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In this chapter we will continue to speak about leading the young people in matters related to spiritual life. The practical experience of life is related to the cross, and it involves primarily accepting the cross.
The most important meaning of the cross is termination. We must stress the point to the young people that in the eyes of God, everything of man must be terminated. This includes not only the evil things but also the good things in man. Whatever comes out of man must be terminated. A Christian’s experience of life is entirely different from the world’s cultivation of ethics. Ethical cultivation tries to nurture the element of good within man and to restrict the element of evil in him. A Christian’s experience of life, or we may say a Christian’s practical living, is totally different. The practical living of a Christian is to live Christ. The experience of the life of a Christian is to experience Christ. Hence, in order for us to experience Christ, we must be terminated. As long as anything of ourselves remains, Christ cannot be expressed through us. In order to live out Christ, we must be terminated. Hence, 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; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” We are crucified, terminated, and it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us. When it is no longer we who live, Christ can live out of us. This word shows that the practical living of a Christian involves Christ living His life in us, not us living our life. In order for Christ to live in us, we must be terminated; thankfully, we have already been terminated through our crucifixion with Christ.
There are several portions in the New Testament that clearly refer to the matter of our termination. In addition to Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:6 says that our old man has been crucified with Christ. Therefore, we must see that we have been terminated before God. Both what is good and what is evil in us have been terminated; not only the aspect of our nature that commits sin but also the aspect of our nature that desires to do good deeds have been terminated; not only our hatred but also our love have been terminated; not only our pride but also our humility have been terminated. Now all that we are and all that we have must be crucified in our experience because everything has been crucified with Christ in reality.
Most Christians, especially the young people, know little of this matter; hence, the more we stress this point, the better it will be for them. The matter we should stress is that in order to have the reality of the Christian life, we must accept the cross. In order to accept the cross, however, we must realize that all we are and all we have must be terminated and that this is possible because God has already terminated us.
At the beginning of the New Testament, John the Baptist was sent by God to lead people to repent (Matt. 3:1-2). When people went to John and expressed their desire to repent, he buried them in water (vv. 6, 11). In order to enter into the reality of the New Testament, people must have a new beginning by being terminated and buried so that they can receive Christ as life and live Christ. Hence, the work of the first ministry by the first servant sent by God in the New Testament was to bury people. The work of John the Baptist was to bury people. John’s baptism was equivalent to a burial. When people went to John, they had to confess that they were sinners, and then they needed to be terminated. John led them to repent, and then he buried them; that is, he terminated them. He had to terminate and bury them because they needed a new beginning in Christ. They needed to receive Christ as their life so that Christ could live out from them. Anyone who desires to partake of the grace, life, and blessings of the New Testament must be completely terminated and buried.
After believing, the first thing one should do as a Christian is to be baptized (28:19). To be baptized is to be buried. After a person believes into the Lord, he should let God do everything, and the first thing that God will do is to ask the church to bury, to put an end, to the believer. In order to live the life of a Christian, one must stand in the position of baptism, that is, in the position of one who has died, been buried, and then been raised up.
God crucified and terminated us in Christ. When Christ was on the cross suffering God’s judgment, we were judged in Him. In other words, God’s judgment on Christ was also His judgment on us because He bore our sins in His body on the tree (1 Pet. 2:24). When Christ died on the cross under God’s judgment, we were included in Him. He died, and we also died in Him. The most obvious type concerning this is the ark in the Old Testament (Gen. 6:14-21), which carried eight people in Noah’s household through the water of death. The ark is a type of Christ, and Noah and his family typify all the believers who were redeemed in Christ. When the ark passed through the water of death, everything inside the ark also passed through the death water. Similarly, because we were in Christ, we experienced death together with Him. When Christ died, we died in Him. In Christ, God terminated us.
Death is God’s wonderful way of salvation. Through death God terminated us. For sinners death brings in God’s punishment, but for believers death brings in God’s salvation in Christ. Apart from Christ, death is a punishment for sinners, but in Christ, death is a salvation for believers. God uses death to save sinners. In His wonderful way of salvation, God terminates everything by death. The experience of Christ is available to whoever allows himself to be terminated by death. Although we often say that God’s salvation is a salvation of life, we must realize that this refers to the second aspect of salvation. The first aspect of God’s salvation is death, that is, God’s termination of us by death. Then after death God enlivens us. Hence, anyone who is not terminated by God cannot enjoy God’s salvation.
In order for us to have experiences of life and to have the practical living of a Christian, we must see our need for termination and also see that we have been terminated already with Christ on the cross. When we believe into Him and are baptized, we are acknowledging the fact that we have been terminated, that we are those who have been put into death. As such, we can stand on the ground of our death with Christ as the basis for our Christian living and experience. We are dead, and we have been terminated. This is the basis for our living and our experience of life. We are dead in regard to everything, including our relatives, friends, things, and even events. The basis of our living is death; we have died in Christ on the cross. The basis of our dealing with people, things, and events is that we have died. This is the way of God’s salvation.
The Lord said that we should take up the cross and follow Him (Matt. 16:24). This does not refer to suffering, as most people think; rather, it speaks of following the Lord through the death of the cross. By remaining in the death of the cross, we can genuinely forsake everything and follow the Lord. This does not mean that when we forsake everything, we no longer do anything. This is not what forsaking everything means. Forsaking everything means that although we are studying, we are studying in the place of death. Likewise, forsaking everything does not mean that we cease to be a teacher. Rather, we continue to teach, but while we are teaching, we are in the place of death. It is the same with being a parent, child, or spouse. We are dead people studying; we are dead people teaching; we are dead people being parents, being children, and being spouses. In dealing with all persons, things, and events, we are dead to all that we are and all that we have so that Christ can be expressed through us. This is what it means to take up the cross and follow the Lord.
