Search
Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:4a; 1 Cor. 12:1-11, 13; Rom. 14:17; Eph. 3:16-17, 19
I. God’s Spirit of life being the essence of the church, the Body — Eph. 4:4a:
А. We having been baptized into one Body in this Spirit as the essence — 1 Cor. 12:13a.
B. We being made now to drink of this essential Spirit of God — v. 13b.
II. God’s Spirit of life being the power in the church life — Rom. 14:17:
А. For us to live in the reality of the kingdom.
B. For us to live out righteousness and peace in joy.
III. God’s Spirit of life filling the believers to become the church with the full-grown stature as the fullness, the expression of God — Eph. 3:16-17, 19:
А. Strengthening the believers into the inner man.
B. That Christ may make home in the believers’ hearts.
IV. God’s Spirit of life as the source of all gifts and functions in the service of the church, the Body — 1 Cor. 12:1-11:
А. As the Dispenser of all gifts.
B. As the factor in all coordination.
Prayer: O Lord Jesus, speak to us again tonight. We are all here listening attentively. Speak into every one of our hearts the words in the depths of Your being, the words concerning Your eternal economy. Lord, we worship You. You are the centrality and the universality of God. You are the Head of all things, and You are also our Savior. May You enlighten us that we would not only know Your church but would also see Yourself, so that You would make home in our hearts. Lord, we give You all the ground. May You make home in us, be the Head in us, and fill us up so that we would all be built up to be the fullness of God and His expression in this age. Tonight is the time for You to be glorified, for the enemy to be shamed, and for us to be blessed. Amen.
In the last chapter we have seen how God’s Spirit of life has become the way for our spiritual living. I have been a Christian for over sixty years. Frankly speaking, during the first thirty years, I did not understand what spiritual living is all about. I knew the term, but I did not understand the reality of it until one day when the Lord opened up a holy word to me from His Scriptures. This is 1 Corinthians 15:45b, which says that the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit.
That day when I read this sentence, the words seemed to jump off of the page. I marveled that there is such a word in the Bible as the last Adam becoming the life-giving Spirit. This last Adam is the incarnated Christ ultimately becoming the life-giving Spirit. From that point on I was completely enlightened. The whole heaven seemed to be opened to me. This burden began to come into me and upon me; I have no other message to give but to speak about the Lord as the Spirit of life. This has become not only the message I preach but the hymns I have written. In 1961 I spent two months to write eighty-five hymns. They are all on Christ or on the church. The subjective ones are about life, and the deeper and still more subjective ones are about the Spirit.
Today Christ is the Spirit. He is not only the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, but He is also the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. This Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God. The first step of the process of the Triune God was in becoming flesh. The self-existing and ever-existing Triune God created the world and mankind. Then after four thousand years He was conceived of the virgin Mary and was born of her after nine months of pregnancy, according to the law of the human life, to become One who is both God and man, a God-man. His name is Jesus, which means “Jehovah the Savior.” He is also called Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” He passed through thirty-three and a half years of human living. This was a long period of time. During the first thirty years, He lived in Nazareth in a poor carpenter’s home. During those years, this God-man must have worked as a carpenter.
After this He appeared before men to fulfill His ministry. At the appointed time He became the Passover lamb. On the cross He was willing to lay down His life. He entered death, passed through death, and had a tour of Hades. This also was a process. On the third day He rose from the dead and entered into resurrection. He was transformed for the second time to become the life-giving Spirit. By this step He reached His ultimate consummation.
Hence, within this life-giving Spirit there is God, man, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. He is Jesus, Christ, the Triune God, and the Spirit. This is the One all men need. He is also the One we love to preach about. He is life, and He is also the Savior. He is the true I Am. Whatever we need, He is. He is love, patience, power, authority, and everything we need. His name is Jesus Christ. His person is the Spirit. When we call “O Lord Jesus,” what comes to us is the Spirit. The Spirit is the Triune God — Jehovah of the Old Testament and Jesus Christ of the New Testament. He is the Lord, the life, and the Redeemer. Through calling on His name, we receive the Spirit who, as the Spirit of life that gives life, becomes everything we need.
This is easy to say, but the fact is not that simple. We can illustrate this with electricity. We know that electricity is in the power station, but through the installation of the electric wires, electricity is joined to our house. In the house there are many electrical appliances, such as the electric fan, the air conditioner, the electric lamp, and the sound system. When we need to use these appliances, all we need to do is to turn on the switch, and the electricity will come; the fan will turn, the air conditioner will work, the lamps will light up, and the sound will come. What I am speaking about here is like the all-purpose electricity; there is light, air, and sound. It supplies whatever we need.
In the Chinese characters, the words electricity and Spirit are made of the same root character, which means “rain.” The two are of the same kind; both come from heaven. The Bible says that the Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). It also says that when the Son of Man comes, He will be like the lightning (Matt. 24:27). Today we all know that in order to have electricity, we need to turn on the switch. In the same way, in order to apply the all-inclusive Spirit of the Lord, we need to learn to turn on the switch. Today all the millions of truly regenerated Christians have the heavenly electricity installed into them, but they do not all know where the switch is. They do not even know that there is such a switch. This is the reason, when I came to America twenty-seven years ago, I told people right from the start that the Lord Jesus today is the Spirit. Within us is a spirit, and the Lord as the Spirit desires to enter into our spirit. The spirit within man is made to receive God the Spirit. This is like a radio receiver with a receiving device within it made especially to receive the radio waves in the air. In God’s creation there is a part in man that is very particular, which is his spirit. It is the organ to receive God.
When I first came to America, everywhere I went, I spoke to people about this matter. Many had never heard such words before. They knew of only two kinds of spirits, the Holy Spirit of God and the evil spirit of the devil. They did not know that there is a spirit within man. I often quoted three verses from the Scriptures and read to them. Every one of these three portions speaks of two spirits, the Spirit of God and the human spirit. The first portion is John 3:6: “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The second is John 4:24: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” The third portion is Romans 8:16: “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” When we are saved, our spirit is regenerated, and God’s Spirit enters into our spirit, strengthening our spirit and bringing God’s life into our spirit.
I have preached the gospel to some Chinese Confucianists before. They always think that Christianity is a foreign religion: that the Bible is merely a book translated in very good contemporary literary style; that what it talks about is nothing but “wo-men, ne-men, ta-men, and Amen,” that is, “we, you, they, and Amen,” and that there is nothing deep or profound about it. When I was young, I was taught briefly under the old Chinese school system, and I learned some classical Chinese works. I knew that the highest teaching of the Confucianists tells men that the way of the great learning lies in the development of the “bright virtue.” The development of the bright virtue is equivalent to the function of the conscience expounded by Wang Yang-ming, a Chinese philosopher. It is also the same as the conscience that we speak of. The Way of the Great Learning in Confucianism is the enlightening and development of this bright virtue. The Bible, however, clearly tells us that man is composed of three parts: the spirit, the soul, and the body (1 Thes. 5:23). Within the body there is the soul, and within the soul there is the spirit. When we believe in the Lord and call on Him, He as the life-giving Spirit enters into our spirit. The two spirits are added together, joined, and mingled as one spirit. Through this He brings to us God and the life of God as well, and He enlivens our deadened spirit. Now within the spirit of the saved believers, there is the Spirit. There is also God and the life of God. This is much greater than the bright virtue. The bright virtue, which is the conscience, is only a part of the spirit. In addition to this part, the spirit also has two other parts: fellowship and intuition.
For my whole life I have been reading mainly this one book, the Bible. Do not say that this is a foreign religion. Although it did come from the West, it is not a product of the West. Its origin is heaven. It is God in heaven who prompted over forty writers to complete this book within a period of fifteen hundred years. The revelations contained in it are too deep and profound. This revelation is what I am speaking this time, that is, the Triune God becoming the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. This Spirit is simply God Himself entering into us to be our life and all our ways. Do you want to live Christ and serve in coordination? All you need to do is to touch this Spirit and to allow this Spirit to operate within you. The way we touch this Spirit is by turning on the switch, which is to call “O Lord Jesus!”
The wonder in the kernel of the Bible is that the Triune God as Jehovah has passed through all the processes including death and resurrection to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit of life. This is the One we preach and testify today. This is also the One we believe in, receive, follow, and worship. He is in heaven, and He is also with us and in us. He is our life to be our way in everything.
Now let us come to this outline. The first point says that God’s Spirit of life is the essence of the church, the Body. The essence and element of the church is the Spirit; it is not you or I. This is like saying that the element of the podium is wood. Ephesians 4 tells us that there is “one Body and one Spirit” (v. 4). This means that the Spirit is the essence of the Body. Without the Spirit there is no Body in the same way that without wood there is no podium here. The essence of the church is the Spirit. When we come together, regardless of how long we have been saved, if we are not in the Spirit, we are not the church but are only a human congregation. Among the descendants of Adam, there are the good ones and the bad ones, the right ones and the wrong ones. But whoever they are, they are all human beings. If it is man that is the person and essence, there will be no church. The essence and person of the church is the Spirit. All the problems and storms in the church arise because of failure to remain in the Spirit. If we are in the Spirit, there will not be any of these things. All gossiping, arguments, and rumors come from man’s flesh, the natural life, and the self. For this reason, we all have to turn to the spirit and walk according to the spirit, because we are not the essence of the church; only the Spirit within us is the essence of the church. This is like saying that the essence of light is electricity and not the light bulb or the light tube. Those are but the means for the light to go through. Without electricity there will be no light. We are all like the light bulbs or the light tubes. We are not the essence of the church. The essence is the spiritual electricity, which is the Spirit.
Based on 1 Corinthians 12:13, we the believers of all races, nationalities, and social statuses have been baptized in one Spirit into one Body. This is like the electricity in the many electrical appliances. As far as the appliances are concerned, they are separate. But as far as the electricity is concerned, they are one. All of us have been baptized into one Body in this Spirit of God as the essence. This has been done once for all. But today we are made to drink together of this essential Spirit of God. This is continuous. Just like breathing, we need this everywhere, every day and every hour. This is why the Bible says that we have to pray unceasingly. It means that we have to drink constantly of God’s Spirit of life. From this we can see that for us, there are two sides to the Spirit. On the one hand, He is the economical Spirit. This is on the side of function; it baptizes us into one Body. On the other hand, He is the essential Spirit. This is on the side of life; it enables us to drink of Him as our life supply.
Second, God’s Spirit of life is the power in the church life. Romans 14:17 says, “The kingdom of God is...righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” This shows that the practical church life is the kingdom life. The church is not a place without administration; it is the sphere of God’s rule. This life is one of righteousness, peace, and joy. Righteousness is toward ourselves; it requires that we be just and strict. Peace is toward others; it requires us to be meek. Joy is to God; we need to sing and praise the Lord. This is the genuine church life, and it is the reality of God’s kingdom. It must be carried out in the Holy Spirit. Only when we are in the Holy Spirit can we be righteous to ourselves, peaceful to others, and joyful to God. For this we have to exercise our spirit to be filled with God’s Spirit of life to be the power in our church life.
Third, God’s Spirit of life is filling the believers to become the church with the full-grown stature as the fullness, the expression of God (Eph. 3:16-17, 19). When there is adequate filling of God’s Spirit of life, the stature will be full-grown, and there will be the fullness of God, which is His expression. For this reason all of us have to be filled with the Spirit. Philippians 2:13-14 shows us that when God operates within us, we will not murmur or reason. In the church life, in order not to have any murmurings or reasonings, there is the need for the growth of the stature, and the growth of the stature depends on the filling of God’s Spirit of life. Hence, Ephesians 3:16 tells us that God will strengthen us into the inner man through His Spirit. Our inner man is our spirit. When we call on the name of the Lord, we will be turned from our human mind and emotion back to our spirit. In this way Christ will make home in our hearts. Our heart, including all the ground in our mind, emotion, will, and conscience, will be given to Him. He will take control and will supply and strengthen all our inward parts. All of this process depends on the working of God’s Spirit of life.
Fourth, God’s Spirit of life is the source of all gifts and functions in the service of the church, the Body (1 Cor. 12:1-11). We have covered our living; here it speaks of our service. The more our living is according to the first three points above, the more our gifts will be manifested, and the more function we will have. The reason our gifts are not manifested and our functions are not developed is that our stature is not full-grown and that we have not allowed Christ to make home in our hearts enough. In other words, we have not allowed God’s Spirit of life to fill us up enough. We have to realize that everything related to the living, the service, and the way of the church depends on God’s Spirit of life. When this Spirit has the ground in us, Christ will be able to expand and make home in our hearts. In this way we will have a way to practice the church life, a way to practice the church service, and a way for the church itself. Hence, God’s Spirit of life as life within us is our way in everything.
