What you are about to hear are the concluding remarks from Brother Kong’s teaching, God’s Eternal Purpose, Part Three, SK 6201.
“Equip the saints,” so that the saints can be equipped. This is the function of these gifts of God to the church.
God uses people to equip the children of God, to edify them, and to bring them on in life so that they can be equipped before God.
And what does the Bible say? Each one must do his function to establish and build up the Body of Christ.
How can the Body of Christ be built up? The building up of the Body of Christ does not depend directly upon the four kinds of gifts of God. These gifts build up the Body of Christ indirectly.
Who directly builds up the Body of Christ? All the saints. Every member, when fulfilling his function, participates in the building up of the Body. This is what we call body ministry.
Every believer needs to do his function. We are different members, and we have received different degrees of grace and gifts. But we have all received grace and gifts, and now we must rise up to do our functions.
Then, in love, the Body can be built up.
Today, the church of God cannot be built up because people depend upon those few people. We somehow believe that to build up the church is the duty of the pastor, the shepherd, the evangelist, the prophet, or the teacher.
In fact, this is the only place in the original language where the word is translated “pastor.” In the original language, it is “shepherd,” one who tends the sheep. In all other places in the Bible, it says “shepherd.”
I do not know why the translator used the word “pastor.” Maybe he himself was a pastor.
Today we think that to build up the church is the responsibility of the pastor, the evangelist, the prophet, or the teacher. Brothers and sisters, the true building up of the church is the responsibility of every believer in Christ Jesus.
Every one of us in Christ is a royal priest. We all need to rise up and serve our Lord.
We need to do each one of our duties to build up the Body.
In my own body there are many different members. Every member has its own function. My eyes have to see; my ears have to hear; my hands have to take; my feet have to walk; my heart has to pump; my lungs have to expand. My whole body has to function.
No single member can take up the function of the whole body. Every member has to function, and they must cooperate. They come under the dominion of the Head.
Each joint must do its own function, and then, in love, the Body is built up.
We do not have much time. I only have three or four minutes, but I have only mentioned one point.
Now we come to the second point: Ephesians 4:20.
But ye did not so learn Christ.
We have spoken thus far concerning the eternal purpose of God being realized in the church. When the church is in unity and when the church is built up, the eternal purpose which God purposed in His own Son is established.
From Ephesians 4:17 through Ephesians 4:32, we see this matter of learning Christ.
Here it says, “Ye did not so learn Christ.” This has much to do with our personal daily life.
The eternal purpose of God has to be worked out in our daily life. Let us not think that our daily life has nothing to do with the eternal purpose of God, as though God’s eternal purpose were in heaven while our daily life is on earth.
The Bible tells us that the eternal purpose of God has to be realized and worked out in our daily life.
Our Lord Jesus Christ told us:
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me;
For I am meek and lowly in heart:
And ye shall find rest unto your souls.
We believers are all disciples of Christ. In fact, believer and disciple should be one. Today we seem to separate believers from disciples. We can believe in Him, but we may not follow Him. We can believe in Him, but we may not learn Him. The Bible does not teach this.
The Bible tells us that every believer is His disciple. To put it more bluntly, every believer is His apprentice. Therefore, we all have to learn Him.
This learning is not like a monkey learning how a man walks. A monkey may imitate a man outwardly, but it does not have the life of a man.
Today we learn Him because there is a life of Christ in us. Because you are a disciple, you have to be a disciple indeed. There is a life of Christ in you.
So you have to learn the life of Christ. Learn to let the life of Christ live out from you. This is to learn Christ.
It is not to put on an outward disguise. When we first believed in the Lord, we thought that a believer had to be humble, so we tried to bow down outwardly in order to become humble. But we know this is not it. Humility has to come out from the life within.
The Lord tells us to be yoked with Him. He is on one side of the yoke, and we are on the other side.
He is meek and lowly, absolutely obedient to God, and completely without rebellion. Although we have believed in the Lord, we still have our ambitions, and we are still like a wild bull.
When we are yoked with the Lord, the yoke is the will of God. God puts us together with the Lord, and we want to work the work of God, finish it, and be obedient to His will.
But we are like a wild bull. We do not want the yoke. We do not listen, and we do not obey the order of the Master. We want to walk our own way.
But on the other side of the yoke is our Lord. Though He is meek, He is mighty. When we want to turn left, He brings us back.
He is teaching us. One day we bow down, our wildness is broken, and then we can be meek and lowly. This is to learn Christ.
Brothers and sisters, we have taken off the old man. In the past, we lived in the old man and walked as Gentiles. But in Christ we have put off the old man and put on the new man.
Therefore, we have to walk in newness of life. It is no longer I who live, but the Lord lives in me. In my attitude, in my speech, in my association with people, and in my relationship with God, I have to learn Christ.
Therefore Scripture says:
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,
In Whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.
The Holy Spirit lives within you. He will reveal Christ to you. He will gradually transform you to be conformed to the image of the Son.
This is to have the eternal purpose of God worked out in us.
Let us not think that whatever we say or whatever we do has nothing to do with the eternal purpose of God. We have to see that all this is related to God’s eternal purpose.
Whether the eternal purpose of God can be accomplished, or whether that purpose is interrupted by you, depends upon whether you have learned Christ in your daily life. This has a close relationship with the eternal purpose of God.
The third point is Ephesians 5:1 through Ephesians 5:20.
Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.
This speaks about our relationship with the world. We are the children of God.
Therefore, we should have a testimony in our relationship with the world. We have to testify to the world that our God is a loving God, that our God is a God of life, and that our God is a God of wisdom.
The way we walk has to be separated from the way the world walks. We have to walk in love. We have to walk in life.
We should not be foolish; we should be wise. We should not be drunken with wine, but filled with the Holy Spirit. We should have a heart of thanksgiving to God.
This is what it means for us to be children of God, and this is our relationship to the world.
The fourth point is Ephesians 5:21 through Ephesians 6:9.
Subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.
This is how the eternal purpose of God prevails in our family relationships. Let us not think that our family relationships belong only to ourselves and have nothing to do with the eternal purpose of God.
Brothers and sisters, the eternal purpose of God has much to do with our family relationships. He wants our family relationships to be normal.
We must have the fear of Christ. Whether we are husbands or wives, masters or servants, we need a heart of fear for Christ.
Some say, “God loves me, and in love there is no fear.” That is true. But that fear refers to fear of punishment. The fear here is the fear that we might hurt the heart of the Lord.
Because we love Him, we are afraid that His heart may be hurt. We must have this fear. If we do not have this fear, the family is broken.
Here we see that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church. Wives should be subject to their husbands as to Christ.
I ask the husbands: do not read only the words that God tells the sisters. I hope the sisters do not read only the words that God tells the husbands.
If husbands keep the words that God gives them in their hearts and love their wives as Christ loved the church, then their wives will be subject to them.
If wives have the fear of Christ and are truly subject as they are subject to Christ, they will adjust themselves to help their husbands. This submission is not a matter of inferiority. It is cooperation. It is partnership.
Children must be obedient to their parents in the Lord. There is a difference between children obeying their parents and wives being subject to their husbands.
The relationship of husband and wife is on the same level. It is cooperation and partnership. But for children to obey parents, the relationship is of a different level.
Therefore, children are to be obedient to their parents in the Lord. When you grow up and have your own family, you are no longer required to obey your parents in everything, but you still have to honor your parents.
Parents should discipline and instruct their children in the instruction of the Lord, so that they may be brought up not only to be good persons but to be Christians. This is the responsibility of every parent.
The same applies to masters and servants. Servants should serve their masters in the fear of the Lord, as serving the Lord. Masters, in the fear of the Lord, should not threaten their servants.
You see here that the eternal purpose of God can prevail in the family. We know this has to be the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit takes what God has already accomplished in Christ and works in us, one by one, to bring us into the eternal purpose of God.
Brothers and sisters, we come before the Lord not only to receive objective truth. We thank the Lord for what God has accomplished in Jesus Christ and for how glorious this purpose is.
But we need the Holy Spirit today to work out this eternal purpose in each one of us and in the Body.
Let us bow down and pray.
Lord, we ask that You not only give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation; we also ask that You strengthen our inner man through Your own Spirit, so that we may not only know, but may enter in.
Lord, we ask You to work Your eternal purpose in us, in the church, in our personal life, in society, and in the family.
Our Lord, we desire that Your eternal purpose may prevail on earth. May You, in the church and in Christ Jesus, have all the praise unto the ages of the ages. In the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.
This is the end of Brother Kong’s ministry, God’s Eternal Purpose, Part Three.
Brother Kong’s ministry on God’s Eternal Purpose, Part Four, SK 6202, begins now.
I will read in Chinese. My brother will read in English.
Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
With all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints,
And on my behalf, that utterance may be given unto me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,
For which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Let us bow down and pray.
Our dear Heavenly Father, we truly thank You because You have given us another chance to gather before You.
When we gather before You, our hearts are filled with thanksgiving and praise.
Because we, the saved ones, can gather before Your table to remember You. People like us can be saved and can serve You. We want You to be satisfied.
Lord, as we stand and sit here to read Your Word, we need Your Spirit. We ask You once again to reveal Your Word through Your Spirit. Reveal Yourself to us. Open the spiritual facts to us so that we may truly see Your glory and Your victory.
We put this time into Your hands. We look to You to glorify the name of Your Son.
We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We thank the Lord that He has given us the opportunity to gather before Him together.
During these several mornings when we have gathered together, our fellowship has concerned the eternal purpose of God.
We have seen that before creation, God predestined in Himself a purpose.
That purpose extends from eternity past to eternity future. It is established and does not change.
God established this purpose for His Son, Jesus Christ. He will gather together all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth.
God loves His Son. He wants to gather all things and give them to His Son as His inheritance. He wants His Son to be the Head of all things.
He wants all things to display the glory of His Son. For this reason, God created all things.
But God considered this not enough. In Christ, He added to His eternal purpose: He wants to give a bride to His Son as His counterpart and helper. That is the church as we know it today.
What is the eternal purpose of God? That eternal purpose is Christ and the church.
I remember our beloved brother Watchman Nee once said that if we truly know Christ and the church, the whole Bible is opened to us, because the whole Bible speaks of nothing else but Christ and His church.
This is the mystery of God, and this is the mystery of Christ. May the Holy Spirit truly reveal this to us so that we may know Christ and His church and pursue Christ, that He may obtain His own church.
This is what we have seen from Ephesians 1 through the early part of Ephesians 3: the purpose God purposed in Himself, what He purposed in His Son Christ, and how He accomplished His eternal purpose through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Beginning with Ephesians 3:14, we see that God wants to work His eternal purpose in us. This speaks of our subjective experience.
What God has already done is objective truth. Now God wants to work into us the very fact that He has already accomplished, so that it may become our experience.
Now that He has called us, He wants us to walk worthy of the calling with which we were called.
He wants us to subject ourselves one to another in the fear of Christ. The eternal purpose of God is to be displayed in our personal life, church life, family life, and every aspect of our life.
This is how God works out His eternal purpose in us.
Previously, we spoke about how God works out His eternal purpose in us. Now we want to see how this purpose is worked out through us.
God wants us to be the bride of Christ. To be the bride of Christ is a matter of life. He wants us to be His true counterpart in life.
But the Bible tells us that God not only wanted to prepare for Adam a counterpart; He also wanted her to be his helper.
When we speak of a helper, it has to do with work. The counterpart is a matter of life; the helper has to do with service.
Today, God not only wants to work in us so that we may be the counterpart of Christ; He also wants us to rise up to be His helper.
Here we see two different aspects. Not only are we the bride of Christ, receiving the abundance of Christ and magnifying His glory; we are also His instrument, which He can use to accomplish the work that He wants to accomplish.
God works in us, and then He works through us. This work is to accomplish the eternal purpose of God.
When Paul came to this point, he said, “Finally,” or, “For the rest.” This does not mean that he had finished speaking and merely added something incidental. Rather, it means, “In addition to all these words, I want to say something more.”
Brothers and sisters, the Lord has said many words and done much work in us. Now He says, “You are going to be a helper.”
In the past, you were not qualified. But now He has worked in you so that you are a counterpart. Therefore, now you may be His helper.
When we read Genesis, we become clear. After God created Adam, He said that it was not good for the man to be alone. He would prepare a counterpart for him and give him a helper.
Adam and Eve were not only united as one; they were to follow the will of God together.
After God created man, He told him to rule over the birds of the air, the animals on the earth, and the fish in the sea. Man was to tend the garden.
Thus, Adam and Eve were not only counterparts; they were helpers.
Here we see that there is an invisible world, a spiritual realm. In that spiritual world, there is a battle.
We know that there is a material world, the world that we see today. But in addition to this material world, there is an invisible spiritual world.
In the spiritual world, a battle continues. This battle is not only fought in the spiritual realm; the result of this spiritual battle influences the visible world. Indeed, it controls the visible world.
What is the focus of this spiritual battle? Why is there such a spiritual battle? The focus is the eternal purpose of God.
God purposed in Himself that His Son should have the preeminence in all things, inherit all things, and be the center of all things. This is the eternal purpose of God.
According to this purpose, God created all things. At that point, the highest beings in His creation were the angels, for angels are spirits.
At that time, all the angels praised God. As we see in Job, the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy. In that context, the sons of God refer to the angels, because they were created by God.
The whole universe was filled with praise and worship. The whole creation exalted Jesus Christ as the Head. He was truly the Head of all things, and that condition was glorious.
But we do not know how many years later, there was rebellion in the universe.
One of the archangels was Lucifer, whose name means “bright star.” Perhaps he was the first angel created. When God created him, he was created perfect.
If we read Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14:12-15, we find that Isaiah was speaking about the king of Babylon. Yet suddenly he used words which cannot be applied to any man.
Although he was speaking about the king of Babylon, these words cannot be applied merely to the king of Babylon.
Isaiah 14:12 says:
How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning!
How art thou cut down to the ground, that didst lay low the nations!
Here we see the bright star, Lucifer, called the son of the morning. He was created early.
Then in Isaiah 14:13-14 he says:
I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit also upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.
This archangel, created first, had an evil thought arise in his heart. He said, “I, I, I, I, I.” He began to turn attention to himself.
He was created for the Son of God. Yet he came to the point where he thought of himself. An evil heart arose in him. He said, “I will ascend into heaven. I will be equal with the Most High.”
Brothers and sisters, who can be equal with God? Only One is equal with God: the Son of God.
We are told in Philippians 2 that Christ Jesus, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped. He did not need to strive for equality with God, for this was His by nature.
But here was an archangel who wanted to grasp this position and be equal with God. What does that mean? He did not agree with, but opposed, the eternal purpose of God. He wanted to destroy the eternal purpose of God.
If you read Ezekiel 28, it speaks about the prince and king of Tyre. There is a slight difficulty in the Chinese translation.
In Ezekiel 28:2, it says, “Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre.” In English it says “prince.” But later, in Ezekiel 28:11, it says, “Take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre.”
The earthly king of Tyre was in fact only a prince. There was a king behind him. In this passage, what is described cannot really refer to any human being.
The description concerns a condition in the heavens and in paradise. When God created him, he was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
He had precious stones upon him, and he had musical gifts. God set him to be the anointed cherub who covered.
If we read Exodus, we find that what is on earth is a shadow of what is in heaven. God told Moses to build the tabernacle according to the pattern shown to him on the mountain.
There was the ark of testimony, and on the two sides were cherubim covering the ark. The glory of God was there.
The anointed cherub who covered was closest to God. That seemed to be the highest position.
This archangel was originally a cherub anointed to cover the throne. God gave him great power and authority to rule over many places.
Very possibly, the universe in which we live was under his rule. Because of his beauty, wisdom, and authority, pride arose within him.
Then he worked out violence. He acted according to his own will and not according to the will of God. Much unrighteousness came forth.
When God created him, he was perfect. But he worked out much unrighteousness. He wanted to grasp the position of the Son of God and rebel against the eternal purpose of God.
God did not allow him to succeed. God is jealous for His Son. Therefore, He cast Satan out.
Satan means adversary. God did not create an adversary. God created a beautiful archangel, but this beautiful archangel became an adversary of God.
In Revelation, we see that when the dragon was cast out, he drew one-third of the angels into rebellion with him. He established his own kingdom.
He has his own kingdom and wants to be an adversary to the kingdom of God. Although God has already judged him, he has not repented.
He stubbornly wants to grasp the position of the Son of God. He still refuses to submit. He still wants to oppose the eternal purpose of God.
Because of his rebellion, the universe under his rule entered into darkness and judgment.
The Bible tells us that the earth became waste and void, dark and desolate. This was the result of the rebellion of the archangel.
The eternal purpose of God suffered an interruption.
Yet since God has established His own purpose, it does not change. God moves forward.
We do not know how long a period passed, but Genesis 1 tells us that the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters to restore the corrupted world.
In six days, God recovered the corrupted earth, making it habitable.
Not only did He restore the world in which we live; on the sixth day, He created man.
Brothers and sisters, if you understand the eternal purpose of God, you cannot help but bow down and worship God. God did not retreat or give up His eternal purpose.
In fact, God moved one step further. According to His image, He created man.
He gave man dominion over all things and told man to multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.
The creation of man is the masterpiece of God because God created man according to His own image.
God created all other things according to His wisdom and might, but God created man according to His own image.
This particularly speaks of the inward character. Why did God create man according to His own image?
Because only those created according to His own image can receive Him. All things can display His glory, but all things cannot be united with God.
Only those created according to His image can receive His life, so that they may be united with God in His life.
What does this mean? God wanted to prepare for His Son a counterpart. Man was created to be the counterpart of Christ.
God gave man dominion and wanted man to subdue all things. Why? Because all things were in rebellion, divided, and under the dominion of Satan.
God wanted man to bring all things under the feet of Christ. In other words, man was to be Christ’s helper. This is the eternal purpose of God.
Therefore, mankind is closely related to the eternal purpose of God. God wants His Son to have a counterpart and a helper.
Coming to Genesis 3, we see that Satan was indeed crafty. He knew the eternal purpose of God.
He knew that God wanted man to accomplish this eternal purpose. Therefore, Satan came to tempt man, so that man would fall into his temptation.
His temptation followed the same principle by which he himself became Satan. He said that if man ate of the tree, man’s eyes would be opened and man would be like God.
Man fell into the trap. Man was not created for himself. Man is not the center. Christ is the center. Man was created for Christ.
But man thought about himself: “I want to do this. I am the center.” Thus man walked in the path of Satan and fell under the dominion of Satan.
Today the whole world is under the dominion of Satan, and all people in the world are under the power of darkness.
Satan was indeed very cunning. He wanted to defeat the eternal purpose of God through man, so that the eternal purpose of God could not be accomplished.
But, brothers and sisters, did God give up mankind?
If we read Psalm 8, we find that what was recorded in Genesis 1 still remains in the purpose of God.
According to chronology, Adam may have been created four thousand years before Christ. Adam fell, but when David wrote Psalm 8, about one thousand years before Christ, God had not forgotten His purpose.
For us, we may forget something in three days. But after thousands of years, God still said, “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?”
In terms of creation, man is a baby because man was created late. Although man is a little lower than the angels, God crowned him with glory and honor.
But where is the man who can accomplish the eternal purpose of God? Throughout four thousand years, we could not find this man.
Then, in the fullness of time, God sent His Son to become man.
The first man, Adam, failed when he was tempted. But the second Man came.
When the Lord Jesus came, Satan tempted Him in the wilderness. Satan wanted Him to turn to self.
Satan said, “If You are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down from the temple. If You worship me, You can have all things.”
As long as You think of Yourself, that is enough. But what did the Lord do? He answered with the Word of God.
Here we see that when our Lord Jesus was a man on earth, God was the center. He had no self. He denied Himself and was obedient to His Father, even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
All through His life as a man, He was the Man according to the heart of God.
When He was on earth, He bound the strong man and took the spoil. This is us. Because He bound the strong man, He could take us out of the power of darkness and transfer us into the kingdom of His beloved Son.
Our Lord Jesus, when He was on earth, overcame Satan. In that battle He was completely victorious, and He stood wholly within the eternal purpose of God.
When He was on the cross, the Bible tells us that He subdued the powers, authorities, and principalities.
This is Colossians 2:15:
Having despoiled the principalities and the powers,
He made a show of them openly,
Triumphing over them in it.
At the cross, when He crushed the head of the serpent, although the serpent bruised His heel, He defeated the enemy and bound the principalities.
This victory was not only for Himself. This victory is for His church; it is a victory for us.
He has defeated the enemy so that we may enter into His triumph.
Here we see a spiritual battle, and this spiritual battle continues until today.
As we come to the last days, the battle becomes more severe because Satan knows that his time is almost over.
But brothers and sisters, remember one thing: the decisive victory has already been won on the cross.
In a war there may be many battles, but some battles are decisive. Once the decisive battle has been won, although the war may continue, the final victory has already been determined.
On the cross of Calvary, our Lord Jesus already fought the victorious battle. Satan was already defeated. He has no hope, though he does not give up.
Today our Lord, after He had won the victory, ascended into heaven and was crowned with glory and honor.
This is what we are told in Hebrews 2. Although we do not yet see all things subjected under Him, we see Jesus.