In brief, God’s economy is God coming into us, and godliness is God going out of us. Hallelujah for such a heavenly, divine traffic! The Christian life is simply God coming in and God going out. This traffic goes on hour by hour. In the Lord’s recovery our church life, our daily life, and our family life is simply God coming in and God going out all day. This traffic may be likened to an electrical current in a circuit, which is electricity constantly coming and going. We have a divine current among us and within us; it is the Triune God coming in and going out. God coming in is God’s economy, and God going out is godliness.
From our youth we need to learn not to teach things that are different from God’s economy. Paul charged Timothy to remain in Ephesus with the sole purpose of charging certain ones not to teach different things (1:3). We should always teach God’s coming in and God’s going out and nothing else. We should not teach different things, such as how long our hair should be or whether or not we should go to certain places. This kind of teaching will produce questions and stir up disputations (v. 4). We need to teach God’s economy.
All the saints need to learn the things of God’s economy, not only for the sake of their own experience but also in order to be able to teach others in an accurate way. They also need to learn how to teach. A newly saved young person may ask us, “What is your opinion about going to movies? Before I was saved, the movies were my second life; I could not live without seeing at least one movie a week. Now I have heard some saints say that we should not go to movies and others say that we should be liberated to go to the movies. Please tell me whether I should go to a movie or not.” We should answer this new one by saying, “In 1 Timothy 1:3-4 Paul says that we should not teach things that are different from God’s economy. We should not care for these kinds of concepts, which produce questions. Rather, we need to take care of God’s economy, which is the dispensing of the Triune God into us. Now that you are saved, you have the Triune God within you. The Father is in you, the Son is in you, and the Spirit is in you. You should forget about movies. It is not movies that abide in you; it is the Triune God. We are not saved for movies or for anything other than our Triune God. Now that the Triune God is in you, you do not need to ask me. Instead, you can ask the Triune God within you, ‘O God, would You like to go to a movie? If You go, I will go. If You do not go, even though movies were my second life, I will not go, because I love You and because I love to be one with You. I love to live with You.’”
After receiving such an answer, the young person may reply, “This morning I prayed in this way, asking the Lord to tell me whether or not to go to a movie. The more I prayed, the more it seemed that He did not want to go.” We could then ask, “How do you know that the Lord did not want to go?” The new one may answer, “When I considered going, something within was silent. However, when I considered not going, something within was joyful.” We should fellowship with people in this way.
A newly saved young sister may ask another sister concerning the proper length of hair for a sister. The sister should answer her, “We are not saved in order to have a certain length of hair. Hair is not our Savior. We have been saved for Christ, and Christ today is the life-giving Spirit. He is now dispensing Himself into our being.” This kind of teaching should be prevailing among all the saints. Such teaching has been ministered among us for many years, but it is not often heard in our daily talk. We read this teaching in the ministry books, but afterward we do not apply what we read. In our daily talk we argue concerning things such as the proper length of hair. We need to change our vain talk and nonsensical gossip into talk about God’s economy. Regardless of the question that is raised, we should give only one answer—God’s economy. The Bible teaches God’s economy, which is God’s stewardship, the dispensing of God into us. God’s economy, which issues in godliness, should be the unique topic of our fellowship.
If the saints in the churches, both old and young, will restrict their fellowship to God’s economy, the church life will be enriched and uplifted. We need to learn to make God’s economy our daily talk, applying all the messages we hear and read to our daily life. Even in our family life we should discuss God’s economy, God’s dispensing of Himself into our being.