In this message we will fellowship concerning the way to receive, experience, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit—the aggregate of the all-embracing blessing of the full gospel of God—in Ephesians through Revelation.
The way to receive, experience, and enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive life supply is by the dispensing of the riches of Christ through the ministers' stewardship (Eph. 3:2, 8). Ephesians is a book on the church as the counterpart of Christ, which receives, experiences, and enjoys the rich supply of Christ through the stewardship of the apostles. The word stewardship in Greek is oikonomia. This word in Ephesians 3:9 is translated economy in reference to the preaching of the unsearchable riches of Christ. Such a preaching of the riches of Christ is a dispensing according to God's economy. The same word in verse 2 is translated stewardship, referring to the stewardship of the apostles as the ministers. God has a plan to dispense Himself in His divine trinity into man, and this dispensing is carried out by the stewardship of the apostles as the ministers.
The stewardship of the ministers is necessary for us to understand the Bible. Paul did not teach us to read the Bible without interpretation. Rather, the book of Hebrews is his exposition of Leviticus. Without Hebrews no one can understand Leviticus. In the same way, we need the exposition of the New Testament. It is not easy to understand the pure word of the New Testament. In Hebrews, Paul spoke of the word of righteousness, which is the solid food, and the good word of God, which is the milk (5:12-14; 6:5). Without the proper exposition we cannot understand what these two kinds of words are. Our understanding of the Word today is built on the stewardship of the ministers, beginning from the church fathers in the second century and consummating in this century with Watchman Nee. These ministers include Martin Luther, the mystics, such as Madam Guyon, Father Fenelon, and Brother Lawrence, and the inner life believers, such as William Law, Andrew Murray, and the speakers at the Keswick conventions. They also include G. H. Pember, D. M. Panton, and Robert Govett, as well as A.B. Simpson, Mrs. McDonough, and Ruth Paxson. All of these were ministers of the Word, from whom we have received much help.
As the ministers who speak the Word of God, we all need to learn how to make our stewardship a dispensing ministry. In our ministry we must dispense Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church. Paul did this very much in his dispensing ministry. He spoke concerning Christ and concerning the church as the Body of Christ, His counterpart.