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Scripture Reading: John 3:5; Gal. 2:20a; 1 Cor. 15:36; Matt. 16:24-26; Gal. 5:24; Rom. 6:6; 8:13b; 2 Cor. 4:10, 16; Phil. 3:10
In this chapter we want to conclude our fellowship on our need to live and walk under the crucifixion of Christ.
In Philippians 3:10 the apostle Paul says that he desired to be conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection in the fellowship of His sufferings. Who can say what the conformation to the death of Christ and what the power of Christ’s resurrection are? Christ’s death and resurrection are great mysteries.
Recently, I received some news about a sister who passed through certain sufferings. If we consider the issues that she is facing in her spiritual life, this will help us to realize what it means to be conformed to the death of Christ. This sister was forced to resign from her job because the work she was doing had a harmful effect on her health. After her resignation she considered that she should use some of her savings to start a business. She saw an advertisement in the newspaper from a man who was looking for an investor for his business. This sister and her husband were convinced by this man to invest their money in this business. They put all their savings into that man’s hands. Eventually, he cheated them, and they lost all their money.
As a result of what happened to her, this sister became very bothered. First, she wondered about the Lord’s faithfulness. She said that for many years she prayed every day and honestly trusted in the Lord for everything. She wondered why the Lord did not help her, since she had prayed so much and had so much trust in Him. She said that she had dedicated her time to study the Bible with the help of the Life-studies and the books we have published. Since she gave herself to the Lord in this way, she wondered why the Lord did not do anything for her and why the Lord would not protect her. She lost her health, her job, and then her savings, even though she had prayed and trusted the Lord.
She pointed out that in one of Brother Nee’s books, he said that the Lord does not care whether we are successful or mistaken. What the Lord desires is to work Himself into us. She asked if this meant that the Lord wanted us to neglect all the practical matters and only take care of God’s desire to work Himself into us. She said that she had been dedicating herself and her time to reading the Bible and the publications of the ministry every day. She was wondering how her spiritual seeking and her care for practical matters could be reconciled. It seemed to her that she trusted in the Lord to no avail. What could she tell her children about this? In this chapter I would like to address these issues.
Brother Nee was absolutely right in saying that God does not care whether we are successful or whether we are mistaken. God cares only for one thing — for being worked into us. God does not have any intention to make someone a great professor. There are flocks of scholars and professors on earth already. God’s intention is not to build up a world full of professors. God’s intention is to build up His kingdom. All who are in His kingdom must be those who give God the full ground and the full opportunity to work Himself into them. This is why Paul said in Romans 8:28 that all things work together for good to those who love God. What is the “good” about which Paul is speaking here? Is this “good” a high degree or a promotion?
If we love God, He will cause all things to work together for our good, but the good is not what we may want or expect. The good is what God intends to work out according to Romans 8. The good is for us to be conformed to the image of His firstborn Son (v. 29). God’s heart’s desire is not related to whether we get a good job or get promoted. He is not concerned about whether we make a lot of money or lose money. In fact, God may use all things to cause a person to lose money. If this person made money, God would have no chance to work Himself into that person. When a person loses money, he may complain to God, but God is taking this opportunity to dispense Himself into this person.
Many of us think that we know how to pray, but actually we do not know how to pray in a fitting way. Paul indicates that the best prayer is to groan (vv. 26, 23). We do not know how to pray, but the Spirit teaches us how to pray. The Spirit teaches us to groan. This sister wondered why she lost all her money. She trusted in the Lord so much, but the Lord did not lead her to the right person. Then she did not know how to pray. When we do not know how to pray, we groan. That is the best way to pray.
We have seen that in many of the psalms, David was clear about how to pray, and he even instructed God to fight against his enemies with weapons (Psa. 35:1-3). Of course, this kind of prayer is not according to God’s way. We surely should not instruct God in our prayer. Especially, we should not tell Him to deal with our enemies, because this is against the teaching of the New Testament (Matt. 5:44).
We have seen in our life-study of the Psalms that the title of Psalm 34 says that David wrote this psalm after he had disguised himself in hypocrisy before Abimelech (see Message 16 of Life-study of the Psalms). David disguised himself to make Abimelech think that he was insane, and then he blessed and praised God for delivering him. Actually, he delivered himself by disguising himself, and then he gave God the credit.
Instead, David should have said, “Lord, what shall I pray?” If David had prayed in this way, he would have been spiritual. But David was so bold to bless and praise Jehovah for hearing him and delivering him. Actually, David practiced falsehood to cheat that king. Was that God’s answering him? I am saying this to help us realize that when we are so clear about how to pray, this means that we are natural and in ourselves. The best prayer many times is to say, “Lord, I don’t know how or what to pray.” We do not know the kind of prayer God desires, and we are not clear how to pray; hence, we groan. In our groaning, the Spirit groans also, interceding for us. God the Father answers when the Spirit intercedes for us, and He arranges our circumstances, causing all things to work together for good to us.
God puts us into the right position so that we can be broken. Often God will not do anything for us according to our concept, and it may seem to us that God is not faithful. We may pray day and night and put our trust in the Lord, but eventually nothing comes out according to our earnest prayer. We may want to get a promotion on our job, but we may not get it. We may want to invest our savings to make some profit, but eventually we may lose money.
We should not spend or invest our money in a way that is not according to Christ. The Lord said that He sent us forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Who is trustworthy on the earth? Most of the people are wolves. The Lord also said that we have to be prudent as serpents and guileless as doves (Matt. 10:16). As sheep in the midst of wolves, we have to be prudent as serpents to escape being hurt by the wolves, and guileless as doves, not mixed with any evil intention and not hurting others.
Many people who put advertisements in the newspaper saying that they need someone to invest money into their businesses are actually preparing a net to trap people. To trust in such persons is foolish. If we entrust our money to such persons and lose our money, how can we blame the Lord for not answering us and not doing anything for us? Actually, the Lord in His sovereignty may allow us to lose our money, but when every cent is gone, God is still here. We may complain to God, but our complaining may be the best prayer, the most pleasant prayer to God. While we are complaining, God is rejoicing because He is causing all things to work together for good that we may be conformed to the image of His firstborn Son.
Whether we make money or lose money means nothing to God. Actually, money, mammon, is the incarnation of the devil. We may wonder how we can eat if we do not care for mammon. But the Lord said that we cannot serve God and mammon and that if we seek God and His kingdom, God will care for our needs (Matt. 6:24, 33).
One day the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians came to test the Lord Jesus by asking Him whether they should pay taxes to Caesar or not. Then the Lord asked them to give Him a coin. This meant that the Lord Jesus did not have any money; instead, they had it. The Lord asked them whose image was on the coin. When they said that it was Caesar’s image, the Lord responded, “Render then the things that are Caesar’s to Caesar and the things that are God’s to God” (22:21). The Lord Jesus did not have a Roman coin but asked them to show one to Him. Since they possessed one of the Roman coins, they were caught. Surely, our Lord was free from the bondage of mammon. When the Lord said that we cannot serve God and mammon, this indicates that wealth or riches is the opponent of God, robbing God’s people of their service to Him. To be free from the bondage of mammon to serve God is to live and walk under the crucifixion of Christ.
When Christ was living on the earth, He was under the killing of death every day. He refused to remain in any relationship in the natural life. This displayed His absoluteness for God in His humanity. When He was told that His mother, brothers, and sisters were seeking Him, He declared that those who do the will of God are His brother and sister and mother (Mark 3:31-35). Through His gospel service, the Slave-Savior made the believing sinners His spiritual relatives, who became His many brothers (Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:11) in the house of God (3:5-6) and His many members for the building up of His mystical Body (Eph. 5:30; 1 Cor. 12:12) to do the will of God.
Later, when the Lord was on the cross, He saw His mother and His disciple John standing by, and He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son” (John 19:26). We should not forget that the Lord had the human nature and human feelings. For Him to be hanging on the cross and tell His mother not to look at Him but to look at John as her son was a death to the natural life.
Death is the threshold of resurrection. Whenever we enter into death, we should realize that we are on the threshold of resurrection. The sister who lost her job and her money could complain to God, but she could not forsake God. On the one hand, she was complaining to God, and on the other hand, she is still with God. At a certain point she should be able to praise the Lord even though she lost all her savings. She eventually should be able to declare to the universe that even though she does not have any savings, she is still living. She is living not on her savings but on her living God. The living God is resurrection. We are living by resurrection, not by any money that we have accumulated. When we do not have much money, we are released. Actually, people who have too much money are very burdened because they become anxious about losing it.
The parents need to consider what the difference is between having or not having children. Eventually, when we do the “mathematics” in the Spirit, we would say that it is about the same. On the one hand, we parents surely love our children, but on the other hand, our children cause us much trouble. Those who do not have any children do not have to experience this trouble. But God uses our children, the loss of our children, and even our not having children to break us so that He might have the chance to work Himself into us.
As we are under the experience of the breaking of our outer man, we will learn to pray not by clear words. We would even tell the Lord that we do not know how to pray. Some saints are too bold to pray too much. They need to learn to groan according to Paul’s word in Romans 8:26. Some sisters among us are female “psalmists.” They have so much to pray and are so clear about what to pray. They need to learn to groan. Many times we do not know what to pray, because we cannot figure out what is going on in our circumstances. We do know, however, that the apostle Paul said in Romans 8:28 that all things work together for our good.
Some of the brothers who come to me for fellowship tell me only the good things, not the bad things. But actually, in the universe the night comes first and then the day (Gen. 1:5). If the news that I get in my fellowship with the brothers is all in the “day,” I am cheated in my realization of the real situation. If I know the real situation of the saints in the church, I can pray for them. But if I am told that everything is wonderful, everyone is practicing the new way, and everything is in the “day,” I am not aware of the real situation. The Lord uses all things, both the things in the “day” and the things in the “night,” to transform us and conform us to His image.
Only the Lord knows the heavenly, spiritual mathematics concerning what in our environment works the best for our good. The Lord gave Job many children, but one day all of his sons and daughters were killed (Job 1:18-19). Job prayed a good prayer by saying, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, / And naked I will return there. / Jehovah gives and Jehovah takes away; / Blessed be the name of Jehovah” (v. 21). This, however, is still not the best prayer, because it is an Old Testament prayer. A New Testament prayer would say, “Lord, thank You for giving me children and for taking away my children. Through Your giving and through Your taking away I have been transformed and filled up with You. The coming and going of my children are all Your doing to transform me and fill me up.”
Children are used by God to deal with the parents. Some parents are dealt with by God mainly by their children. But God knows whether we need children or do not need children. He uses all things to conform us to the image of Christ. Some persons may be nice, gentle, and faithful in their natural man. They would be good persons even apart from being regenerated or transformed. Then what can God do to work Himself into such persons? With such persons and with all of us, God must put us into certain circumstances to break us. God’s desire is for us to be broken so that He can work Himself into us.
Paul was a person who was conformed to the death of Christ by something mysterious called the power of resurrection. No one can be conformed to the death of Christ except by the resurrection power. There is something within us hidden, mysterious, and dynamic called resurrection. Eventually, we will learn that whether money comes or money goes, whether children come or children go, God remains. God is our portion. He is not our portion outwardly but our portion inwardly in the way of constitution. God has constituted and is constituting Himself into our being. Eventually, God uses all things to make Himself our unique portion.
Our money, our children, our job, and our degree are not our portion. Only God is our portion. Some of us have portions other than Christ Himself. We may have our own goals that we desire to reach, saying that we need to be practical. But actually, these goals are our portion. This is why God comes to “peel off” our natural life layer by layer throughout the years. I have been under God’s gradual “peeling” for almost seventy years. I am happy today because much of my natural life has been peeled off. God uses all things to “peel off” our natural life. God even uses all the brothers and sisters in the church life to accomplish this peeling. We are all under the accumulating process of God’s “peeling off” of our natural life. The day will come when we will have a great and serious peeling off. Then we will be broken, “bankrupt.” “Bankruptcy” means brokenness.
Some today teach positive thinking as the way to be successful in everything. Such a teaching is terrible and absolutely off. Did the apostle Paul practice positive thinking to be successful or to make money? Paul was positive in martyrdom. He was very positive in being ready to be poured out as a drink offering (Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6).
I would encourage all of us to read the biography of Brother Watchman Nee (entitled Watchman Nee — a Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age). Brother Nee’s ministry has spread throughout the world. Many seeking Christians have received help from his ministry. Eventually, however, he died in imprisonment. This is the conformation to the death of Christ. Within Brother Nee there was a mystery. That mystery within him was the power of resurrection.
After we have been under God’s dealing for some time, we are so willing to be conformed to Christ’s death in everything. To us Christians there should be no thought of revenge or avenging ourselves. We do not want to remember others’ mistakes. To forgive and forget others’ mistakes is the conformation to the death of Christ. We do not like to blame others. When we blame others, regardless of how right we are, we do not have the peace.
We want to be conformed to the death of Christ, and we can be such persons only by the hidden power of resurrection. We cannot see this hidden power in David in many of the psalms. In many of the psalms David was strong in remembering others’ mistakes. He even enumerated to God all the afflictions and mistreatment he suffered from his enemies and asked God to deal with them (Psa. 31:9-13; 35:1-8; 36:1-4, 11-12).
If we would go to the Lord to tell Him all the mistreatment we suffered from our enemies, we would become dead inside. Instead, we have to follow the Lord’s word where He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become sons of your Father who is in the heavens, because He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what better thing are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:43-48). We can be perfect like our Father because we have been born of Him. We have His life and His nature. This is the New Testament teaching.
Today we are mysterious people. Outsiders cannot understand us because we have a desire to be conformed to Christ’s death. Furthermore, we have the capacity within us to do this, and this capacity is the power of resurrection. Even nature itself testifies to the fact of resurrection. Within a small seed there is not only life but also resurrection. If that seed falls into the earth and dies, a sprout will eventually rise up from underneath the earth. That is the power of resurrection. We are like small seeds. The more we are put into death, the more we have the expression of the power of resurrection. This is why we like to forgive people and forget their mistakes.
In a proper sense, we want to suffer loss so that we can gain Christ (Phil. 3:7-8). There are some hymns in our hymnal which speak about loss and gain (see Hymns, #631 and #635, stanzas 15 and 16). Loss and gain is the significance of the cross. The cross is a means to bring us loss and then gain. To live and walk under the crucifixion of Christ is to be conformed to Christ’s death by the mysterious power of resurrection. Just as life and resurrection are hidden within a seed, Christ as life and resurrection is hidden within us. Within us we have Christ as our life and resurrection.
As we are being conformed to the death of Christ, we are in the fellowship of His sufferings. We are a real partner, a real companion, of the Lord in His sufferings. During the Lord’s life on the earth He did not have any peace in His environment. Every day He was suffering, so Isaiah refers to Him as a man of sorrows (Isa. 53:3). The apostle Paul was also a man without any peace in his environment. No doubt, Paul was conformed to the death of Christ by the inner, hidden, mysterious power of resurrection.
Some Pentecostals think that a person has to wait and pray for three days, and then suddenly he will receive power. This is a wrong concept about power. The real power is within us. How can this power be expressed? It can be expressed by our being conformed to Christ’s death. When we are being conformed to His death, power comes out. Then we are a companion, a partner, of the Lord in His sufferings. This means that we are in the fellowship of the Lord’s sufferings.
No matter what our circumstances are, we are still living, so we have to worship the Lord. We should tell the Lord, “Lord, as long as I am living on the earth, I am much blessed, because while I am living, You have the opportunity to work Yourself increasingly into my being, to constitute my being with Your element.”
Through our sufferings, we have the opportunity to gain more of God. Eventually, after passing through many sufferings, we have more of God in us. As long as we have more of God, this is what really matters. Whether or not we have a good promotion or whether or not we make money does not make any difference. Instead, all the losses become the increase of God in us. Therefore, we have to praise Him.
