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Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:24-26; Luke 19:23-25; John 12:24-25; Rom. 6:6; 8:13; Gal. 2:20; 5:24; 2 Cor. 4:10, 16
In previous chapters we saw that in order to know the Lord’s recovery, we need to know God as life and the content of the Bible as the truth. We also need to know our self and our old, natural being. Several verses in the New Testament mention different aspects of our natural being. The self and the old, natural being include the soul-life, the old man, the practices of the body, the flesh, the old “I,” and the outer man. According to the Word, all these things have been or need to be denied, crucified, and put to death.
Matthew 16:24-26 says, “Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it. For what shall a man be profited if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul-life? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul-life?” In these verses we see the self and the soul-life.
Luke 9:23-25, a parallel portion, says, “He said to them all, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake, this one shall save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself?” The word himself in verse 25 replaces the word soul-life in Matthew 16:26. This shows that the soul-life is the self.
John 12:24-25 says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his soul-life loses it; and he who hates his soul-life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life.” Here we see the soul-life again.
Romans 6:6 says, “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves.” This verse reveals that our old man has been crucified. Romans 8:13 says, “If you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” The practices of the body must be put to death.
Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” In this verse we see the old “I,” who is crucified with Christ. Galatians 5:24 says, “They who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts.” Here we see the flesh with its passions and its lusts.
Second Corinthians 4:10 says, “Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” Verse 16 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” Here we see that the outer man is decaying, or being consumed.
There is no place in the Lord’s recovery for the self. The New Testament leaves no place for any part of our old being. The speaking of the Lord Jesus and the writings of the apostle Paul show that in God’s economy nothing of our old being should remain. We need to realize that God’s economy is altogether a matter of the new creation. Our old being must be put aside.
Most Christians do not see that our old being must be put aside. Many Christian teachers do not even know the meaning of the self. As a result, many denominations promote, build up, and use the old being. This situation should cause us to mourn. The Lord’s recovery is different from denominational Christianity, because in the Lord’s recovery there is no place for the old man except the tomb. In order to know the Lord’s recovery, we must know that our old being has to be terminated. Although there is no place for our old being in the Lord’s recovery, in the sense of the new creation there is a place for us in the church. There is a place for us as regenerated persons who are being sanctified, transformed, conformed, and glorified, but we need to see that there is no place for our natural man.
The Lord said to Nicodemus, “Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3), and “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (v. 5). The kingdom of God in this age is the church. Therefore, these verses indicate that the natural man cannot enter into the church, because we must be regenerated to enter into the church. Some Christian teachers do not consider the church to be the kingdom of God in this age. They say that the kingdom will exist only in the coming age. However, Romans 14:17 says, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” This verse does not use the future tense verb will be but the present tense verb is, showing that the kingdom of God is present today. Furthermore, the context in Romans 14 concerns the practical church life in the present age, and Romans 12 deals with the Body life. This proves that the kingdom of God in this age is the church. Since regeneration is the way to enter the kingdom of God, which is the church today, there is no place for the natural man in the church.
Romans reveals that in order to enter into the practical Body life, which is the real practice of the church life, we need to be transformed. Romans 12:2 says, “Be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.” The will of God is the Body of Christ, and the living of the Body is in the church life (vv. 3-16). Therefore, we need to be transformed for our living of the practical church life. Regeneration is our entry into the church, and transformation is for our remaining and going on in the church life. In the church life all the old, natural things must be put aside. Regeneration and transformation nullify our old being; they do not give it any ground. When the old being has been dealt with, we can practice the proper church life, which is in the new creation. We need to see this in a practical way.
In order to see the Lord’s recovery in life and truth, we must know that there is no place for our self or natural man. Many Christians, including theologians who study the Bible, do not see the truth revealed in God’s Word, because their natural being remains untouched and veils them. Our own experience confirms this. When we are natural, we do not see the truth. In our natural being the natural concepts cover our inner eyes. When we realize that our natural being must be put aside, and we deny our self, we see much light in the Scriptures.
The self denotes the soul-life in its opinions, likes, dislikes, and choices. Opinions are a matter of our mind; likes and dislikes, or preferences, are a matter of our emotion; and choices are a matter of our will. When the Lord told His disciples that He would be crucified, Peter rebuked Him, saying, “God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You!” (Matt. 16:22). Peter’s self was expressed in his opinion. We need to see that the Lord’s recovery has no place for our opinions, preferences, or choices. If we mean business with the Lord and have received some vision, we must condemn the self.
Immediately after Peter expressed his opinion to the Lord, the Lord said, “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (v. 24). Contrary to the understanding of most Christians, taking up the cross does not primarily mean suffering; instead, it means killing. Historically, a death sentence was carried out by the means of crucifixion. To crucify a person was not mainly to cause him to suffer but to terminate him. If we know what the Lord’s recovery is, and we see that in the recovery there is no place for the self — our natural being in our opinions, preferences, and choices — we will take up the cross.
To take up the cross means to remain on the cross. We were crucified with Christ, and we need to remain on the cross. Apparently, the Lord was crucified after the three and a half years of His ministry. Actually, He was crucified from the very beginning of His ministry, when His baptism, which signifies death and burial, took place. Throughout the three and a half years of the Lord’s ministry, He bore the cross, living a crucified life. He continually denied the self during His human life on earth for the accomplishment of the Father’s will. The Lord bore the cross from His baptism to His crucifixion.
In order to follow the Lord, we must follow His pattern by taking up the cross and denying the self. We need to remain under the killing of the cross by denying our opinions, preferences, and choices. In John 21:18-19 the Lord told Peter, “When you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go...Follow Me.” Here the Lord indicated that Peter’s preferences would be terminated, and He prophesied that Peter would be martyred. History tells us that this indeed occurred.
We need to see that in the Lord’s recovery we must crucify, reject, and deny the self with its opinions, preferences, and choices. This is a crucial matter. It does not work merely to advise or exhort the saints not to have opinions or to be opinionated. We need a basic dealing with our opinion, which requires a vision that causes us to see that our old man and our old “I” have been crucified already (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20). Based upon that accomplished termination, we deny our self.
In the Lord’s recovery there is no place for the self with its natural opinions, preferences, and choices. If these things come in, they will annul the nature of the Lord’s recovery. Christianity has lost the genuine church life through centuries of promoting the self with its opinions, preferences, and choices. In order to remain in the Lord’s recovery, we need the light and the vision to see what the self is and that in the recovery it has no place.
The Lord said, “Whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it” (Matt. 16:25). To lose our soul-life is to not live in our old, natural being. In our old being we may be quick or slow, proud or humble, selfish or generous. No matter what kind of person we are in our old being, we should not live that person. This is difficult because we naturally live our old person. If we have the vision, we will see that we still mostly live our old person, our old being. Because we are regenerated and are being transformed, our natural man will be terminated not by our own doing but by our living another person, Christ.
The natural concept concerning the Christian life is often a matter of ethics and morality. According to our natural concept, we may think that if a man has a bad temper, when he is saved, he should improve his behavior and no longer lose his temper. However, according to this concept, if a man is naturally timid, he does not need to change his behavior, because he already has a pleasant natural man. We need to see that transformation is altogether not a matter of ethics or morality. Whether or not we are naturally ethical or moral, we need to be transformed. Whether we are naturally slow or quick, bold or timid, pleasant or short-tempered, we need to be transformed and live Christ. The Lord’s recovery is a matter of taking up the cross, denying the self, losing the soul-life, and living Christ.
Question: How can we tell real transformation from natural ability in those who are serving in the church?
Answer: With genuine transformation there will be the mark of the cross. When a capable and ethical man is saved and comes into the church life, the leading brothers should recognize that his ability is natural if they see no mark of the cross. If a man who is naturally capable but not ethical is saved and comes into the church, he may become ethical but remain natural. If this is the case, there will still be no mark of the cross. In recent turmoils many forgot about the mark of the cross and were deceived by natural ability. If we know the Lord’s recovery, we will know that our old being should be on the cross. Our ability to discern the mark of the cross and natural ability in others also depends on how much of the cross we have experienced ourselves.
