Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good Land - 2

Message Title: Inheriting the All-inclusive Christ as the Good Land by Taking Heed to His Words of Advice and Warnings and by Receiving His Renewed Training to Have Our Inner Man Renewed Day by Day

the proper attitude of those who are being workers of God, by using Mary in Luke chapter 10: 

Luke 10:38 Now as they went, He entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received Him into her home.

Luke 10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to His word.

Luke 10:40 But Martha was being drawn about with much serving, and she came up to Him and said, Lord, does it not matter to You that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to do her part with me.

Luke 10:41 But the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things;

Luke 10:42 But there is need of one thing, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

this portion here shows us that Mary sat at the Lord's feet and was listening to the Lord's word, which reveals four aspects:

1. Mary was at the feet of the Lord Jesus, not anyone else. She was drawing near to the Lord. this is the shortest and quickest way to grow in life. no other method is better than coming to the Lord constantly, loving the Lord, worshipping the Lord, unceasingly fellowshipping with the Lord, and remaining in the Lord's presence.

2. Mary sat at the feet. this means that Mary put herself in the humbled position. this is the crucial condition to receive the Lord's words. God resists the proud, but give grace to the humbled. if we come to the Lord with such a humbled attitude, the Lord will give us grace.

3. Mary was sitting down. we need to be those who are sitting down, not busy like Martha. if we come to the Lord, quiet and calming our whole being before the Lord, not being distracted with anything else, we will perceive revelation from the Lord.

4. Mary was listening to the Lord's words. the words that the Lord speaks are spirit and life. through His speaking, the Lord dispenses Himself into us. 

Joshua 5:12 And the manna ceased on that day, when they ate of the produce of the land; and there was no longer manna for the children of Israel, but they ate of the yield of the land of Canaan that year.

the Israel people did not need to labor when they had manna in the wilderness. but when they entered into the good land, manna stopped. and they needed to labor on the good land to eat of the produce of the land. if we look at the history of Israel, from their exodus from Egypt, wandering in the wilderness, and eventually got into the good land, they experienced three stages of eating. They at the passover lamb, which enabled them to get out of Egypty. in the wilderness, they ate of mannah everyday, which God gave them with the purpose to change their Egyptian diet. after entering into the good land, they ate of the produce of the good land. this tpifies our different stages of enjoying Christ as our food. we should not be content with Christ as passover lamb or manna to us. we need to progress to enter into the highest stage of enjoying Christ as the rich produce of the good land. why? The Israel people only built the temple within the good land, after they ate the produce of the good land. also for us today, if we do not enter into the highest stage of eating Christ, we will not be able to build up the church as the Body of Christ.

I. the goal of God's calling of the children of Israel was that they would enter into the promised land to enjoy its riches so that they might establish God's kingdom and be God's expression on earth. 

Hebrews 3:7 Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice,

Hebrews 3:8 Do not harden your hearts as in the provocation, in the day of trial in the wilderness,

the Israel people did not enter into the good land, the generation who died in the wilderness, because of their unbelief. as such a warning to us, we need to beware of the unbelieving heart with us. there is faith in our spirit because our spirit is the spirit of faith. then how about our heart? how can we have a heart full of belief? we need to turn our heart to the Lord constantly. when our heart is turned to the Lord, we are looking away unto Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of our faith. when we look away unto the Lord, He infuses Himself into us as faith, as the believing ability. we need to be warned in this matter. although we have been redeemed and brought into God's economy, we may yet fail to reach the goal of God's calling, i.e. to enter into the possession of our good land, Christ, and enjoy His riches for the kingdom of God. among that generation who came out of Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb reached the goal and entered into the good land. they should be our pattern today. we need to pursue toward the goal for the prize. 

Numbers 14:9 Only do not rebel against Jehovah, nor should you fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their protection has been removed from them, and Jehovah is with us; do not fear them.

the word of God is our bread, doing God's will is our food, and our bread is also the Anakim, who represent the seemingly insurmountable obstacles and impossible situations in our pursuit of Christ for the building up of the church. Every difficult and temptation Satan puts in our way is food for us; this is a God-appointed means of spiritual progress; if we are relying on the Lord for victory and allow His overcoming life to be manifested in us, we will find fresh nourishment and increased vitality. In order to have God's keeping power, we must exercise our spirit of faith and keep our heart turned to the Lord to believe wholeheartedly in His promises, to believe that He is with His people, and to believe that they are well able to overcome; we must commit our souls as a deposit to God, the faithful Creator, hand ourselves over to Him, and commit to Him the keeping of our life. 

II. If we are going to fully possess Christ as the good land, the apostle Paul says that we must "flee from idolatry", refering to the children of Israel's idolatry in worshipping the golden calf. 

we must be warned by the principle of the golden calf idol, an idol made by God's redeemed people to make them an idolatrous camp; idolatry involves five principles:

1. self-beautifucation leads to idolatry. God is our beauty, and He is beautifying the church as the house of His beauty so that He maybe beautified. in the expression of our self there is division, but in the corporate expression of God, the divine glory, thre is oneness. the golden calf made by Aaron was from the gold, the earrings offered by Israel people. they got this gold when they got out of Egypt. God gave them the gold for the building of the tabernacle. However, Israel people were using that gold for their own beautify and adoration.

2. idolatry is Satan's usurping of what God has given us in order to make it a waste; it is our abusing what God has given us and not using God's gifts, for God's purpose. 

3. Idolatry is the worshipping of the things we enjoy, the worship of amusement and entertainment. 

4. with idolatry there is the pretense of worship the true God. 

5. with idolatry there is the mixture in worship. 

III. A renewed training was given by God through Moses to the new generation of the children of Israel after their long wandering, to prepare them to enter into the good land promised by God and inherit it as their possession; after the first generation, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, had died out, the second generation was ready to enter into the good land and possess it. 

Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, It is written, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.”

our transformation in life takes place as we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. All the words in the Bible are God's breathing, and all refer to Christ, who is the totality of God's word to be the life and life supply of God's people; to live by every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God is to live by Christ, the embodiment of the divine breath. in order to fully possess Christ as the good land, we must maintain our freshness and newness with the Lord by receiving His new speaking day by day. 

IV. the renewed training by God was His charge to His people in nine matters: 

1. fear the Lord, to be in fear of offending Him, of losing His presence.

2. walk in God's way: 

3. love the Lord Jesus, who is God.

4. love and serve God with all our heart and all our soul

5. keep His commandments and statutes for our good

6. circumcise the foreskin of our heart, which means that we crucify the flesh. 

7. not be stiff-necked any longer

8. hold fast to Christ as God's whole commandment

9. call upon the name of the Lord to enjoy His organic salvation and His unsearchable riches.