Gods Purpose for the Church To Head Up All Things in Christ Morning Nourishment Eph. 1:10 Unto the economy of the fullness of times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth in Him. 3:2 If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God which was given to me for you. 3:9 And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things. The economy, dispensation, which God purposed in Himself is to head up all things in Christ at the fullness of the times. The times refer to the ages. When the new heaven and the new earth come after all the dispensations of God in all the ages have been completed, that will be the fullness of the times. The word stewardship, or dispensation, is also found in Ephesians 3:2. The stewardship of the grace of God means the administration of the grace of God. In order to understand what the dispensation of the grace of God is, we need to see that in etenity past God purposed a plan. According to this plan, He created the universe with the heavens, the earth, and billions of items. He then created mankind as the center of the universe to be a vessel to contain God for Gods expression. Todays Reading Now we need to understand what a dispensation is. According to one teaching, a dispensation refers to an age. However, this understanding is not accurate. Another teaching is that a dispensation refers to the way God deals with people during a particular period of time. For example, in the dispensation of innocence God dealt with man in one way, and in the dispensation of conscience He dealt with man in another way. Likewise, God deals with people in different ways in the ages of human goverment, promise, law, grace, and the kingdom. This understanding of dispensation is not incorrect, but it falls short. A dispensation is the act or instance of dispensing. It refers to Gods dispensing of Himself into His chosen people. Although I have studied this matter of the dispensations for many years and have studied a number of diagrams, I have never been told that Gods dispensation is the dispensing of Himself into His people. Forget all the diagrams and remember one basic point: God is now dispensing Himself into us. The stewardship involves a dispensation. For example, a mother dispenses food to her children every morning at breakfast. In such a dispensation a proper control is always exercised. If a child misbehaves, the mother may say, If you dont behave, there will be no breakfast for you. She controls them by means of a sweet dispensation, a dispensation that is also a kind of administration and intimate service. The heading up of all things in Christ does not take place by a governmental administration. On the contrary, it comes about by a sweet stewardship, by an intimate household arrangement, by a pleasant dispensation. It takes place through the dispensing of the abundant life supply of the Triune God into us. The apostle Paul calls this a stewardship of the grace of God (Eph. 3:2). Satans injection has no administration or stewardship because he subtly injects himself into us. But God is working Himself into His chosen ones by a sweet, intimate stewardship. Pauls ministry was such a stewardship. It was a model of the stewardship of grace, of the dispensing of God as grace into His chosen ones. By this dispensation of grace, the dispensing of God Himself as our enjoyment, the factor of life is ministered into the chosen ones. As the life factor gets into them, they are raised up and attached to Christ in the Body. This is the dispensation that heads up all things in Christ. Gods way to head us up is to work Himself as the factor of life into us that we may rise up and be attached to one another. Through this dispensation, the life factor is ministered to all the members of the church that they may rise up and be attached in the Body. This is the heading up in Christ. (Life-study of Ephesians) HWMR - The Vision, Practice, and the Building UP of the Church as the Body of Christ - Week 3 Day 1
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 20:29:08 +0000
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