The sixth item of exercise is to be empowered in the grace of Christ (2 Tim. 2:1). We all know that the grace of Christ is Christ Himself. The expression the grace of Christ is simple, but its meaning is broad and profound. Christ is the embodiment of God, and grace is the Triune God dispensing Himself in His embodiment into us as our enjoyment. This grace is the Triune God Himself. The Triune God, by being embodied in Christ, gives Himself to us as grace. Second Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” According to the grammar of the Greek New Testament, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ means that Jesus Christ is grace, the love of God means that God is love, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit means that the Holy Spirit is fellowship. Without the Holy Spirit there is no fellowship, without God there is no love, and without Jesus Christ there is no grace. God is love, Christ is grace, and the two are one. Therefore, to be empowered in the grace of Christ is to be empowered and strengthened by Christ through knowing and experiencing Him.
First we need to exercise our spirit. Then we need to call on the name of the Lord. When we combine these two, we have prayer. Then God is able to live out from within us, and we lay hold on the eternal life and let Christ be our grace. In this way we come to the seventh item of exercise, which is to equip ourselves with the Scriptures. All Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16). It is God breathing Himself out. To us the Scriptures are the Word, but in reality they are the breathing out of God, the expression of God Himself. Hence, today when we read the Bible, we must do it in the way of breathing. God breathes out, and we breathe in. Through this breathing out and breathing in we are enlivened.
We do not merely read the word of God, but we read the word of God by means of prayer, that is, we pray-read the word of God. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” We should not merely read or memorize this verse. This will only make our mind complicated, and it will not give us life. We need to exercise to turn this verse into prayer: “O God, You love the world. O God, You love the world!” The more we pray, the more we have the feeling to say, “O God, You love me. Thank You that You love me.” In this way we are enlivened, and we receive the life in the word. This kind of pray-reading is a breathing in. God’s speaking is the breathing out, and our reading His word in the spirit of prayer is a breathing in. By breathing in and breathing out, we receive life.
The eighth item of exercise is to rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit. Although 1 and 2 Timothy are simple, they contain the thought of indwelling. Paul charged Timothy to guard the good deposit through the indwelling Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 1:14). In Greek, deposit is like the money in a bank. If we exercise in the first seven items, many good things will be deposited into us. At this time, we should rely on the Holy Spirit who dwells in us to keep this inward deposit securely. We should keep it not merely by the memory in our mind but by the Holy Spirit. Although we have much spiritual deposit within us—God, the Lord, and the word—if we do not rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit but walk according to our will, this inward deposit will be nullified. We must live and walk by the indwelling Holy Spirit so that we can guard the deposit in us, which is of God, is spiritual, and is good.
The ninth item of exercise is to cut straight the word of the truth (2:15). The word cut in Greek was originally used in carpentry, meaning to saw lumber rightly and straightly. In the same way, when we “saw” the truth today, we need to cut it rightly and straightly without twisting, slanting, or distortion. Many people’s expounding of the truth is a distortion. Their expounding is not straight; it is distorted. As God’s workers and those who serve Him, we must cut straight the truth.
The tenth item is to exercise to speak the economy of God. Today many Christians not only do not know how to preach God’s economy, but they do not know what God’s economy is. Many do not even know that there is such a thing as “God’s economy” in the Bible. The word economy can also be translated as plan, arrangement, or household administration. The Chinese describe a learned and capable person as one who is “full of economy in his inner parts,” implying that he is full of plans and arrangements.
If a person wants to know God’s economy, he must first know the Triune God. This is because God in His economy is triune. He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father is the source, the Son is the expression, and the Spirit is the entering into us. God being triune is for the purpose of dispensing Himself into us. The Divine Trinity has a divine dispensing, and what He dispenses into us is the Triune God Himself as our life to regenerate us, sanctify us, and transform us so that we may be conformed to the image of His firstborn Son and become God’s many sons. The aggregate of the many sons is the Body of Christ, which is the expression of Christ, and the constituents of the Body are the many members, the many saints, who function in the local churches for the expression of the Triune God. This is God’s economy.
Regrettably, the crucial truth of God’s economy has been mostly lost in Christianity. Even the fundamental truth of the gospel is preached in a way that does not attain to the biblical standard. We thank the Lord that we recently were able to print a suitable gospel booklet, The Mystery of Human Life. The booklet tells us that man was created by God as His vessel, His container, for the purpose of containing God, who enters into man’s spirit. Only this kind of gospel truth can match God’s economy. We all need to learn to preach in this way. We should not preach by touching a little here and a little there in the sixty-six books of the Bible. In the end this will leave people with an ambiguous impression of the Bible.
Some people, for example, have emphasized the practice of the washing of feet in John 13. They have taught that before partaking of “holy communion” they should first wash one another’s feet. They insist on this practice, and eventually they have became a “foot-washing” denomination. In the sixty-six books of the Bible, they see only the practice of the washing of feet in John 13. They say it is the way to love one another, and they condemn those who do not practice it. Without the washing of feet, they say, there is no love for one another, and without loving one another we do not appear to be the Lord’s disciples and thus are not worthy to partake of the Lord’s supper. Such a teaching is the result of not preaching God’s economy.
There has been endless debate on baptizing by sprinkling and immersion. Some people have even said that we should follow the footsteps of the Lord Jesus, baptizing only in the Jordan River, since this is where He was baptized. Some have said that since the Jordan is so long, we need to study history to determine which part of the river the Lord stood in for His baptism. This kind of debate is meaningless and is also the result of not speaking God’s economy. We must remember not to argue about such things when we contact people. Rather, we should preach God’s economy. Only God’s economy edifies people.
Having passed through the above ten items of exercise, the final result is that we are sanctified. Sanctification means to become God in life and in nature but not in His Godhead. In earlier years, this truth caused a great stir among Christians in the United States. As the children of God, we are begotten of God. According to nature, dogs give birth to dogs, cats to cats, and tigers to tigers. Even among human beings, people give birth to children of the same color. A person gives birth according to what he is. Since we have been begotten of God, we certainly are “gods,” that is, the children of God, who are the same as He is. Of course, this does not refer to the divine person of God, the Godhead, as the object of man’s worship. We are speaking here of the life and nature of God. It is in life and in nature that we are the same as God. Every child is the same as his father in life and nature, but the child is not the father. Likewise, we are children of God and the same as God, but this does not mean that we have the status and person of the Godhead. God has not only begotten us, but He is also carrying out the work of sanctification in us. Through sanctification He transforms us.
As a result of all of the above, we know how to conduct ourselves and how to go out of and come into the house of God, which is the church. This means that in the house of God we know how to deal with different kinds of people, fellowship with them, receive their help, and take care of them.
The above are the points that we who learn to serve the Lord should exercise. In conclusion, those who go door-knocking to bring people to salvation and baptism must have the spirit of the Olympic athletes. Before going to the competition, the athletes prepare every day. Then when they are in the games, they are absolutely watchful, and they endeavor to do their very best. If they do not endeavor, they will not win the prize. When we go out, we must have this kind of spirit. Moreover, we must work and speak absolutely according to the way we have been trained. We should work and speak only according to the extent that we have been taught. In this way our service will definitely be effective.
(A message given on February 17, 1987 in Taipei, Taiwan)