Living and Serving according to God's Economy concerning the Church - 2

Message Title: the Gospel of the Glory of the Blessed God

1 Timothy 1:11 According to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, with which I was entrusted.

the gospel is the shining forth of the God of glroy, or the shining forth of God in His glory, or the shining forth of the glory of this One. 

what the gospel of Jesus Christ does is to illuminate. the gospel of the glory of the Blessed God, the gospel of the glory of Christ, is simply an illuminatation of man and especially his mind and thoughts, because this is where the light would come in first. The gospel is preached to get into man's heart, but it does not stop there. it has to go further to reach man's spirit. we all have this kind of experience, that one day when we heard the gospel, the light shone into us. 

the people, especially their minds, have been blinded by the god of this age. so the light of the gospel needs to shine and penetrate the darkness in people's mind. 

II. the glory of God is intrinsically related to the economy of God

the Triune God is a God of glory. Man was created by God in His image in order that man would express Him in glory. 

Romans 9:21 Or does not the potter have authority over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?

Romans 9:23 In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory,

God created us as vessels unto honor, prepared unto glory, we were predestinated in His sovereignty to be His vessels to express what He is in glory. 

2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine on them.

the god of this age is Satan, the deceiver, the ruler of the present age. Satan has a kingdom, which is called the kingdom of darkness. the characteristic of Satan's kingdom is darkness. Satan rules in his kingdom by darkness, by blinding people with darkness. for example, the devices, the smart phones we are using right now. every minute we spend on these devices, we are pushed futher closer to being blinded, to falling into darkness, because these things are adding unto us all kinds of veils, layer by layer. but if we drop our concepts and turn our hearts to the Lord, the veils will be taken away, the god of this age will have no ground in our being, and the gospel of the glory of God will shine in our hearts. we need this every morning, because veils will come to us through our days and nights. therefore, every morning, we need turn our hearts again to the Lord, allowing the Lord to take away the veils which have blinded us. 

V. Christ is the image of God and the effulgence of His glory; hence, the gospel of Christ is the gospel of His glory that illuminates and shines forth

to us, this shining and this illuminating must come out of our being. is our being, our living having this kind of illuminating and shining forth, like the city on the top of the mountain? many times, because what we are is not according to this gospel, and not bearing the testimony of Jesus, there is no such illuming through our being and our daily living. 

when Saul was on the way to Damascus, he was zealous for his own religion, but he was totaly in darkness, in the kingdom od darkness. then a great light knocked Saul down, and the gospel of glory shined on him and illuminated him. how about us today? are our eyes opened? or we may be like Saul. though our eyes are open, we cannot see anything. 

the gospel is the gospel of glory of Christ, which illuminates, radiates, and shines in our hearts. God's shining in our hearts results in the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that is, in the enlightenment that causes us to know the glory of God in the gospel of Christ. 

2 Corinthians 4:6 Because the God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ; this means that the gospel of the glory of Christ is a lovely person in whose face we can see the glory of God. there is only one place where we can see the glory of God, and this place is the face of Jesus Christ, which simply means the person of Jesus Christ. all the time, we have to abide in His presence, and gaze on His face. therefore, we need to spend time in the face of Jesus Christ.