Outline
Ⅰ
The believers in Christ are vessels of mercy unto honor and glory; we are containers of Christ as mercy, honor, and glory—Rom. 9:21, 23:
A
God's purpose in creating man was to make man His vessel, His earthenware container, to contain and be filled with Christ as life for the building up of the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem as God's great corporate vessel for His expression—Gen. 2:7; Acts 9:15; Rom. 9:21, 23; 2 Cor. 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:20-21; Matt. 25:2-4, 8-9; Zech. 4:11-14; cf. Rev. 3:18.
B
All of Paul's fourteen Epistles can be summed up in two words—open vessel:
１
The degree to which God can dispense Himself into us depends on the degree of our openness; God wants us only to love Him and keep ourselves open to Him—2 Kings 4:1-7; Matt. 5:3; John 1:16; Isa. 57:15; 66:1-2.
２
Decadence starts from self-complacency; progress starts from hunger and thirst—Deut. 4:25; Luke 1:53; Phil. 1:25; Rev. 3:16-18.
C
We were created to be vessels of mercy to contain Christ as the God of mercy—Rom. 9:11-13, 16, 20-21, 23; Lam. 3:21-23; Luke 1:78-79:
１
God's mercy is the most far-reaching of God's attributes, saving us out of our wretched position into a condition that is suitable for His love and grace—Eph. 2:1-4; Heb. 4:16.
２
Because of God's mercy, we responded to the gospel when others did not respond, we received a word about Christ as life when others refused to receive it, and we took the way of the Lord's recovery when others drew back from taking this way—Hymns, #296, stanza 3.
３
Mercy refers to God's outward doing motivated by our wretched state; compassion refers to His inward affection originating in His loving essence—Rom. 9:15; Matt. 9:36.
４
We must contact God as the compassionate One every morning so that we may live in the reality of the kingdom in being merciful to others and not judging others—Lam. 3:21-23; Matt. 5:7; 7:1.
Morning Nourishment
Rom. 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?23 In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory.
The summary of [Paul’s] fourteen Epistles may be expressed in just two words: open vessel. God wants an open vessel. In Romans 9:23 Paul tells us that God created us as vessels of mercy unto glory. Then in 2 Corinthians 4:7 he says that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” These two verses may be considered as a basic secret to our experience of Christ and the church. You may hear a lot of messages on Christ and the church, yet if you do not realize that you have to be an open vessel, Christ and the church still have no way…An open vessel is doing nothing but keeping itself open to the filling up. The processed God—the Triune God, the all-inclusive Spirit, the compound Spirit—is here waiting for an opening to get into you. How much He would enter into you depends upon how much opening you would give Him. (CWWL, 1980, vol. 1, “Perfecting Training,” p. 241)
Today’s Reading
As vessels, we are not instruments or weapons—we are containers. According to Romans 9, we contain mercy, honor, and glory [vv. 21, 23]. This mercy, honor, and glory are actually the Triune God. In the initial stage of our experience the Triune God is our mercy, in the progressing stage He is our honor, and in the completing stage He is our glory. At present we are enjoying our God as mercy and somewhat as honor. When the Lord Jesus comes back, we shall be fully brought into honor and also into glory. Then we shall be filled with the Triune God not only as our mercy but also as our honor and glory.Mercy is the most far-reaching of God’s attributes. Mercy goes further than grace, for mercy reaches into a situation that is pitiful and unworthy of grace…How wonderful that God’s mercy does not depend on our being in a good condition! Rather, God’s mercy is shown in man’s pitiful condition. It is God’s mercy that has reached us…We need to see the preciousness of God’s mercy and praise Him for it and testify concerning it. Once we were sinners far from God; now we are one with the all-inclusive Christ. What a mercy! We are vessels containing the Triune God as mercy.
When Paul wrote chapter 9 of Romans, his thought was fully occupied with God’s mercy. He says, “It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy” (v. 16). It is altogether a matter of God’s mercy that we are believers and that we are in the church life. Because all is of God’s mercy, we have nothing to boast of in ourselves. Our going on with the Lord is a matter not of our willing or running but of God’s mercy… We are changeable, constantly fluctuating. Therefore, we should not trust in ourselves but in God’s mercy. We praise the Lord that we are vessels of mercy unto honor and glory. We now contain Him as mercy, and we shall contain Him as honor and glory.
As vessels of mercy unto honor and glory, we were chosen by God according to His sovereign mercy (vv. 11-16)…Being a vessel of mercy is not the result of our choice; it originates with God’s sovereignty…His sovereignty is the basis of His selection.
In Romans 9:15 Paul quotes the Lord’s words, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy.” Because of God’s mercy we responded to the gospel when others did not respond, we received a word about Christ as life when others refused to receive it, and we took the way of the Lord’s recovery when others drew back from taking this way. Concerning the gospel, the ministry of life, and the church life, God, in His sovereignty, has had mercy on us. Therefore, we must praise Him for His sovereign mercy. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1183-1185)
Further Reading: Life-study of Romans, msgs. 22, 58, 63; Life-study of Genesis, msgs. 10, 83—84