It is by His descending and ascending that Christ constitutes us gifts to the Body. The more He descends and ascends within us, the more we become gifts. Many brothers and sisters have very little function in the church because they have not yet been constituted as gifts. They may be good brothers and sisters, but they are not gifts to the church. But as Christ descends and ascends within them, He captures them, vanquishes them, and constitutes them into gifts to His Body. As a result of Christ’s traveling, they become useful gifts. I am concerned, however, that within some of the saints Christ’s traveling may have ceased. He no longer goes up and down within them.
I can testify that I have been constituted as a gift to the church through Christ’s descending and ascending within me. Christ has had many ups and downs within me. If we try to hold Christ as the Head without allowing Him to descend and ascend within us, we damage the process by which we are constituted gifts. The Lord will constitute us as gifts only through His descending and ascending within us. After such experiences of Christ’s inward traveling over a period of time, we become useful in the church.
Allow me to give a word of testimony on behalf of a certain brother whom I met more than twenty years ago. At that time, he had not experienced very much of Christ’s descending and ascending. But this brother’s situation is much different today. Through Christ’s descending and ascending within him, he has been constituted into a useful gift to the Lord’s recovery. He could tell you that especially on the days he is used by the Lord, Christ goes down and up within him. Christ comes down to where he is and ascends with him into the heavenlies. Christ truly is a descending and ascending Christ.
If you consider the verses we have covered in this message, you will see that the Christ we experience in the Lord’s recovery is different from the Christ we heard about in religion. What a Christ we have! He is the embodiment of God and the content of the church. Our Christ is the all-inclusive, universal Christ. He is far above all, He is unsearchable and immeasurable, and yet He is intimately making His home in our hearts. Furthermore, our Christ is continually descending and ascending within us. Because all the fullness of God is in Him, He is the very embodiment of God. Therefore, as He makes home in our heart, we are filled unto all the fullness of God. This Christ who is the embodiment of God is also the very content of the church. Furthermore, through His descending and ascending He fills all things, universally, vertically, and horizontally.
We should not focus our attention on ourselves, but on the all-inclusive Christ. Do not consider how weak or how poor you are. Rather, think of Christ, speak of Christ, and look away to Christ. Praise the Lord for the revelation of Christ in God’s economy found in the book of Ephesians! This book says little of Christ as the Redeemer or Savior. But it does reveal that Christ is far above all and that He is now filling all in all. Nevertheless, this Christ is available to us. He is making His home in our heart, and He is imparting into us His unsearchable riches so that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God. Eventually, we as the church shall have Christ fully wrought into us as our unique content.