Unfathomable Riches of Christ - The Church as the Body of Christ

Well, as we mentioned, we've been continuing on with this theme that we began actually at the end of September, and that is to look at the together position we have. Often at Holly Hills we'll talk about our position in terms of our individual position.

But one of the things we're looking at here, we introduced it the last Sunday of September. We have the schedule for October and November. We've completed, of course, the first two of those. The Church is the Bride of Christ, the Church is the Temple, and now the Church is the Body of Christ. And we've broken all bounds here this morning.

I've been trying to target having about two pages, so two sides of one page for the handout. Now we have four pages, and it's because there's a lot of material. The main reason for having that much material is not because I just suddenly went crazy, but rather to give you plenty of context. What we have done here is to put in bold the specific parts of each passage that spells out the body of Christ teaching. And just one of the things we note here, who wrote about the body of Christ?

Paul. It's exclusively Paul's teaching. There are teachings of the other apostles about that, but not using those particular terms. And if we included those, we'd have even more way over the top, a number of passages. But Paul is the one who particularly uses the term.

And as we're going to see, he even, in some places, says the body of Christ, which is the church. So there's no ambiguity about what he's talking about. Now, is the word body used sometimes for other things than in reference to the body of Christ? The answer is yes. I'm sorry, what? I said church body. Okay, so the church body, and so that's laid out clearly, but the word body is sometimes used to talk about the human body, right? When Paul talks about the resurrection, he's talking about the body in a specific physical body way. So there's that. You'll find other uses of the word body, and that's one of them. So we're only looking at those passages that have in context, it's clear, that it's the church, the body of Christ. So that's what we've included.

So let's first take a look at 1 Corinthians 12 through 27, and I won't read through every bit of it, although I'll read through a lot of it, because it is one of those passages that talks about the church as the body in a lot of ways. So 1 Corinthians 12, 12-27, for even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, and so is Christ. So what do you find out about the body of Christ here, just in those verses? There are many individuals, right?

But the body is So lots of us, and as a matter of fact, was Peter, on the day of Pentecost, was he a part of the body of Christ? Yes. How about Paul? Yeah. How about the people who are believers that Paul wrote to? Yeah. So the body of Christ is those who are a part of the church, who will one day go home to be with the Lord, how about today, all of us together, who one day go home to be with the Lord, all those from time past up until the time when the Lord calls us all home, all those are a part of the body of Christ.

As he's using it here in this passage, it's those who are a part of the body of Christ who are alive at one time. And what's he talking about in chapter 12? Chapter 12 here is a reference to the Church body in the context of spiritual gifts. So that's one thing, when we talk about spiritual gifts, spiritual gifts is a teaching, we're not going to focus on it, is a teaching that only makes sense within the teaching of the body of Christ. We have a position as a together body of Christ in which teachings about individuals only make sense because of the church body teaching. So, as we go through there, looking at verse 14, and the body is not one member, but many. How many of you have only livers and no other parts? Do we have any livers here this morning? Any of you have a gizzard? Probably not, I hope not.

So one of the things he does in this next passage is to talk about the whole body and then talk about individual parts and he uses the analogy in that of different parts of the human body to illustrate the point. So starting with verse 14, body is not one member but many. If the foot says because I'm not a hand, I'm not a part of the body.

So he goes over that and he talks about the human body and various obvious anatomical parts. It doesn't sound like he gets real internal, like talking about your liver, your gallbladder, something like that. But he looks at obvious anatomical parts there as a picture. Is it not for this reason any less a part of the body? But if he says, because I'm not an eye, I'm not a part of the body, and he goes on talking in that term. Let's skip down to verse 22. On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. So how many bodies does he refer to? one, even though the members is plural.

So individually we are all a part of, and we talk about individually we have a position, but this, what he's talking about here, is the position that we have together. The position that we have together. So we talk about is this position or condition, right?

And that's true, and we should talk about that, and we'll talk about our individual position, and we should talk about that, because it's biblical. The other part of the biblical teaching, and what we're focusing on here, is that the church body is a statement of our position together. It's a together position, and the Bible is very consistent. It's one of the reasons why we can spend two months covering it. because the Bible teaches on it a lot.

And so this is one of those, we're in the third of eight parts that we're going to end up covering here. Okay, so now, verse 27 at the end of the page, last verse. Now you are Christ's bodies. Have I said it right? No. For you are Christ's singular body. Who's you? Is that you singular or you plural? Plural, right? So it's you, plural, and that includes each one of us individually, right? You together, including each of us individually, are Christ's body, singular, and individually members of it.

See that? So here's the unity, the body, and here's the individuality, individually members of that body. See that? So he's teaching the Corinthians, who of course had no problems whatsoever with anything, right? He's teaching the Corinthians about this church body, all of you together, understand? We have a position together in Christ's body.

Now, flipside. rushing along here in an extraordinary way. This is a passage next, Ephesians 1 15 through 23. It's a passage that we could get lost just in this one passage, but we won't because we're going to head right to the end. Let's start Let's start with the middle of verse 19.

These are in accordance. These are in accordance. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ. Is that the first time that the Ephesians mentions in Christ? No. So this is way down the chapter. his right hand in the heavenly places. So is that done? Is Christ seated in the heavenly places with the Father? Done deal. far above all rule and authority and power and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

And he put all things in subjection under his feet, now let's cover the pronouns here, and the Father put all things in subjection under Christ's feet, to get it clear, and gave him, Christ, as head over all things, to the church. So is Christ the head of the church? Yes, but also what you see here is one additional insight. Christ was given his head over all things to the church, so Christ as the head is also a gift from the Father to the church, which is looked upon as singular.

Yes. What is the name that is named? What does that actually mean? Does that just mean existence? No, I'll go into the cultural insight, and we won't have time to go into it in detail, but let's just put it this way. In the pagan world, they had amulets, they had papers that they sold, but what you would do if you bought those magic papers and magic amulets is you'd get listings of names And if you were to, kind of as an incantation, call upon those names, you would embrace and take hold of the power of those magical names, and then that would give you advantage over your enemies and the various threats in your life.

And so, for example, the Bible only names two angels, right? But magic amulets would name Michael and Gabriel. They're only angels they're naming, and then they would make up five more, because seven is the perfect number, right? So that would be an example of naming names, and they would name names of angels, they would name names of special deities, and spirits, and things of that sort, to try to gain power.

But what Paul said, instead of telling him, hell, that's bogus, he'd just say, Jesus is the name above all those names you could possibly name. So you don't need to name the others, just name the name of Jesus, that's it. So anyway, that's behind what he says here. Every name that is named, not only this age, but the one to come. So there isn't some future time when Christ will be displaced, He is the name above every name named now and in the future, for all time.

So he gave Christ his head over all things to the church, which is what? His body. Is there any question, is the church his body? When we look at his body, is there any question that that's the church? That that's us? There isn't, and this isn't the only place that says it. Yes? So, his body, I assume this is his resurrected body and position, right?

It must be metaphorically... Okay, but it's referring to us all together, not Christ's physical body. Some passages do talk about that. In this case, it's a reference to the church, which is his body, which is more of a metaphor or figure of speech. It's a figure of speech, to be understood that way. Because his body resurrected there on that first day of the week, Sunday morning, as we would call it. His physical body was resurrected. We as a church body were resurrected with him.

So, then the next one, Ephesians 2, and you notice that Ephesians is rich with this teaching. Now in Christ Jesus you who are formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace who made both groups, Gentile and Jew, into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, which is the law, by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in himself, identification truth, in himself He might make the two, Gentile and Jew, into one new man, establishing peace, and he might reconcile them both in one body. So here's again, Ephesians is a consistent teacher by Paul's writing of these truths. Yes?

Okay, so abolishing in his flesh, wouldn't it have been more appropriate to say abolishing in his work on the cross instead of just in his flesh? Abolishing in his flesh because what happened? Why does it say in his flesh? Because he died. Right. In his human body. And so that abolishing happened because he died. Okay? Okay. And so what happened... Because of his death. Yeah. He died.

And one of the things we've said is what happened on the cross is not just that. that Christ died for our sins, which was absolutely essential. There's no other way that we're going to be with the Lord forever and escape the flames of hell, except that He died. He took our sins upon Himself.

But, it's one of a number of truths that the Bible teaches about what was accomplished on the cross, and one of the other accomplishments, stated here, stated elsewhere, Galatians 2.19, Romans 7.1-6, is that we were separated from the law in Christ's death. Here it says, he got rid of the law, through his flesh, because he died. So, that he might reconcile them both, Gentile and Jew, both ethnic groups in one body, to God through the cross. Now, Ephesians 3, 1-10. So what we see there, similar to what we saw at the end of chapter 2, Let's see, in verse 4, I'm going to jump to it. By referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery. So what's the Greek word there?

The mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit, to be specific that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs and fellow-members of the body. Is that the church? Fellow members, fellow heirs of the body, which is the church.

Now, this is also the passage that talks about the unfathomable riches of Christ, verse 8. We're going to move on to Ephesians 4, 1-16. So we have in that, Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling for which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body, how many? There is one body and one spirit, just as you were also called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. Now, we're going to shift down in verse 11. And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the bodies of Christ.

Body of Christ, right? Then, he talks about what that process of building up looks like. We're going to jump down to verse 16. And at first, in verse 15, it talks about Christ who is the head. It says, from whom, verse 16, the whole body being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

So this is position, but it's also starting to talk about condition. as a church body. Position is, we're a body. We're the body of Christ. Condition is that there is a process going on and intended by God, and that's the building up of one another within the body of Christ. The building up of the body of Christ. So, according to the proper working of each individual part, so there's the individual, right? Does that include you? Yeah, it includes you. It causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Ephesians 5.233, Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, he himself being the savior of the body.

How is the church body saved? Christ. That's what it says right there. The Church is a body, singular, saved by Christ. Is there any other alternate? Is there a plan B for that? No. There is no other way. It is singularly and uniquely, the Church body is singularly and uniquely saved by Christ alone. No plan B. No alternatives. no route, no 1A, none of that.

As it goes on there, at the end of verse 29, and I'm going to limit it because otherwise it's a long sentence, it talks about the church because we are members of His body. So is there any question that the church is the body of Christ? No, not really. You keep going through this again and again, the church is the body of Christ, the church is the body of Christ, the church is the body of Christ.

It's a clear and consistent teaching of Scripture. And then finally we have Colossians 1, 15-29. So he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Let's talk about it. He is the image of the invisible God. What does that mean? So he is the visible image of the invisible God.

So the firstborn of all creation, by the way, does that mean he is the first one born? No. What does the word firstborn mean? The child. Right, so what this is saying, not that Christ was the first one made, that's what, by the way, Jehovah's Witnesses teach. Yeah, he's the first one made. That's not what it's talking about. The first born in the traditions of old got what? The first born son got what? Of God. Yeah, but the first born in the cultural tradition received what? He had first place. He was the one who got at least a double inheritance. He was the one who had the place of of being the manager for the rest of the family, and he had the first place.

So that's what it's talking about here. By him all things were created, and then he says, both in heavens and on the earth. All things were created, that's a Greek expression. In the heavens and the earth, that's a Jewish expression. So Paul says it both ways, so both the Jews and the Gentiles would understand. Visible and invisible. So, are things made that you can see? Sure. Are things created that you can't see? Yeah.

That's what he's talking about. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. How are all things held together right now as we're sitting here and standing here this morning in this room? Christ. In Him, all things are held together and consist.

He is also the head of the body, the Church. Now, do you have any questions that the Church is the body of Christ? Do you have any questions that Christ is the head? No. It's clear, it's consistent, that as you read the letters of the New Testament, and we've got them all quoted here, it is abundantly clear and consistent in his teaching through the letters of Paul that Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. You see that again and again. There is no ambiguity or uncertainty in that understanding.

He is the beginning, the firstborn, What do you see firstborn again, right? The firstborn from the dead, what does that mean? Firstborn, resurrected. Sequentially he was the first. Are we also going to be resurrected? Yes, but his resurrection is primary, being the firstborn, right? Does that refer to the new creation? Ah, yes, and so that fits with him being the firstborn of the new creation.

Let's look at the top of page four here as we continue the passage. For he himself will come to have first place in everything, which tells us the meaning of firstborn. See that? Tells us the meaning of firstborn. He will have first place in everything. He is not the first one created. But this specifically, verse 18, speaks of His preeminence in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him.

What's that talking about? The fullness of what? Because they have turkey dinner? Is that what that's talking about? All the fullness because it's the holiday season. Is that what it means? All the fullness of Deity to dwell in Him. For through Him... So is Christ nearly Deity? Is Christ nearly Deity? Is He close to being Deity? He is Deity. There's no junior status to this. He is fully God and fully man. And so there's no junior status to this. He's getting there. There is no grayscale or partial.

The fullness of deity to dwell in him, through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. Yes. This peace is the satisfaction of God's wrath, correct, against sin? Yeah, and reconciliation is only possible because the character of God was satisfied by what Christ accomplished on the cross. Imagine, this is almost a shocking contrast, how many people who were standing on the ground there that day understood what was going on on the cross?

Absolutely nobody. Not the apostles, not Mary, Not even the centurion in charge, although he had great insight, nobody, nobody would be on the ground, understood all of what was taking place. Not even John. He didn't even understand to that point in time.

He was among those who the night before had been arguing about who was the greatest. So these were things, why didn't the disciples understand? I mean, he'd been telling them things for years and they didn't get it. Why didn't John, among all the rest of the disciples, why didn't they get it? What's the problem? They did not have the Holy Spirit to enlighten them. So, John 14, John 15, John 16, Christ is going to tell them about the Holy Spirit's coming, even though they wouldn't understand those things that he said in John 13, 14, 15, and 16, until after the Holy Spirit had been given.

Verse 21, although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death. Could there be some other way? What if you said, you know, we're going to have Christ be really, really badly mistreated by the Romans, but He's going to recover.

And he'll be okay, and we'll be okay. Is that going to work? No. What's the problem? What's the problem with that? You have to have death to get rid of the old man. You've got to have death to accomplish lots of things, including that. Yes. He's not the sacrificial lamb. He has to be... No. That's what they've been doing forever, was sacrificing a lamb, but it wasn't a sacrificial lamb. Yeah.

Christ didn't take our sins upon himself in order to have just a bad day. You know, the worst day he ever had. This is really miserable, right? But he recovered and everything was okay, right? So the death was not optional, it was not a catastrophic accident. Death is absolutely essential for a number of purposes. Christ having a bad time, Christ fainting from the pain, Christ passing out, Christ going into shock, none of that is an alternate. No matter how bad it might seem or feel, none of that is an alternate. Christ must absolutely die. It's got to happen.

In order to present you, who? Us. But for him, holy and blameless and beyond reproach, and we saw in Ephesians chapter 1, chapter 5, that this holy and blameless is a reference to the bride of Christ, being presented to Christ as his bride, holy and blameless. It says, if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel you have heard which was proclaimed to all creation under heaven and of which I Paul was made a minister. Now, how about the if indeed? Does this mean that all of the things that are accomplished are in question now?

Uh-oh. Have we got a problem? What if they don't continue? in the faith, firmly established and set fast. Are there churches that got into trouble? Yup. You look at the seven churches of Revelation, which were real historical churches, only two of them did not have some kind of a correction and a warning. And by the way, the corrections and warnings, when they got them, were really intense.

Repent, or I'm going to remove your lampstand. Repent, or I'm going to do X, Y, and Z. And none of those are good things. So does this mean everything that Christ accomplished is conditional for us? No. We've got to do the right thing. And why not? Because He paid the price. He paid the price. So what this is talking about, what this is talking about is our enjoyment and understanding of it.

Are there people who are eternally saved, but never learn and grow and understand beyond that? Yes, there certainly are. And those seven churches are examples of exactly that. It says they lost their first love, and we're seeing that today, aren't we? Yeah. People will say, well, these seven churches were specific ages. The reality is, among various reasons why I don't think that's the case, The seven churches, first of all, it doesn't say that it represents specific ages, but we can find churches of all of those characteristics right now, right? At different places and times.

Is that referring to the whole body, then? Or to the body of Christ, or part of it? Well, I think what you say is, he has an expression at the end, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says, to not just that church, but to the churches. So what it says, we would use the modern vernacular, if the shoe fits, wear it. So he gives that message. And so this is written to the church at Ephesus, right?

And this church, this very same church body, different people of course, several decades later, but this very same church body, which would only have a few people remaining probably over that time. This very same church body gets told, you know, you've got this and this and this and it's great and you guys are doing great, except for one thing.

You've lost your first love. So this is an example right here. This is an example. It doesn't say you've lost your first love and it's too late for you guys, you're toast. What he says, what is written there, as John was told to write, do this, do the things you did first, because you've got a problem, and you've lost your first love. So this if here is not intended to threaten, you're going to lose it, or you never had it. These are the Arminian and Calvinist threats, right? but rather to say you're not going to understand and get the enjoyment of these things and have the security and assurance that come from those things if you don't stick with it. Yes?

It sure seems in just about everything written that there is a necessity for maturation. and a continuance of study, because look at verse 13, just on the previous page, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge. That's epigonosis. Yeah, that passage you make reference to, this is in verses 12 and 13 in Ephesians, this is huge, this is massive, this is saying, this is where we're headed folks. This is where you need to be and you need to work toward this. Yes, exactly that.

And even as I'm looking, you might have noticed the schedule that I put on the first page ends in November. That's when Nancy and I are moving away and the Lord has got us going somewhere else. Do we have any different assignment as a church here at Holly Hills because Nancy and Vern are leaving? No. It's exactly the same thing applies. Exactly the same thing applies. We have clear, very clear direction from scripture as to where this ought to head.

Now, let's look at the last paragraph on page 4, starting in verse 24. I would have to look that up and I am not sure, I don't believe it's not fourth class. But I would have to look at it and I could look at it on my phone except that I didn't bring it this morning. But that's a good question. I'll take a look at that and we'll have the answer for that next time. Pardon? What's he talking about? He's talking about the if. What is the if? And so because that's not the focus of what we're talking about, I haven't looked it up. But that's a very good question. I'll have that next week. Okay? Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share in behalf of his body which is the church. By the way, what is his body?

It's consistent teaching. Scripture is not ambiguous about this. It's not, you know, we've got some going this way. It is absolutely right on, square on, from the first passage we looked at until this last one. Square on, consistent, and true, and understandable. The church is His body, the body of Christ. That's it. in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.

Now, one of the things we brought up in our study of Acts, and actually more than once, Jesus confronts Paul, when he was Saul, on the road to Damascus. What does Jesus ask him about, first thing? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting my people? persecuting me. So, very, very important.

Christ looks on the persecution of His body as directly persecution of Him. Some people might be inclined to say, He's up there having a great time, and I'm down here in misery, and that's not Christ's perspective on it at all. Christ's perspective is that what happens to us, his church body, he's going through it. And he looks upon the persecution that Saul was bringing about up to that point as against him personally.

So that's one thing for us to look at. Whatever you're going through, Christ takes it personally. It is not It is not appropriate, it is not biblical for us to think, oh, he's up there and I'm down here and he's having a great time, I'm having a miserable time and I'm mad at God because, you know, he's having a great time and I'm awful. Right? Instead, the perspective is, what we're going through, he's going through. And in fact, this persecution is directed not at all these individuals, but Christ personally.

So when we talk about what is lacking in Christ's afflictions, you think, my heavens, what could possibly be lacking? He suffered and died for us, taking all our sins upon Him. What could possibly be lacking? And because Christ as the head of the church sees himself as the one receiving all these intense persecutions and being intimately connected to us.

The sufferings of Christ, as this is talking about, end when? What day? The rapture. The day Christ comes for his church, the Father says, go get your bride, The day Christ comes for His Church is when the sufferings will end and not until then. And the sufferings of Christ through His Church body will not be done until the Lord takes us all home. And by the way, none of you is going to miss the Rapture. You're not going to miss it. Don't worry about it. Now, absolutely, you will not miss the rapture. Did Hallelujah miss the rapture? No. Did Paul miss the rapture? No. But the sufferings of Christ, the afflictions of Christ, are not done until Christ takes his bride home. Verse 25, For of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit.

What was Paul's stewardship? His stewardship was to preach the gospel of salvation as the initial step, and that stewardship was at ended when people became believers. No, he continued to have a stewardship of truths entrusted to him that he was to pass along. Did he do that? Yes he did to the believers who were present there, and he had put things in writing. Even this very letter reveals he had a stewardship entrusted to him. that we are benefiting from even now, centuries later. And by the way, do you have a stewardship? You have lots of them, including the stewardship of the body of Christ. God has entrusted the stewardship of the body of Christ to you.

God is going to take Nancy and I from this local body to another local body a couple of states away. Even in a state I'd rather not move to. But the stewardship of this body continues with those of us who remain here. Nancy and I will have a different stewardship assignment in terms of local bodies.

But it's very important we understand the stewardship principle with respect to the body of Christ. Paul saw it as a, I have a stewardship with the body of Christ then, present, up to you and me. A stewardship with you and me. When Nancy and I move over to Redwood Valley and we'll be joining with a different church body, that stewardship locally will change for us. But the Apostle Paul had the stewardship for all who were present then, as well as all of us.

Yes? So his body, which is the Church, body, would that be his spiritual body? Yeah, this is his body, spiritual, all of us together. as a figure of speech. It's resurrected body because it's Soma. So it would be the resurrected body. It's not Christ's physical body. This is the church which is the body of Christ used as a figure of speech. Okay, because it says His body which is the church. When did the church start? Pentecost. Pentecost. And when will it end? at the rapture, and all the time in between, that's the church. That's his body. So his body has a present existence on earth. His body has an existence among those that Paul wrote to. His body will have an expression and an existence as the church until the Lord takes us all home.

So he was made a minister, it says, of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God, bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you." We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man, with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which works mightily within me. So we proclaim him and admonishing only a very special group of people who are real serious about things in the Church. We admonish him and proclaim him among those who only need this Bible study on a certain day and time and place.

To who? To every It's not Andros, this is Anthropos. You could translate every single person. And how many times is every in that verse, in verse 28? Three. Every man. That's to be emphatic. He's very emphatic. And to this end, he works according to his flesh. just as much as he possibly can, because God is going to call him to account for what he did on his own power and strength. For this purpose also I labor. That word labor is capialo, means I labor to exhaustion. Striving according to his power which mightily works within me. So on the outside we look at this Paul guy as just working himself to death. Wow, boy this guy is working hard at this. On the inside, where is the power coming from? From the Lord.

God never intended to delegate anything to us. It's never a, here's your assignment, go off and do it and we'll check back with you and see how you did. How rewardable is that, if I work really really hard And I go back to God and say, boy, I tried my best. Is God going to be happy with that? No. Is God going to reward that? And when we stand before Jesus Christ, is He going to say, boy, you gave it your best effort, really good job? No. What power is rewardable? He is. That's it. Nothing else.

And by the way, Ephesians 2.10, we're going to make reference to it here in the next, you know, he has prepared good works that we might walk in them. Do we have to do any works that he hasn't prepared? No. Are we called to walk? Are we called to walk outside of anything he has prepared and empowered and named? No. Not your job. Not mine.

Isn't that great? Isn't that great? Yes? I have a question back on... Just one? Oh, okay. In Colossians where it says he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. So, all three of the Trinity were involved with creation of the world. Yes. But this refers to creation of the saints? No, so let's back through that. This is obviously something where we're giving short attention to what could be a build-a-whole-time kind of thing.

So first of all, he is the image, the outward expression of the invisible God. So you have the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and Christ is just the Son. So anyway, how is this the full expression of the whole? It is still Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are all three deity. So in that sense, he is the outward, visible expression. of deity, not that he somehow becomes or represents three persons who have different roles, but he is the full expression of deity.

Then he is the firstborn of all creation, meaning he has a pre-eminence in all the things that are created, and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit each have different roles in creation. And you'll find that each of them has a particular role. Christ was the practical instrument through which creation was accomplished. All things were created through him. Was the Father involved in creation? Yeah. Was the Holy Spirit involved in creation? Yep. See right there in Genesis 1, the Spirit did what? The Spirit hovered over the waters there right in the first verses.

So Christ is invisible. Christ is now, having been made fully God and fully man together in Christ's incarnation, so he is then the visible expression of deity, which is the Father deity, is the Son deity, Is the Spirit deity? The answer of course is yes. So in deity is the full expression, the visible expression of deity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit included.

And Stephen saw that in the end, of course. Yes. As the rocks were coming down on his head, he saw that visible. If you look at it, there are various times when believers have gotten this heavenly vision. Even in the Old Testament, although it had a new and different expression once, Christ was incarnate. That was different.

So did Elijah, when he went up to heaven, did he see what Stephen saw? No. Did he see what Paul saw? No. Because what was seen of a heavenly vision after Christ was incarnated and after Christ was ascended and seated, is different. We need to understand those differences. But still, the truth is that Christ, as he was incarnated, was the full expression of deity. He did not become the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, but he became the full, visible expression of deity.

Well, let's pray and call it to a close here. Thank you, Lord, for what you have laid out, what marvelous truths and how clear you've made it. We've typically tried to cover a page and a half, two pages, and today we stretched it out to four, so it's very full time, and yet we see with abundant clarity that the Church is the body of Christ. Thank you for that clarity. Thank you that we can have great understanding in these things and we don't need to be settled with ambiguity, but instead we can see very clearly what you intend for us to know and to understand, that we together have this position as a body, as the Bride of Christ, as the Temple, and those are all things that have a position together for all of us, which is meant to be lived out and expressed in our condition. We thank you for that. Thank you for the insights in these very special and precious passages. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.