God’s Way

1 Tim. 1:4 “…God’s economy, which is in faith”

God has His way. It is the only way in which God will work. If any man will work the work of God he must enter into God’s way. All other ways will eventually become corrupt and collapse. This is a principle that cannot be broken. No matter how much anyone tries to produce something by any means other than God’s way, eventually, the thing that is produced will not look like something of God. It will have the touch of man and that touch will kill. It is the touch of death.

You can see this in the Old Testament when David attempted to bring the Ark to Jerusalem on a cart drawn by oxen which was not the way revealed by God to carry the Ark. The revealed way was that the priests should carry it on their shoulders. So when the cart began to tip over and Uriah tried to keep the Ark from falling, he was slain. Man’s touch kills the move of God. Only in God’s way can the Ark be moved.

On the other hand, man has his ways. You can see this wherever you look in today’s Christian world. There are projects, teachings, programs, counseling, worldly music, mission trips, all kinds of meetings to build relationships, building programs, fund raising, home meetings, correct forms, all aimed to produce good things that man deems are for God. But anything other than God’s way is doomed to failure.

It is therefore imperative for us to find out what God’s way is and conform ourselves to it. To do otherwise is at the best foolish and at the worst rebellion toward God. If He has revealed His way who are we, fallen men, to attempt another way.

Paul says in 1 Timothy, “…charge certain persons not to teach differently, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than an economy of God which is by faith.” (1:3-4)

The word “economy” (ojiconomiva) comes from two Greek words, house and law. It means the arrangement and management of a household. It means that it is God’s arrangement or way for His house, the Church.

The problem in the churches by the time 1 Timothy was written was that the churches had taken a different way. They were drifting into Gnostic teaching, hierarchy and legalism. They had fallen from God’s way and were becoming an outward religion instead of a living organism with Christ as the Head.

The same problem exists today. Not only have the churches fallen into all kinds of things other than God’s way, it seems that they don’t even know what God’s way is.

What then is God’s way? Although God’s way is clearly revealed in the Word, it takes revelation to see it. Revelation removes the natural religious veils from our eyes. Unless this happens, we may hear or read about God’s way, but continue on our old path.

Revelation came to Peter on the road to Caesarea Philippi. When Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” Jesus said that this was revelation. It was not something thought up by Peter, but it was revelation received by him from God.

We need the Word unveiled by our Father concerning His son Jesus Christ who is God’s way. Our assignment from God is to live and walk in God’s way. To put it another way, in his second epistle Peter says that we are to participate in the divine nature. The apostle Paul says it even another way. He says rejoice in the Lord and always rejoice. The writer of the book of Hebrews said we are to look away from everything else unto Jesus. Others have said that our participation in the Lord is simply to enjoy Him.

Jesus Christ is the sum of all spiritual things. He is the All. Eventually He will become all in all. Every spiritual blessing is received and experienced only through Him. We are to walk in spirit where Christ dwells in our inner being. All our focus is to be on Him. He is the beloved of the Father, and we are beloved by God in Him. Nothing is obtained from God outside of Christ, and we can do nothing apart from Him. (John 15:5)

We all need revelation to see that this wonderful Person is the center and circumference of God’s purpose. Obtaining Him is to receive the divine life. To gain more and more of Him is the process of transformation. Experiencing Him together with other saints is the way the church is built up. God approves of nothing outside of the realm of Christ.

Look at the way Paul writes his epistles. He always shows that everything God does and we receive is through Christ and in Christ. We are not to attempt to please God or work for God independently from Christ. Christ is our life and our living with the called-out ones.

Every morning we come to our dear Lord Jesus praying and reading His word. We participate in the divine nature through His precious promises. As we pray and read the Word, the divine life flows into our spirits and then out through our souls. This is the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. (Phil. 1:19) Then out of that supply we are enabled to supply others with all they need: the very Person of our Lord Jesus Christ who is God’s way.