Unto Fulness #2 - the Vision of Fulness — Stephen Kaung

Let's turn to the letter to the Colossians. The letter to the Colossians chapter 1. We read from verse 15 through verse 19. Colossians chapter 1 verse 15. This image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation, because by Him were created all things, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or principalities or authorities.

All things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all, and all things subsist together by Him. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, firstborn from among the dead, that He might have the first place in all things.

For in Him all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell. Then the letter to the Ephesians chapter 1. We read from verse 15 through verse 23. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 15. Therefore I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus that is in you, and the love which He hath towards all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you at my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him, being enlightened in the eyes of your heart, so that ye should know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the surpassing greatness of His power towards us who believe, according to the working of the might of His strength, in which He wrought in the Christ, in raising Him from among the dead.

And He set Him down at His right hand in the heavenlies, above every principality and authority and power and dominion, and every name named, not only in this age, but also in that to come. And has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him, who fills all in all.

Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we praise and thank Thee for Thy precious word, but we do pray that Thy word may not just be word to us, but through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, that Thy word may become living to us.

Lord, we pray that Thou will grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of God. We do acknowledge that unless Thou dost reveal Thyself to us, reveal Thy Son in us, Thou art beyond us.

We are not able to know Thee, and to be filled with Thee. So our prayer tonight is that Thou will grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may know Thee. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.

God's Call to the Fullness of Christ

The lesson that God has put in my heart is this matter of unto-fullness. Last night we began by saying that God has called us to fullness. Our God is a God of fullness. Therefore His calling cannot be anything less than fullness.

Anything that is less than fullness cannot represent our God. Therefore His calling is calling us unto His fullness. Our God is a God of fullness. And we mentioned last night that the calling and election, the calling of God knows no repentance.

In other words, when God calls us, He will have. He will not lower His calling. He will not try to lower His calling to suit our condition. His calling knows no repentance. And that is to say, He calls us to know His fullness, and nothing less than His fullness.

And because of this we find we have a tremendous responsibility before God. As we find in 2 Peter 1, it says, we must make our calling and election sure. This is our responsibility. He has called us, and now He waits for us to respond to His calling.

Whether we will enter into the fullness that He is calling us, or we will rather just be contented with a little that we know of Him. Whether we will be like the children of Israel who enter into the promised land, and possess their possession in fullness.

Or we will be like the two tribes, the tribe of Reuben and the tribe of Ged. They were contented to stay on the eastern side of the river Jordan. They do not want to go over the Jordan to know the fullness.

They would rather stay in the plain, because it is better good for their cattle. In other words, they love the blessing of God, and they do not want the blessing. Worse than that, we may be like the children of Israel who did come out of Egypt, but they fell in the wilderness, because they live according.

So dear brothers and sisters, the calling is out. The calling is upon every one of us. And we need to know to be really before the Lord, asking the Lord to examine our hearts, to show us what is our heart attitude towards His calling.

The Necessity of Spiritual Vision

Now this evening we would like to continue on with the vision of fullness. I believe brothers and sisters we are all very familiar with that verse in Proverbs. In Proverbs chapter 29 verse 18 it is said, where there is no vision, the people perish.

And you find in other versions, where there is no vision, the people pass off, restraint. Or maybe put in another way, where there is no vision, the people disintegrate. The people scatter. The people go to pieces.

Vision is most basic in things spiritual. Now we mentioned last night that our God is infinite, but we are finite beings. And because we are so limited, limited in our capacity, limited in our understanding, therefore it is very easy for us to limit our God.

In a way God is really beyond us. For a finite being to comprehend the infinite God is impossible. And that is the reason why you find vision is so important. In other words, it is left to us to know God.

We will never be able to know Him. You remember the Job chapter 11 verse 7 it is said, anyone by searching know God. Can we know the Almighty to perfection? It is impossible. God is beyond us. We are so limited.

And that is the reason why we need vision. We need revelation. God reveals Himself. Then we got the vision. Sometimes we quote a verse in Isaiah chapter 45 verse 15, that God is a God who hides Himself.

Now if you read the context, you will find that this verse does not refer to God as a person. It refers only to the ways of God, the workings of God. Now if this verse refers to God as a person, then God in His very character, in His very nature, He wants to hide Himself from us.

Now if He shall hide Himself, now who will be ever to know Him? We will never be able to know Him. But in reading the context, you will find what it really means is here. That the children of Israel, they do not know what God is doing for them.

In other words, God is working salvation for them, and yet they do not know it. And in that sense, it is as if God is one who hides Himself. Not that He hides Himself, but His way is unknown. His working is unknown to the children of Israel.

As a matter of fact, our God is a God who reveals. Why? The very name Jehovah means the one who reveals Himself. In the name of our Lord. It is the pleasure, it is the delight of our God to reveal Himself, and to reveal His Son in us.

And dear brothers and sisters, because this is, therefore there is hope for us to know Him. Our God is a God who reveals Himself. And Paul says, it please God to reveal His Son in me. We do not mean something that you see with your naked eyes.

Now it is true sometimes God does condescend Himself to our level, and sometimes does allow us to see something even with our naked eyes. But we must remember that vision, strictly speaking, is an unveiling of God's purpose.

Our dear brother Sparks, T. Austin Sparks, in a message called The Saving Power of Divine Vision. I do not know if you have read it. It is in that little book called The Ministry, Volume 1. And in that he said, what is vision?

Vision means two, three things. Number one, a vision is the revealing of God's purpose. That is a vision. Number two, a vision is the revealing of the principles, governance. And number three, a vision why and how away from God's purpose.

A vision should include these three things. The Holy Spirit unveils the mind of God, reveals that in our spirit. And in our spirit we begin to see God's eternal purpose. We begin to understand the principles that govern God's purpose.

And we also begin to understand why and how things have gone astray. Now when we see these in our spirit, we have seen a vision. Vision is so basic to our spiritual life. Without vision we perish. Without vision we go to pieces.

Vision we just disintegrate, or restrain. Why? Because only vision gives us direction. Vision shows us the goal. It shows us the way. It gives us the strength. It unites us together. It enables us to endure.

In that same message our brother says, vision is the dynamic of life. It is like a fire that burns within us and cannot be quenched. Vision is the cohesion of life. It is only when we have one vision that we are able to be really one.

And when there is vision, it means the elimination of self. Now that is what vision is. When we come to this metal of fullness, the fullness of God. Dear brothers and sisters, we need vision. If we do not have vision of the fullness of God, then we do not know what we are seeking.

And if we do not have that vision, we do not have that incentive within us. We will not have that inward force that drives us on. We will not have that fire that burns within us and will not be quenched.

And without vision, we will not be able to pay the cost that is always connected with vision. That is the reason why you find Apostle Paul, he prays. When he is trying to share with the Ephesian believers and with the Colossian believers, you find that how he gives himself to prayer.

And you find in Ephesians chapter one, his prayer is that God will give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of God. In other words, Paul knows very well that even if he tries his best to share with the believers that which God has revealed to him, to his spirit by the Holy Spirit, but even if when he tries to share it with the believers, he knows that unless they too receive revelation, what is shared will just be words.

They will not be life. And that is the reason why he prays. He prays that God will grant them, give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of God. And he not only prays once, but in the letter to the Ephesians you find in the third chapter, he bows his knees again.

In other words, after he has shared some of the visions, then he prays again that the vision may not just remain as vision, but it may become vocation. And again, this means the working of the spirit of God.

So dear brothers and sisters, may we before the Lord, as we are sharing this evening, that God will give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may catch a vision of the fullness that is in God.

The Fullness of Christ and the Fullness of the Church

Now in this matter of the fullness that God is calling us into, I think there are two aspects of that fullness that we must see. One is the fullness of Christ. And the other is the fullness of the church.

To the Colossians, we find it is mentioned twice. Once in chapter 1 verse 19, in him, the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell. And again in chapter 2 verse 9 it says, the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily, and ye are complete.

Where we find of the Godhead? Of God, that fullness. God is a God of fullness. The same yesterday, today, and forever. In other words, there can be no improvement to our God. Why? Because he is always full.

Add anything to him. He is our God. Of the Godhead, eternal. In other words, he has no beginning and no ending. Why? Because he is the beginning and he is the end. He is the first and the last. The Alpha and the Omega.

From eternity to eternity, he is God. There is no break in between. Eternity is not only a matter of time as we understand it. But his eternity is also a matter of quality. In other words, he is eternally perfect.

Ever fresh, ever green, ever living. There is no spot, no wrinkle, no aging. That is the eternity of God. The fullness of eternity. And when you come to Psalm, say Psalm 139, David's Psalm, and there you will find David describe the omniscience, the omnipresence, and the omnipotence of God.

God knows everything. He knows you are sitting down, you are lying down, you are getting up. He knows everything about you. And no matter where you go, he is there. You cannot escape him. He is ever present.

And he is all powerful. Oh, how he create us. How he made us. Even in the womb of our mothers. His mighty power is working there. The knowledge of God is full. God is full. Everywhere. The re is nothing he cannot do.

You may think of the love of God. His love, the agape love of God is full. His love is not influenced, affected by external environment. His love just comes from himself. No matter how we are, what we are, he loves.

And he loves to the uttermost. You can think of the holiness of God. And even the seraphim, they have to hide their face before God. Because God is holy. Holy, holy, holy. God. Almighty. You can think of the glory of God.

When God appears, his glory appears. And how glorious it is. Always full. So brothers and sisters, when we think of the fullness of the Godhead, it is really full. And it is something that we just cannot comprehend.

But the Bible says all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ. And in him bodily. And we know the word dwells does not mean a visit sometimes. It means make its home. The fullness of the Godhead takes up its permanent residence in Christ.

And this is from eternity to eternity. And this does not change when our Lord Jesus came in the flesh. Because all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily. The fullness of Christ. If we can know the fullness of the Godhead, then we know the fullness of Christ.

Because the fullness of Christ is nothing less than the very fullness of the Godhead. He is God. The son of God's love. Our dear brother Sparks, you know I have to quote him often now. Because when you come to this area of fullness, he is the one to quote.

And our brother often in his talk say now you make Christ small. He is not small at all. But you make him small. And isn't it very true? Our concept of Christ, our understanding of Christ, our receiving Christ is so small, so limited, and often times we think we have him all.

We are deceived. He is infinite. There is a fullness in him that is infinite. And it is to that fullness that we are called into. Now I think probably the best way on this matter of the fullness of Christ is to use experience of one person.

We do not want to make it too academic, theological, objective. But we will try to approach it more in a personal subjective way. So that we can see that this fullness of Christ is not something that we speculate.

But it is something that we really can enter into. And when we enter into that fullness, what a change it will be. I believe you know whom I am trying to say. The Apostle Paul. When the Apostle Paul was converted, he is the great Pharisee Saul.

Paul's Revelation of Christ on the Damascus Road

And in those days of Christ, bound by the tradition of the Jewish fathers. Now we have to acknowledge that the tradition of the fathers, of the Jewish fathers, if you compare it with the traditions around the world, it is the best of traditions.

Here you will find this great Pharisee Saul, brought up according to the tradition of his fathers. And because of this you will find his view of Christ was so distorted. He considered Jesus as an imposter of Judaism.

As an enemy of Judaism. And he took upon himself to wipe out the name of Jesus. Thinking that by doing so, he would do God a great service. And he did it with zeal. The next day on the way to Damascus, a light shone upon him.

He fell under that light. He heard a voice. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Don't you know it is hard for you to kick against the goat? And there he received a revelation, a vision. I said Jesus of Nazareth, whom he despised, the Lord of all.

Why do you persecute me? Don't you know it is hard for you to kick against the goat? Now we know that in the old days, when a farmer is plowing the field, he will use an ox. The yoke will be upon the neck of the cow.

And it will be connected with a yoke. And the farmer's hand, one hand he will guide the yoke. And on the other hand he will have a sharp instrument called a goat. He will drive this ox. But you know the ox has his own will.

Stubborn ox. And sometimes you know the ox wants to go its own way. And if it goes its own way, then you will find the plow will not be straight. The farmer has to apply a little discipline. We are talking about discipline in the afternoon.

I am glad that many people came in the afternoon, but I hope more people will come. Because we need discipline. And here you will find the farmer will use the goat and touch the leg of the ox. Now he has no intention to hurt the ox.

So he will just touch it gently. To let the ox know that he has a master. But the ox is so stubborn, he kicks back. Kicking back, it hurts. And after being hurt a few times, he began to realize that he is not his own master.

But he has a master. It is better for him to obey. On that day on the road of Damascus, Paul saw for the first time realize that he has a master. You know he was such a strong person. He thought he was his own master.

He was doing whatever he felt he should do. And now he began to realize that he was not free. He was an ox in the hand of the farmer. He belongs to someone. Someone has a purpose for his life. Do the work of his master.

Not to do his own work. But when he is doing his own work. Going his own way. Trying to be his own master. Then he is being touched by that goat. And the Lord said, don't kick. It is hard for you to kick.

You better surrender. Be obedient. So on the road of Damascus, you find Paul. For the first time, by revelation, in vision he saw the righteous one. He realized that Jesus of Nazareth is not someone you can despise and wipe out.

He is the Lord of your life. He is the Lord of all. Thank God you find this man immediately capitulated. He said, Lord, what do you want me to do? Now you are my Lord, my master. In Galatians chapter 1, Paul said, it pleased God to reveal his son in me.

And he refers to his experience on the road to Damascus. In other words, you find that on the road to Damascus, he not only realized that Jesus is Lord. Lord of his life. But he also get a revelation of the son.

He is now made Lord of all. He is God's beloved son. Only begotten son. The son of God's love. The very center of God's heart. The very meaning of everything. Not only God has revealed the son to him.

But he said, God has revealed the son in me. In me. Not only who he is, but what he is. Now dear brothers and sisters, this is a great revelation. To know the son of God. To know the son in me. He is in me.

And what does it mean? It can mean only one thing. And that is, the son in me is to bring me into sonship. That one day, he son. The firstborn. They bring many sons into glory. Now of course, we cannot say not at all.

At that moment, he saw everything. But it was the beginning. And here you find he begin to see something of Christ. To see that Christ is the son of God. And he is the Lord of all. He went to Damascus.

He was blinded by the light. And on the third day, an anise came, laid his hand on him, and said, Brother Saul, God wants you to see. And his eyes were opened. And the Bible says in Acts chapter 9 verse 20, Saul he immediately joined himself with the disciples in Damascus.

He went in and out with them, and he began to preach that Jesus is the son of God. Now dear brothers and sisters, you cannot testify to what you do not know. But what you have seen and heard, you testify.

So Paul, he has seen Jesus as the son of God. The purposes of God are centered upon that son. And that son has once come into this world to be a man, Jesus of Nazareth. But God has exalted him and made him Lord of all.

Paul began to preach Jesus. That is the beginning of his seeing the fullness. But then we know he went into the desert. Instead of going to Jerusalem to see the apostles that were before him, he went off to Arabia.

To the desert. And he was there for about three years time. Now even though we do not know what he was doing there, but I think one thing we can be sure of, and that is this great Pharisee. Pharisee. Who knew the Old Testament, the Bible, so well.

Only in the light of the traditions of the Father. Now he was converted to Christ, Jesus. So he really needed the time to go away to be before God to re-read the Old Testament. In the new light that he has found.

In other words, he is reading the Old Testament in the light of the hidden years in Arabia. It must be very precious. He must have received much directly. When he came back to Damascus, then you find in Acts 9 .22.

He began to reason with the Jews and confounded them, proving to them that Jesus is the Christ. Do you know the difference here? He first met the Lord on the road to Damascus. He began to preach that Jesus is the Son of God.

When he came back from Arabia, he began to prove that Jesus is the Christ. Now how did he prove him? Of course, through the Old Testament. In other words, he proved through all the prophets. Through the five books of Moses, through the prophets, through the Psalms.

He proved to the Jews that this Jesus, the Son of God, is the Christ of God. Jesus is the Anointed. He is the Messiah, the Saint One. He is the One who comes to fulfill a mission. Even the work of redemption.

In Him is salvation. In no one else. You find that his vision of Christ gets deeper. That Christ is not only the Son of God, but He is also the Christ of God. Now brothers and sisters, do we know Jesus as the Son of God?

We do. But to what degree? Do we know Jesus as the Christ of God? We do. But how much? How much? Paul was converted in 33 to 36 AD. Now we do not know for sure, but approximately Paul probably was converted in the year 33 to 36, around that year.

He went to Arabia for three years. He went to Jerusalem. He was sent away because he was too hot. Then he was sent away to Cilicia in Syria. And we do not know exactly how long it must be, a number of years, until he was found by Barnabas and brought back to Antioch.

That probably is in the year 44 AD. And then you find, after they served the Lord there together in Antioch for some time, God called them out, Barnabas and Paul, out on the apostolic work, that you find in Acts chapter 13.

And when they first went out, it was probably in the year 47 to 48 AD. That's when they first started out. And you find that they went out once, twice, three times. And approximately 11 years of apostolic work.

Then he was taken in Jerusalem, probably around the year 58. And he was in prison more than four years. Two years in Caesarea and two years in Rome, but some time in Jerusalem. So you find that another four or five years passed.

He was released. And then he was retaken again, probably in the year 67 or 68 AD. So when you read the history of this man, from the day, from the time he was saved, you find that it covers approximately a period of 33 to 34 years.

Now it's very strange, you know. I shouldn't use the word strange, but wonderful. Because our Lord Jesus, He was on earth for 33 years and half probably. And then if you read the book of Acts, you find a record of the book of Acts covered about 33 years.

And here you find that man Paul, from the day of his conversion to his martyrdom, again it's about 33, 34 years. But during those 33, 34 years, you find that his vision of the fullness of Christ ever increases.

There is always an increasing in his vision of the fullness of Christ. Now brothers and sisters, that is what it should be. Christ is infinite. Christ is infinite. It is not something that we can just spot at once.

But eternity. It takes revelation after revelation. Our vision needs to be deepened, to be widened, broadened. Our horizon has to be broadened all the time. We need to know Christ, the fullness of Christ, again, again, again, again.

And there is no end to it. Brothers and sisters, we cannot stay put in this matter of knowing Christ. And this is the passion in the heart of Paul. You know when he wrote Philippians, he showed us this is his one passion, to know Christ.

To know Him. Even at this time, period of his life, you will find he is still driving on with that fire, with that passion of knowing Christ. You know, if we read his letters, probably we can find some hints of his passion increasing vision of the fullness of Christ.

Paul's Letters and the Growth of His Vision

We know Paul was used of God to write a number of letters in the New Testament. And these letters, roughly, you can group them into four groups, chronologically speaking. The first group of his writings, of course we know, are 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.

Now these are written approximately in A .D. 52 -53. These are the two first letters he wrote. Now he wrote to a young church. These two letters, you find that at that period of time, now of course, it has something to do with the condition of the church in Thessalonians too.

And it has something to do with the circumstances at the moment. But still you will find the burden in Paul's heart, that which occupies Paul. If you read these two letters, you will find it is the second coming of the Lord.

It is mentioned again and again in these two letters. The coming of the Lord. The day that we look forward to. We long and pray that not only he may stand before Christ blameless, but how he pray that he may present these Thessalonian believers to Christ in that way too.

It is a day of reward, when Christ shall return and reward his own. But it is also a day of judgment, so far as the world is concerned. So you know that during that time in the missionary, in the early missionary trips, you find that which occupies his heart is this coming of the Lord.

And dear brothers and sisters, surely we should be occupied with that. As our brother mentioned in the morning, it is our responsibility and privilege that we may not only wait for his coming, but actually to face him.

The second group of letters he wrote are the 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians and Romans. Now these were written probably in the year AD 57 -58. And you will find in these letters he is occupied with something.

In 1st Corinthians of course, you find he said, I know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him crucified. In other words, he sees the centrality of the cross. So the problems of the Corinthians are due to the fact they do not know Christ.

And in the second letter to the Corinthians, you find he mentions Christ. In 1st Corinthians it is the cross. In 2nd Corinthians it is resurrection. You know brothers and sisters, the cross is the foundation of our spiritual life.

But the cross is not the end. The cross is the means to an end. It is through the cross, through death and burial, that resurrection comes into being. We need to know the cross of Christ working in our lives.

We need to know the cross because without the cross we have no foundation. We also need to know the resurrection of the Lord lives, reigns in our lives. That is what occupies Paul. Then of course in Galatians he is telling us what the gospel is not.

And in Romans he tells us what the gospel is. Gospel is Christ, Son of God. The second group of his letters. So you will see that during that period, again we say there are external circumstances for these letters.

But still you will find in the heart of Paul, he began to see more and more of the cross of Christ. He began to experience more and more of the power of his resurrection. He began to see clearer and clearer of what the gospel is not and what the gospel really is.

It is Christ. He is the gospel. Then you come to the fourth group, third group. And of course the third group are the prison letters. These are Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon. And these four are prison letters.

And they are written probably in the year 61 to 63 AD. And here in a sense you find Paul, even though he was in prison, and yet his spirit soared to the third heaven. In the letter to the Ephesians he shows us the fullness in the church.

The fullness. In the letter to the Colossians he shows us the fullness of the gospel dwells in Christ. In other words, here you find Paul in Ephesians, Philippians, in his own understanding and experience, he has entered deeper and deeper into the fullness that is in God.

And that is something he tried to share with the Ephesians. Now what about Philippians and Philemon? You know, if Colossians and Ephesians tell us more of the fullness, then Philippians and Philemon shows us more of the fullness of the overflowing of the life, the fullness, Paul.

So much of the fullness that is in Christ. That you find that fullness just flows out from him towards the Philippian believers. The comfort instead of to be comforted. Love just flows from the prisoner, Paul, to the little letter.

You find that Paul reveals to us the love of God in Christ. It is a beautiful, beautiful, the overflowing of the fullness. Then finally of course he was released and for a few years before his martyrdom.

And you find the fourth group, 1 Timothy, Titus and 2 Timothy. We may say that in these letters you find it deals with the recovery of the testimony of Jesus in the church. He shows us what the church is.

It is the instrument, the vessel of God's testimony. How it should be maintained. There is declension. The testimony of Jesus continues on with those who are faithful. So dear brothers and sisters, as you read his letters, in a sense it does give you an understanding that this man's vision of the fullness of Christ seems to get fuller and fuller and fuller.

And this is what it ought to be with every one of us. Dear brothers and sisters, is our vision of Christ stopped somewhere? By the grace of God, there is an ever advancing, increasing, progressive vision broadening of the fullness.

And again we say there is no end to it. But then there is another aspect of the fullness that is in God that we need to catch a vision. And it is the fullness of the church. You know in Ephesians chapter 1 it says, God has made him, Christ, head over all things to the church, which is his body.

The fullness of him who fills all. And that is what the church is. You know the church is a mystery. It was hidden through the angels. The prophets in the Old Testament, they did not know the church. They did not have this knowledge that there will be the church.