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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; 2 Tim. 4:22; 2, 4, 6, Rom. 8:16; Gal. 5:16, 25; John 6:57; 5:19a, 30
To live by Christ is possible. Yet many Christians do not know this reality. Although the term to live by Christ sounds familiar to us because of our having heard it so much, it is nonetheless a great matter. How can we live by another? Humanly speaking, there is no possibility for a wife, for example, to live by her husband, or for a husband to live by his wife. The husband has his own life, and the wife has hers. There are two sets of emotions involved and two wills. In spite of this impossibility for two human beings, Christians can live by another life. To live by Christ means to live Christ. It is possible!
Galatians 2:20 is an oft-quoted verse: “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.” When it is true in our experience that it is “not I but Christ” who is living in us, then there are two persons living together but having only one life and one living.
How could there be only one living? Let us again use married life as an example. Even to decide how to spend a day together takes some negotiations. The husband may want to stay home, but the wife may want to go shopping. The husband may have to do some persuading to get his wife to stay home with him. It is hard for two persons to have only one living.
To live by Christ means that the Christian and Christ have one life and one living. John 6:57 says, “As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.” The words because of can also be translated “by.” The Father sent the Son, and the Son was now living by the Father, so the one who ate the Son would also live by the Son.
The Father and the Son are two persons, yet They had but one life and one living. The Father was the life of the Son, and the Son was the living of the Father. Life refers to the inner substance, living to the outward expression. The Father was the living substance within, and the Son was the living expression of the Father.
John 14:10 says, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works.” There was One on this earth who lived the life of another: the Son lived the Father’s life. The Son lived because the Father was living.
Grafting illustrates these two lives. We were the wild olive branches, but we have been grafted into the best tree (Rom. 11:17, 24). We have not exchanged our poor life for a better one. Nor has our life been terminated, and only His is left. Yes, Galatians 2:20 says that we are crucified with Christ, but this termination is not final. Crucifixion is the threshold of resurrection. Crucifixion is followed by “no longer...but.” Where does this leave us? In the tomb or in resurrection? Dead or living? We live but not we. The words may sound illogical, but Christ and His members know the secret.
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was a person of strong character. He had a distinct personality. His will was strong. His emotions were strong enough that He could weep. His mind was clear and sober. His words were eloquent. Yet this striking person said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, The Son can do nothing from Himself except what He sees the Father doing, for whatever that One does, these things the Son also does in like manner...I can do nothing from Myself” (John 5:19, 30). The Son lived by another person’s life. His own person was not His life. This One of such strong character did not live by Himself. He lived by the Father; He lived the Father. It was in this way that the Son expressed the Father. The Father’s life was revealed in the Son’s living.
This is the principle that should govern our living also. We may have a strong character, but we must live by Him, not by ourselves. After I was saved, I began to seek after holiness. Because I am a quick person, I would easily lose my temper. I hated my hot temper and wanted desperately to be victorious over it. Now I have come to realize that God’s intention is not for me to be victorious or spiritual. His intention is that I live Christ. My problem was not that I was defeated, natural, and unholy. It was that I was short of Christ. In Christ victory over everything is mine. Holiness and practical spirituality are mine.
God, even from eternity past, never had the concept of gaining a group of “holy” people. God is not concerned about your “holiness.” If He wanted to, He could cure you of your temper without any effort on your part or on His.
What God wants is to have a people living by Christ so that they may be Christ’s expression. There is a full picture of this in the Old Testament type of the tabernacle with the Ark. In the wilderness over two million Israelites went from place to place, carrying the tabernacle. They would reach a certain point and then encamp around that tabernacle. Day after day this was all that they did. They were victorious over their enemies. They had God with them in the pillar of fire by night and in the pillar of cloud by day. The tabernacle was God’s testimony. When the children of Israel were right with the tabernacle, all went well. When they neglected it, they were carnal, worldly, and defeated.
Today all too many Christians are ignorant of this testimony. God wants us to live by another’s life. He wants Christ to be our life, our love, our kindness, our righteousness, and our holiness. He does not want us to aspire after any thing; in Christ is all we need.
Yet you are concerned about losing your temper. You keep regretting that you have not kept your marriage vow to love your wife or to submit to your husband. How you need your concepts changed! For you to live is Christ, not spirituality. For you to live is Christ, not love for your wife or submission to your husband. Stop trying to be even-tempered. God does not care about your being delivered from your temper. A statue never loses its temper, however much it is insulted. Do you think that God wants you to be like that? God wants you to be full of Christ. Even if you are a very hot-tempered person, you can still live Christ. What we need is what God wants — Christ. God wants Christ to be lived out of us.
There’s a Man in the glory
Whose Life is for me.
His peace is abiding;
How patient is He!
He’s joyful and radiant,
Expecting to see
His Life in the glory
Lived out in me.
(Hymns, #505)
God wants a people corporately living Christ. This vision, which was made so clear during the first ten years of the recovery in this country, must be recovered. May we all re-see the vision.
God did many things to make it possible for us to live Christ. He had to create the heavens, the earth, and man. Then He Himself had to become incarnate. The infinite God lived in humanity for thirty-three and a half years. Then one day He went to the cross. God in the flesh entered into death by crucifixion. After death He entered into resurrection, ascension, enthronement, and glorification. Now our God has become the life-giving Spirit. He is ready to enter into all those who open up to believe in Him. “O God, I am a sinner. O Lord Jesus, You are My Savior. You died on the cross for me.” Whoever opens himself to this extent will have this life-giving One enter into his inmost part, his spirit. God comes into us with all His involvements and all His virtues.
His involvements include eternity, creation, incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, with the enthronement and the crowning. He is our God, our Redeemer, our Savior, our Lord, our Master, and our Father. He is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. His virtues include life, light, love, grace, truth, holiness, righteousness, victory, and humility.
This life-giving Spirit is in our spirit. The two spirits are mingled, making us one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). In ourselves we are sinful and insignificant. We are nobodies in a vast universe. Yet we are one spirit with the Lord. This profound fact should be a factor affecting our living. Christ today is both in the heavens and in us, just as electricity is in the power plant and also in the building. He is prevailing in us because He is in the “power plant” of the heavens.
This is the message you need to tell people. You are the Lord’s spokesman to tell others that He is living, real, available, and within us. Have you ever told your parents this? You are silent and passive because you do not pray. Christ is living. Pray to Him. If you pray even for a half hour, you will see what happens. The motor within will start up.
“The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:16). What a wonder that the divine Spirit is one with our human spirit!
How can we live by Christ? It is simply by walking according to this mingled spirit that is within us (v. 4).
Let me illustrate. Suppose two brothers come to me after they have had a disagreement. They tell me their story and want me to settle the problem. I can handle them in two ways. I can listen to them, trying to discern which one is right. I watch their eyes and their facial expressions to be sure they are not lying. If this is my way of dealing with people, I am living by myself; this is a human way. The other way is to listen while inwardly I am praying, “Lord, I would live by You. I have been crucified with You. Now You live in me. What would You say to these brothers? What do You realize concerning them? What would You do with them?” This constant, inward turning to the Lord is what is meant by praying unceasingly. Not only so, but I have my natural discernment, by which I could read their hearts. But I further say to the Lord, “Lord, I do not want to live by myself. I want to go by what You feel, what You discern, what You see. I want to say what You would say to them.”
Suppose, further, that while the brothers are talking to me, my temper is aroused by what they say. I am about to rebuke them, but I sense that I am not abiding in Christ. In this situation I do not do or say anything. Rather, within I pray, “Lord, forgive me. My natural man has come to the surface. Lord, cover me. Be my person. Be my life.”
After I have been listening to these two brothers in an attitude of prayer and oneness with the Lord, He will lead me to say a word to them. What it would be, I do not know. The Lord is living and flexible. Whatever He would say through me will be either light shining over them or life supplied to them within. The result will be that both of them are enlightened, nourished, and supplied with life.
Let us take another example. You come home from work exhausted after an eight-hour day. Your wife has been home taking care of all the children; she too is worn out. The stage is set for friction. If you walk in the door and do not say anything, she will be offended. She will want to know why you are so calm or what you are afraid of. If you walk in and say, “Praise the Lord!” that will offend her too. How come you had such a good day while she has been home suffering?
On the other hand, she on her part may be wondering how to greet you when you get home. She does not know if you will be in a good mood or depressed. This is a common situation we face all the time as human beings. How do we as Christians handle it? She should say, “Lord, thank You that You are with me. When my husband gets home, You have to be the One who meets him. Be the One who lives in me. I do not want to live myself. I want to live Your life. I want to express You in my living.”
There is no need to figure out how you will meet your husband or wife at the end of the day. Practice, rather, to live Christ. I have been doing so for many years. To tell the truth, it is not easy. We are buried under the layers of our culture, religion, and spiritual seeking. We must turn away from these distractions, no longer caring for religion, philosophy, ethics, and human virtues.
Why do we need to fellowship with the Lord? Why do we need to have fellowship with the saints? Why do we need to come to the meetings? Why do we need to have the church life? All these things prepare a good environment for us to live Christ. If we want plants to grow, for example, they must have the proper soil, water, and light. With the right atmosphere, the plants will flourish. For our growth in Christ, for our help in living Christ, we need Bible reading, prayer, fellowship, and the meetings. With these providing the atmosphere, we are encouraged to remain in the spirit, contacting the Lord.
As you converse with Him and are open, prepared, and available, He will work in you, speaking and reacting. He will be living through you and expressing Himself through you. You and He, He and you, will have one life and one living. You will take Him as your life, and He will have you for His living. He is your life within; you are His living without.
This kind of life should not be occasional or accidental. This must be our regular life from morning until evening. Remain in Him. Do not be distracted by the mood of those around you. Keep focused on Him, conversing with Him. This is the Christian life.
Remember well that the basic revelation of the Scriptures is the Triune God dispensing Himself into the tripartite man so that He may be man’s life and that man may be His living as His corporate expression. This is the vine and the branches revealed in John 15.
