In Producing the Church

Through the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity, the church is produced as God's masterpiece. In Greek the word for masterpiece is poema, which means a poem. It is used in reference to a piece of work that expresses one's wisdom and skill to the uttermost. In this sense, even a woodcarving can be considered a poem. In God's eyes, the church is His marvelous masterpiece. Before we were saved, we all were "naughty" ones. No one could change us. But one day someone came to us and charged us to believe in the Lord Jesus. At that time we did not understand very well who the Lord Jesus is, but we believed in the Lord, called on His name, and were baptized. Through such an experience we all were changed. This is a mystery; no one can explain it. All we can say is that we became God's masterpiece, a new man in the new creation.

The church is a new man in the new creation. Nothing other than the divine dispensing of the divine life can make us new. The dispensing of the divine life in the preaching of the gospel is like the giving of an injection to a patient. A nurse does not need to explain very much to a patient; she only needs to inject the medicine into the patient's arm. In the same way, the divine life is not dispensed to others through their understanding of Bible teachings, but through the injection of the divine life in our speaking. By such a dispensing, something is infused into others.

By Enlivening Us, the Sinners
Who Were Dead in Sins, and Raising Us Up through Christ's Life-imparting Resurrection,
Dispensing His Life and Element into Our Being

The church is produced by the enlivening of sinners through this divine dispensing (Eph. 2:1-6a). Whenever a person is baptized, he is put into Christ, and at that moment Christ comes into such a one to enliven him. Although he may not understand very much, he is enlivened by this living Christ. Through the preaching of the gospel, Christ is infused into his being, and he is made alive together with Christ. This is altogether a mystery.

By Seating Us in the Heavenlies
through Christ's Ascension,
in Our Organic Union with Him
in the Dispensing of His Divine Life

In Ephesians 2 we are told that the believers are first enlivened and then seated with Christ in the heavenlies (v. 6b). After a person is enlivened by Christ in His resurrection, he may have the realization that he is in the heavens with Christ. In Christ's resurrection we are lifted up to the heavenlies. This is the real experience of Christ's resurrection with His ascension. All these are the results of the dispensing of His enlivening life.