If we have seen this vision, it will control us and deliver us from culture, religion, ethics, and the other items that may distract us from God’s New Testament economy. It took the Lord a long time to rescue me from these things, especially from the preoccupation with being spiritual, holy, and victorious. I believe that many among us still aspire to be scriptural, spiritual, holy, and victorious. Perhaps even today you prayed, “O Lord, give me a victorious day. Yesterday, Lord, I was not victorious. I ask that today I shall be victorious.” As long as we who seek the Lord are not rescued from these things, we shall be frustrated in experiencing the wonderful Person of Christ and enjoying the life that is absolutely according to God’s New Testament economy.
Often in a wedding ceremony the minister, according to Ephesians 5, will charge the wife to submit to her husband and the husband to love his wife. I do not know of anyone who has succeeded in fulfilling this charge. What husband can say that in himself he is able to love his wife as Christ loved the church, and what wife can claim to be fully submissive to her husband? It is not God’s economy that husbands try to love their wives and wives endeavor to submit to their husbands. We wish to emphasize the fact that God’s economy is to sow Jesus Christ into our being. When Christ lives in a married brother according to God’s New Testament economy, there will be no need for him to try to love his wife, for he will love her spontaneously. Likewise, if Christ lives in a married sister, she will automatically submit to her husband. The vital matter is to be filled with Christ.
The ten items covered earlier in this message may be divided into two fields: culture, religion, ethics, morality, improvement of character, and philosophy are in one field, and being spiritual, scriptural, holy, and victorious are in another field. Most of today’s Christians are in one of these fields. Therefore, my burden is to direct the way out of both fields into a different field—the Son of God, Jesus Christ. When we are in this field, we are in the kingdom of God.
As an illustration, let me tell you about a certain sister who tried very hard to submit to her husband. Bothered by the fact that she was not able to submit, she spoke with me about her situation. I encouraged her to forget about trying to submit and turn her attention to Christ. I spoke with her about this two or three times, but she still did not receive any help. The last time we talked about this matter, I said to her, “You need to give up the thought of submitting to your husband and pay attention to Christ. You need to praise the Lord.” She asked me how she could praise the Lord when she was defeated in her efforts to submit to her husband. I told her that praise should come first and that victory would follow. However, her concept was that victory should come before praise. I went on to speak to her concerning Christ being her Savior in this matter. Eventually, the light shone upon her, and she was helped to focus on Christ and not on submission.
Many saints are still concerned with being spiritual, scriptural, holy, and victorious. As we have seen, these things are not God’s economy. God’s economy is to sow into us a Person who is real, living, and present. This is the reason that the New Testament tells us that through resurrection the Lord has become a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). The Lord as the Sower has sown Himself as the life-giving Spirit into us. The life-giving Spirit within us is the seed that has been sown into our being.
Recently we have seen that the Gospel of Mark presents a life that is fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy. This life is not a matter of culture, religion, ethics, morality, improvement of character, or human philosophy. Neither is this life merely a matter of being scriptural, spiritual, holy, and victorious. I believe that the saints in the Lord’s recovery will live this kind of life and in the meetings will give testimonies concerning it.
We need to be impressed with the fact that in His economy God does not care for anything other than Jesus Christ. God’s New Testament economy is to sow this Person into our being so that we may live a life that is fully according to God’s economy. Praise the Lord that the living Person of Christ has been sown into us! Now we can live according to God’s New Testament economy. May we all pray concerning this life and have more fellowship regarding it.