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As we have mentioned in the previous chapter, the parables spoken by the Lord in Matthew 13 show us that the purpose, the intention, of the Lord in giving Himself to us as life is to bring forth the church as His Body. They also show us how the enemy has come in to frustrate the Lord’s purpose by damaging, spoiling, and corrupting the Body of Christ. But praise the Lord, eventually, the church will be built up with gold, precious stones, and pearls through the transformation of life. Ultimately, there will be a city built with gold, precious stones, and pearls as the ultimate consummation of the people of God (Rev. 21:18-21).
First Corinthians 3 tells us that the church is, on the one hand, God’s cultivated land, and on the other hand, God’s building (v. 9). On the one hand, we have to grow as God’s farm by the life which is Christ Himself as the seed sown into us. On the other hand, we have to be transformed by this divine life into precious materials for the building up of the church. Then we will have the real church life.
Usually, when we talk about the practice of the church life or the practice of the Body life, immediately we begin to consider how to form or organize something according to our human thought. But we need to realize that the practice of the church life is not a matter of formation or organization. It is a matter of the growth in life and the transformation in life. Christ has to grow up in you, and you have to grow up in Christ. Moreover, we natural men have to be transformed into precious stones. If we try to form or organize a church, we are foolish. That means we have not learned from the history of the church and that we are going to repeat the past mistakes.
Our burden is not to teach people to be religious. What we need is to know Christ as the transforming life. Today the Lord is doing a hidden work of transformation in us. We do not need to be formed or organized, but we need to be transformed into precious materials for the building up of the Body of Christ.
You have been regenerated, so you have Christ Himself as the very life to grow in you and to transform you. You may know that you have Christ in you as life, but how much have you been transformed by this divine life? I do not mean how much you have changed in your behavior. The Lord being life to us is for transforming us in our nature metabolically, not for changing or correcting our behavior outwardly. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism attempt to change the outward behavior, but the Lord’s being life to us is to transform our inward nature.
You may have some changes in your behavior and some corrections in your actions due to some good, sound Christian teachings, but it is quite possible that you do not have any transformation accomplished within you. Corrections come from outward teachings, but transformation comes from the inner life. Suppose a certain brother is proud. After he hears a message telling him that pride is damaging, he receives the help and makes a decision to be humble. Perhaps he succeeds outwardly, but this is mere outward correction, an outward change in his behavior. This is not the transformation in life.
What is the transformation in life? May the Lord open our eyes so that we can see that Christ is life in us. Regardless of how good or how bad we are, we have been put to death, terminated, crucified. Today it is Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20). As genuine Christians, we do not need to correct our conduct or adjust our behavior. We need to see that Christ is our life and that we have been crucified with Christ. One day we will pass through such a crisis, and we will see such a vision. Then we will seek to experience Christ in our practical daily life, not just to know Christ in doctrine. We will seek and pray, “Lord, let me know the practical way to take You as life in my daily life.” When we know the way to take Christ as life, day by day we will be filled with Christ, occupied with Christ, and saturated with Christ. We will be persons full of Christ.
What is the practical way to take Christ as life? The most important thing is for us to realize that Christ today within us is the law of life (Heb. 8:10; Rom. 8:2) and the anointing (1 John 2:20, 27). To have the doctrinal teaching that Christ has sown Himself into us to be the life in us is not sufficient. Look at our daily life. By what life do we live? Is it by Christ or by ourselves? Does the fact that Christ is life within us and that we have been put on the cross have any influence on us? Is there always a checking of the cross in our daily life — in whatever we say, whatever we do, and wherever we go? The problem is that we know the fact, but we still live by ourselves.
The building of the church absolutely depends on the transformation in life. We have to be transformed. If you take Christ as your life practically in your daily life and are checked by the cross all the time, you will have a different view concerning the church life. Your view will be changed. You need to put this into practice. Then you will know where you are, and you will know the real church life. If you are still living by yourself, your view concerning the church will be natural. When you deny yourself to take Christ as your life and are willing to be checked by the cross in all your daily affairs, your view about the church life will be changed and even revolutionized because you are being transformed.
The more we talk about the doctrine, the more we will be in darkness about the church life; our inner eyes will be veiled. But if we are willing to be checked by the cross all day long in all things and to take Christ as life in every matter, our eyes will be opened and the veils will be gone. Then we will see the church, the Body of Christ, and the church life, the Body life.
Brothers and sisters, the church life needs the real growth in life and the transformation by the life of Christ. I do not feel that I need to say very much about how Christ is life to us. But I do have the burden to give you a challenge. Do you live by Christ or by yourself today? You need to go to the Lord and have a genuine and thorough prayer before Him. Just pray for one thing: “Lord, do I take You as my life day by day? Do I live by You?” Also, how much room in your life has been given to the cross? How much ground does the cross have in you? Do you really mean it when you say that “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20)?
I believe that if we go to the Lord and pray in such a way, we will be exposed in the light of the Lord and will find out that even up to now we are still very natural. We have very little transformation. We know that Christ is life to us, but day by day we do not live by Christ. Moreover, we are not learning the lessons of the cross. We do not always take the cross as a check to our daily life. We have the knowledge in our mentality, but we do not have the practice in our daily life.
If you take the cross and are checked by the cross, you will realize that Christ is so living and real within you. He is not only active but also acting. Because He is living, you will sense something acting, enlightening, anointing, regulating, ruling, and governing within you. There is something within you, and that is Christ in a practical way.
In this chapter I am giving you a simple secret. You need to pray about this matter today. Pray to Him in a real and thorough way, saying, “Lord, I am here. I have been a Christian for many years, but I wish to know where I am and how I am. Put me in Your presence and in Your light. Expose me and let me see where I am. Lord, do I really mean it when I say that You are my life? Do I have some experience of the cross by applying it to my daily life? Do I have some transformation?” I urge you to go to the Lord and pray in this way. Then you will see where you are.
Forget about taking care of your behavior. More than thirty years ago I was a young learner in the service of the Lord. At that time I did only one thing: I was always careful about my work, my attitude, and my actions. I tried to be very careful in these matters. Many times I went to the elderly saints and asked them in a humble way, “Have I done something wrong in these days? Would you be kind enough to let me know? Please tell me.”
In those early days I spent much time with Brother Watchman Nee. Many times I went to him asking him to tell me something about my condition. He just smiled and never said anything. Later, the Lord revealed to me that when I was so concerned about my behavior, my attitude, and my work, it proved that I was so much in myself. One day the Lord opened my eyes to see that I needed to forget everything about myself and learn the lesson of being checked by the cross. The problem today in the church life is the natural life. The natural life has to be put away, eliminated, and Christ must be everything.
I say again that if you would go to the Lord and pray in this way, I have the assurance that you will sense how real, how living, how active, how positive, and how illuminating Christ is within you. You will have the living Christ, the acting Christ, and the anointing Christ operating within you experientially all the time. Then you will learn how to forget about yourself and to live and walk by taking Christ as your life. Eventually, you will have a transformation in life and not just some correction or adjustment in your behavior. Your whole being with your very nature, element, essence, and substance will be transformed by Christ in a living and real way. In this way you will realize the church life in a way that is absolutely different from the past.
