A Life that Can Carry Out the Work of the Ministry to Build up the Body of Christ

In the first part of chapter 4 of Ephesians we see the organic reality and the intrinsic things related to the work of the ministry (which is the building up of the Body of Christ) and in the second part of the chapter we see a picture of a life that can carry out this work.

What kind of life can carry out the work of the ministry to build up the Body of Christ? Simply put, it is a life lived daily in the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.

After speaking such high things concerning holding to truth in love, arriving at a full-grown man, etc, Paul seemingly “lowers his tone” in the second part of Ephesians 4 when he speaks of things like not stealing from others and not letting the sun go down on our anger (see Eph. 4:28, 26).

Even though we are a group of people who have been organically mingled with God and blended with Him, we still need such an exhortation for our daily living, so that we would have a kind of living that matches and supports the building up of the Body of Christ.

Intertwined with these exhortations is the dispensing of the Divine Trinity for our daily living and experience! Hallelujah, our Christian life can be for the building up of the Body of Christ if we daily live under the divine dispensing!

Taking Care of Our Daily Living

On the one hand the support and the essence of our Christian life is spiritual, and we need to set our mind on the things which are above, where Christ our life is (Col. 3:3).

On the other hand, we cannot neglect our human living and our behavior – we can’t just “be in the meetings all the time” and neglect how we live and related to things, matters, people, and situations.

The life that is for the building up of the Body of Christ is a reproduction of the first God-man’s life, the life of Jesus Christ. When Jesus lives again in us, our life will contribute to the building up of the Body of Christ, and we carry out the work of the ministry.

Paul gives us some exhortations concerning our practical daily living in Eph. 4:17-32, where he speaks of things like:

• No longer walking in the vanity of our mind like the Gentiles do (v. 17);
• We have the life of God (v. 18);
• We are being taught in Christ as the reality is in Jesus (vv. 20-21);
• Put off the old man, be renewed in the spirit of our mind, and put on the new man (vv. 22-24);
• No more lying but speaking the truth to one another (v. 25);
• Being angry and yet not sinning – don’t give place to the devil (vv. 26-27);
• Steal no more but rather work with your own hands to minister to your needs and to other’s needs (v. 28);
• Not speaking any corrupt words but rather for building up and giving grace (v. 29);
• Not grieving the Holy Spirit which continually seals us until the day of redemption (v. 30);
• Remove all bitterness, anger, wrath, clamor, and evil, with all malice (v. 31);
• Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God forgave us in Christ (v. 32).

All these matters have to do with our daily living in our personal life and in the church life. We need to pray over these matters and fellowship with the Lord concerning them, so that we would have a living that backs, supports, and affords all the needed elements and factors for the building up of the Body of Christ.

The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity

As Paul is exhorting us concerning practical matters related to our daily living, he speaks of the life of God the Father, the reality in Jesus Christ the Son, and not grieving the Holy Spirit.

This really shows us that the base for our daily living is NOT our desire to be good Christians or to fulfill the Word of God, but rather the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.

Verse 18 tells us that we have the life of God – this life supplies us as His children with His riches in His divine dispensing. We are NOT like the others – we have God’s life!

Verse 21 speaks of the reality in Jesus, which is the practicality of the life of God, the practicing of the life of God which took place in Jesus as He lived on earth. The people living at Jesus’s times and in our times live a vain life, with no reality – but in the Lord’s daily life there was something very real: He expressed God and lived God’s life in humanity.

Verse 30 tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit in whom we have been sealed. The Holy Spirit is the sealing Spirit – He seals us by being the wet paint adding the divine life and Jesus’ practical humanity to our being all the time.

We are daily sealed, painted, saturated, and permeated with the Triune God as we live a daily life under the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.

The Reality which is In Jesus

How can the reality in Jesus become our reality in our daily living? How can we live a life as the Lord Jesus lived?

It’s not by doing our best to improve ourselves or to become better Christians, but it is by enjoying the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.

We have God’s divine life in us, and we daily need to grow in life by eating Jesus in His word and exercising daily to cooperate with Him. This life must become the truth in our daily living – this truth is the reality in Jesus, the practicality of God’s life.

The actual condition of the life of Jesus as it was recorded in the four Gospels is the reality which is in Jesus. Just like the Lord Jesus, we need to live a life by doing everything in God, with God, for God, and one with God.

We need to be taught in Christ and learn from Him as the reality is in Jesus so that we may live the same kind of life as the Lord Jesus did for the building up of the Body of Christ!

As we daily live a life in the divine dispensing, being open to the Lord, we are infused with Christ’s God-man living and we become His reproduction!

Lord Jesus, make us real by having You as the reality being wrought into us. Saturate us, soak us, and permeate us with Yourself, dear Lord Jesus! Keep us today living a life under the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. Dispense Yourself into us as the Father with His rich life, as the Son with His living in His humanity, and as the Spirit with His sealing. Lord, we want to live a life that can carry out the work of the ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from portions in, The Economy and Dispensing of God (ch. 1), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Unique Work in the Lord’s Recovery, week 8 (entitled, The Work of the Ministry).
• Further reading: normal days under the divine dispensing for the building up of the Body of Christ.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # It is our destiny, / To live a normal life in the divine dispensing, / It is a blessing, / To be satisfied with ordinary days / in the divine dispensing.
  # Godliness is a living that expresses / The divine reality, / An expression of God in all His riches; / His Body corporately.
  # Thy life in me be shown, / Lord, I would henceforth seek / To think and speak / Thy thoughts, Thy words alone, / No more my own.
• Pictures: Eph. 4:26 (markcwy) and Eph. 4:32 (here).