In dispensing anything, you need a steward to take care of the dispensing. This taking care of the dispensing is a stewardship, a kind of service. When God is dispensing Himself into His chosen people, He uses the apostles. All of the apostles are stewards, but they are not taking care of U.S. dollars, British pound sterling, or French francs. They are taking care of God in Christ as a mystery dispensed. The apostles are stewards dispensing Christ as the mystery of God to the Jews and to the Gentiles. The stewardship is just one aspect, the dispensing service, of God’s economy.
The first aspect of God’s economy is dispensing, the second is stewardship, and the third is administration. If you dispense anything, you need the service. To carry out the service, you need a kind of administration. The one word economy in Greek implies dispensing, stewardship, and administration.
None of us were saved in an accidental way. According to our feeling, our conversion might have been an accident, but it was actually part of God’s economy. In God’s economy He wanted to dispense Himself into His called ones. Praise the Lord that we are one of the many! Our conversion was a part of God’s dispensing, and this dispensing was carried out by the stewardship. God has given this stewardship to some of His chosen ones, such as the apostles who have been much used by the Lord. Through their kind of ministry, this dispensing got into us. Hence, our conversion was a part of God’s dispensing, and this was carried out by the stewardship. Right after our being converted, we were under the administration of the mystery. This administration is a part of the economy, and now we all are in this wonderful administration. In every meeting there is the dispensing, the stewardship, and the administration. The more we meet together, the more we fellowship, the more dispensing we receive. As a result, the more that we are in the stewardship, the more we are under the administration to carry out God’s mystery. This mystery eventually is just the very embodiment, reality, and expression of the Triune God. Hallelujah, we are the mystery of Christ!
Among us we have God’s economy, and God’s economy is just to carry out God’s mystery. Whenever we meet together we have God’s dispensing, we have the stewardship, and we are under the administration. Then, the reality of God, the embodiment of God, and the expression of God will be carried out. Do not think that one day when we get into the New Jerusalem we will be surprised. When we get there, we will have been in this for years and years. Even now we are in the foretaste of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is just God’s expression, God’s administration, God’s stewardship, and God’s dispensing. This is altogether God’s economy, and this economy is the economy of the mystery. We are here enjoying the dispensing of God, the stewardship of God, and the administration of God. Now we are the reality, the embodiment, and the expression of the Triune God. Praise Him!
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