God’s Economy Part IIIfeatured
Hello dear friends and neighbors of the Rio Grande Valley. In this blog, I’d like to revisit the theme of “God’s Economy.” As mentioned before, if you would like to delve deeper into this topic, please read the book, “The Economy of God” by Witness Lee.
Revisiting The Definition of God’s Economy:
So we know and understand that God became a man in order to make man God, in life and in nature, but not in the Godhead. Let’s never forget that God is God, and we read in Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel, Jehovah is our God; Jehovah is one.” He is worthy of all glory and honor, praise and worship forever and ever. And the beginning of God reaching man is by our being regenerated: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten of God” (1 John 5:1). We are not adopted by God; we are begotten (born) of God!
Just As We Are
You and I, even if saved and possess the Divine Life, are fallen humans who have a sinful nature. Our natural human life with that of God’s is very different, and yet these two are joined together when He comes into our hearts! “God commends His own love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). As the classic hymn titled “Just as I am”, the Lord indeed wants us just as we are.
Initially, when one hears of God’s economy and our being “born of God” and “becoming God in life and nature (but not in the Godhead),” we struggle fully to comprehend this reality and even accept it. That we are being “divinized” may even sound heretical to some, but once we read and meditate on His word, we cannot escape the unavoidable conclusion where we see it in plain words many times in Holy scriptures, that we are “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Our being according to “His image and likeness” (Genesis 1:26) and our “partaking of the divine nature” makes us God in life and nature.
We are reminded that God expects us to “be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44). Isn’t it amazing that our great God longs to not only rescue us fallen beings, but make us into His masterpiece?!
Paying A Price to Gain Him
“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their soul-life even unto death” ( Rv 12:11).
For us to be filled with the fullness of God (Ephessians 3:19) and be mature Christians, we need to pay the price of forsaking the life of our soul life, as the Lord said, “Whoever wants to follow me, let him pick up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
To lose our soul-life entails many different things, but just to give a few examples, it may involve asking for forgiveness, volunteering for certain tasks the Lord is asking us to do, and even giving up certain pleasures or worldly distractions in order to shepherd a new one. Wouldn’t the Lord delight if we strive to give our problems and decisions to Him and take them into fellowship and prayer with other members of His Body?
“Buying the Divine Gold”
I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire that you may be rich” (Revelation 3:18). In the Bible, gold typifies the divine nature of God. The church in Laodicea had become degraded with much doctrinal knowledge, it was lukewarm, and in the eyes of the Lord, it had become “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” May we be saved from much doctrinal knowledge, yet be poor in “gold”, the divine life of God in us.
A fine precious metal, gold, is considered valuable and at the writing of this blog, I am surprised that just one ounce of gold can cost more than $2000! This precious metal can be made into sewing thread, it has been a source of financial security for millenia, it is critical in many technologies, it is involved in many health care applications, it can conduct heat and electricity, and it does not rust; gold is a precious metal formed during collisions of stars and asteroids.
Just as investors pay quite a price for gold, we also need to be those that pay the price to get this “divine gold” deposited into us. In the epistle of Romans (chapter 12:1) it says that we need to “present our bodies as a living sacrifice.” How do we do that? There’s different ways, but every morning when you wake up, don’t make the Lord wait for you, spend time with Him; also, spend time with the brothers and sisters with your local church to be vitalized, revived! Go to a group or home meeting at least once a week, and “present your body”, and you’ll see how the Lord overlays you with this “gold.”
On a typical Friday, as a full time physician with three little boys and wife, the normal thing to do for me would simply be to “kickback”. But I don’t want to be normal. As the apostle Paul said, I want to “be found in Christ” (Philippians 3:9. By going to a home meeting with my family, we are “paying the price” along with the other families. We forsake our soul life, but in turn the Lord adds Himself more into our spirit!
Breaking “our flask of alabaster”
“And while He was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He reclined at table, a woman came, having an alabaster flask of ointment, of very costly pure nard, and she broke the alabaster flask of ointment and poured it over His head” (Mark 14:3). In reality we represent that flask of alabaster: “As believers in Christ, we are a flask of alabaster containing Christ as the pure nard. But unless the alabaster flask is broken, the ointment of pure nard cannot be released.”
Paying the price to contain this “pure nard” and pouring it forth for Christ is valuable in the eyes of God; the result is that we gain more of Him. In the eyes of the world it is a waste, but in the eyes of God, it is precious.
God’s Divine Economy For His Corporate Dwelling Place
Praise the Lord for His marvelous work of transformation in us. As we gain more of Him, He gains more of us, and He transforms us into precious stones suitable for His building. Said in a different way: God is adding Himself into us not that we would be just spiritual beings (that’s why He created millions and millions of angels), but that we would be “precious stones” that build up His body, which will culminate in His masterpiece, the New Jerusalem.
Thank you for reading this blog. Remember never to isolate yourself as a Christian. Fellowship and open to the Lord with the brothers and the sisters. The Christian life cannot be lived by yourself. Hallelujah! God’s economy is for His Body!
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