Monday Evening, May 8 — Richmond, Virginia
Ministry given through Brother Stephen Kong
May we look to the Lord in prayer?
O Lord, how we pray, because Thou dost command blessing to Thy people in Christ Jesus, and who can reverse it? We do praise and thank Thee because Thou art the God of all blessings. Thou hast blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, and for this we are grateful.
We do come together into Thy presence this evening with hearts of gratitude. We pray that, as Thy word is given, a spirit of wisdom and revelation may also be given, that we may, through Thy revelation, see Thy mystery, Thy secret; that our hearts may be lifted, that we may all the more commit ourselves to Thee and to Thy purpose.
How we praise Thee that we cannot do anything; Thou dost do everything. But, Lord, give us a yielding heart, a heart that is open to Thee and submissive to Thee, that we may not in any way hinder Thy work, but Thou mayest be able to work in us and through us for the honor and glory of Thy own name.
We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
I think we will first read the verse that we have been reading during the past two sessions, because this is the theme, in the sense that we are considering. 1 Corinthians 4:1:
Let a man so account of us, as of servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
In a very broad sense, we are all servants of Christ, and therefore we are all stewards of the mysteries of God. As we mentioned in the very beginning, God has a mystery. God has a secret. God has something that has been hidden in Him for ages and generations.
And thank God, by the Holy Spirit, He has revealed that mystery, or secret, to His apostles and prophets. And through the apostles and prophets, we now come into possession of God’s secret.
Because that mystery, or that secret, is so great, therefore here you find the plural number: mysteries. Not that God has many secrets. God has only one secret, but that secret has manifested many aspects.
Now these mysteries are given to us and entrusted to us, that we may be faithful stewards of them. You know, God’s mysteries are not just given to us for our own pleasure and enjoyment. There is much enjoyment in them, and yet the mystery of God is entrusted to us that we may manage it well.
We may be occupied with it. We may trade with it, as it were, until He comes; and then we shall receive our reward.
Now, what is the mystery of God? We mentioned last night that the mystery of God is Christ. In other words, you can never know God unless you know Christ. And when you know Christ, you know all of God, because all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, and we are complete in Him.
It is the mystery of God’s will that He will head up all things in Christ—things in the heavens and things upon the earth. Everything will be united together in Christ, and when that happens, it is a new creation.
So, brothers and sisters, we need to be occupied with Christ all the time. To be occupied with Christ is to be occupied with God. To be filled with Christ is to be filled with the fullness of God. And there is nothing higher than that. There is nothing that should occupy our whole life more than this.
Then this morning we mentioned the mystery of Christ. The mystery of God is Christ, and the mystery of Christ is the church. In other words, you will never know Christ, you will never come to the full meaning of Christ, and you will never be able to experience Christ in all His fullness until you come to see the church and come to live in the church.
It is by the church that Christ will be known—not only to ourselves, but to the whole world, and even to the principalities and powers: the wisdom of God in mystery.
There is another facet which we were just mentioning without going into it, because we do not have time for it. That is the mystery of Christ and the church. In Ephesians 5, you find the apostle Paul using the relationship of husband and wife to portray the relationship between Christ and the church.
He said, “Great is this mystery.” It is a mystery. The relationship of Christ and the church is a great mystery. It is, in a very small way, illustrated by the relationship of husband and wife; and yet it is far greater. Not only that, but the relationship of husband and wife is actually based upon the mystery of Christ and His church.
You will find the relationship of Christ and the church is this: Christ is the Head of the church. But how did He come to be the Head of the church? He is first the Saviour of the body.
In other words, you find He first gave Himself to the church. He first formed the body. Then, in Ephesians 5, you find how He cherishes and nourishes His body, how He takes care of this body, how He protects that body, how He feeds that body, and how He makes provision for that body.
More than that, He also sanctifies that body. He washes that body with the water by the word. In other words, how His life continuously washes us and purifies us by His word, that He may present the church to Himself a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle.
This is the meaning of His being the Saviour of the body. And because He is the Saviour of the body, therefore it leads up to His being the Head.
Sometimes we think of the head in terms of authority. But sometimes our concept of authority is very different from God’s concept. Our concept of authority is that if we can only strive and struggle into our position, then we will have authority over those below us. Then we will be able to lord it over them, direct their lives, and force them to comply with our thought and desire.
Now, that is the human concept of authority. That is the human way of being the head. But here you find our Christ is the Head of the church. Why? Because He has been the Saviour of the body.
It is His love for the body that puts Him in authority. So when His authority comes over the church, it is the authority of love. And when the authority of love is manifested, then you find the relationship of the church to Christ is a matter of obedience.
It seems, as you read this passage in Ephesians 5, that the church does nothing and Christ does everything. You read that passage very carefully and you find it is as if the wife is doing nothing and the husband is doing everything. He is doing everything.
He loves the church, He sanctifies it, He cherishes it, He nourishes it, He does everything for it, and there is almost nothing mentioned about what the church is doing. Nothing. Only one thing: to obey Him. That is all.
Brothers and sisters, is it not true? What can we do for Him? Nothing. He does everything to us and for us. But because love constrains us, we may give Him our obedience willingly in all things.
That is to say, we allow His authority to go through us without resistance, without obstacle, that He may perfect His church, that He may bring His church to Himself in such a way that the church is made suitable to be His bride. That is all.
So, brothers and sisters, just in passing, there is much you can meditate upon and ask the Lord to open up to you concerning this mystery of Christ and His church. The emphasis there is relationship.
But tonight, we would like just to read one verse. It is found in 1 Timothy 3:16. You know, we are very familiar with John 3:16, but there is 1 Timothy 3:16, which is very, very precious:
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness;
He who was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the spirit,
Seen of angels,
Preached among the nations,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.
Now, I like the other word better: godliness. “And confessedly, the mystery of godliness is great.”
In some translations it says, “God was manifested in the flesh.” Now, in the original, you do not have the word God there. In the original, it is only a pronoun: “Who.”
Confessedly, the mystery of godliness is great: Who has been manifested in flesh, has been justified in the Spirit, has appeared to angels, has been preached among the nations, has been believed on in the world, and has been received up in glory.
It is a mystery of godliness. Now, what is godliness? Why is it a mystery?
The word godliness in Greek is made up of two words: well and devoted. It means a life characterized by a life that lives to please God.
Or, to put it more simply, godliness means God-likeness: to live a life like God. And to live a life like God is to please God. That is really the simplest meaning of godliness.
This is not, in the strictest sense, the mystery of Christ. It is the mystery of godliness—the mystery of a life like God.
If we want to know what that mystery is, we will have to read the context. In the preceding verse, what is Paul talking about? Paul is telling Timothy that, if he delays, Timothy may know how one ought to conduct oneself in God’s house. He is talking about the house of God.
The house of God is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. It is the repository; it is the testimony of the truth. So, in the preceding verse, you find Paul is talking about the church.
Then immediately after that he says, “Confessedly, the mystery of godliness is great: Who has been manifested in flesh.” Do you see the point?
We often interpret this verse as referring to the person of Christ, and that is true—very true—because everything mentioned in that verse is applied to Christ. And yet, when you read the context, you will find it is not just referring to Christ personally.
It refers to Christ in the church, and that is godliness. Christ is God, but Christ living in the church—that is to say, Christ living His life through the church—that is godliness.
Some of the best commentators agree on this point. This verse does not refer to Christ alone. This verse refers also to the church—but not Christ alone and the church as two separate things. It is Christ in the church. It is Christ living His life through the church, and that is godliness.
Brothers and sisters, this is a great mystery. How can Christ live through not one man, but through a company of people? How can He live His life through them? That is a mystery. But thank God, that mystery is revealed. It is done, and it can be done.
Now let us look very briefly at these six points and try to see how this is worked out. First of all, you find, “Who has been manifested in flesh.”
The reason why, in the original, you do not have that definite noun, “God,” there, but instead have a pronoun, is because if you know the whole meaning of this verse, you can see that it is more than just God Himself. It is God in man. That is the truth. It is Christ in the church.
“Who has been manifested in flesh.” This, of course, primarily refers to Christ. The Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth. It is true that God had taken upon Himself the form of a man. This first item thus refers to the incarnation.
How God came to be a man, how He took upon Himself flesh and blood—incarnation is a great mystery. We cannot explain it. How is the incarnation possible?
For God to be incarnated, first it required Him to empty Himself. Therefore, you find in Philippians 2 that Christ, the eternal Son, who was equal with God, emptied Himself. He took the form of a servant. He took upon Himself the form of a man.
Brothers and sisters, we cannot fathom the depths of incarnation. Sometimes we just read the story of the birth of Christ and say, “Now God came to be a man as a little babe.” But do you know what is involved? For God the Creator to become a man, He had to empty Himself first. If He did not empty Himself, He could not do that.
Of course, that does not mean the eternal Son ceased to be God—not at all. He cannot empty Himself of His deity; that can never happen. Even when He was man, He was God.
But He emptied Himself of the glory, the honor, the power, and the position that belonged to Him as God. That He did empty Himself.
So, brothers and sisters, first of all we need to see the secret of incarnation. Because of His great love toward us, He was willing to empty Himself—not of His deity at all, but of the glory, honor, power, and position connected with Him as God. He came to take the form of a slave, as one of us.
It takes revelation to see glory in Him. Without revelation, He was just a man. But when the Father reveals Him, you see glory there. Why? Because He has emptied Himself and divested Himself of His glory. On the Mount of Transfiguration, we have a glimpse of His glory.
After He emptied Himself of all His glory, honor, position, and power, and became a man—think of it: God imprisoned in the body of a man. No wonder the Lord says, “I am straitened.” You squeeze God into the body of a man, and you know how straitened He must have felt.
When He was in Judea, He could not be in Samaria. When He was in Samaria, He could not be in Galilee. He was subject to all the limitations of man. And how He was obedient, how He humbled Himself, and how He was obedient to the Father even unto death—yes, the death of the cross.
Now you find all this in the meaning of incarnation: “Who has been manifested in flesh.” On the one hand, you can see what love is involved there, what emptying, what humbling, is involved. Yet, on the other hand, you find God, who was the great Unknown, has now been manifested in flesh.
No one has ever seen the Father, but he who has seen the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has seen the Father. Through the life of our Lord Jesus, truly God has been manifested in flesh.
God has become not only visible; God has become reachable. He can be touched. He can be handled. He has come to us. He has been manifested in flesh.
That is very true of Christ. It is a great mystery, but it is very true of Christ. But, dear brothers and sisters, you know this mystery of godliness is not only true of Christ. Because of Christ, because of what He has accomplished, now you will find this has become true of the church.
The church is also that which has been manifested in flesh. Two thousand years ago, God was manifested in flesh in the person of Jesus. Jesus walked upon the land of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, and there you find His life of a little over thirty-three years manifested God in every way.
By seeing Him, we see God. We see the love of God. We see the righteousness of God, the mercy of God, the compassion of God, and even the anger of God. Everything shows how God was manifested in flesh.
But, brothers and sisters, is it not also true that after He was raised from the dead, He took upon Himself a corporate body, which is the church? As He took upon Himself a physical body, today He has taken upon Himself a mystical body—a corporate body.
And He has taken up this body, and He is manifesting Himself in the flesh again. Brothers and sisters, this is godliness.
As He was manifested in flesh in the person of Jesus, that physical body, now He is manifested in flesh in the church, His corporate body.
But, brothers and sisters, how much we can limit Him. As He felt straitened in that physical body, how much more today He must feel straitened in us. Think of that.
He is willing to commit Himself to us. The risen Lord, the Lord of glory, is willing, as it were, to commit Himself to us, to identify Himself with us.
We can bring reproach to Him, or we can glorify Him. We carry Him. He has completely committed Himself to the church, and if the church fails Him, He is disgraced.
O brothers and sisters, if you only can see this, you know what a privilege, on the one hand, and what a responsibility, on the other hand, we have. How we need to deliver our flesh to death, to the cross, that Christ may be glorified in the church.
May we not in any way hide Him, hinder Him, or even bring Him into disgrace. Rather, may He live His life freely through us. May He manifest Himself through us without being restricted or limited in any sense.
Brothers and sisters, this is the mystery of godliness. What is the church? The church is where Christ manifests Himself in flesh.
The world does not see Christ today, but Christ is living today on earth. He is living His life in the church. And because of that, if we allow Christ to live through us, what glory it will bring to Christ. This is the mystery of godliness.
Then secondly, you find it is said, “Justified in the Spirit.” Now, historically, this may refer to the time when Christ came to be baptized.
When He was thirty years old, He came to the River Jordan and asked to be baptized by John. John said, “How can I do this to You?” The Lord said, “We have to fulfill all righteousness.”
So Christ was baptized in the River Jordan, and as He was baptized and came out of the water, the Bible says the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God descended like a dove upon Him and took up His abode in Him. There was a voice from heaven: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
We may say, historically, Christ was justified in the Spirit at that time. In other words, God put His approval upon Christ by filling Him with the Spirit.
He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to take up the challenge of the devil. And after He had defeated the devil, the Bible says He came back full of the power of the Spirit. Throughout His ministry, you find He was anointed by God with the Spirit.
Again and again, three times in the Bible, heaven spoke, saying, “This is My beloved Son.” His life was justified in the Spirit. He was under the constant approval of the Father.
He did not live to please men. If anyone tries to please all men, that is impossible. Christ did not come to please men. His one purpose was to please the Father, and He was justified.
Finally, in Romans 1, you find He was raised from the dead by the Spirit of holiness. Whether you explain that Spirit of holiness as His spiritual nature or as the Spirit of God, it is the same with Him.
Anyway, you find His whole life on earth, from the day He appeared before the world to the day He was raised from the dead in resurrection, He had been justified by God.
Now this is very true of Christ. But do you know what is true of Christ is true of the church? What is the church? How should the church live? Before all the world, the church lives before the world.
The Spirit of God came on the day of Pentecost, and they were all baptized into one body, and they were all made to drink of one Spirit. The Holy Spirit today, in the church, justifies all the actions of the church.
How do we know we are true to God? The Holy Spirit within us either testifies to us or convicts us. This is not only true individually; it is also true corporately.
Individually, if we do something displeasing to God, how do we know God is displeased with us? The Holy Spirit will convict us. The Holy Spirit is grieved. You know God disapproves. You are not justified.
Even if all other people say you are all right—everybody says you are all right—you know you are not all right because the Holy Spirit within you is grieved. He does not approve.
But, brothers and sisters, when we walk after the Spirit, there is life and peace. We are justified in the Spirit. This means we have the approval of God. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is the pledge of the inheritance that one day we shall inherit.
So often we refer this to individuals, but it is more than individuals. As the church lives under the authority of the Holy Spirit, then you find the presence of God in the church. This is our justification.
There is no justification for us as a church to exist if we do not have the presence of God. But how do you have the presence of God? The presence of God is the sign of His approval.
We must all be under the authority of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in the church representing the Head. Only when we are obeying the Holy Spirit and are all under the authority of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit able to carry out God’s will through us.
Then we are blessed with the presence of God. That is the proof. What does it matter if the world does not approve of us? It would matter if the world approved of us, because it would show something is very, very wrong.
But it does matter a great deal, brothers and sisters, whether we have the presence of God with us. The Bible says, “Where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst.”
What does it mean to be gathered together unto His name? It is not just a legal or official thing. “Unto My name” means that we refuse our own name; we put ourselves under His name—in other words, under the authority of His name, under the authority of the Holy Spirit.
Then you find we are justified in the Spirit. We have the presence of God.
Then thirdly, you find, “Appeared to angels.” In some versions you may find, “Seen of angels.” But more literally, the sense should be, “Appeared to angels.”
The word here is not merely in the sense of being seen. The word has the sense of appearing in order to be seen. In other words, it is a self-manifestation. He purposely appears that He may be seen—not merely that He is seen by chance.
Now, of course, when you apply this to Christ, what does it mean that Christ appeared to angels? It must have been a great joy to the angels when Christ appeared to them.
When Christ was born, the angels sang praises unto God. How happy they were. They had been anxiously waiting for the day when Christ should appear on earth, and now Christ had appeared.
Throughout the life of Christ, you find the angels ministered unto Him with gladness. After forty days of being tempted in the wilderness, when the devil left Him temporarily, the angels came to minister unto Him.
I do not know in what way. They might have brought food to Christ, because He had been fasting for forty days and forty nights; He must have been very hungry. They might have ministered to Him even more than we understand.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, you find Christ praying, “Not My will, but Thy will be done.” The conflict was so great that His perspiration came down as drops of blood. An angel appeared to succor Him, to strengthen His physical body.
Brothers and sisters, He appeared to angels. He showed Himself to the angels to show them that the purpose of God was now being fulfilled.
It is no wonder that when He was raised from the dead, the women came to the empty tomb and found the angel sitting there, telling them, “The One whom you are seeking is not here. He is risen. He is alive.”
When you think of angels in the sense of good angels, Christ appeared to them. But if you take these angels to mean evil angels, then you remember what is said in Colossians 2: He spoiled principalities and authorities, and He made a public show of them.
He defeated all the evil angelic hosts at the cross and made a show of them in triumph. In doing that, you find God’s purpose is fulfilled. What Christ has done is more than something that affects this world; it affects the spiritual world.
Now, how can you apply this to the church: “Appeared to angels”? We mentioned a little bit already. In 1 Peter, it is said concerning the great salvation that even angels desire to look into these things.
When God takes up men, who are made a little lower than angels, and through them brings in the kingdom of God and defeats God’s enemy, this is something that amazes the angels.
That is why, in Ephesians 3, it says that through the church the principalities and authorities are to learn to know the wisdom of God. So, brothers and sisters, the church is not only a testimony on earth; the church is also a testimony to the spiritual world.
Do not think that nobody sees you. The spiritual world is watching—watching.
If we are faithful to the Lord, how happy the angelic hosts will be. How they will sing praises unto God. Just as the Lord says, when a soul is saved, there will be great rejoicing in the heavens. That includes the angels.
How they rejoice with God for the salvation of a soul. And when they see the church obedient to God, carrying out God’s will and purpose, how glad these angels are, because they are ministering spirits to those who shall inherit salvation.
In a very real sense, it is through the church that the enemy of God is finally brought into destruction. It is no glory to God merely to destroy the devil, because He is far greater, incomparably greater. He is the Creator, but the devil is only a created being.
Yet He raises up a company of people, lower than the angels in the order of creation—inferior beings—and through these inferior beings He defeats the superior devil. That is God. That is God.
This is the meaning of “appeared to angels.” Brothers and sisters, our testimony not only affects the seen world; our testimony may affect the unseen world.
As you read the Bible, you find there are many things related to the invisible world. Not only is there something seen; there is something unseen. Yet it is very real—very real.
Then, “Preached among the nations.” Certainly, since the day of Pentecost Christ has been preached among the nations.
These six items are actually in three pairs: manifested in flesh and justified in Spirit; appeared to angels and preached among the nations; believed on in the world and received up in glory.
Christ not only appeared to angels to show them how God’s purpose had been achieved, fulfilled, and accomplished; then He is preached to the nations.
There is a difference. To the angels, He appears to show forth the purpose of God. But to the nations, He is preached that we may believe and be saved. Thank God for this, because He has taken not the angels, but the seed of Abraham.
So Christ has been preached among the nations. Now, in what sense can you say that the church has been preached among the nations? Certainly, the church has not preached herself. The church preaches Christ. Unless you preach Christ, you are preaching yourself, and that is another gospel which should not be allowed.
The church does not speak of herself. The church speaks of Christ. But as we preach Christ, there is something being preached at the same time.
You remember one day Mary came when the Lord was at the table. She broke the alabaster flask and poured a pound of pure nard upon Christ. Some of the disciples began to murmur in their hearts, and Judas began to complain, saying, “Why such a waste? Why not sell this nard for three hundred denarii and give it to the poor?”
A denarius was a day’s wage. Three hundred denarii was almost a year’s wages. Think of the wages of a man. In the old days, women did not receive as much. So Mary must have stored up and saved that money for years in order to buy that pure nard.
I do not know why she did it. Probably she was preparing for a wedding, perhaps to be used for a wedding. But when she was touched by the love of God, she had to give all that she had to the Lord, and that was all she had.
So she broke the alabaster flask and poured the pound of nard upon the Lord, and the disciples said, “What a waste!”
The Lord said, “Do not trouble her. She has done a good thing. She has prepared for My burial. Wherever the gospel is preached, what this woman has done will be mentioned as a memorial.”
Brothers and sisters, is it not true? Wherever the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached, there is a memorial of Mary—in the sense of consecration, of devotedness.
Whenever the gospel is preached, there will be the pouring of pure nard upon Christ. The love of Christ is preached; His love constrains us to pour ourselves upon Christ in devotion to Him. This is mentioned together with the gospel.
So it is in this sense that the church has been preached among the nations. The world sees how the church is devoted to Christ, pouring everything upon Christ—the Christ who has so loved her and gave Himself for her.
You see, it is a reciprocal, mutual thing. And this is what the world notices. The world notices this heart of devotedness to Christ, and they are convicted and convinced of the reality and power of the gospel.
That is, Christ has been believed on in the world. Even though there are many who refuse to believe in Christ, there are many today, and there will be many, who will not accept Christ. Yet thank God, there will be people who will repent and believe in the Lord Jesus, who will gladly acknowledge Him as their Saviour and their Lord.
And, brothers and sisters, even if the world does not believe, one day every knee shall bow, willingly or unwillingly, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is indeed Lord.
In what sense has the church been believed on in the world? Only in the sense that when we love one another, then the world will believe that God has really sent His Son into this world.
Lastly, “Received up in glory.” Now, so far as Christ is concerned, we know this speaks of His ascension. He was received up into glory.
When He was received up into glory, He returned to the glory that He had with the Father even before the world was. But when He returned, He received added glory—not only the glory of the Son of God, but also the glory as the Son of Man.
There is a Man in the glory of God. Brothers and sisters, we all know that in Hebrews 2, He will lead many sons into glory.
What is it that God is doing today? He is maturing His people that He may bring many sons into glory. What is the whole world, the whole universe, waiting for?
In Romans 8, it is said that the whole creation is now under bondage. The whole creation groans and travails, waiting for the day of its liberation. And when will that day come? When the sons of God shall be manifested.
Then the whole universe will be liberated and enter into liberty. So, brothers and sisters, you find this is tremendously important.
This is the mystery of godliness. It is Christ in the church. It is Christ living through the church.
Then finally, how does this godliness work? You remember in 2 Peter 1, it is said that God has given us all things that relate to life and godliness.
God has already given us all things that concern life and godliness. In other words, God has already given us Christ. And having Christ in us, the hope of glory, godliness is possible.
Who can be like God? You cannot be like God if you do not have God’s life. If you have God’s life in you, then to be like God is natural. Not to be like God is unnatural.
So here you find godliness is made possible when God gives His Son to us. We have the godly life in us already—the life of God in us already.
But how can this life of God be translated into a godly life, a life that lives like God? In other words, how can that life be released into practical expression in the church?
Here you find something is necessary. God has put that life in us, but on our part, we must exercise ourselves unto godliness.
That is 1 Timothy 4. When Paul is exhorting Timothy, he says, “Exercise thyself unto godliness.” To exercise your physical body is profitable, but only a little. To exercise unto godliness is profitable not only for this age, but also for the age to come.
Now, what do you mean by exercise unto godliness? In Greek, here is where our English word gymnasium comes from—gymnastics. You are doing gymnastics.
The Greeks worshiped the body. So they sent their boys to gymnasiums to be instructed by physical instructors, to develop their bodies so that their whole body would be coordinated. They found beauty in coordination. That was a great accomplishment among the Greeks.
Paul was using that as a background. Yes, it is good to exercise physically. It is good. Do not neglect your body. You should take care of it and exercise it. But this is only for this age. It is good, but little in comparison with exercising yourself unto godliness.
We have the life of Christ in us, but how can this life of Christ be developed and expressed? We too need to be put under an instructor—not a physical instructor, but a spiritual Instructor. And our Instructor is the Holy Spirit.
The world is our gymnasium. In the gymnasium, you find all kinds of exercises. Some will develop your arm muscles; others will develop your back muscles; and so on and so forth.
The Holy Spirit will so order our environment in this world, and these serve as instruments for exercising ourselves unto godliness. All the things that happen to us, all the people around us, everything in our life—our Instructor, the Holy Spirit, has carefully arranged everything.
Why? He knows where our weakness is. He knows where we need exercise—spiritual exercise.
Of course, first of all, you have to be committed. When a boy is committed to a gymnasium, then the instructor is able to help him exercise. So we must be committed to the Lord. Then the Holy Spirit is able to work in us.
During exercise, it is painful. It seems that you have to stretch yourself to the limit, and sometimes beyond your measure. But that is the way to develop your muscles.
If you always stop before the pain comes, or if you will only go that far and not, as it were, overstretch yourself, you will never become an athlete.
Brothers and sisters, how we need to commit ourselves to the Lord. How we need to stretch ourselves, even beyond measure. Yes, during the process of training there will be pain, no doubt.
But out of it, you will find Christ is being incorporated into our very being. We are made partakers of His divine nature.
And, brothers and sisters, this is not just for individuals. This is for the whole church. Not just individually do we learn this lesson, but together we learn this lesson. We exercise ourselves unto godliness.
In exercising, there is your will involved. In other words, you must put yourself into it. Apply yourself to it.
And if we apply ourselves to it, and really come to the Lord and are willing to learn, then, brothers and sisters, the mystery of godliness will be manifested. And great is that mystery.
We are stewards of this mystery. God is to be seen in that. Christ is to be manifested in His church.
Our Heavenly Father, how we do worship Thee that Thou hast this mystery in view. Thou hast put Thy life in us, that this life may be developed and may be lived, that God may be seen and may be glorified.
Our Heavenly Father, do help us to see what potentiality there is, and make us willing to commit ourselves to Thee, to be led by Thy Holy Spirit, willing to be stretched beyond measure, that Christ may be so incorporated into our life together that God may be seen through us as a company of people.
O Lord, we do pray that through this God may gain the praise for Thy great name. We commit ourselves, one to another, into Thy hands.
Lord, Thou dost know we can do nothing, but help us to be obedient to Thee. And we pray that Thou wilt work out Thy will in spite of us. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.