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Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:2b; John 3:5-6; 1 Cor. 10:3-4; Rom. 15:16; Eph. 4:12; 1 Cor. 14:1, 3-5, 12, 31; 12:8
I. We, by God’s Spirit of life, causing the sinners to be sanctified and regenerated:
А. God’s Spirit of life first sanctifying the sinners — 1 Pet. 1:2b.
B. God’s Spirit of life next regenerating the sanctified sinners — John 3:5-6.
II. We, with God’s Spirit of life as food and drink, feeding the regenerated believers and giving them to drink — 1 Cor. 10:3-4:
А. God’s Spirit of life as food being the pneumatic Christ as our food.
B. God’s Spirit of life as drink being also the pneumatic Christ as our drink.
III. We, through God’s Spirit of life, sanctifying and perfecting the saints so that they may do the work of the building up of the Body of Christ — Rom. 15:16; Eph. 4:12:
А. Teaching and sanctifying.
B. Unto the perfecting.
IV. We, by God’s Spirit of life, helping the saints to prophesy for the Lord, unto the building up of the church as the Body of Christ — 1 Cor. 14:1, 3-5, 12, 31:
А. To prophesy for the Lord, there being the need for the spiritual words.
B. The spiritual words coming from God’s Spirit of life — 12:8.
We need to review as a whole what we have covered in the previous few chapters. The general subject of this book is God’s way in life. Many times we think that God works by His power and authority. This concept is not spiritual, and it is from man rather than from God. God’s concept is that He has given us His life in order that this life can become all our ways. With God there is life, and with life there is the way. Without God there is death, and death affords no way to go on. This is very clear.
How did God become our life? There is a process involved. First, God created man in His image and made in man a spirit so that man may match Him and so that He may enter into man to become man’s life and to express Himself through man. For this, God placed the created man before the tree of life, which symbolizes Himself, with the purpose that man would eat and receive Him. He did not ask man to do any work, nor did He give man any teaching. He would have man only to eat of the tree of life and to partake of God’s life. But man made the wrong choice and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He fell, and he failed God’s original purpose in creating him.
Then one day God Himself became flesh. He entered into a virgin’s womb, was conceived, and remained there. When the full period of nine months was completed, He was born of this virgin, having both divinity and humanity within Him as a wonderful God-man. His name is Jesus. He lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years. He lived a living that was God’s, that is, a living that expressed God. However, this was not merely a living that expressed God Himself but one where God’s life was expressed through an excellent humanity.
The four Gospels describe a person whose humanity and personality are most wonderful, excellent, and outstanding. One French philosopher once said that if the records of Jesus Christ as described in the four Gospels were fabricated, the person who fabricated the records would have been qualified to be Jesus Christ Himself. In the Gospel of John Jesus said many things, such as, “I am the way and the reality and the life” (14:6), and “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (8:12). Although these words are simple, they bear a lofty tone and are mysterious and profound beyond all measure. During the six thousand years of human history, there were many sages and saints, but no one else could speak with such a tone. Furthermore, none of them could do anything about the problem of sin. Confucius could only say that “there is nowhere to plead when one sins against heaven.” But Christ is different. His forerunner, John the Baptist, spoke of Him, saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29). Although the sins of the world are numerous and grave, He is able to remove them all. Wonderful words like these are found frequently in the four Gospels. All these prove that He is the true One. He is God and also man. His living is the living of a God-man.
In the end He went to the cross to accomplish the all-inclusive death and to solve all the problems in the universe related to man. The first problem to solve is sin. The second is the lust within man. The third is the world. The fourth is the devil, Satan. The fifth, which is also the greatest, is death itself. All these things have been solved for us through the Lord’s death. Then He resurrected from death and was transfigured to become the life-giving Spirit, which is the Spirit of life. This Spirit of life is simply the Triune God. He is Jehovah of the Old Testament; He is also Jesus of the New Testament. He is Christ, and He is our Savior. He is also the life that we have received and that is now in our spirit. As to His greatness, He is so great that He fills the whole universe. As to His smallness, He is so small that He can live inside of us.
This wonderful Spirit of life, as life within us, is our way in everything. First, in our spiritual living, He is our way to live Christ. The way for us Christians to live a spiritual living is to live out Christ by God’s Spirit of life. Furthermore, He is also the way for us to serve in the church life. The way for us to live and to serve in the church depends on God’s Spirit of life. In addition, He is also our way to beget, nourish, teach, and build as priests of the gospel. The main work of God’s priests of the New Testament is to dispense Christ into the sinners so that they may be saved and may become the sacrifices offered to God. This is to beget. After this there is the need to nourish and teach them so that they may be enlightened and perfected unto a full-grown man, being able to speak for God. This is the prophesying in the Bible, which is for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Concerning prophesying, the Greek word for this has three parts, bearing three meanings. The first is to speak forth, the second is the words, and the third is the person. Hence, it is a person who speaks forth the words. Such a one is not speaking man’s words but God’s words; he is speaking forth the words of God. However, the center of God’s word is Christ. Hence, to prophesy is to speak Christ, to speak Him forth, and to speak Him into others so that others may receive Christ and the supply of Christ. This kind of prophesying is the building; it builds up the Body of Christ.
These are the four major steps of the work of the New Testament priests of the gospel. First, there is the begetting, which is the regenerating of the sinners. Second, there is the nourishing, which is to supply and to feed others with spiritual life. Third, there is the teaching, which is to teach others with the spiritual things for their perfection. Fourth, there is the building, which is to be the prophesying ones, speaking for the Lord unto the building up of the Body of Christ. For this reason Paul says in Ephesians 4 that the Head, Christ, gave to the Body the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ (vv. 11-12). The way to all these is by God’s Spirit of life.
Today God’s Spirit of life is not the same as it was before; it includes many precious ingredients. It is like lemon tea that I myself like very much. Every time I drink it, I put in some Chinese tea, some lemon juice, some high-grade honey, and a little salt. Including the water, there are altogether five ingredients. At the beginning it is only a glass of water. But after the tea, lemon, honey, and salt are added, it becomes a very tasty drink. When I am tired and thirsty, a drink of this tea will refresh me; my throat will be cleared, and my nose will no longer bother me. This is marvelous. With God’s Spirit of life, there is the element of God, the element of man, and the human living, the all-inclusive death, the wonderful resurrection, plus the ascension. At the time we were saved, we received this Spirit with all its ingredients into us. We became different inside; we were changed, and we became the Lord’s testimony.
The Lord is not only outside of us as our pattern. He is also inside of us as our life in order that we can live Him out. This is like the cultivation of fruit trees. A pear tree may originally bear pears that are small and sour. But after we supplement the tree with some elements, the pears become improved; now they are large and sweet. Another example can be seen from medicine. Some pills have both germ-killing ingredients and nutritious ingredients as well. They heal and nourish at the same time. In the same way, with God’s Spirit of life there is not only the killing element of the cross but the elements of resurrection and ascension also. On the one hand, this Spirit deals with the negative things; on the other hand, it brings in the life supply and the ability to transcend all things. This Spirit is the processed Triune God. Now He is in us as our life to become our way in everything. In our spiritual living He is our way to live Christ. He is also our way to serve in the church life, and He is our way to beget, nourish, teach, and build as priests of the gospel.
Hence, as long as we walk according to this Spirit, we can fulfill the requirement of God’s law, and we can be sanctified positionally and dispositionally. Gradually, we will be transformed into the image of Christ. Because the bountiful supply of this Spirit always satisfies all our needs, we are able to magnify Christ and to live out His virtues under any circumstances. This is on the side of our individual life, but there is also the side of the corporate life. In God’s Spirit of life, we have been baptized into one Body and have been made to drink of this same one Spirit. This Spirit enables us to live in the reality of God’s kingdom and to live out righteousness and peace in joy. This Spirit is also filling us to become the church with the full-grown stature as the fullness, the expression of God. In this way we will have the Spirit of life to be the source of all the gifts and functions in the service of the church; our gifts will be manifested, and we will be able to coordinate together.
Finally, we need to consider the way for the priests of the gospel to beget, nourish, teach, and build. To be a priest of the gospel, in simple terms, is to bring in men and to dispense Christ into them. First, we cause a sinner to be sanctified and regenerated by God’s Spirit of life. In order to do this, sometimes we have to compel people to come in. In Luke 14:15-24 the Lord Jesus spoke a parable concerning God’s invitation to His feast of salvation. It says that a certain man was making a great dinner and had invited many guests. When all things were ready and the feast was about to begin, there were still many empty seats. The master of the house then told his slaves to go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and to compel people to come in and fill up the house. Those who were invited first were not able to taste of the Lord’s feast. Those who were compelled to come in later were all lowly ones, yet they received salvation. Today it is not easy for us, the servants of the Lord, to gain a person. If we do not compel others, it is difficult for them to be saved. Even when they are saved, it is difficult for them to pursue after the Lord.
As priests of the gospel, what we are doing is bringing people in and offering them up to the Lord. Hence, the Lord Jesus is happy to see us compelling others into salvation and bringing them in to offer them to Him. For this reason, when we preach the gospel, our spirits have to be burning, our faces have to be thick-skinned, and our mouths have to be opened. In addition, we need to have an attitude not to be deterred. We should not be afraid of difficulties or tribulations. As long as we will speak by faith, God’s Spirit of life will work in men to sanctify them (1 Pet. 1:2b) and to regenerate them (John 3:5-6).
Following this, we have to feed the newly regenerated believers and to give them to drink with God’s Spirit of life as food and drink (1 Cor. 10:3-4). In the Old Testament, when God’s people, the Israelites, came out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, in their journey in the wilderness they had the spiritual food and the spiritual drink as their nourishment and supply. After a person is regenerated, the most important thing is for him to eat, drink, and enjoy the pneumatic Christ as his food and water so that he may grow in life.
After the nourishing, we need the teaching. This teaching is through God’s Spirit of life sanctifying and perfecting the saints until they become able to do the work of the building up of the Body of Christ (Rom. 15:16; Eph. 4:12).
When we nourish and perfect the saints by God’s Spirit of life in this way, we need to arrive at an ultimate goal, which is to help the saints to prophesy for the Lord and to build up the church as the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 14:1, 3-5, 12, 31). In our meetings everyone can open his mouth to speak. When every one of us speaks, the riches of the Body of Christ are expressed. When we prophesy for the Lord, we need the spiritual words, and these spiritual words come from God’s Spirit of life (12:8). This Spirit will grant us the words, the utterance, and the boldness to prophesy. When we depend on Him, we can prophesy for the Lord unto the building up of the Body of Christ.
