Ten Crucial Points in the Administration of the Church for our Prayerful Consideration

In Paul’s writings and in his living we see ten crucial points in the administration of the church; we need to prayerfully consider these and allow the Holy Spirit to inscribe them in the tablets of our heart so that we may live in them.

As we get into the word of God and in the ministry, the Spirit is writing on our heart, and we become letters of Christ to express Him.

Paul told the Corinthians that they were a letter or Christ ministered by the apostles, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tablets or stone but in the hearts of flesh (2 Cor. 3:3).

Paul realised that his function in the new covenant ministry was to produce letters of Christ, so that when others look at the believers, they see Christ, they read Christ, and Christ is conveyed in their being.

Today we want to see the ten crucial points in the administration of the church by the pattern of Paul, and we want to cooperate with the Lord by praying over these so that the Holy Spirit would inscribe them in our very being so that we may take care of the saints in the church according to God and be one with the Lord in his administrating the church.

Ten Crucial Points in the Administration of the Church for our Prayerful Consideration

1. We need to have Christ revealed in us and announce the living Christ whom God was pleased to reveal in us.

First, in Galatians 1:15-16 Paul says that he served God because it pleased God to reveal His Son in him that he might announce Him as the gospel among the Gentiles. Therefore, Paul announced the living Christ whom God had revealed in him, not knowledge or doctrine (cf. Acts 26:16-19).

What we should announce to others is not knowledge, Scriptural doctrines, or objective facts concerning God and Christ; we should speak concerning the living Christ in us, the Christ whom the Father was well pleased to reveal in us.

2. We need to realise that Christ is our life and the life of the Body, and we should take Christ as life and live by Him as our life.

Second, we must clearly see that Christ is “our life” (Col. 3:4); Christ being our life means that He is the life of the Body, of the new man. He’s our life not just to us as an individual Christian but to the whole body, the church.

Furthermore, the fact that Christ is our life is a strong indication that we are to take Him as life and live by Him, that we are to live Him in our daily life in order to experience the universally extensive Christ revealed in Colossians, so that all He is and has attained and obtained will not remain objective but will become our subjective experience. Amen.

Lord, may we clearly see that Christ is our life, and may we take Christ as our life to live by him so that Christ may live in us!

3. We need to realise our need to live Christ. Third, along with Paul, we need to realize that we need to live in Christ. Paul said, “I…have died to law that I might live to God…And the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:19-20).

Our need is not to do something for God or for God to do something for us but for us to live Christ. The life we now live in the flesh should be in faith, in the organic union with the Lord, so that Christ may live in us.

4. We need to realise that we have been terminated on the cross. Fourth, we need to see that what we are and have has been terminated on the cross, for in his death on the cross Christ terminated everything and everyone.

Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). All that we are, all we have, all we can do, and everything about us has been already terminated on the cross by Christ.

Praise You Lord, You have terminated us on the cross. Hallelujah, we have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer us who live but Christ who lives in us. Amen, Lord, we are crucified with You.

5. We shouldn’t serve according to what we are, for we have been terminated by Christ. Fifth, we must not serve according to what we are or what we have in ourselves.

In Galatians 6:14 Paul says, “The world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” With respect to our self, we need to realise that we have been terminated by the cross and we should no longer live in the self or according to the former self.

We have been finished, and now Christ has to live and be expressed through us.

6. Our unique goal should be to dispense Christ into others for Christ to grow in them and be formed in them.

Sixth, Paul’s unique goal, and ours, should be to dispense Christ into others so that Christ could increase in them. In Galatians 4:19 he says, “I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.” This should be our unique goal in our administration of the church and in meeting with the saints or caring for the new ones.

Sometimes we may have the goal of helping others with some practical matter or perfecting them in some area of their character, but ultimately our goal should be to dispense Christ into them.

In whatever practical thing we are doing, we need to have the goal of ministering Christ into others for Christ to increase in them and be formed in them.

7. We shouldn’t expect that others change but that they would gain more Christ and be gained by Christ.

Seventh, we should not expect those with whom we serve to change in any way; instead, we should desire only that they gain Christ, be filled with Christ, and be fully gained by Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 2:2 Paul says, “I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified.”

There were many problems at that time in the church in Corinth, for some were fleshly, others were fleshy; some had sinned; some were fervent toward the Jewish religion, others sought signs; some sought philosophical knowledge, while others sought spiritual gifts.

But Paul didn’t correct them or improve them; he simply preached Christ crucified, and he cared only for the increase or Christ in them.

We may have the expectation that those around us or with whom we serve would improve or at least change a bit, but our only desire and goal should be that they gain Christ and be gained by Christ.

Lord Jesus, may we have no expectations from others to change, but may we learn to minister Christ for them to gain Christ, be filled with Christ, and be gained by Christ fully. May our only expectation would be that the saints would know Christ, grow in Christ, and be filled with Christ.

8. The unique result of our service and work in the administration of the church should be that Christ would be produced in the church, that Christ would grow in all the saints, and that we all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

Eighth, we must clearly see that there should only be one result in our service, work, and administration of the church — the unique result should be that Christ must be produced in the church so that everyone has Christ, so that Christ increases in every member, and so that all will arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13).

In 2 Corinthians 4:12 Paul says, “Death operates in us, but life in you.” We may have to sometimes remain in the death waters, experiencing the death of Christ, so that life and Christ would increase in others in the church.

The result of our work should be Christ, that is, Christ growing in the saints and being lived out in them. Through our work and service in the administration of the church we should bring man into Christ and cause the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ to grow in the church.

Oh Lord, may the result of our work and service in the church be the increase of Christ in the saints. May we not have any other purpose and goal but the growth of Christ in the church so that we all may arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Amen, Lord, may Your element increase in the church. May Christ grow in us and in all the saints, in all the members of the Body, so that we may become Your corporate expression on earth.

9. We need to be men of prayer, praying over these matters and concerning all the saints. Ninth, Paul prayed for all these matters (Rom. 1:9; Eph. 1:16; Col. 1:9; 1 Thes. 1:2); we must be men of prayer (Col. 4:2).

Paul mentioned the saints by name in his prayer, and he just prayed over them and for them. We may not know what to pray concerning the saints, but we can mention their name in our prayer before the Lord.

In learning to serve and work for the administration of the church we need to pray Eph. 3:16-21 for all the saints, so that they may be inwardly strengthened by the father through the spirit, so that Christ may make his home in their heart through faith.

We need to pray for us to have Christ revealed in us, Christ living in us, having Christ as our life, ministering Christ, and having Christ manifested among us.

Lord Jesus, may Christ be revealed in the saints. May Christ be the life of the all saints in reality, and may Christ be lived out in all the saints. Lord, may we all learn to minister Christ to one another so that Christ would be manifested and expressed through us in the church. Lord, make Your home in our heart so that the church may become the fulness of Christ.

10. We need to believe that God will do superabundantly more than we can ask or think – we have faith in God for all these matters.

Tenth, we must be like the apostle Paul, who had a living faith, believing that God is able “to do superabundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power which operates in us” (Eph. 3:20), especially concerning these previous eight points.

These are ten main points on how to conduct ourselves in the church of God for the bringing forth of the one new man.

These ten points can be summed up in only one point: CHRIST. Paul had Christ revealed in him, he saw Christ, he announced Christ, he ministered Christ, his work was Christ, he prayed Christ, his faith was Christ, and the result of his work was Christ. From beginning to end, Christ was central and Christ was everything.

Christ was in Paul, He passed through Paul, He reached those whom he served, and Christ was produced both in Paul and in the saints.

This is the kind of persons we should be: full of Christ, living Christ, expressing Christ, ministering Christ, praying Christ, being one with Christ, and having Christ wrought into us and into those whom we serve.

We should allow the Holy Spirit to inscribe these ten points onto the tablets of our heart so that we may live in them, and we should take Christ as life, live Christ, speak Christ, minister Christ, work with Christ, and even be Christ in the administration of the church, the service in the church.

Lord Jesus, we take You as our everything. We want to see Christ, be filled with Christ, have Christ as our life, live Christ, pray Christ, have Christ as our faith and love, and minister Christ to others. Amen, Lord, may Christ be everything in us and to us, and may Christ be the result of our work in the church life!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, How to Administrate the Church, pp. 110-111 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking Christ as our Person and Living Him in and for the Church Life (2018 spring ITERO), week 8, How One Ought to Conduct Himself in the Church in Order to Bring Forth the One New Man.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # It is God’s intent and pleasure / To have Christ revealed in me, / Nothing outward as religion, / But His Christ within to be. (Hymns #538)
  # I am crucified with Jesus, / And He lives and dwells with me; / I have ceased from all my struggling, / ’Tis no longer I, but He. (Hymns #564)
  # By this Person being formed in me, / I’ll a member of His Body be, / No more acting individually, / But with the saints. / More and more our Person He must be; / That our natural personality / Be eliminated thoroughly / Till Christ is all. (Hymns #1180)