In the first four chapters of Ephesians there is the seeing in the spirit (1:17), building up in the spirit (2:22), being strengthened in the spirit (3:16), and being renewed in the spirit (4:23). In chapter five Paul indicates that we need to be filled in spirit. According to 3:19, to be filled in spirit means to be filled unto all the fullness of the Godhead. When Christ makes His home in our heart, and when we are strong to apprehend with all the saints the dimensions of Christ and to know by experience His knowledge-surpassing love, we shall be filled unto all the fullness of God. All this fullness dwells in Christ (Col. 1:19; 2:9). Through His indwelling, Christ imparts what God is into our being. We can be filled with God to such a measure and standard, even unto all the fullness of God.
Paul says in Ephesians 5:18 that we should not be drunk with wine, as the unbelievers, filled with wine in their body, but we Christians need to be filled with God in our spirit. It is a matter of not only seeing the church in our spirit, not only being built up in the spirit, not only being strengthened in the spirit, not only being renewed in spirit, but also being filled with all that God is in Christ in our spirit.
It seems that we often are full in our mind, but empty in the spirit. Our spirit seems somewhat like a flat tire, but our mind and emotion are both filled up. We need to pray that we would be emptied in the mind and emptied in the emotion, but filled unto the fullness of God in our spirit. Then the church life will be very valuable to us. We will treasure the church life.
Finally, in chapter six of Ephesians, Paul says that we need to pray at every time in spirit (v. 18). This prayer is the prayer of a member of the Body identified with Christ on the throne, all the time claiming, proclaiming, giving command to the Lord, and binding the enemy. This is not the prayer of a beggar, not begging prayer, not the prayer of the poor sinner, not the prayer of the poor, weak saints pleading with the Lord, but the prayer of the Body, the prayer of members of the Body identified with the Head.
These six points in the six chapters of Ephesians are crucial, and we could spend much more time on each of them. We need to see the Body in the spirit, to be built up in the spirit, to be strengthened in the spirit, to be renewed in the spirit, to be filled unto the fullness of God in the spirit, and to pray in spirit as members of the Body, identified with the Head. If such is the case, spontaneously we will have the church life. If not, it will be hard to have the church life. We may have a lot of talk about the Body life and a lot of teachings about the church, but we will have no way at all to realize what the church life actually is. I urge you again and again to turn to the spirit because the church life is in your spirit.
You may wonder what this matter has to do with the service. The service is a matter in the Body, and the matter of the Body is not a small thing. The Body is the Body of Christ, the One who has been enthroned and given the lordship and authority in heaven and on earth, and even under the earth. He has received all authority, and as the Body we are identified with Him. Therefore, we are in the heavenlies, we have the authority, and we can exercise the authority. If such is the case, as those who are serving the Lord, we shall serve not only with power, but also with authority.
Look at the situation on the day of Pentecost. Peter and the others served God with authority, not merely with the power that is according to the concept of many Christians today. Peter and the others declared, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). He is the Head, and we are the Body. We are one with Him. Therefore, we have not only the power, but the authority over all things.
Authority is much greater than power. We may illustrate in this way. Automobiles are very powerful, and there are many of them on the street. But at the signal of one policeman, all the powerful cars come to a stop. The cars have power, but the policeman has authority.
Are you going to serve the Lord merely with power, or are you going to serve Him with authority, which is in another category? And how could you have the authority? The authority in all the heavens and on the earth has been given to the Head, and the Head is identified with the Body. If you are not in the Body, how could you have the authority? But if you are in the Body, how could you lack the authority?
If we have seen the Body and we realize that we are members of the Body, we will say, “Hallelujah, there is no need for me to serve merely with power. Authority is in the Body. I have the authority that is greater than power.” In Luke 10:19 the Lord Jesus says, “Behold, I give unto you authority...over all the power of the enemy” (lit.). What the enemy has is merely power, but the Lord has given us the authority. The way to preach the gospel is with authority. In Matthew 28:18-19 the Lord Jesus says, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple all the nations.” We need to preach the gospel not only with power, but with authority.
How much we need to realize that we are the members of the Body, the Body that is identified with the Head. Whatever the Head has accomplished, whatever the Head has obtained, whatever the Head has attained to, all are to the church, which is the Body. All these are not only for the church, not merely for the church, but to the church. All these are being transmitted by and in the Holy Spirit to the church, which is the Body. If you realize that you are members of such a Body, which is identified with the Head, you will say, “There is no need for us to beg any longer. We will give the command to the Lord and to the enemy. We are members of the Body that is identified with the Christ who is enthroned as the Head and the Lord of all. There is no need for us to beg. Rather, we give the command. We bind, we loose, we command, we proclaim, and we claim.” This is the authority for the service, the authority that is greater than power. And this is the way for us to serve the Lord. The real service is in the Body.
To be in the Body is not a small thing. We need to realize what kind of administration there is in this whole universe. Christ and the Body, Christ and the church, the Head and the Body, are the administration of the whole universe today. The question is whether or not you are in this administration. How can you say that you are in it? We can say that we are in this administration today because we are in the Body. Have you realized that Christ and His Body today are the administration of the whole universe? It is based upon this fact that we serve. It is based upon this fact that we preach the gospel, and it is based upon this fact that we build the church.