The stewardship of God which was entrusted to us is the stewardship of grace, which involves our enjoyment of the riches of Christ and our dispensing the riches of Christ into others according to God’s economy.
When God’s economy reaches us, it becomes our stewardship, for it is impossible for us to really enjoy the riches of Christ and not be overflowing with these riches toward others, especially toward those closest to us.
In the Lord’s recovery there’s a great need for more stewards, faithful stewards who are able to complete the word of God as Paul did by ministering the riches of Christ to others.
Yes, the gospel of grace was preached to all the earth, but what about the full gospel of God related to Christ and the church and consummating in the New Jerusalem? Who will rise up to speak the full gospel of God, and who will pay the price to first be constituted with the riches in God’s word and then minister the full word of God to impart the divine revelation to others?
Paul’s stewardship, of which he spoke both in Col. 1:24-27 and in 1 Cor. 4:1-2, was to complete the word of God, so that he may dispense Christ with all His riches into the churches.
When we hear of the stewardship of God given to us, to all the saints, we may think it is about doing lots of practical things in the church, taking care of this and that, or visiting the saints or those in need.
But the stewardship of God is related to the economy of God, which is to dispense Himself into man so that He may obtain a corporate expression of Himself.
God desires to dispense Himself with all His riches into man, but He would not do this in or by Himself – He wants to gain some stewards who carry out the stewardship of grace!
He wants to gain you and me, the believers in Christ, to enjoy the unsearchable riches of Christ and remain under the divine dispensing, so that we may minister the riches of Christ to others.
Satan, on the other hand, is seeking to nullify the completion of the word of God; he wants to veil the word, which has been completed. So he as the god of this age blinds the eyes of the unbelievers that they may not see the riches of Christ.
Therefore, we need to enjoy the Lord all the more, be filled with His riches, and remain under the divine dispensing, so that those whom we talk to would not only receive some words from the Bible but even more, they would receive the divine dispensing!
The Stewardship of Grace is the Dispensing of the Grace of God into us for the Building of the Church
In Eph. 3:2 Paul said, If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God which was given to me for you. In Greek the word rendered “stewardship” is the same word rendered “economy” in Eph. 1:10 and 3:9.
What is the stewardship of grace, and does this differ from the stewardship of God spoken of in Col. 1:25? The stewardship of grace is nothing else but the dispensing of the grace of God into His chosen people for the producing and building up of the church.
Out of this stewardship comes the ministry of all the stewards in the house of God, and these stewards minister Christ as God’s grace to His household.
In Greek the word for stewardship is oikonomia; when this word was used in ancient times, it denoted a stewardship, a dispensation, or an administration.
In the old days there were many rich families who had many members, and they had stewards whose responsibility was to distribute food and other necessities to the members of the household.
Our heavenly Father has a great family, a divine household, and all believers in Christ are part of God’s household. Because our Father has such vast riches, there’s the need in His household for many stewards who would carry out the stewardship of grace, those who would dispense these riches to God’s children.
Who would be those who feed the people of God, giving them food at the appointed time?
The stewardship of grace is the dispensing of the grace of God into us and then through us into others for the producing and building up of the church.
So our ministry in the Body is a dispensing ministry, and we are ministers of God; this ministry of dispensing is also God’s administration.
How does God administrate His house today? It is by dispensing Himself into us. This dispensation, this administration, is God’s economy. Wow! Seeing this we can all realize that in the New Testament economy of God there’s the desperate need for the stewardship of grace.
We all have been entrusted with the stewardship of grace, that is, we all have been entrusted with the dispensing of the riches of Christ for the producing and building up of the church.
Grace in Eph. 3, according to the context, refers to the riches of Christ; when Christ’s riches are enjoyed by us, they become grace.
Paul enjoyed Christ; he enjoyed the unsearchable riches of Christ, and his ministry was to dispense the riches of Christ as grace to the believers.
We need to do the same; our stewardship of grace is to enjoy the riches of Christ and exercise to have an outflow, a flowing out of the riches of Christ enjoyed by us and constituted into us.
No matter how young we may be, and no matter how recently we have been saved, as long as we enjoy the riches of Christ, we will have something to dispense into others, thus fulfilling our stewardship of grace.
Even the high-schoolers can exercise to enjoy the riches of Christ and then dispense these riches as the grace of God to their classmates. No matter how insignificant we may seem to be, we all have a stewardship according to God’s economy!
Thank You Lord for entrusting us with the stewardship of grace so that we may enjoy the riches of Christ and minister these riches as grace to others for the building up of the church! Hallelujah, all believers in Christ have a stewardship – all believers can be those who dispense God into man! Amen, Lord, we want to exercise our stewardship according to Your economy to both receive the divine dispensing to be filled with the riches of Christ, and also to dispense the riches of Christ as grace into those around us for the building up of the church!
Sharing in God’s Economy by carrying out our Stewardship of Grace to Dispense God into man
God is rich, infinitely rich, but He wants to dispense Himself into man; the central point of the Bible is that the desire of God’s heart is to dispense Himself into man.
For Him to do this, in eternity past He purposed to dispense Himself into man, and in time He became a man, died on the cross to redeem us, and became a life-giving Spirit to provide a way for God to be dispensed into man.
Hallelujah, now all believers in Christ who received Him have a stewardship, which the Bible calls, the stewardship of grace, which is to dispense God into man!
God’s economy is to carry out His dispensing of Himself into man; however, He doesn’t do it in and by Himself but through His stewards, that is, through man.
He used a steward called Paul, and this one completed the word of God and ministered the riches of Christ for the building up of the church.
We may read Paul’s writings, however, and think that we can’t minister Christ to this level and in such a way…however, in Eph. 3:8 he said that he was less than the least of all the saints…so if he was entrusted with this stewardship, much more were also we!
We can even say that Paul was smaller than us – actually he says so…so if Paul could be a stewards, so can we be stewards, and we can dispense the riches of Christ into others!
We can all have a share in God’s economy – which is to dispense Himself into man – by carrying out our stewardship of grace to dispense God into man.
We simply need to be in the Lord’s presence, contact Him, be infused with Him through His word, and enjoy His riches; after these riches have been dispensed into us, we need to take up the burden to dispense them into others.
With God, these riches are His economy; with us, they are the stewardship of grace, and when they are dispensed by us into others, they are God’s dispensation.
How marvellous it is that we can be those sharing in God’s economy by carrying out our stewardship to dispense the riches of Christ into others! Wow, we can share in the economy of God through our stewardship, through our ministry of dispensing the riches of Christ.
In other words, we need to be the best receivers and enjoyers of the riches of God reaching us as grace, and we need to be the best dispensers of these riches that we have enjoyed, digested, assimilated, and experienced into others for the building up of the church!
We need to continually be receiving and dispensing Christ with all His riches into others. The only way we can dispense the riches of Christ is by enjoying these riches ourselves; we cannot give others what we don’t have, and we cannot dispense what we do not enjoy.
As we do the mundane things and even practical things around the house, in the meeting hall, and in the home meetings, we can dispense into others something of the riches of Christ constituted into our being.
Lord, we want to share in God’s economy by receiving and enjoying the riches of Christ as grace, and by dispensing these riches into others for the building up of the church. Amen, Lord, make us the best receivers, enjoyers, and dispensers of the grace of God so that we may fulfill our stewardship of grace! May we not only enjoy the grace of God but also pick up the burden to minister and dispense the riches of Christ into others. Lord, by Your mercy and grace, we want to carry out our stewardship of grace by enjoying the unsearchable riches of Christ and dispensing these riches into those around us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 28 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man (2019 fall ITERO), week 8, Carrying Out the Stewardship of God for the One New Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
– ’Tis by serving in the Body / Riches of the Head we share; / ’Tis by functioning as members / Christ’s full measure we will bear. (Hymns #913)
– Grace in its highest definition is / God in the Son to be enjoyed by us; / It is not only something done or giv’n, / But God Himself, our portion glorious. (Hymns #497)
– So shall we not delight to give / Ourselves in every way, / And let the Lord dispense Himself / Into us more each day; / The grace that we receive each day, / Though hidden oft, and small, / Is God Himself wrought into us, / That day to shine o’er all. (Hymns #1321)
About aGodMan
