seeking to go my own way, but this power within me that says, "No!" This is the greatness of His operating power. This is the very power that raised Christ from the dead. It is resurrection power. What is the hardest thing to overcome on this earth? Death. Everything must eventually submit to it, except for what is in the power of resurrection. The power that operates as the reality of the divine mystical realm is the power of resurrection. You don't have to be discouraged about yourself, about others, or about the church life, for there is the power of resurrection. This power also seated Christ in the heavenlies. Therefore this power also brings us into ascension, far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named! Far above! Sometimes we tell Satan, "You have subdued me in this matter." Do you realize what power is in you? It is far above any power that Satan seems to have over you. This power enables Christ to carry out His economy! This power also enables us to execute God's economy together with Christ as those seated with Him. There is a power within us that resurrects, brings us into ascension, and enthrones us. This power has the ability to overcome all that would subdue us. We all have weakness and faults. But the power in our spirit strengthens us to love the church ife, for this resurrection power is what operates among us as those in the divine mystical realm. This power even subjects all things under our feet, making Christ Head over all things. What does it mean for Christ to be the Head of the church? It does not mean that He is the physical head. It means that He is the person of the church. He is the person with the resurrecting, ascending, enthroning, and even subjecting power within our spirit. Where is He seen as Head of all today? His subjecting power today is in the church life! He is the Head of the Body, and here His power will prevail! Filled This power strengthens us through the Spirit into the inner man. When the Spirit operates in you as a power, it enables you to go on in spite of all the contrary circumstances. Eventually, however, the mingled spirit grows to be a man in you (2 Cor. 4:16). This man in you is your spirit, with his personality. This is how Christ makes His home in our hearts. Your spirit as your inner man will make a thorough cleaning. He will say He does not like certain things in our heart; we must move them out. As they move out, He moves Himself in. He has His personality and He is making our heart His habitation. The more we submit to Him and let Him make home in our hearts; the more we are rooted and grounded in love, and the more we are able to apprehend with all saints the breadth, length, height, and depth; all the dimensions of the divine mystical realm. After pursuing the Lord for so many years, I find that the Lord is more enjoy able than ever before. We are being filled unto the fullness of God. This is the church life! These are not doctrines, but the living realities within the divine mystical realm.