Will you please turn to the letter to the Ephesians? Ephesians 3.
We will read from Ephesians 3:14-21, and then Ephesians 4:1.
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,
that ye may be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be strong to apprehend with all the saints
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge,
that ye may be filled unto all the fullness of God.
Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen.
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, as we continue in Your presence, our hearts bow low before Thee. We praise and thank Thee for saving us, for calling us to Thyself.
Oh, dear Lord, how we long that we may hear Thy voice, see Thy face, know Thy will, and follow Thy steps. So, as we gather here this morning, we do want to open our hearts to Thee.
Will You please speak to us—to each one of us personally, individually, and corporately—and bring us to where Thou wouldst have us be, that Thy name may be exalted, that testimony may be established, and that glory may appear? We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Our God is a practical God. He is the supreme will in the universe, and even before the foundation of the world, He made a will in Himself. He made it according to His good pleasure.
And what is that will? We call that will the eternal will of God. There is nothing more important than that will, and that will is concerning His beloved Son. He wants His Son to be all and in all, and especially to us, His church.
God is practical. Whatever He wills, He fulfills. It is not just a theory; it is a reality.
So we do thank God that, when He reveals His mind to us, His intention is not for us just to contemplate. His intention is to draw us into His will, His vision, and to make that vision a vocation to each and every one of us.
So, brothers and sisters, we have been sharing daily on this matter of the heavenly vision. It is something that God’s people must see, because without that vision, we have no direction, no goal, and no strength. We do not know how to proceed.
But with that heavenly vision, we know where we are going, and we know what we must do. So vision is for vocation. Vision is not just for contemplation.
When God, in His mercy and grace, gives us vision and revelation, we should not be content merely with having such vision. We must press on until the vision becomes a vocation to us.
So this morning, we would like to share together on this matter: How can a vision become a vocation?
Again, I feel that we should not approach this from the standpoint of truth alone, but from the standpoint of experience. The truth is there, but we need to experience the truth.
I would like to find in Scripture an example. Of course, our Lord Jesus is the perfect example. But perhaps we may think that, because He is the Son of God, we can never arrive there.
But, brothers and sisters, when we can find in Scripture examples of people who are just like us, and yet, by the grace of God, are able to turn their vision into vocation, then I think it will give us strength and encouragement. If God can do it with a person such as we are, then who are we that we cannot arrive at the same conclusion?
So I am thinking of Joseph in the Old Testament.
Now, we all know how Joseph was born. His mother was barren, and for that she prayed to the Lord. The Lord answered her prayer. So we find in Genesis 30 how God answered her prayer and gave her a son, and she called that son Joseph.
Then, in the book of Genesis, from Genesis 37 to Genesis 50, only Genesis 38 does not speak about Joseph. From Genesis 37 until Genesis 50, God uses thirteen chapters to tell us the story of that man Joseph.
I believe we all know that Joseph, when he was young, dreamed two dreams.
First, he dreamed that they were binding sheaves in the field, and his sheaf stood up. Then eleven sheaves surrounded him and bowed down to that sheaf.
Joseph was so innocent. His brothers hated him because his father loved him more than all the others, but he was so naive and innocent. After he dreamed that dream, he told his brothers.
When his brethren heard about it, they said, “Do you mean that we will all bow to you? You will be a king to us?” For that reason, they hated him.
Then Joseph dreamed another dream. In that dream, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars surrounded him and bowed down to him.
Again, he was so naive. He told his brothers, as well as his father. When his father heard about it, he said, “What are you saying? Do you mean to say that your mother, your father, and all your brothers will bow down to you?”
Because of this, his brethren hated him even more; but his father kept the saying in his heart. That was how it began. In other words, he began with two dreams.
Now, of course, brothers and sisters, we have all dreamed, but not all dreams come from God. Usually, we may be thinking of something in the daytime, and then in the evening somehow our minds begin to work and give us dreams. These dreams are nothing.
But thank God, in the Bible you find that sometimes God does give people dreams. Why is this? Is it because, when we are awake, we are so busy and hear so many voices that we cannot hear His voice?
God must be speaking to us every day, but we cannot hear Him. Therefore, sometimes, in the quietness of the night, God gives dreams and enables us to hear His voice.
In the Bible, you find many dreams recorded, and these dreams came from God. In other words, God was revealing to this young man His purpose for his life.
But, brothers and sisters, because God had given him these dreams and shown him what God wanted him to be, that did not mean that, because he had dreamed, he already possessed the reality. Not at all. But it was the beginning of his spiritual life.
You know, if God should give us vision, it is to show us His heart and His purpose. It really lifts us up, as it were, to the third heaven. But, brothers and sisters, at the same time, there is a tremendous challenge before us.
So you find in the life of Joseph that, after receiving such dreams, he entered into a life of great trouble. His brethren hated him and wanted to get rid of him so that his dreams could not become real or true.
You remember how the Bible tells us that, when his father sent him to look after his brethren who were out shepherding their sheep, Joseph, being obedient to his father, went to seek after his brethren.
Finally, he found them. But when his brethren saw him coming, they said to one another, “Behold, this dreamer cometh. What shall we do with him? Kill him. Get rid of him. Then we shall see whether his dreams will come true.”
When Joseph got there, they took off his coat of many colours, which was an expression of the love of the father and of the father’s desire that he should be the heir. They took off that coat and put him in a pit.
Look at his brethren. When they put him into the pit, they sat down and ate.
By chance, some merchants, the Ishmaelites, were passing by. Judah, one of the brothers, suggested, “Joseph is our brother. Let us not kill him. What benefit do we have if we kill him? Let us sell him to these merchants.”
So they took Joseph up and sold him to the merchants. The Bible tells us later how they remembered that Joseph pleaded with them, and yet they would not listen to him. They sold him to these merchants, and the merchants went to Egypt.
The merchants sold Joseph as a slave to a chamberlain of Pharaoh, the head of his bodyguard. Joseph became a slave in that family.
Now, brothers and sisters, if we were in that place, how would we react to such a situation? The beloved of the father had become a slave to people. He was in chains.
As a human being, it must have been very painful to this young man. God gave him such a glorious dream, and yet the very opposite of it came into his life.
If we were in his place, what would we be thinking about? How would we feel about it? Would we doubt God? Would we blame God? Would we mourn for our home and our situation? Of course, we may do that.
We do not know whether Joseph was tempted in the same way, but we find in Scripture that whatever he passed through—from such a high place he was dropped into such a low place—it must have hurt him deeply.
But thank God, his faith in God was never shaken. He believed God. He trusted God. He took the position as though it were God-given.
Even when he was a slave in that family, he served so faithfully that his master realized how faithful his slave was. Not only that, his master realized that whatever Joseph did prospered, and the family became prosperous. He realized it was through Joseph.
Finally, he made Joseph almost the manager of the family. Everything was in Joseph’s hand except his master himself.
Brothers and sisters, we can only say that God works in a marvellous way, His wonders to perform. But here was a man who cooperated with God. He did not look at circumstances; he looked at God.
As he looked at God, he saw that God must have had a reason for it. To put it another way, he realized that God was training him. God was building in him the character of a king.
But God allowed him to be tempted. When he was almost like the second one in the family, his master’s wife cast her eyes upon him, for he was a handsome young man.
Joseph avoided her, and Joseph told his master’s wife that he dared not sin against God. God had given everything in the family into his hand except the wife, and how could he dare sin against God?
But finally, on one occasion, when he went into the house to do his work, there was nobody there. The wife of Potiphar took hold of him and said, “Lie with me.” Joseph fled, and his garment was taken by this woman.
This woman used it as proof against him. When the master came back, she accused Joseph, and Joseph was put into prison.
Brothers and sisters, is that not strange? Joseph went lower and lower. To be a slave was low enough, but as a slave, to be put in prison was still lower.
If this happened to you or to me, what would we think? How would we react? Would we murmur against God again? Would we rebel against God?
But here you find Joseph. Even when he was put into such a situation, Psalm 105 says that his soul entered into iron. Not only were his feet under fetters, but his soul entered into iron. That is to say, how much he did suffer.
But again, you find that he rose above the circumstances. He took it as from God. He submitted himself to God’s arrangement, even though he did not understand. But he believed and trusted.
When he was in prison, he was faithful. Eventually, the jailer gave all the business in that prison to him. He was again in charge. In other words, in spite of circumstances, he was in charge. That was his kingly character.
Brothers and sisters, it is not circumstances that make the man; it is the man that makes the circumstances.
While he was there, two servants of Pharaoh were put into prison. One was in charge of his food, and the other was in charge of his wine. Joseph was ordered to take care of them.
One day, they both dreamed dreams. Because they could not understand their dreams, they were sad. When Joseph came in to serve them, he saw them in sorrow and said, “Why are you sad?”
They said that they had dreamed dreams but could not explain them. Finally, you remember how they told Joseph the dreams, and Joseph explained them.
The one in charge of the wine—the cupbearer—was usually a close friend of the king, because he had to drink the wine first before the king drank it. If there was poison and someone wanted to murder the king, his best friend would die for him.
According to the dream, Joseph told him that he would be released and restored to his original position. So Joseph said, “When you are restored, remember me. I am a Hebrew, sold here. I was put in prison for no reason. When you are released, say a good word for me before Pharaoh.”
But, brothers and sisters, you find that Scripture says that the man was released, but he forgot Joseph. He forgot him for two years.
Now, if this happened to you and me, how would we react? It would seem as if God were opening up a door, and yet the door was closed. Such a disappointment.
But not Joseph. Because of his faith in God, he believed God must have had some good reason for that. He took it as from the Lord. He was patient before God. He waited and waited.
Until finally, you remember, Pharaoh dreamed a dream. God gave Pharaoh dreams, and nobody could explain them.
It was at that moment that the cupbearer remembered. He said, “I do remember my faults this day,” and he told the story.
Then Joseph was released and stood before the king. The king said, “Can you explain that to me?” Joseph said, “It is not in me. It is God who will tell Pharaoh what shall happen.” He gave all the glory to God.
Joseph explained the two dreams to Pharaoh, and everything was according to what he interpreted. Out of prison, he became almost like the prime minister in that great nation of Egypt.
There you find that his dream became true. He was really in charge over the greatest nation in the world. But that was not the end.
There was such hunger throughout the land. It affected not only Egypt but also Canaan. Jacob told his sons, “I hear that in Egypt there is food. Go to Egypt and buy food, lest we die.”
The ten brothers went to Egypt. Their father did not dare to let Benjamin go with them because of the past. They went to Egypt to buy food.
They did not know Joseph, but Joseph knew them.
If this happened to you, what would you do? God had given you the opportunity to revenge yourself. We might take it as a God-given opportunity.
Or would you take it in God’s way? God knew everything, so He sent Joseph beforehand to prepare for those years of famine and to deliver the family.
Joseph wanted to teach his brethren a lesson. You find how he dealt with them—not to hurt them, but to bring them into repentance, to the time when they realized it was their sin that had brought them into such a situation.
Finally, Joseph revealed himself to them, reconciled with them, and brought the family to Egypt. This is the story of Joseph.
In a sense, I think the greatest thing in that story is not only that Joseph became the second in Egypt, but that in his treatment of his brethren, he loved them rather than hated them.
Again and again, he reminded his brethren that it was the Lord who had brought him there for the family, not just for himself. This is kingly character.
Brothers and sisters, the same thing is true when you find God’s mind concerning each and every one of us. Whenever He reveals His mind to us, shows His will to us, and gives His vision to us, it is because He wants to draw us into that vision.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we cannot say that because we have vision, therefore we have everything. As we said last week, if we just have vision and do not have the reality, we become visionaries. It is worse than not having vision.
You know, when you travel in the desert, you are so thirsty and looking for water. We are told that when people are travelling in the desert and are so thirsty, they can see beyond them what appears to be water. But when they arrive at that place, there is no water. It is a mirage.
How often we find among God’s people that we are living in a mirage, not in reality. So that is something of which we should remind ourselves.
If, by the grace of God, He gives us vision, as you find in Ephesians, there are two prayers of the Apostle Paul. He was sharing with the Ephesian believers the heavenly vision.
He showed them that the mystery of God is Christ, and the mystery of Christ is the church. This was something he could not share with the Corinthian believers because they were carnal, but he was able to share it with the Ephesian believers because they really loved the Lord.
While he was trying to share with them such a vision, he realized that it was something beyond human ability. No matter how much you talk, people will not see it, and people will not experience it, until God does something.
So, in the letter to the Ephesians, he prayed two prayers. In Ephesians 1, the first prayer was that God would give them wisdom and revelation.
He knew that everything that is of God is beyond human ability. No matter how wise you are, you may understand in your mind, but that does not mean that you see it.
Brothers and sisters, we want to be reminded again and again that, when we come to spiritual things, they are beyond human beings. It is not because you are wise, rational, or learned that you will be able to know spiritual things.
You may know the terms. You may know so-called truth. But if it is not real, it is not truth. It is only so-called teaching. No matter how teachable you are, you are outside the realm of spiritual things.
I think we need to realize that we need to come to the end of ourselves, not relying upon our ability anymore, but going to the Lord like a babe, like a child. Then He will reveal His mind to us.
After he prayed the first prayer—that God would give them wisdom and revelation unto the full knowledge of God—then, having shared these things with them, he again knelt before God and prayed the second prayer.
In the second prayer, you find that he was not praying for vision or revelation. He was praying for apprehension, for knowing, and for experiencing it.
So, dear brothers and sisters, to have vision is one thing. It is the beginning. But do not stop there. You have to go into the reality of it.
God’s will is that when He gives us vision, with that vision there is a call. We are called to enter into that vision. We are called to be part of the vision. We are called to allow that vision to become part of us.
In other words, God gives vision for practical reasons, that it may become real to us. So, brothers and sisters, have we apprehended it? Have we really known it by experiencing it? That is the reality.
But how can we really enter into it? You find in that second prayer how Paul prayed. He prayed that God would give them, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man.
In other words, he prayed for the strengthening of the inner man. We all know that the inner man refers to our new spirit.
Thank God, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, we have a new spirit. In that new spirit, Christ Jesus dwells. He dwells in our spirit, our inner man. Or, to put it another way, Christ is the life of our inner man.
But this life of Christ in us is only in the beginning, and for that reason, this life needs to grow into maturity.
God gave His Spirit to us, and His Holy Spirit dwells in our inner man. For what reason? To see to it that our inner man—the life of our inner man, Christ in us—may grow into maturity.
This is the mission of the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is the mission of the anointing within us. Brothers and sisters, God has made every provision for us.
As we find in 2 Peter 1, so far as life and godliness are concerned, He has made every provision for us. It is the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
In the second prayer, it is that the Holy Spirit, with the power of God, would strengthen our inner man. As our inner man is strengthened, what will be the result? Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts.
Now, brothers and sisters, what does the heart mean? The physical heart is the centre of our physical being, but the heart in spiritual things is the centre of our spiritual being.
When you read the Scriptures, you find that the heart really includes four things. It includes the conscience of the spirit, as well as the three main faculties of the soul: the mind, the emotion, and the will.
So the heart is a pathway between the soul and the spirit. But unfortunately, after we have sinned, our soul-life has fallen. The Adamic life has fallen. It is Adam’s life, his fallen life, that is the life of our soul.
After you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are a dual personality. In the spirit dwells Christ; in your soul dwells Adam—yourself, your old self.
That is the reason why, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, we all have that kind of experience that we call civil war. Why? Because it is within you.
According to your spirit, you love God. You want to do His will, and you know what His will is. You are anxious to do that. But unfortunately, in your soul there is another life that is pulling you down, pulling you away from God. It wants its own way.
Oftentimes, we find the soul, the old Adam, is so old in us that he is stronger, as it were, than the young Christ in us. Often we want to do the will of God, but we try and fail.
But do not give up, because this is a necessary process. God is training us. He is training us to be kings. It is only through such training that we begin to grow in kingly character.
So, brothers and sisters, if you read Romans 5, from Romans 5:1-5, it says:
Therefore being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
Through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand;
and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Thank God, we have been justified by faith. What do we have? We have peace toward God through Jesus Christ. This is our position. Now we are in favour with God because we are accepted in the Beloved.
We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We have a blessed hope. What is our blessed hope? It is that one day we may be part of the bride of the Lamb.
Today, the church is the body of Christ, and you are a member of that body. But when the body is fully developed, the Bridegroom, Christ, will come to claim that body as His bride. This is our blessed hope.
Here you find all the blessing and hope that God has given to us. But this is only one side. Do not forget that side, because without the blessed side, probably we would lose hope, lose faith, and lose love.
Whenever we think of what God has prepared for us, that gives us blessing and strength. Then you find, from Romans 5:3, “And not only so, but we also rejoice in tribulations.”
Here you find the other side: tribulation. You might think that because you believe in the Lord Jesus, tribulation is over. You can say that tribulation from the world, from sin, and from the enemy is over.
But thank God, there is another kind of tribulation coming to us. In other words, we will go through suffering for the kingdom’s sake.
It does not mean that, because we have such a blessed hope, the way is rosy. It means that, to arrive at that blessed hope, we have to go through many tribulations and many troubles.
Why is it so? It is because we still have this old Adam. He gives us trouble. But without such trouble and tribulation, he will not give up. He will not die, because humanly speaking, we always side with Adam.
But God is trying to deliver us from this Adamic life. How can we be delivered? We know that in deliverance there will be tribulation, pain, and something to give up.
Unless we are willing to give up ourselves, there is no way to enter into the vision that God has given us. This is the cost that we must pay.
So here you find that we rejoice in tribulation. We know what tribulation means. When the world looks at tribulation, they are afraid of it because tribulation works death. But for us, tribulation brings life.
Paul says, “Knowing that tribulation worketh patience.” How can we endure? Endurance simply means that when the pressure may be one hundred pounds upon you, you endure it because you are able to bear one hundred and ten pounds. That is endurance.
That is how endurance is developed. Tribulation actually develops endurance. Without tribulation, we have no endurance.
With tribulation, it seems as if it gives us strength and endurance, that we may be able to endure—to go beyond what the tribulation is.
Then, with endurance, comes experience. That is how we gain experience. We experience spiritual conflict. We experience spiritual victory.
With experience, there is blessed hope, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. So you find this is the way character is developed.
Now, will you please turn to 2 Peter 1? Second Peter 1:5-11.
Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence,
in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge;
And in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control patience;
and in your patience godliness;
And in your godliness brotherly kindness;
and in your brotherly kindness love.
For if these things are yours and abound,
they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful
unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near,
having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.
Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence
to make your calling and election sure:
for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble:
For thus shall be richly supplied unto you
the entrance into the eternal kingdom
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
So, brothers and sisters, this is character building. Without character building, we will not be able to enter richly into the kingdom of heaven.
You find that this is God’s way of training us.
That is why you find in Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12:5:
My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord,
Nor faint when thou art reproved of Him.
When the Lord brings us into tribulation, it is because He treats us as sons. If we are not His sons, He will not treat us in this way.
But because we are His sons, He loves us. Therefore, He wants to build us up until this kingly character is built in us.
You will not be able to have that kingly character unless you go through things. If you live a very easy life, with no challenge, then your life will be poor.
But if you go through a difficult life, with challenges all around you, it makes you strong.
So, brothers and sisters, God loves us as His sons, and that is the reason why He allows us to go through things. Not necessarily outward things; the most important thing is inward.
What God is working within you is more important than what God is working outside of you. Yes, sometimes God uses the environment to work on you, but the real working is the indwelling Spirit within you. He is teaching you in all things.
So the exhortation is, number one: do not faint.
We can faint whenever there is a conflict. We always feel it is too hard for us, and we cry to God, “Take it away from us.” We faint under it.
But the exhortation is: do not faint, because He helps us.
Now, if we do not faint, the other thing we can do is despise it. We despise it; in other words, we will not accept it.
You know, the cross is something that you can avoid if you want to. When God arranges a cross to come into your life, it crosses your thoughts, it crosses your feelings, and it crosses your determination.
But if it is a cross, it can be avoided. Yet, by the grace of God, are you willing to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him?
If you do not despise it, consider it as a favour of your Father, because He is working the kingly character in you. Do not faint under the pressure, by the grace of God.
In Hebrews 12:11, he says:
All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous;
yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them
that have been exercised thereby,
even the fruit of righteousness.
So, dear brothers and sisters, when we are talking about vision, let us remember that vision alone is not enough. It has to be followed by vocation.
Are we willing to offer ourselves to the Lord and say, “Lord, Thou art dealing with me as Thy son. Give me grace that I may be willing to be under Thy discipline and allow Thy discipline to work out its purpose”?
May we all enter into our vocation, in the sense that Christ will truly be all and in all in our lives, and that the church will truly be our hope.
So may the Lord have mercy upon us. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for loving us. Thou dost love us with a real love. Thou dost love us that we may be true sons of God, that we may really be Thy body, Thy bride.
So, Lord, open our understanding. Give us that willingness, that we may be willing to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Thee. May we consider this as a great reward.
We worship Thee in Thy precious name. Amen.