Let's turn to the letter to the Colossians.
The letter to the Colossians chapter 1.
We read from verse 15 through verse 19.
Colossians chapter 1 verse 15.
Who is image of the invisible God, firstborn
of all creation?
Because by Him were created all things, the
things in the heavens and the things upon
the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether
thrones or lordships or principalities or authorities.
All things have been created by Him and
for Him, and He is before all, and
all things subsist together by Him, and He
is the head of the body, the church.
Who is the beginning, firstborn from among the
dead, that He might have the first place
in all things?
For in Him all the fullness of the
Godhead was pleased to dwell.
Then the letter to the Ephesians chapter 1.
We read from verse 15 through verse 23.
Ephesians chapter 1 verse 15.
Wherefore I also, having heard of the faith
in the Lord Jesus that is in you,
and the love which He hath towards all
the saints, do not cease giving thanks for
you, making mention of you at my prayers,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, would give you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full
knowledge of Him, being enlightened in the eyes
of your heart, so that ye should know
what is the hope of His calling, and
what the riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saints, and what the surpassing
greatness of His power towards us who believe,
according to the working of the might of
His strength, in which He wrought in the
Christ, in raising Him from among the dead,
and He set Him down at His right
hand in the heavenlies, above every principality and
authority and power and dominion, and every name
named, not only in this age, but also
in that to come, and has put all
things under His feet, and gave Him to
be head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fullness of Him
who fills all in all.
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank
Thee for Thy precious word, but we do
pray that Thy word may not just be
word to us, but through the illumination of
the Holy Spirit, that Thy word may become
living to us.
Lord, we pray that Thou will grant us
the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
full knowledge of God.
We do acknowledge that unless Thou dost reveal
Thyself to us, reveal Thy Son in us,
Thou art beyond us.
We are not able to know Thee, and
to be filled with Thee.
So our Father, our prayer tonight is that
Thou will grant us the spirit of wisdom
and revelation, that we may know Thee.
We ask in Thy precious name.
Amen.
The burden that God has put in my
heart is this matter of unto-fullness.
Last night we began by saying that God
has called us to fullness.
Our God is a God of fullness.
Therefore His calling cannot be anything less than
fullness.
Anything that is less than fullness cannot represent
our God.
Therefore His calling is calling us unto His
fullness.
And we mentioned last night that the calling
and election, the calling of God knows no
repentance.
In other words, when God calls us, that's
what He will have.
He will not lower His calling.
He will not try to lower His calling
to suit our condition.
His calling knows no repentance.
And that is to say, He calls us
to know His fullness, and nothing less than
His fullness.
And because of this we find we have
a tremendous responsibility before God.
As we find in 2 Peter 1, it
says, we must make our calling and election
sure.
This is our responsibility.
He has called us, and now He waits
for us to respond to His calling.
Whether we will enter into the fullness that
He is calling us, or we will rather
just be contented with a little that we
know of Him.
Whether we will be like the children of
Israel who enter into the promised land and
possess their possession in fullness, or we will
be like the two tribes, the tribe of
Reuben and the tribe of Ged.
They were contented to stay on the eastern
side of the river Jordan.
They do not want to go over the
Jordan to know the fullness.
They would rather stay in the plain because
it's good for their cattle.
In other words, they love the blessing of
God, and they do not want the blessing.
Or worse than that, we may be like
the children of Israel who did come out
of Egypt, but they fell in the wilderness.
Because they live according to flesh.
So dear brothers and sisters, the calling is
out.
The calling is upon every one of us.
And we need to be really before the
Lord, asking the Lord to examine our hearts,
to show us what is our heart attitude
towards His calling.
Now this evening we would like to continue
on with the vision of fullness.
I believe brothers and sisters we are all
very familiar with that verse in Proverbs.
In Proverbs chapter 29 verse 18 it is
said, where there is no vision the people
perish.
And you will find in other versions where
there is no vision the people pass off,
restrained.
Or maybe put in another way where there
is no vision the people disintegrate.
The people scatter.
The people go to pieces.
Vision is most basic in things spiritual.
Now we mentioned last night that our God
is invisible.
He is not infinite.
But we are finite beings.
And because we are so limited, limited in
our capacity, limited in our understanding, therefore it
is very easy for us to limit our
God.
In a way God is really beyond us.
For a finite being to comprehend the infinite
God, it is impossible.
And that is the reason why you will
find vision is so important.
In other words, if it is left to
us to know God, we will never be
able to know Him.
You remember the Job chapter 11 verse 7
it is said, can anyone by searching know
God?
Can we know the Almighty to perfection?
It is impossible.
God is beyond us.
And we are so limited.
And that is the reason why we need
vision.
We need revelation.
When God reveals Himself then we got the
vision.
You know sometimes we quote a verse in
Isaiah chapter 45, it says, verse 15, that
God is a God who hides Himself.
Now if you read the context, you will
find that this verse does not refer to
God as a person.
It refers only to the ways of God.
The workings of God.
Now if this verse refers to God as
a person, then God in His very character,
in His very nature, He wants to hide
Himself from us.
Now if He shall hide Himself, now who
will be ever to know Him?
We will never be able to know Him.
But in reading the context, you will find
what it really means is here.
That the children of Israel, they do not
know what God is doing for them.
In other words, God is working salvation for
them.
And yet they do not know it.
And in that sense, it is as if
God is one who hides Himself.
Not that He hides Himself, but His way
is unknown.
His working is unknown to the children of
Israel.
As a matter of fact, our God is
a God who reveals.
Why?
The very name Jehovah means the self-existing
One who reveals Himself.
That is in the very name of our
Lord.
It is the pleasure, it is the delight
of our God to reveal Himself and to
reveal His Son in us.
And dear brothers and sisters, because this is
so, therefore there is hope for us to
know Him.
Our God is a God who reveals Himself.
And Paul said, it please God to reveal
His Son in me.
We need vision.
By vision we do not mean something that
you see with your naked eyes.
Now it is true sometimes God does condescend
Himself to our level, and sometimes does allow
us to see something even with our naked
eyes.
But we must remember that vision, strictly speaking,
is an unveiling of God's purpose.
Our dear brother Sparks, T.
Austin Sparks, in a message called The Saving
Power of Divine Vision, I do not know
if you have read it, it is in
that little book called The Ministry, Volume 1.
And in that he said, what is vision?
Vision means two, three things.
Number one a vision is the revealing of
God's purpose.
That is a vision.
Number two, a vision is the revealing of
the principles that govern God's purpose.
And number three, a vision tells us why
and how things have gone away from God's
purpose.
In other words, a vision should include these
three things.
The Holy Spirit.
He unveils the mind of God to us.
And He reveals that in our spirit.
And in our spirit we begin to see
God's eternal purpose.
We begin to understand the principles that govern
God's purpose.
And we also begin to understand why and
how things have gone astray.
Now when we see these in our spirit,
we have seen.
A vision.
Vision is so basic to our spiritual life.
Without vision we perish.
Without vision we go to pieces.
Without vision we just disintegrate.
We cast off all restraint.
Why?
Because only vision gives us direction.
Vision shows us the goal.
It shows us the way.
It gives us the strength.
It unites us together.
It enables us to endure.
In that same message our brother says, vision
is the dynamic of life.
It is like a fire that burns within
us.
And when cannot be quenched.
Vision is the cohesion of life.
It is only when we have one vision
that we are able to be really one.
And when there is vision, it means the
elimination of self.
Now that is what vision is.
When we come to this metal of fullness.
The fullness of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, we need vision.
If we do not have vision of the
fullness of God, then we do not know
what we are seeking.
And if we do not have that vision,
we do not have that incentive within us.
We will not have that inward force that
drives us on.
We will not have that fire that burns
within us and will not be quenched.
And without vision, we will not be able
to pay the cost that is always connected
with vision.
That is the reason why you find Apostle
Paul.
He prays.
When he is trying to share with the
Ephesian believers and with the Colossian believers, you
find that how he gave himself to prayer.
And you find in Ephesians chapter one, his
prayer is that God will give them the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full
knowledge of God.
In other words, Paul knows very well that
even if he tries his best to share
with the believers that which God has revealed
to him, to his spirit, by the Holy
Spirit, but even if when he tries to
share it with the believers, he knows that
unless they too receive revelation, what is shared
will just be words.
They will not be life.
And that is the reason why he prays.
He prays that God will grant them, give
them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in
the full knowledge of God.
And he not only prays once, but in
the letter to the Ephesians you will find
in the third chapter, he bows his knees
again.
In other words, after he has shared some
of the visions, then he prays again that
the vision may not just remain as vision,
but it may become vocation.
And again, this means the working of the
spirit of God.
So dear brothers and sisters, may we before
the Lord, as we are sharing this evening,
that God will give us the spirit of
wisdom and revelation.
That we may catch a vision of God.
That we may see the fullness that is
in God.
Now in this matter of the fullness that
God is calling us into, I think there
are two aspects of that fullness that we
must see.
One is the fullness of Christ.
And the other is the fullness of the
Church.
In the letter to the Colossians, we find
it is mentioned twice.
Once in chapter 1 verse 19, in him
the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to
dwell.
And again in chapter 2 verse 9 it
says, the fullness of the Godhead dwells in
him bodily, and ye are complete in him.
Now here we find a phrase, the fullness
of the Godhead.
The fullness of God.
The fullness of deity.
Now can we fathom the depth of that
fullness?
Our God is a God of fullness.
He is full.
Ever full.
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
In other words, there can be no improvement
to our God.
Why?
Because he is always full.
Perfect.
Complete.
You cannot add anything to him.
He is the ultimate.
The final.
This is our God.
And the fullness of the Godhead.
Think of his character, his attributes.
Our God is eternal.
And his eternal is full.
In other words, he has no beginning and
no ending.
Why?
Because he is the beginning and he is
the end.
He is the first and the last.
The Alpha and the Omega.
From eternity to eternity he is God.
There is no break in between.
His eternity is not only a matter of
time as we understand it.
But his eternity is also a matter of
quality.
In other words, he is eternally perfect.
Ever fresh, ever green, ever living.
There is no spot, no wrinkle.
No aging.
That is the eternity of God.
The fullness of eternity.
And then when you come to Psalm, say
Psalm 139, David's Psalm, and there you will
find David describe the omniscience, the omnipresence and
the omnipotence of God.
God knows everything.
He knows you are sitting down, you are
lying down, you are getting up.
He knows everything about you.
And no matter where you go he is
there.
You cannot escape him.
He is ever present and he is all
powerful.
Oh how he create us, how he made
us even in the womb of our mothers.
His mighty power is working there.
The knowledge of God is full.
Not partial.
The presence of God is full.
Everywhere.
The power of God is full.
Almighty.
There is nothing he cannot do.
You may think of the love of God.
And his love, the agape love of God
is full.
His love is not influenced, affected by external
environment.
His love just comes from himself.
No matter how we are, what we are.
He loves and he loves to the uttermost.
You can think of the holiness of God.
And even the seraphim, they have to hide
their face before God.
Because God is holy.
Holy, holy, holy.
God.
Almighty.
You can think of the glory of God.
When God appears, his glory appears.
And how glorious it is.
Always full.
So brothers and sisters, when we think of
the fullness of the Godhead, it is really
full.
And it is something that we just cannot
comprehend.
But the Bible says all the fullness of
the Godhead dwells in Christ and in him
bodily.
And we know the word dwells does not
mean a visit sometimes.
It means make its home.
The fullness of the Godhead takes up its
permanent residence in Christ.
And this is from eternity to eternity.
And this does not change when our Lord
Jesus came in the flesh.
Because all the fullness of the Godhead dwells
in him bodily.
Now this is the fullness of Christ.
If we can know the fullness of the
Godhead, then we know the fullness of Christ.
Because the fullness of Christ is nothing less
than the very fullness of the Godhead.
He is God.
The Son of God's
Son of God's.
You know I have to quote him often
now.
Because when you come to this area of
fullness, he is the one to quote.
And our brother often in his talk say
now, you make Christ small.
Christ is not small at all.
But you make him small.
And isn't it very true?
Our concept of Christ, our understanding of Christ,
our receiving Christ is so small, so limited,
and often times we think we have him
all.
We are deceived.
He is infinite.
There is a fullness in him that is
infinite.
And it is to that fullness that we
are called into.
Now I think probably the best way to
share on this matter of the fullness of
Christ is to use experience of one person.
We do not want to make it too
academic, theological, objective.
But we will try to approach it more
in a personal subjective way.
So that we can see that this fullness
of Christ is not something that we speculate.
But it is something that we really can
enter into.
And when we enter into that fullness, what
a change it will be.
And I believe you know whom I am
trying to say.
The Apostle Paul.
Before the Apostle Paul was converted, he is
the great Pharisee Saul.
And in those days, his view of Christ,
Jesus, was bound by the tradition of the
Jewish fathers.
Now we have to acknowledge that the tradition
of the fathers, of the Jewish fathers, if
you compare it with the traditions around the
world, it is the best of traditions.
But here you will find this great Pharisee
Saul.
He was brought up according to the tradition
of his fathers.
And because of this you will find his
view of Christ was so distorted.
He considered Jesus as an imposter of Judaism.
As an enemy of Judaism.
And he took upon himself to wipe out
the name of Jesus.
Thinking that by doing so he would do
God a great service.
And he did it with zeal.
That shows how the natural man can never
know Christ.
But we know that on the way to
Damascus, a light shone upon him.
And he fell under that light.
He heard a voice.
Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
Don't you know it is hard for you
to kick against the goat?
And there he received a revelation.
He saw a vision.
He realized that Jesus of Nazareth was the
one whom he despised.
He is actually the Lord of all.
You cannot resist him.
Because the Lord said, why do you persecute
me?
Don't you know it is hard for you
to kick against the goat?
Now we know that in the old days,
when a farmer is plowing the field, he
will use an ox.
The plow, the yoke will be upon the
neck of the cow.
And the ox will be on it and
it will be connected with a yoke.
And the farmer's hand, one hand he will
guide the yoke.
And on the other hand he will have
a sharp instrument called a goat.
Then he will drive this ox to till
the land.
But you know the ox has his own
will.
Stubborn ox.
And sometimes you know the ox wants to
go its own way.
And if it goes its own way, then
you will find the plow will not be
straight.
So the farmer has to apply a little
discipline.
We are talking about discipline in the afternoon.
I am glad that many people came in
the afternoon, but I hope more people will
come.
Because we need discipline.
And here you will find the farmer will
use the goat and touch the leg of
the ox.
Now he has no intention to hurt the
ox.
So he will just touch it gently.
To let the ox know that he has
a master.
But the ox is so stubborn he kicks
back.
And in kicking back it hurts.
And after being hurt a few times, he
began to realize that he is not his
own master.
But he has a master.
And it is better for him to obey.
So on that day on the road of
Damascus, Paul saw for the first time, realized
that he has a master.
You know he was such a strong person.
He thought he was his own master.
He was doing whatever he felt he should
do.
And now he began to realize that he
was not free.
He was an ox in the hand of
the farmer.
He belongs to someone.
And someone has a purpose for his life.
To do the work of his master.
Not to do his own work.
But when he is doing his own work,
going his own way, trying to be his
own master, then he is being touched by
that ghost.
And the Lord said, don't kick.
It is hard for you to kick against
the ghost.
You better surrender.
Capitulate.
And be obedient.
So on the road of Damascus you find
Paul, for the first time, by revelation, envisioning
he saw the righteous one.
He realized that Jesus of Nazareth is not
someone you can despise and wipe out.
He is the Lord of your life.
He is the Lord of all.
And thank God you find this man immediately
capitulated.
He said, Lord, what do you want me
to do?
Now you are my Lord, my master.
I belong to you.
But it is more than that.
Because in Galatians chapter 1, Paul said, it
pleased God to reveal his Son in me.
And he refers to his experience on the
road to Damascus.
In other words, you find that on the
road to Damascus he not only realized that
Jesus is Lord, Lord of his life, but
he also get a revelation of the Son.
This Jesus that is now made Lord of
all, is God's beloved Son.
God's only begotten Son.
The Son of God's love.
The very center of God's heart.
The very meaning of everything.
Not only God has revealed the Son to
him, but he said God has revealed the
Son in me.
In me.
Not only who he is, but what he
is.
In me.
Now dear brothers and sisters, this is a
great revelation.
To know the Son of God.
To know the Son in me.
He is in me.
The Son is in me.
And what does it mean?
It can mean only one thing.
And that is, the Son in me is
to bring me into Sonship.
That one day, the Son, the Son of
God, the Son of God will come.
The firstborn.
They bring many sons into glory.
Now, of course, we cannot say that Paul,
at that moment, he saw everything, but it
was the beginning.
And here you find he began to see
something of Christ.
He began to see that Christ is the
Son of God.
And he is the Lord of all.
He went to Damascus.
He was blinded by the light.
And on the third day, an anise came,
laid his hand on him, and said, Brother
Saul, God wants you to see.
And his eyes were opened.
And the Bible says in Acts chapter 9
verse 20, Saul, he immediately joined himself with
the disciples in Damascus.
He went in and out with them, and
he began to preach that Jesus is the
Son of God.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, you cannot testify
to what you do not know.
But what you have seen and heard, you
testify.
So Paul, he has seen Jesus as the
Son of God.
All the purposes of God are centered upon
that Son of God.
And that Son has once come into this
world to be a man, Jesus of Nazareth.
But God has exalted Him and made Him
Lord of all.
Paul began to preach Jesus as the Son.
That is the beginning of his seeing the
fullness.
But then we know he went to Arabia.
He went to the desert.
Instead of going to Jerusalem to see the
apostles that were before him, he went off
to Arabia, to the desert.
And he was there for about three years
time.
Now even though we do not know what
he was doing there, but I think one
thing we can be sure and that is
this great Pharisee.
Pharisee.
Who knew the Old Testament, the Bible, so
well.
But only in the light of the traditions
of the Father.
Now he was converted to Christ.
He has found Jesus.
So he really needed the time to go
away to beautiful God to re-read the
Old Testament.
In the new light that he has found.
In other words, he is reading the Old
Testament in the light of Jesus.
These times, hidden years in Arabia, must be
very precious.
He must have received much directly from God.
When he came back to Damascus, then you
find in Acts chapter 9 verse 22.
He began to reason with the Jews, and
come to the land, founded them, proving to
them that Jesus is the Christ.
You know the difference here?
When he first met the Lord on the
road to Damascus, he began to preach that
Jesus is the Son of God.
But when he came back from Arabia, he
began to prove that Jesus is the Christ.
Now how did he prove him?
Of course, through the Old Testament.
In other words, he proved through the prophets.
Through the five books of Moses, through the
prophets, through the Psalms.
He proved to the Jews that this Jesus,
the Son of God, is the Christ of
God.
That Jesus is the Anointed.
He is the Messiah, the Saint One.
He is the One who comes to fulfill
a mission.
Even the work of redemption.
Aiding Him is salvation.
Ignore what else.
So you find that his vision of Christ
gets deeper.
That Christ is not only the Son of
God, but He is also the Christ of
God.
Now brothers and sisters, do we know Jesus
as the Son of God?
We do.
But to what degree?
Do we know Jesus as the Christ of
God?
We do.
But how much?
How much?
If Paul, if Paul was converted in
the year 33 to 36 A.D. Now
we do not know for sure, but approximately
Paul probably was converted in the year 33
to 36, around that year.
And he went to Arabia for three years.
He went to Jerusalem.
He was sent away because he was too
hot.
And he was sent away to Cilicia in
Syria.
And we do not know exactly how long
it must be, a number of years, until
he was found by Barnabas and brought back
to Antioch.
That probably is in the year 44 A
.D. And then you find, after they served
the Lord there together in Antioch for some
time, God called them out, Barnabas and Paul,
out on the apostolic work that you find
in Acts chapter 13.
And when they first went out, it was
probably in the year 47 to 48 A
.D. That is when they first started out.
And you find that they went out once,
twice, three times, and approximately 11 years
of apostolic work.
Then he was taken in Jerusalem.
Probably around the year 58.
And he was in prison more than four
years.
Two years in Caesarea, and two years in
Rome, but sometime in Jerusalem.
So you find that another four or five
years passed, he was released.
And then he was retaken, again, probably in
the year 67 or 68 A.D. So
when you read the history of this man,
from the day, from the time he was
saved, you find
that it covers approximately a period of 33
to 34 years.
Now it is very strange, you know.
I should not use the word strange, but
wonderful.
Because our Lord Jesus, he was on earth
for 33 years, and half probably.
And then if you read the book of
Acts, you find the record of the book
of Acts covered about 33 years.
And here you find that man Paul, from
the day of his conversion to his martyrdom,
again it is about 33-34 years.
But during those 33-34 years, you find
that his vision of the fullness of Christ
ever increases.
There is always an increasing in his vision
of the fullness of Christ.
Now brothers and sisters, that is what it
should be.
Because Christ is infinite.
The fullness of Christ is infinite.
It is not something that we can just
get it all at once.
But it takes time.
It takes eternity.
It takes revelation after revelation.
Our vision needs to be deepened, to be
widened, broadened.
Our horizon has to be broadened all the
time.
We need to know Christ, the fullness of
Christ, again, again, again, and there is no
end to it.
Brothers and sisters, we can not stay put
in this matter of knowing Christ.
And this is the passion in the heart
of Paul.
You know when he wrote Philippians, he showed
us this is his one passion, to know
Christ, to know Him.
Even at this time, period of his life,
you find he is still driving on with
that fire, with that passion of knowing Christ.
And this is what we should have in
us.
You know if we read his letters, probably
we can find some hints of his increasing
vision of the fullness of Christ.
We know Paul was used of God to
write a number of letters in the New
Testament.
And these letters, roughly, you can group them
into four groups, chronologically speaking.
The first group of his writings, of course
we know are 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.
Now these are written approximately in A.D.
52-53.
These are the two first letters he wrote.
Now he wrote to a young church.
And in these two letters, you find that
at that period of time.
Now of course, it has something to do
with the condition of the church in Thessalonians
too.
And it has something to do with the
circumstances at the moment.
But still you find the burden in Paul's
heart.
Or that which really occupies Paul's heart.
If you read these two letters, you find
it is the second coming of the Lord.
He mentioned again and again in these two
letters, the coming of the Lord.
The presence of the Lord.
It is a day that we look forward
to.
And how he longed and prayed that not
only he may stand before Christ blameless, but
how he prayed that he may present these
Thessalonian believers to Christ in that way too.
It is a day of reward.
When Christ shall return and reward his own.
But it is also a day of judgment
so far as the world is concerned.
So you know that during that time in
the first missionary, in the early missionary trips,
you find that which occupies his heart is
this coming of the Lord.
And dear brothers and sisters, surely we should
be occupied with that.
As our brother mentioned in the morning, it
is our responsibility and privilege that we may
not only wait for his coming, but actually
to face his coming.
Then the second group of letters he wrote
are the first and second Corinthians, Galatians and
Romans.
Now these were written probably in the year
A.D. 57-58.
And then you find in these letters Paul
thought it is occupied with something.
In 1 Corinthians of course, you find he
said I know nothing among you but Jesus
Christ and him crucified.
In other words, he sees the centrality of
the cross.
All the problems of the Corinthians are due
to the fact they do not know Christ
crucified.
Then in the second letter to the Corinthians,
you find he mentioned Christ exalted.
In 1 Corinthians it is the cross.
In 2 Corinthians it is resurrection.
You know brothers and sisters, the cross is
the foundation of our spiritual life.
But the cross is not the end.
The cross is the means to an end.
It is through the cross, through death and
burial, that resurrection comes into being.
We need to know the cross of Christ
working in our lives.
Because without the cross we have no foundation.
But we also need to know the resurrection
of the Lord.
Christ lives in us.
Reigns in our lives.
That is what occupies Paul.
And then of course in Galatians, he is
telling us what the gospel is not.
And in Romans he tells us what the
gospel is.
The gospel is Christ.
The Son of God.
Christ.
He is the gospel.
And there is none else.
Now this is the second group of this
letter.
So you will see that during that period,
again we say there are external circumstances for
these letters.
But still you will find in the heart
of Paul, he began to see more and
more of the cross of Christ.
He began to experience more and more of
the power of his resurrection.
He began to see clearer and clearer of
what the gospel is not and what the
gospel really is.
It is Christ.
He is the gospel.
Then you come to the fourth group.
Third group.
And of course the third group are the
prison letters.
These are Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon.
And these four are prison letters.
And they are written probably in the year
61 to 63 AD.
And here in a sense you find Paul,
even though he was in prison and yet
his spirit soared to the third heaven.
In the letter to the Ephesians he shows
us the fullness of Christ in the church.
The church is the fullness.
And in the letter to the Colossians he
shows us the fullness of the gospel dwells
in Christ.
In other words, here you will find Paul,
in his own understanding and experience, he has
entered deeper and deeper into the fullness that
is in God.
And that is something he tried to share
with the Ephesians and the Colossians.
Now what about Philippians and Philemon?
You know, if Colossians and Ephesians tell us
more of the truth of the fullness, then
Philippians and Philemon shows us more of the
overflowing of the life, the fullness of life.
Paul.
He knew so much of the fullness that
is in Christ, that you find that fullness
just flows out from him towards the Philippian
believers.
He was able to comfort them instead of
needing to be comforted.
Love just flowed from the prisoner, Paul, to
the Philippian believers.
And in Philemon, that little letter, you find
that Paul reveals to us the love of
God in Christ.
It is a beautiful, beautiful, the overflowing of
the fullness of Christ in that man.
Then finally, of course, he was released and
for a few years before his martyrdom.
And you will find the fourth group of
his writings.
1 Timothy, Titus and 2 Timothy.
And we may say that in these letters
you will find it deals with the recovery
of the testimony of Jesus.
He shows us what the church is.
It is the instrument, the vessel of God's
testimony.
And how it should be maintained.
But when there is declension, the testimony of
Jesus continues on with those few who are
faithful.
So dear brothers and sisters, as you read
his letters, in a sense it does give
you an understanding that this man, his vision
of the fullness of Christ seems to get
fuller and fuller and fuller.
And this is what it ought to be
with every one of us.
Dear brothers and sisters, is our vision of
Christ, is our vision of Christ, is up
somewhere.
Or, by the grace of God, there is
an ever advancing, increasing, progressing, broadening horizon
of the fullness.
And again we say there is no end
to it.
But then there is another aspect of the
fullness that is in God that we need
to catch a vision.
And it is the fullness of the church.
You know in Ephesians chapter one it says,
God has made him, Christ, head over all
things to the church, which is his body.
The fullness of him who fills all evil.
That is what the church is.
You know the church is a mystery.
It was hidden through the ages.
The prophets in the Old Testament, they did
not know the church.
They did not have this knowledge that there
will be the church.
God had not revealed to them.
And even though the children of Israel, the
chosen people of God, in a sense, they
serve as a type of the church, of
the New Testament.
But there is a great difference, because the
nation of Israel is an earthly nation, people.
While the church is an heavenly.
So in the Old Testament time, the church
is hidden.
It is hidden in God.
God has not revealed it.
Even though you will find in types, like
the tabernacle and so forth, and yet you
will find it has not been revealed.
It was unknown.
And when our Lord Jesus was on the
earth, strangely you will find only two times
he mentioned the word church.
You know he came for that purpose.
But throughout his life you will find he
mentioned the church only twice.
Once in Matthew chapter 16 he said, I
will build my church upon this rock, and
the gates of Hades shall not prevail against
it.
You are Peter, a stone.
I will build my church upon this rock,
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail
against it.
And then in Matthew chapter 18 he said,
if your brother sin against you, you go
in love, and try to show him.
And if he does not listen to you,
then you get one or two other brothers,
and try to go and convince him.
And if he does not listen to you,
then you tell the church.
Now these are the only two times.
In Matthew 16 the Lord said, I will
build my church.
The church is something that the Lord comes
to build.
I wonder if that very word build immediately
strike a chord within us.
You know in Genesis God took out something
from Adam, and with that something he built
a woman.
And he brought that woman to the man.
And they were joined into one.
The Lord said, I will build my church.
How does he build his church?
Out of his tears and sighs.
Comes forth blood.
Something that comes out of him.
And with that he builds.
But then in Matthew 18 he said, tell
it to the church.
Can you just go to a physical building
and tell it?
And will that physical building act?
Of course we know.
It does not refer to a physical building.
It refers to those who are called, gathered
together unto the name of the Lord Jesus.
But these are the only two times our
Lord mentioned about the church.
But then you find in the book of
Acts, on the day of Pentecost, we often
say historically speaking, on the day of Pentecost
the church was born.
And to Peter, he looked upon the church
as a building.
Now this is in a sense easy for
him because with the Jewish people they have
the tabernacle and the temple.
So naturally when Peter, you find in 1
Peter 2 verse 5 he said, we are
as living stones because he is one.
And as we come to the Lord we
are as living stones being built up together
into a spiritual house.
But Peter understands that this temple, this tabernacle
is not made of wood, is not made
even of gold or of stone, but it
is made of living stones.
People like him.
And it is a spiritual house.
It is not a physical house.
It is a spiritual house.
That's the understanding of Peter about the church.
And then to the Apostle John his understanding
of the church is a household of God,
the family of God.
And that idea again is not foreign to
a Jewish mind.
Because God's people is a family.
But it is to the Apostle Paul.
You find there is revelation given concerning the
fullness of the church.
On the road to Damascus he heard a
voice, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute?
It is a revelation.
If there is no revelation, how will you
answer that question?
The natural answer would be, I have never
persecuted you.
I didn't have a chance.
I only persecuted your followers.
Now that is without revelation.
But with revelation, when the Lord said, Peter,
Paul, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
Immediately he saw in his spirit that these
followers of Christ in Jerusalem, in the cities
of Judea, and even in Damascus, these people,
they are parts of Christ.
It is as if when you touch a
member of the body, the head complains.
So there on the road of Damascus, dear
brothers and sisters, it is a tremendous revelation.
He not only began to come to see
the fullness of Christ, but he also began
to see the fullness of the church.
What is the church?
The church is none other but a body
of Christ.
A body that is joined to the head.
And because the body is joined to the
head, it is the fullness of the head.
The head fills the body, all and equal.
He began to see the church as the
body of Christ.
He began to see there is not only
a relationship between him and the head, but
also a relationship between him and other members
of the body.
So immediately he joined himself with the disciples
in Damascus.
You cannot be an independent Christian if you
see what the church did.
Often times we find we become rather independent
in our Christian life.
We often hear such term as my Lord
and I.
And that seems to be very spiritual.
I do not care about you.
I do not need you.
I have my Lord and I.
And that is all I need.
If you see the church as the body
of Christ, then you will find that you
are not alone.
But you are related.
Not only to the Lord your head, but
you are related to your brothers and sisters.
And there is only one body.
And all those who are the Lord are
in that body.
You have no choice.
You cannot choose your brothers and sisters.
You are born into that body, into that
family.
And therefore it is better that you begin
to love one another.
If you see the body of Christ, you
are delivered not only from independence, but also
from sectarianism.
Because Christ is not divided.
The body is one.
But dear brothers and sisters, you find that
to see the church as the body of
Christ, that we are one body.
We cannot be divided.
We are together.
But that is not enough.
You find when Paul begins to share his
vision of the church as the body of
Christ, he said this body needs to be
built up together.
Yes, here is the body.
But this body needs to be built up.
And how is it to be built up?
Brothers and sisters, unless we are committed to
the Lord and to one another, there is
no way to be built up.
God has sovereignly put us together.
But our flesh rebels against Him.
We want to choose with whom we will
be built up together.
Those of the same temperament, those that are
like we are.
And that is the reason why you find
God's people, when God has thrown them together
as it were, they are just like a
pile and not built up together.
And sooner or later you will find that
pile disintegrate, scatter.
No commitment.
For us to be built up together we
need to be committed.
Committed to the Lord.
And in Him we are committed to one
another.
And then brothers and sisters, as you go
on with the apostle, you will find that
more and more the apostle began to see
and began to share and said, well, what
is this body?
This body is made up of believers, those
who are called, gathered together unto the name
of Christ.
But it is more than that.
Because what is it?
He said, this is nothing but the Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 12, it says, the body
is one, but there are many members.
And the members are many, but the body
is one.
So also is the Christ.
You know, some people point out that in
the original, you find sometimes Christ without an
article, the before it.
Sometimes there is the article before it in
the original manuscript.
And it makes a great difference.
When Christ is mentioned alone without an article,
it points to Christ, the personal Christ.
But when it has the the there, it
points to Christ in His corporate expression.
Corporateness.
So also is the Christ.
What is the church?
The church is the body.
The body is the Christ.
In other words, the church is Christ in
you, Christ in me, it is Christ and
nothing else.
It is the very extension of Christ.
The problem with the building of the church,
the greatest problem is me.
And in the Christ, Christ is all and
in all.
This I, this me, has to be eliminated
by the Christ.
So you find that as you begin to
see the fullness of the church, it is
nothing than the fullness of Christ.
Christ all and in all.
Brothers and sisters, it really demands our very
life.
Our self-life has to go.
If you read 1 Corinthians the writings of
the Apostle Paul, you find this is what
God has revealed to him.
And he is sent out on apostolic work.
And what is this apostolic work?
To build the church.
So brothers and sisters, may we catch a
vision of the fullness.
And also a vision of the fullness of
the church.
Because without that vision, we will not have
that incentive within us.
In our spiritual pursuit, there is no direction.
The one thing that touched me very deeply
in my travel is, I find people acknowledge,
they love the Lord, but they say we
have no direction.
We do not know where we are heading.
There is no vision.
And the people perish.
So let us ask the Lord to open
our eyes, to reveal the fullness of Christ
and of the church.
And when we see that fullness, brothers and
sisters, we will be like Paul.
We will forget what is behind us.
And we will press on.
Dear Heavenly Father, we acknowledge that we are
finite beings.
Thou art infinite.
Thy fullness is beyond our comprehension.
But we do praise and thank Thee because
Thou art the God who reveals Thyself.
And it does please me to reveal Thy
Son in us.
So Father, it is the prayer of our
hearts tonight, that Thou will continue to reveal
Him to us in the ever increasing, that
we may know the fullness that is in
Christ.
Oh that it may draw us on, draw
us into Him.
And we as Thy people, not only individually
but corporately, may know the fullness.
That we may truly be that fullness.