Ephesians 3:16 to 19a says, “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are and to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ.” Verse 8 says, “To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.” The unsearchable riches of Christ are in the dimensions of Christ in verse 18: the breadth, length, height, and depth. These four dimensions are unlimited. We do not know how broad is the breadth, how long is the length, how high is the height, and how deep is the depth. They are all immeasurable. This relates to the unsearchable riches of Christ. Paul did not preach mere doctrines. He preached the unsearchable riches of Christ so that the saints together may apprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth. Verse 19b is the result of the foregoing verses: “that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.”
In this portion of the Word, a prevailing prayer by the writer of Ephesians, there are several main points. The first point is that we are strengthened into the inner man. Second, Christ makes His home not only in our spirit but also in our heart, that is, our whole being within our body. Third, we are filled unto all the fullness of God. In addition, we apprehend with all the saints all the dimensions of Christ. It is impossible to apprehend the immeasurable dimensions of Christ by ourselves. We have to do this with all the saints. Second Timothy 2:22 says that we should flee certain things and pursue with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
We always need to keep God’s eternal purpose close to us. God’s intention and central thought is to work Christ into us. This is basic and very important. God’s intention is not for us to know many teachings and be taught with many doctrines. God has no intention that we merely learn doctrines. All the doctrines are not for the doctrines; they are for Christ. Doctrines are simply a means to reveal and convey Christ to us, instruct us how to partake of Christ, and give us the proper understanding of Christ. All the teachings are for Christ. However, many dear saints today have been distracted from Christ by doctrines, such as those concerning predestination, sovereign will, absolute grace, eternal security, and others. Today there are many arguments about these matters. Even among us there may be some who care for these things, secretly speaking with others about them.
Over a year ago when I was in San Francisco, a group of young people listened to my speaking. Afterwards, their leader came to me and asked, “What about absolute grace?” I told him, “Brother, if you have Christ, you have grace that is more than absolute. But if you do not have Christ, you have no grace; you have only the doctrine of grace.” Then he asked, “What about eternal security?” I said, “Even security is Christ. If you have Christ, you have eternal security. The doctrine of security is not security; Christ is security. What we need is not eternal security in a doctrinal way. What we need is Christ.” What then is God’s sovereign will? The real will of God is Christ. If we have Christ, we have the sovereign will of God. If we do not have Christ, however, we have only the knowledge of God. Knowledge puffs up, and the letter kills; only Christ, who is the Spirit, gives life (1 Cor. 8:1; 2 Cor. 3:6, 17).
What we need today is nothing other than Christ. All things are for Christ. The doctrines are for Christ, and the gifts are for Christ. We need certain kinds of forms, such as baptism by immersion and the Lord’s table with the emblems. We are not for these forms, however. Rather, the forms are for Christ. I stress this again, because I sense that there is a distracting spirit today, even among us. Not many, but some, are being utilized by the enemy to distract us, particularly the young ones, by their secret talking. We condemn the distracting things. We do not want to talk about mere teachings. We are tired, even sick, of mere teachings. When I was young, I spent more than seven years to study the knowledge of the Bible. I became sick of mere knowledge. I asked myself, “What is the good of that kind of knowledge? Look at yourself. What kind of life do you have? What kind of character do you have? You are sloppy, lazy, and loose.”
I am forced to say these things. Do not listen to those distracting teachings. Look at the character of those who speak them. Consider their life. What kind of life do they have? We do not need mere teachings. We need the living, practical Christ. We need the Christ whom we are practicing to experience day by day by the exercise of our spirit. God’s intention is to work this Christ into us and to make Christ everything to us.
I am opening my heart to you. I long to see the day when the conversation among us will be nothing but Christ Himself, not teachings or even just the Bible. Please understand me in the right way. Do not think that I do not know the Bible or read it. I spend many hours in this book every day. However, we should not talk about the Bible alone. The Bible is a means to convey Christ to us. When we go to breakfast, we do not pay attention to the silverware. To have good silverware is helpful, but we do not go to breakfast for that. We go to breakfast for nourishment. All the utensils are the means by which we enjoy the nourishment. In the same way, the Bible is a means by which we enjoy Christ. It is a means through which Christ is conveyed and revealed to us. We are not for the Bible; we are for Christ. We are not for teachings; we are for Christ.
I hate to see and hear that among us, even today, some brothers still talk only about doctrines. I have to fight the battle because of this. I have to shut the door. This is one hundred percent wrong, and it damages the situation here. We have no intention to care for mere doctrines. We are not here for doctrines. We have been made sick, and we are still sick, by doctrines. We do not need that. We need the riches of Christ. We are not even for the knowledge of the riches of Christ; we are for the riches of Christ themselves. We need not only to know the riches of Christ; we need to experience, partake, and share the riches.
Home | First | Prev | Next