By the growth we will be built up to produce a building (v. 16b). We all have to be built up, not with ourselves as the material but with Christ as the material. The more we grow, the more we have Christ, the material for our building up.
After being built up, we must fight the battle. We do not fight by anything of ourselves. Rather, Christ is every aspect of the whole armor of God. The truth, the reality, with which we gird and strengthen ourselves, is Christ (6:14a). Righteousness as our breastplate to cover our conscience is Christ Himself, and the shoes of the gospel of peace are also Christ (vv. 14b, 15). Peace is Christ, and even the gospel is Christ, whom we preach. In addition, the faith that shields us is also Christ, the Author and Perfecter of faith (v. 16). If we have Christ, we have the living faith; if we do not have Christ, we do not have faith. The helmet of salvation is also Christ (v. 17a). Christ is our salvation and our covering. If we have Christ, we have a covering for our head. The word of God is Christ, the living Word (v. 17b). This word is a sword. All the other items of the armor are defensive, but the sword is offensive to slay the enemy. Christ is every part of this armor. This means that we fight the enemy in Christ, by Christ, and with Christ. This also is an aspect of the experience of Christ.
We have to be strengthened into our inner man that Christ may settle and make home within us. Then we have to be renewed with Christ and grow with Christ and into Christ. Then we must be built up with Christ and fight with Christ. We have to learn to experience Christ in such a full and living way.
All the foregoing points-what Christ is to us, the ministry of Christ, and the experience of Christ-depend on the mingled spirit. In Ephesians we have the Holy Spirit, the human spirit, and the two spirits mingled together. We can right away determine that some verses refer to the Holy Spirit, and we can decide that some verses refer to the human spirit, but in several verses it is hard to say whether it is the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, because they refer to the mingled spirit, the Holy Spirit mingled with our human spirit.
Whatever Christ is today is in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the transmission. Christ ascended to the heights, so how can Christ come into us? He comes as the Holy Spirit, who is the transmitting element. The Holy Spirit in our spirit is the transmission, transmitting and flowing all the time, day by day. There is an inner flow within every Christian, and this inner flow is the transmission of the Holy Spirit, transmitting all the riches of Christ, Christ Himself, into us. He has come into us, He has sealed us (1:13), and we have to be careful not to grieve Him (4:30). This means that we have to obey Him, cooperate with Him, and go along with Him.
Then concerning our human spirit, we have to be filled in spirit (5:18), pray in spirit (6:18), and see the vision in our spirit (1:17). We should learn not merely to consider the things of God in our understanding, our mind, but to realize the things of God by our spirit, to see things in vision and revelation by our spirit. In this way our spirit will be mingled with the Holy Spirit, and we will realize all the wonderful riches of Christ in this mingling and mingled spirit. All that the Holy Spirit transmits to us is in this mingled spirit, and whatever we do to know the Lord and experience Him must be in this mingled spirit.
I say again, the first three main items of Ephesians depend on this item, the mingled spirit. The key is the mingled spirit. All that Christ is, is in the Holy Spirit, and today the Holy Spirit comes into us as the transmitting agent, indwelling us and transmitting to us day by day. This is just like the current of electricity that transmits the electricity into a building; when the current stops, the supply of electricity stops. In the same way Christ is constantly transmitted into us by the transmitting Spirit. The organ for us to receive the transmitting of the Holy Spirit is our human spirit. The Holy Spirit transmits Christ into our spirit. Therefore, we must learn how to exercise our spirit to contact the Holy Spirit.
If we read Ephesians again and note all the verses about the spirit, we will find these three aspects: the Holy Spirit transmits Christ to us, our spirit receives what the Spirit transmits, and these two spirits-the transmitting Spirit and the receiving spirit-are mingled together as one spirit. It is in this mingled spirit, including our spirit and the Holy Spirit, that we are one with Christ and one with the other saints. If we are not one with others, this means that we are out of the mingled spirit. If we are in the mingled spirit, we will be one, and we will have the Body. The Body is in the mingled spirit, and the building up is also in the mingled spirit.
Moreover, if we remain in the mingled spirit we will be sanctified and cleansed, and all the spots and wrinkles will be gone (5:26-27). We cannot wash away blemishes and wrinkles on our face with soap and water. In the same way the blood of Jesus can wash away our sins and the dirt from our earthly touch, but the blood cannot wash away our spots and wrinkles. These can be washed away only by the inner life. If I were young again, all my wrinkles would be gone. This proves that wrinkles are signs of oldness. The church, however, must never be old. The more the church grows, the younger it becomes. The inner life washes away all the wrinkles. Many people say that the longer a church is in a place, the older it becomes. In a sense, I believe this is so. I am afraid that after fifteen years the church here may be old with many wrinkles. Where there is the lack of the inner life, there are wrinkles. Similarly, spots are the signs of wounds. When the church has been wounded, there are spots. The longer a church remains in one place, the more wounds it will suffer, and it will have spot after spot. However, the more we have the rich inner life, the more the life brings the washing, purifying power. Life cleanses away all the wrinkles and spots.
This sanctifying and cleansing is by the washing of the water in the word (v. 26). In the word there is the inner life, and this inner life is the washing water. The water is in the word. The more we have the inner life, the more the washing power of the living word cleanses all the wounds and washes away all the wrinkles, recovering us to our original condition in life. In this way the church will not only be grown up but also purified-without blemish, spot, or wrinkle-and glorious, fresh, new, and perfect. All this comes from the experience of Christ.
There is no need to worry. We have the best promise: The Lord Jesus gave Himself up for the church because He loved the church, and He will sanctify and cleanse the church to present her to Himself a glorious and perfect church. Do you believe this? I believe it. Sooner or later the Lord will accomplish this. Praise Him! The building up and purification of the church is the result, the issue, of the experience of Christ.
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