[aron]

I may have been elliptical in my approach, and even disjointed. But really over the past 5 years on this forum, I've had 2 main themes, which in my view tightly relate.

The first is objective - how we treat the text. What does it say. What happened. What do we believe. In my view, the clear NT precedent is to treat the OT scripture as being completed in Jesus the Nazarene. Of course the repentant protagonist in Psalm 51 isn't Jesus - but even there is a foretaste of Jesus speaking to Peter: "When you turn, you will strengthen the brothers". Jesus interceded for Peter, and Peter turned, and this turning became a beacon for others. See Psalm 51:13: "Then I teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you."

Witness Lee turned it into the [local] church, and Christ was "everything to us" - our shoes, our umbrella, our window. Of course Jesus said that he was the door, the bread, the Shepherd, but it was His experience that is the basis. As he was in relation with the Father, so is ours with him. Otherwise we create a fake experience with a fake shoe, a fake bread, a fake door. We fool ourselves and each other. That's what Nee and Lee did. They were Spiritual Giants apart from Christ, and the Christ they proffered was of their own manufacture. They missed the text and made their own. And Lee's "economy" was cut from this cloth, as I've shown.

The related thing that I've learned in an experiential way, is reciprocity. "As you do to others, so God will do to you." I was always focused on myself, a black hole of need. Lee fooled me for a while, fed my ego. I was a brother in the local church. Not a sister. Not one of the poor Christians. Not an unbeliever. Not an unredeemed sinner. No, I was exercising my human spirit on the local ground. "Oh, I'm a man - I'm the center and the meaning of the universe!" I shouted and yelled with the best of them, and it was great. But my problems remained, and ultimately I left in despair and frustration.

After some unhappy years passed, I discovered reciprocity. As I do to others, God will do to me. If I want to be blessed, I bless. It's that simple. "Give, and it will be given to you, pressed down, shaken, running over." Wow. This is the gospel Paul preached. I've gone over the verses in detail. This is our heavenly manna. "Blessed is that one, when the Master comes, he will find so doing." Doing what? Pray-reading? No - giving to those who lack. It might be comfort, encouragement, wisdom, a smile. It might be some sort of help along the way. It could be anything. The situation and the HS will dictate what is to be done.

As soon as I re-oriented my life changed. That is the subjective part. The objective part is that the NT no longer is a mystery to me. It is all of apace. There is no high gospel or low gospel. There is one gospel. It is a holistic document with one theme. God loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son, that we might believe and be saved. And we follow him - "When I was sick, you visited me, when I was hungry you gave me food". This is our journey of faith. It is pure grace to care for others. As you care for them, God cares for you. If you ignore them, God ignores you.

"The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight." Only Jesus fills this text. Not David, not the redeemed sinner. Let your consciousness be in him. It is only his subjective experience that matters.

Then the HS speaks: "To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd. You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty." The voice is the HS to God, but the listener of the directive, who sees the principle of reciprocity, can place themselves where they will, by their attitudes and actions, especially toward those around them.