Enjoy Christ’s Riches in 3 Aspects Every Day

Christ’s riches are unsearchable and immense! They are all available for us to appreciate, experience, and enjoy in our daily life! But do we enjoy them? It depends greatly on how much of them we see in God’s word, the Bible.

To be clear, we’re not talking about physical or material riches. It’s the wealth in Christ Himself that God intends for us to receive, experience and enjoy (Eph. 1:3).

I began to consider these riches in my daily Bible study.  As I was reading through Ephesians 3 in the Recovery Version, I discovered that there are three aspects of Christ’s riches.

Ephesians 3:8 says,

“To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.”

Footnote 3 on this verse in the Recovery Version says:

“The apostle announced not doctrines but the riches of Christ. The riches of Christ are what Christ is to us, such as light, life, righteousness, and holiness, what He has for us, and what He accomplished, attained, and obtained for us. These riches of Christ are unsearchable and untraceable.”

Here are three aspects of Christ’s riches for us to enjoy:  1) the riches of what Christ is to us, 2) what Christ has for us and 3) what He accomplished, attained, and obtained for us.

Now let us consider these three aspects of Christ’s riches and how we can appreciate, experience, and enjoy them in our daily Christian life.

3 aspects of Christ’s riches for us to enjoy every day

First, Christ’s riches are what He is to us

As the footnote above mentions, Christ’s riches are first what He is to us–including life, light, righteousness and holiness…and much more.

John 1:4 says, “In Him was life and the life was the light of men.” In 1 Corinthians 1:30 Paul says, “But of Him [God] you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”

Life

Do you need life? Christ is the eternal, divine life of God (John 14:6). Without receiving Him as life we would all perish (3:16).  But when we believe into God’s Son, Jesus Christ, we have this eternal life (1 John 5:12). You can receive the eternal life which is Jesus Christ…right now! Just cry out and say, “Lord Jesus I believe into You. I receive You!”

Light

Do you need light? Christ is the light of life (8:12). Without light we have no way to go on, no way to grow spiritually, no direction for our living. Christ is not only the light of world generally but the light that shines in our hearts personally (2 Cor. 4:6).

Holiness and righteousness

How about holiness and righteousness? None of us can be holy as God is holy and none of us can be perfectly righteous. Yet Christ is both. He is absolutely holy and perfectly righteous—even called “Jesus Christ, the righteous” (1 John 2:1).

Calling on the Lord enables us to enjoy His riches

Simply contact the Lord Jesus with your spirit by calling on His name, “Lord Jesus!” He’ll become so rich to you.

In Romans 10:12b Paul says,

“For the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him.”

The note on Romans 10:12 tells us that the secret to the enjoyment of Christ’s riches is to call on His name. Try it!

When we call, “Lord Jesus!” He is like a blank check to which we can fill in the amount. We’re not, but He is! He meets our need with what He is as life, light, holiness and righteousness.

Second,  Christ’s riches are what He has for us

I have also been enjoying a hymn, “I am one with Thee, Lord Jesus.” You can read the lyrics here.

Day by day we share His riches

This hymn is awesome. The first stanza points out that in our union with Christ—because we’re now one Spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17)—we possess all that He is!  All He is now lives in us! (Gal. 2:20)

Then the chorus concludes by saying that in our oneness with Christ,

Day by day I share Thy riches,
Thou art everything to me.

The words of this chorus added fuel to my quest to know, experience and enjoy Christ’s riches more.

The hymn goes on, in the following stanzas, to point out some of  Christ’s riches that we share in our union with Him. For example…

Christ’s riches include His complete obedience

Stanza 2 points out that we share Christ’s human life, filled with His humanity and that all of Christ’s complete obedience is available to us.

“Christ’s complete obedience”  is just one example of  the riches Christ has for us.

By nature, we, like all fallen sinners, are rebellious to God and man. Even after we’re saved, we find ourselves still living with a rebellious attitude.

Such an attitude frustrates our fellowship with God and damages our human relationships such as marriage and family life.

But our Lord Jesus was obedient to God, even unto the death of the cross (Phil 2:8). When we contact Him in our spirit, that is mingled with His bountiful Spirit, we have the inexhaustible supply of  His complete obedience…and so much more!

Christ’s riches include His resurrection power

We also share Christ’s resurrection power. Ephesians 1:19-20 says,

“What is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the operation of the might of His strength Which He caused to operate in Christ in raising Him from the dead…”

This isn’t some miraculous power but the divine operation that God operated in Christ in raising Him from the dead. This same resurrection  power now operates in us in our union with Christ.

“Toward us who believe” literally means to “toward us the believing ones.” It is something, present and active.

So are you a “believing one”? 

One of the best ways I know be a “believing one” is to open my mouth. In 2 Corinthians 4:13 Paul says,

And having the same spirit of faith according to that which is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak.

Our speaking, whether in calling on name of the Lord, singing, thanking or praising the Lord (Eph. 5:18-20) keeps our believing “switch” on. In such a union with Christ we constantly receive the riches of what Christ has for us.

There are too many riches of Christ to speak of in one post. So this word can only whet your appetite to experience all of Christ’s riches He has for us.

Third, Christ’s riches are what He has accomplished, attained, and obtained for us

Let’s consider some of the awesome things Christ has accomplished, attained and obtained for us.

Christ accomplishments 

Christ accomplishments include His incarnation, His perfect human living, His all-inclusive death, excellent resurrection, and all-transcending ascension. In the Spirit of Christ there is the reality of all these accomplishments.

When we drink of His Spirit by calling on His name (1 Cor. 12:13, 3) all His accomplishments are ours.

Christ attainments 

The attainments of Christ’s ascension include His ascending “far above the heavens” (Eph. 4:10). When we feel that we are in a low pit, we need to call on the Lord who is far above all.  Contacting the Lord in this way, we transcend our problems in Him.

Christ attainments also include His being crowned with glory and honor in His ascension (Heb. 2:9). When we contact Him, as our ascended Lord, we are infused with His glory and honor. Then, as His ambassadors, we express Christ’s glory and honor in our speaking Him to people (2 Cor. 4:4).

What Christ obtained

In His ascension, Christ obtained the kingship, the lordship, the headship with all authority. He also obtained a more excellent ministry. Hebrews 8:6 says,

“But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry inasmuch as He is also the Mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted upon better promises.”

After accomplishing redemption for us in His earthly ministry, Christ, in His ascension, entered into His heavenly ministry. Now He is applying to us all the bequests of the new covenant which He enacted through His blood. He is ministering to us the heavenly life, grace, authority, and power that enables us to live a heavenly life on earth. How wonderful is that?!

We need to see that when Christ comes into us as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) we receive all that He accomplished, obtained and attained. How great are Christ’s riches!

Learn to enjoy Christ’s riches in your daily life.

1. First, we need to see,  that as His believers, we are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). All that Christ is with all His riches are now ours and now He lives in us!
2. By living one spirit with Him we share Christ’s riches which include all that He is to us, all the He has for us, and all that He accomplished, attained and obtained for us.
3. We simply need to keep ourselves in constant contact with Christ in our spirit by calling on His name, feeding on His word, conversing with Him all the time, and singing, thanking, and praising Him.
4. Such a “switching on” of the divine transmission causes the three aspects of  Christ’s riches to be applied to us in our daily Christian life.

Take a moment to respond to this word in prayer:

“Lord Jesus, thank you for showing us these three great aspects of Your unsearchable riches for us to experience and enjoy. Impress us that all Your riches are now ours in our union with You in our spirit. Show us that all we need to do is to remain in this union with You by believing and speaking so that you may continually apply Your riches to us in our daily life.”

If this post has helped you to enjoy Christ more, please take a moment to leave a confirming comment.

Resources:

• This post was inspired by my reading of the Recovery Version study Bible, especially Ephesians 3:8, footnote 3. You can  read it online here.
•  God’s New Testament Economy by Witness Lee, Chapter 6, Section 3 reveals some of these aspects of  Christ riches. You can read it online at ministrybooks.org.
• Here are a couple of hymns that strengthen the point of this post:
  • O the riches of my Savior – lyrics and tune.
  • I am one with Thee Lord Jesus – lyrics and tune