A proper Christian life and service involve fighting the good fight against Satan and his kingdom of darkness and for the interests of God’s kingdom; we need to war the good warfare by teaching and preaching God’s economy concerning the church, and we also need to minister Christ to others by first taking Him in through His word in the way of life.
At the end of his life, in one of the last epistles that he wrote, Paul testified that he has fought the good warfare, he finished his course, and he has kept the faith. What a statement!
This is our proper Christian life; a proper Christian life involves three matters: fighting the good fight of the faith, running the course, and keeping the faith.
We need to fight the good fight against Satan and his kingdom of darkness, and we also fight for the interests of God’s kingdom; in this aspect, we are soldiers in the army of God, and we should not be entangled with anything of this life, any affairs of this life (1 Tim. 6:12).
We need to run the course for the carrying out of God’s economy according to His eternal purpose (Heb. 12:1); we need to look away unto Jesus and run with endurance the race set before us for the fulfillment of God’s economy.
We need to keep the faith for the participation in the divine riches in God’s dispensation (Gal. 3:22); the common faith has been delivered to us, and the contents of the faith are the contents of the Bible – we simply need to pray over it, take it in, remain in it, and keep it, and we will enjoy God’s dispensation. Amen!
We have been delivered the entire New Testament economy of God – the faith concerning Christ as the embodiment of God and the mystery of God, and the church as the Body of Christ and the mystery of Christ.
Our ministry and service to the Lord is warfare for Christ; it is like the priests served God in the Old Testament – as they were carrying the Ark, they also had to be prepared for war.
If we consider our Christian experience, we realize that whenever we want to do anything for the Lord, we are in warfare, for the enemy opposes us both from within and from without.
We may have the desire to join the prayer meeting of the church, and even though many times all we have to do during this pandemic is to click on a zoom link and then exercise our spirit in the comfort of our own home, the enemy rises up all kinds of situations and problems to distract us from doing this.
We may want to shepherd someone, and as soon as we pray for that one and try to contact them, all kinds of things happen, and that person may not be that open or simply have no time or interest for fellowship.
It is not people or situations that we are fighting against – our fight is against the spiritual forces in the air, the principalities and evil powers in the heavenlies.
So we need to fight the good fight of the faith by fighting for God’s New Testament economy.
We need to lay hold on the eternal life, live no longer by our natural life but by the divine life in our spirit, and war the good warfare by enjoying, speaking, teaching, and preaching the New Testament economy of God concerning Christ and the church.
We War the Good Warfare by Speaking and Carrying out God’s Economy according to the Apostles’ Teaching
In 1 Tim. 1:18 Paul charged Timothy to war the good warfare; Paul was a soldier in the army of God, and so was Timothy, and together they had to war the good warfare.
What does it mean to war the good warfare? If we look at history, when Paul was in prison – during his first imprisonment – the churches were tested, and decline and degradation have set in.
Decline and degradation came into the church due to differing teachings, that is, teachings that were different from the teaching of the apostles.
What were the apostles teaching? They were mainly teaching one thing: the economy of God concerning Christ and the church.
The apostles didn’t preach their own gospel; they preached a Christ who has been incarnated, crucified, resurrected and ascended in order that He may impart Himself into His believers to produce the church, which is the Body of Christ.
God’s economy is concerning Christ and the church.
There are many teachings in the Bible, but the main teaching, the teaching of the apostles, is concerning Christ and the church.
The focal point of the teaching of the apostles is that in Christ God became man, lived a perfect human life on earth, died an all-inclusive and all-terminating death on the cross, was raised from the dead to become a life-giving Spirit, and the firstborn Son of God, and was ascended above all things to be Head and Lord over all.
This One in His resurrection and ascension has regenerated many believers for His Body, the church; the church is the organism of the Triune God, the visible part of Christ, and the church is one with the Head so that, whatever the Head does in the heavens, the Body also carries out on earth.
The focus of the ministry of the apostles is the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, ascended, and glorified Christ to be our Savior, our life, and our everything so that we may become His Body, the church.
This is what the Bible speaks about from Genesis to Revelation; this is the vital focus of the New Testament revelation, and this is God’s economy.
To focus on anything else in the Bible apart from the economy of God will bring in different teachings, and this will cause the church to decline and be degraded.
If we study church history we will realize that degradation and decline came into the church when there were different teachings that came in, teachings that are different from God’s economy, which is in faith (1 Tim. 1:3-4).
Paul asked Timothy to charge certain ones in Ephesus not to teach different things, which produce questionings rather than God’s economy, which is in faith.
This is to war the good warfare: to speak and carry out God’s economy according to the apostles’ teaching. May we come back to the beginnings, as in Acts 2:42, continuing in the teachings of the apostles, which are the ministry.
May we preach only Christ and the church, and may our emphasis in our speaking and teaching be only God’s economy, which is in faith, so that we may war the good warfare.
To war the good warfare is to war against the differing teachings and to carry out God’s economy according to the apostles’ ministry concerning the gospel of grace and eternal life for the glory of the blessed God (1 Tim. 1:18; 6:12).
May we teach and preach God’s New Testament economy concerning Christ and the church, even fight for God’s New Testament economy, declaring nothing apart from Christ as the embodiment of Christ and the church as the Body of Christ.
Lord Jesus, save us from any decline and degradation in the church; we want to return to the apostles’ teaching, the unique ministry in the New Testament. Amen, Lord, may our focus be only God’s New Testament economy, which is in faith; may we teach and preach only Christ as the embodiment of God and the church as the Body of Christ. Hallelujah for Christ and the church! Praise the Lord for the Lord Jesus Christ who is God incarnated passing through human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and glorification, to dispense Himself into us and make us the many sons of God and the members of His Body, the church, to be His corporate expression! Amen, Lord, we want to stay in this vital focus of the New Testament revelation, in the economy of God!
We need to be Infused with God through His Word, War the Good Warfare, and Carry out God’s Economy
When people hear about God’s economy and the apostles’ teaching, their thought immediately is that we need to learn more doctrines, be filled with more teachings, and make sure we have sound teachings and also teach others the right thing.
In a sense, this does refer to such things, but God’s economy and warring the good warfare for God’s economy is much more than that.
When we read the Bible we don’t just do our best to remember things, memorize verses, and get the sound teachings; we need to contact the word and receive God by the Spirit through the word.
We need to exercise our spirit to read and pray the word of God; then, we shall have faith.
When we come to the word of God with the exercise of our spirit, we are infused with God, and spontaneously faith operates within us to bring us into an organic union with God.
The way we war the good warfare is not by outwardly teaching others and applying all kinds of doctrines to our daily living.
We war the good warfare by being infused with God and becoming one with Him in the organic union.
The more we enjoy God in Christ as the Spirit being infused into our being as we come to the Lord in His Word, the more we become one with Him; spontaneously, we war the good warfare by speaking, teaching, and living out God’s economy.
However, this vital matter has been lost for centuries, and even the most ardent among the believers today at most keep a certain doctrine or teaching rather than practice being one spirit with the Lord and fighting the good fight of the faith.
We must be on the alert for different teachings, for even in the church life some different teachings can be propagated in a subtle, hidden way.
May we all learn the lesson of being infused with God in His word through exercising our spirit to pray the word and being joined to Him, so that we may remain the apostles’ teaching and carry out God’s economy.
If we’re not on guard, differing teachings may come in to damage the church life.
We must not allow any differing teachings to come in the Lord’s recovery; we should stay one with the Lord and in the apostles’ teachings, warring the good warfare and speaking only one thing – God’s New Testament economy.
The focus of our preaching and teaching is Christ and the church; for us to teach and preach God’s economy concerning Christ and the church is to war the good warfare.
To war the good warfare is simply to teach and preach God’s New Testament economy concerning Christ and the church; this we do not in a rigid, outward, doctrinal way, but in the way of being joined to the Lord as one spirit by abiding in His word with much prayer and exercise of the spirit.
On the one hand, we see a lot of erroneous teachings being spread in Christianity, and we realize that there’s a leaven put by the woman in Matt. 13 in the pure and fine flour of the church; these erroneous and differing teachings we expose by speaking only concerning Christ and the church, the economy of God.
On the other hand, in the church life, we remain in the apostles teaching concerning Christ and the church, focusing only on the New Testament economy of God and not bringing in any differing teachings but rather, seeking to be infused with God in Christ as the Spirit through the word of God.
Lord Jesus, we come to Your word to contact and receive God by the Spirit through much prayer, musing, meditation, and consideration with the exercise of our spirit. Amen, Lord, infuse us with Yourself so that faith would spontaneously operate in us to bring us in an organic union with God. Infuse us more with God today as we abide in the Word of God through the exercise of our spirit and much prayer. Amen, Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to war the good warfare by teaching and preaching God’s economy concerning Christ and the church. We reject any differing teachings and we stay in the apostles’ teaching, seeking to enjoy and experience Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Timothy, pp. 18-21 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life, the Church Life, the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord (2020 fall ITERO), week 7, Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, and Loving the Lord’s Appearing.
- Hymns on this topic:
– God has called us for His purpose, / His economy so glorious, / For which He was fully processed; / Consummated now is He! / As the Spirit, He indwells us; / As our God allotted portion, / Working out His full salvation, / Making us the same as He is. / Oh, may a clear, controlling vision of / The Lord’s economy direct my heart, / And burn in me until my spirit’s wholly set afire! (Song on, God has called us for His purpose)
– Not religion, even / Christianity, / Can fulfill God’s purpose / Or economy; / But ‘tis Christ within us / As our all in all / Satisfies God’s wishes, / And His plan withal. (Hymns #541)
– Like a mighty army / Moves the Church of God: / Brothers, we are treading / Where the saints have trod; / We are not divided, / All one Body we— / One in faith and Spirit, / One eternally. (Hymns #871)
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