Message One

Christ—the All-inclusive, Extensive, Preeminent One,
the Centrality and Universality of God’s Economy

Scripture Reading: Col. 1:9, 15-18, 27; 2:8, 16-17; 3:4, 10-11

1. The Christ unveiled in Colossians is the all-inclusive, extensive, preeminent One, the centrality and universality of God’s economy—1:15-18, 27; 2:16-17; 3:4, 10-11:
   1. Colossians reveals the all-inclusive Christ—the One who is God, man, and the reality of every positive thing in the universe—2:9, 16-17.
   2. For Christ to be the Firstborn of both the original creation and the new creation means that He is both all-inclusive and extensive—1:15, 18:
      1. The extensive Christ is the Christ who is more vast than the universe and who is everything to us—Eph. 3:18.
      2. Christ, the Savior in whom we believe, is limitless and inexhaustible; since He is without limitation, the revelation concerning Him must also be without limitation—vv. 2-5, 8.
   3. Christ is the preeminent One, the One who has the first place in everything—Col. 1:18:
      1. Both in the old creation and the new creation, both in the universe and in the church, Christ occupies the first place, the place of preeminence—vv. 15, 18.
      2. If we have a vision of the preeminence of Christ, our living and our church life will be revolutionized, for we will realize that in all things Christ must have the first place—cf. Rev. 2:4.
   4. The all-inclusive, extensive Christ is the centrality and universality, the center and circumference, of God’s economy—Col. 1:15-27; Eph. 1:10:
      1. In God’s economy Christ is everything; God wants Christ and Christ alone—the wonderful, preeminent, all-inclusive Christ, who is all and in all—Matt. 17:5; Col. 3:10-11.
      2. The all-inclusive, extensive Christ is the center of God’s economy; God’s dispensing is altogether related to Christ and focused on Him—Eph. 3:17a.
      3. God’s intention in His economy is to work the wonderful, all-inclusive, extensive Christ into our being as our life and our everything that we may become the corporate expression of the Triune God—Col. 1:27; 3:4, 10-11.
2. The will of God is that the all-inclusive, extensive Christ be our portion—1:9, 12:
   1. In 1:9 God’s will refers to Christ; the will of God is profound in relation to our knowing, experiencing, and living the all-inclusive, extensive Christ.
   2. God’s will is that we know Christ, experience Christ, enjoy Christ, be saturated with Christ, and have Christ become our life and person—3:4.
3. The all-inclusive, extensive Christ dwells in us as our hope of glory—1:27:
   1. We worship the enthroned Christ in the heavens, but we experience, enjoy, and partake of the indwelling Christ in our spirit; we are one with Him in a very subjective way—3:1; 1:27; 1 Cor. 6:17.
   2. The Christ who indwells us is not a small, limited Christ but the all-inclusive, extensive Christ—the One who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation, the Head of the Body, and the embodiment of the fullness of God—Col. 1:15-16, 18-19.
4. The all-inclusive, extensive Christ is our life—3:4:
   1. The expression our life is a strong indication that we are to experience the all-inclusive Christ, the One who is the reality of every positive thing—2:16-17.
   2. The extensive Christ has become our life; universally, He is extensive, but in our personal experience, He is our life, our being.
   3. Because Christ is our life, all He has and all He has attained and obtained become subjective to us—Rom. 8:34, 10.
5. The all-inclusive, extensive Christ is the unique constituent of the one new man—Col. 3:10-11:
   1. The content of the church as the new man is Christ alone; in the new man there is room only for Christ, for He is everyone and in everyone.
   2. In the church as the new man we are in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ, and we subsist together in Christ to be God’s expression in Christ—1:16-17.
   3. God’s ultimate goal in His economy is to gain the new man constituted with the all-inclusive, extensive Christ—Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11.
6. We should estimate and evaluate everything according to the all-inclusive, extensive Christ—2:8:
   1. Christ is the governing principle of all genuine wisdom and knowledge, the reality of all genuine teaching, and the only measure of all concepts acceptable to God.
   2. Only when we have a clear view of the place of the all-inclusive, extensive Christ in God’s economy will we be able to see through delusion and deception.
7. We need to be infused, saturated, and permeated with the all-inclusive, extensive Christ until in our experience He is everything to us—1:27; 2:16-17; 3:4, 10-11:
   1. The all-inclusive, extensive Christ is in us, but we need to see Him, know Him, be filled with Him, be saturated with Him, and be absolutely one with Him.
   2. We should allow the all-inclusive, extensive Christ to fill our whole being and to replace our culture with Himself—Eph. 3:17a; Col. 3:10-11:
      1. The more Christ replaces our natural life and culture with Himself, the more we will be able to declare, “To live is Christ”; to us to live will be the Christ who takes full possession of us, occupies us, and fills us with Himself—Phil. 1:21a.
      2. The all-inclusive, extensive Christ desires to replace every element of our natural life and culture with Himself so that we may be the one new man as His corporate expression; this is the message of the book of Colossians.