Morning Nourishment-The Experience, Growth, And Ministry Of Life For The Body(W3-Outline)

Entering Into the Fourth Stage of the Experience of Life
to Arrive at a Full-Grown Man for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose

Message Four

The Fourth Stage of the Experience of Life (3)

Reigning in Life

Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:10, 17, 21; 16:20

Outline

Day　1

I. In the creation of man, God has a twofold intent and desire: on the one hand, God wants man to possess His image so that man may express God Himself; on the other hand, God wants man to represent Him with His authority in order to deal with His enemy—Gen. 1:26:

A. As long as there are men willing to live for God, God desires to grant them authority so that all things might come under their dominion—Eph. 1:22-23; Rom. 16:20.

B. From the beginning until eternity, God’s one intention is that He may gain man to reign for Him in this universe—cf. Matt. 5:3; 13:43;Rom. 14:17.

C. From the point of view of authority, reigning is the final goal of God’s salvation; it is the summit of our spiritual experience; if any Christian has not yet reached the degree of reigning for God, he is not yet up to the standard—5:17, 21; Rev. 2:26-27; 22:5.

Day　2

II. We need to see the vision of reigning in life:

A. God’s complete salvation is composed of two sections—Rom. 5:10:

1. The judicial section, which is according to the righteousness of God, is the procedure of God’s salvation.

2. The organic section, which is through the life of Christ, is the purpose of God’s salvation.

B. God’s complete salvation is for us to reign in life by the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness—vv. 17, 21:

1. The gift of righteousness is for God’s judicial redemption; grace is for us to experience God’s organic salvation.

2. The gift of righteousness is God’s judicial redemption applied to us in a practical way; grace is God Himself as our all-sufficient supply for our organic salvation.

3. Reigning in life is the full experience of the organic salvation of God.C. We have been regenerated with a divine, spiritual, heavenly, kingly,and royal life—Mark 4:26; 1 John 3:9:

1. This life enthrones us as kings to reign over all things.

2. In this life we are now able to reign as kings.

D. Reigning in life in Romans 5 is the key to everything in Romans 6—16:

1. We need to see everything in chapters 6 through 16 in this light.

2. Reigning in life is defined in chapters 6 through 16; all the matters expounded there are the issue not of our endeavoring but of our receiving the abundance of grace.

3. If we reign in life, we are in all the matters presented in these chapters.

Day 3 & 4

III. We need to enter into the experience of reigning in life:

A. In experience, to reign in life means to be under the ruling of the divine life:

1. Christ is a pattern of reigning in life by being under the ruling of the divine life of the Father—cf. Matt. 8:5-13.

2. Paul is an example of one who, in his life and ministry, was under the ruling of the divine life—2 Cor. 2:12-14.

3. There is the need for all the believers who have received the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness to practice the restriction and limitation in the divine life.

B. To reign is to conquer, subdue, and rule over Satan, the world, sin, the flesh, ourselves, and all the environmental circumstances—Rom.8:35, 37.

C. To reign in life is to subdue all kinds of insubordination—5:17-18, 21;8:2:

1. A reigning spirit must be strong and living, active and not passive, positive and not negative, diligent and not loose.

2. One who has such a spirit not only keeps the position of order and submits to God’s authority but also has strong faith and exercises God’s authority consistently in the position of ascension.

3. Thus he reigns and rules over his environment, over his work, and over all the meetings and affairs in the church.

D. When we reign in life by being under the ruling of the divine life, we are delivered from the authority of darkness—Col. 1:13a.

E. When we are under the ruling of the divine life, we live in the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, where we are ruled and restricted in the sweetness of love—v. 13b.

F. To reign in life is to have our hearts directed by the Lord—Prov. 21:1;2 Thes. 3:5.

G. In order to reign in life, we need to receive the abundance of grace—Rom. 5:17, 21:

1. The enjoyment of the Lord as grace is with those who love Him—Eph. 6:24; John 21:15-17.

2. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ as the bountiful supply of the Triune God is enjoyed by us through the exercise of our human spirit—Heb. 10:29b; Gal. 6:18; Phil. 4:23; Philem. 25; 2 Tim. 4:22.

3. God’s word is the word of grace—Acts 20:32; Col. 3:16; cf. Jer.15:16.

4. We experience the processed Triune God as the grace of life in meeting with the saints on the ground of oneness—Psa. 133:3; 1 Pet. 3:7; Acts 4:33; 11:23.

5. We can experience the Lord as our increasing and all-sufficient grace in the midst of sufferings and trials—2 Cor. 12:9.

6. We need to labor for the Lord in the power of His grace—1 Cor. 15:10, 58; 3:10, 12a.

7. We need to be good stewards of the varied grace of God—1 Pet.4:10; Eph. 3:2; 2 Cor. 1:15; Eph. 4:29.

8. By the power of grace, the strength of grace, and the life of grace, we can be right with God and with one another; grace produces righteousness—Heb. 11:7; Rom. 5:17, 21.

H. Since we reign in life as God does, we become God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead—v. 17.

I. We reign in life in living a grafted life—11:17-24; Gal. 2:20a.

Day　5

IV. We need to see and arrive at the goal of reigning in life:

A. God’s will is to have the Body life—Rom. 12:2.

B. When we are reigning in life, living under the ruling of the divine life, the issue is the real and practical Body life.

C. To see the Body life built up as a practical reality, we must reign in life, that is, be under the ruling of the divine life.

D. Each item of the living of the Body life in Romans 12—13 requires us to be ruled by the divine life:

1. Being captivated by the compassions of God—12:1a.

2. Presenting our bodies a living sacrifice—v. 1b.

3. Not being fashioned according to this age—v. 2a.

4. Being transformed by the renewing of the mind—v. 2b.

5. Not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think—v. 3a.

6. Thinking so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith—v. 3b.

7. Considering that we have many members in one body and that all the members do not have the same function—v. 4.

E. We can live a life of the highest virtues for the Body life only by reigning in life:

1. Loving without hypocrisy and loving warmly in brotherly love—vv. 9a, 10a.

2. Not being slothful in zeal but burning in spirit, serving the Lord—v. 11.

3. Enduring in tribulation—v. 12b.

4. Rejoicing with those who rejoice, and weeping with those who weep—v. 15.

5. If possible, as far as it depends on us, living in peace with all men—v. 18.

F. The Body life is expressed in the church life:

1. We must reign in life in order to live the church life:

a. We receive the believers under the reigning in life according to God’s receiving—14:1-23.

b. We should receive one another according to the way Christ receives us—15:1-13.

c. Only by living under the rule of the divine life, by reigning in life, is it possible for us to live the proper church life.

2. The church is not a police station or a law court but a home, a hospital, and a school.

Day　6

V. We need to see the consummation of reigning in life:

A. Reigning in life is “unto eternal life”—5:21:

1. Unto eternal life is a particular expression.

2. John 4:14b says, “The water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life”:

a. Into (unto in Rom. 5:21) speaks of destination.

b. The eternal life is the destination of the flowing Triune God.

c. Into also means “to become” or “to be.”

d. The eternal life eventually will be the New Jerusalem.

e. Into eternal life means into the New Jerusalem.

B. The New Jerusalem is the totality of the divine life, the totality of the life of God; thus, the issue and consummation of our reigning in life should be uniquely and ultimately the goal of God’s eternal economy—the New Jerusalem.