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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Cor. 3:17; 2 Tim. 1:7; 4:22
In this chapter we will consider the matter of exercising to be one spirit with the Lord. “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17) is the most mysterious sentence in the Bible. We believers in the Lord can actually become one spirit with the Lord. This is the most central teaching in the Bible. It is true that there are many moral and ethical teachings in the Bible. I believe that if we were to take everything written by the Chinese philosophical, classical scholars concerning ethics and morality and put them together with all the teachings and writings of Confucius and Mencius, they still would not say as much as the Bible does, and their standard would be much lower than the Bible’s. For the human race, the Bible teaches the most about ethics and morality and has the highest standard. However, these teachings are not the center but the periphery of the Bible; they are the “branches” and not the “roots and trunk” of the Bible.
The center, the “roots and trunk,” of the Bible is that we saved ones have become one spirit with the Lord. This declares two facts. First, the Lord must be Spirit. If He were not Spirit, how could He become one spirit with us? Second, even though we are not spirit, we must have a spirit; otherwise, how could we become one spirit with Him? According to our inward reality, we certainly have a spirit. When God created us, He made a spirit for us. Zechariah 12:1 says, “Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.” Our spirit within us was created by God, and according to this verse, our human spirit is as important as the heavens and the earth. This verse mentions only three things: the heavens, the earth, and the spirit of man; it does not mention any other item. Thus, the heavens, the earth, and the spirit of man are of equal importance. Our human spirit is as important as the heavens and the earth; this is a tremendous matter. If you understand the Bible and you know the meaning of the existence of the universe, you will see that the heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, man’s center is his spirit, and man’s spirit is for containing God. Man is a vessel for God to enter into and dwell in. This is the central matter in the Bible.
I believe that the ancient Chinese sages had true wisdom given to them by God. Some of their words have never been duplicated by philosophers from other places. For example, they said that man is the spirit of all creation. It is very meaningful that the ancient Chinese sages used the word spirit. Instead of saying that man is the head of all creation, they said that man is the spirit of all creation. Moreover, despite the fact that the Chinese classical scholars did not have the clear revelation of the Bible, they studied the inward human condition according to the science in their classics and discovered the fact, which was spoken by Wang Yang-ming, that within man there is an innate knowledge of good and an innate ability to do good. They also discovered that such an innate knowledge and ability is our conscience within us. In his book called The Great Learning, Confucius spoke of the way of great learning, which was very difficult for the classical scholars to explain: “The way of great learning is to develop the bright virtue.” In the term bright virtue, bright is an adjective, and virtue is a noun. The meaning of bright virtue is a bright and shining moral virtue. The Chinese philosophers developed this point very much; the emphasis of their moral and ethical teachings was to brighten the bright virtue, which means to develop and increase the function of the conscience, that is, man’s innate knowledge of good and ability to do good.
We can see that whether people are civilized or barbarian, Chinese or from abroad, all have something within them. You may call it the conscience, the innate knowledge and ability, or the bright virtue, but within you there truly is such a thing. Many times there are lusts within you. For example, if you see that your classmate in school has a very good pen, you may think of a way to steal it. When you do this, you are outside of your spirit; you are in the improper functioning of your lusts, emotions, and mind. But on the other hand, while you are doing this, you sense an inner voice condemning you, even forbidding and criticizing you. Sometimes after you have stolen something, you feel uneasy using it. This feeling of uneasiness is not from any outward religious or ethical teaching. According to their studies of all the aspects of the conditions manifested in the human body and heart, Confucius and Mencius reached a conclusion that there is truly such a thing within man, and they called that thing the conscience. Later, Wang Yang-ming studied it further and called it the innate knowledge of good and the innate ability to do good. It is not only a knowledge but also an ability — a knowledge of good and an ability to do good. Knowing good and being able to do good are the functions of the conscience. If we add together the conscience, the knowledge of good, and the ability to do good, they equal the bright virtue.
You may not have stolen anything, but sometimes you argue with your mother. Daughters especially like to argue with their mothers. Your mother loves you, and you love her, but you still like to argue with her. Even before you finish arguing, while you are still quarreling, something inside tells you not to argue. Outwardly you are arguing, but inwardly you feel bad. There is a forbidding within, which is the functioning of the conscience.
The Bible shows us that the conscience is the principal part of our spirit. When we preach the gospel, we mainly want to move people’s conscience. When the conscience is moved, the spirit is moved. A real repentance comes from the conscience being touched. When the conscience is touched, the spirit is moved, and when the spirit is moved, the person’s mind turns. In Greek the meaning of repent is a turning of the mind. A person’s mind turns because his spirit is touched. Therefore, when we preach the gospel, it is not enough to speak mere doctrines. To speak doctrines is to try to convince a person’s mind by reasoning. This does not work. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to touch and move people’s conscience. Whenever a person’s conscience is moved, his spirit is moved.
Once there was a preacher in China named John Sung. He went to America to study and received three Ph.D.’s. When he preached the gospel, his messages were not up to the standard of the truth, but he had the power to touch people. When he spoke of salvation, he spoke not only with his mouth; he wore the traditional Chinese costume, and under his long gown he had bag after bag of props. Sometimes while he was speaking, he would pull out a small wine bottle and act out a person getting drunk and beating his wife. Later, he would take out some playing cards and act out a person gambling and shouting. Then he would take out an opium pipe and act out a person smoking opium. At the end of his preaching, he would reach into his pocket and pull out a small coffin. He said that the drunkard, the gambler, and the opium addict would all wind up in the coffin. When people listened to him speak, they did not have the slightest feeling that they were listening to a sermon, but their conscience could not help but be touched by him. When he finished speaking, great crowds of people would leave their seats, shedding tears as they walked to the front, weeping, praying, and repenting.
My elder sister once heard him preach the gospel in Honan Province. One time while John Sung was preaching, he pulled out a small pointer. As he was speaking, he pointed it at a woman and said, “You are someone’s concubine.” That woman was furious. She said to herself, “How could Christians be so unreasonable? They compelled me to come to their chapel to listen to the preaching and then revealed my status to the preacher.” She had this reaction because she really was a concubine. She hated the person who brought her there, and she also hated the preacher. However, when she returned home and thought things over, the Holy Spirit worked in her and said to her, “How can you hate them? Are you not a concubine? You see, you are a sinner. If you were a proper person, how could you be someone’s concubine?” This woman repented and went to listen to the preaching again on the following day. It was not the speaking of doctrines that convinced her reasoning and persuaded her to admit that she should not be a concubine. It was the power of the Holy Spirit touching her conscience. When her conscience was moved, her spirit was moved, and her mind was turned. This is repentance.
Today we must see that the central teaching of the Chinese sages was to promote and develop the innate knowledge of good and the innate ability to do good. This innate knowledge and ability is our conscience, which is a part of our spirit. However, the Bible does not merely speak of the function of our conscience, which causes us to repent and confess our sins. The Bible also tells us that as soon as we repent and believe in the Lord Jesus, His redeeming blood cleanses us from our sins, and His Spirit enters our spirit. The Lord in whom we believe is the God who created the universe; He is the real and living One. This God who is Spirit has actually entered into us. However, before He could enter us, He first had to be incarnated as a man, go to the cross to die for us, and shed His blood to redeem us from our sins. After He accomplished His redemptive work, that is, after His death and resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection. This Spirit is the Savior in whom we believe. Therefore, our Lord Jesus is not only the Savior and the Redeemer, but He is also the life-giving Spirit.
In Christianity today this point is greatly ignored. Today’s Christianity mainly tells us how the Lord Jesus is God, how He became a man, died on the cross, washed away our sins, became our Savior, ascended into the heavens, and sat down at the right hand of the Father, and how He is now in the heavens as the object of our worship. They almost completely ignore the other half of the ministry of Jesus Christ, which is that after the Lord Jesus died and rose, He became the life-giving Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b tells us that the last Adam, the Lord Jesus our Savior, became a life-giving Spirit. This Spirit has also come into our spirit. Therefore, 1 Corinthians 6:17 says that we have become one spirit with the Lord. Within us there truly is the fact that the two spirits are mingled as one spirit. Second Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and of love and of sobermindedness.” In 4:22 Paul says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” This implies that the Lord is Spirit; otherwise, He could not be able to enter our spirit and be with our spirit. This again proves that the Lord Spirit has become one spirit with our spirit.
The highest Christian life is a life of practicing to live one spirit with the Lord. This surpasses ethics and morality. Today you and I do not merely have a conscience, the innate knowledge of good and the innate ability to do good, or the bright virtue, nor do we only have a created spirit. Within our created spirit we also have the Spirit of God, who is our Redeemer and who became the life-giving Spirit. Today I want to help everyone to practice living by this mingled spirit, that is, to practice being one spirit with the Lord. Your being saved is not just a matter of your sins being forgiven, your being cleansed by the blood, or your being redeemed and regenerated. More than that, the Lord as the Spirit has entered your regenerated spirit and mingled with your regenerated spirit to become one spirit. This is the most precious point.
There are many brothers and sisters among us who have been saved for decades. They love the Lord, and they read the Bible and pray, but their experience of the Lord remains the same as it was forty or fifty years ago. This may be compared to a person living today in the age of the jet airplane but still using an old-fashioned oxcart. The Lord has already shown us that He is with our spirit and that our spirit is one spirit with Him, but some people today, thinking that their old “ox” is not strong enough to pull well, plan to get a bigger ox to pull their cart; while everyone is flying in a jumbo jet, they are looking for a bigger ox. Today the Spirit of the Lord is in your spirit. This is clear enough, and we must practice and exercise according to this.
The condition of our spirit is completely dependent on our exercise. Even I myself up to today condemn myself for not exercising enough in this matter. We must know that we humans are not simple. We have a biological aspect and a psychological aspect. The biological aspect is our body, and the psychological aspect is our soul. Our soul, too, is very complicated; it is composed of the mind, emotions, and will. We can use three circles to illustrate this. The outermost circle is the body, the middle circle is the soul, and the innermost circle is the spirit. Man has three parts: spirit, soul, and body. For example, to become angry and hit someone is a two-layered operation. One layer is the soul getting angry, and the other layer is the hand, which is a part of the body, hitting someone in cooperation with the soul. Many people think that one cannot commit sin without the cooperation of the body. However, one can commit sin solely in the realm of the human mind. For example, one does not need to use the body to hate others. To curse others, however, requires the use of the body because one must move his mouth and tongue. Thus, when the soul and the body function together, the result is that people commit sin. For this reason we must be delivered from the bothering of the soul, and we must exercise our spirit in the Spirit so that we may become one spirit with the Lord.
Since the Lord is mingled with our spirit, and the two spirits have become one spirit, how do we need to exercise? We need to exercise in all our daily living and actions that the body will not be our starting point nor will the soul be our consideration, but that the spirit will be our center. We need to exercise according to this spirit. Are you going to argue with your wife? You must do it according to the spirit. Are you going to be angry? You must be angry according to the spirit. Some may then say that once we are according to the spirit, we will neither argue nor be angry; this is right. To be according to the spirit is simply to exercise the spirit.
In the preceding chapter we fellowshipped about walking according to the spirit. I told you that the word walk in Greek means to live and walk. You have to exercise your spirit when you are angry and want to argue, but even in your ordinary speaking to others, you should stop for a minute and speak from your spirit. When you speak in the meetings, even more you must be according to the spirit; you must exercise your spirit and speak from your spirit. Once you are according to the spirit, the words that you speak will have a different flavor; therefore, you must learn how to speak from your spirit. As one who speaks for the Lord, I often practice this. My desire is that every sentence I speak will come out from my spirit. We all must confess that our exercise is still not adequate or perfect, because we are still in the habit of speaking and acting according to our soul and ourselves.
When we all meet together, if someone merely sits quietly and does not open his mouth to testify or pray, then he will not be able to enjoy the rich supply of the Lord in the meeting. On the contrary, as long as you open your mouth in the meeting to testify, pray, or pray-read the Bible, you will be able to gain the enjoyment. If you do not open your mouth, you will have nothing, but as soon as you open your mouth, you will be supplied inwardly. When you come to the meeting, if you do nothing but come only to listen to others speak a message, what you gain will not be rich, even though your coming is better than not coming to the meeting at all. However, if you are willing to open your mouth in the meetings by praying, singing, pray-singing, pray-reading, or testifying, when you go home, you will feel rich inwardly, and what you gain will be different. If I never open my mouth in the meetings that I attend, I will definitely be poor, weak, and cold. I will not have the inward watering.
Coming to the meetings is like coming to a basketball game to play and not to watch. We come not to watch the meeting but to meet. When a ballplayer gets onto the court, his entire being is active. Likewise, when we come to the meetings, we must use and exercise our spirit. When we come to the meetings, we are coming to worship, praise, enjoy, glorify, and exalt the Lord, so we cannot simply sit quietly. If we came to the meetings with our Bibles and hymnals, and after singing a hymn we all sat silently and no one said a word, how would you feel? I come to the meetings, and you also come to the meetings. When I come to the meetings, there are things that I should do, and when you come to the meetings, there are things that you should do. If, however, I am always the only one speaking and you are never active, then it is as if I were the only one playing in the game. The rest of you are like the other four players who do nothing but stand there, waiting for me to run over and catch the ball even when it falls right in front of you. After catching the ball, I make the play, but after everything is over, you still have not moved. This should not be our situation.
When we come to the meetings, if we do not praise or speak something to exalt the Lord or glorify Him, but we only sit there quietly, we offend the Lord. This is the condition of degraded Christianity. This is why Christianity has no way except to set up seminaries to train a group of professionals to take care of the meetings. Eventually, we believers do not need to say it, for the unbelievers will say it for us: “If you have a lawsuit, find a lawyer; if you are sick, find a doctor; if you want prayer or preaching, find a pastor.” We must not have such a situation among us. Among us we should not have the “leading ones” doing the tasks of the “pastors”; this is the influence of the Nicolaitans, and it is something that we absolutely must overthrow. According to the revelation of the Bible, we all are priests; we were bought by the Lord with His blood to be priests (Rev. 1:5-6). Hence, everyone is a priest in the church. It does not matter if a person is young or old; as long as he has been saved and regenerated, he is a priest of God. This is just as in a family, where the husband, the wife, and the children all fulfill their duty. The husband works to earn money to support the family, the wife takes care of the household chores and serves in all the small affairs, and the children help clean the house. Everyone in the family is actively working for the household. In the same way, we are in the church our home, and we all should be active whether we are young or old. When we come to the meetings, we should each fulfill our responsibility. This will make the meetings living. When the meetings are living, they are rich. Our body is the same. When the body is active, it is healthy.
I hope that our concept and spirit will be changed. In the meetings we must use our spirit. Whenever we use our spirit, we can do many things. I do not believe that you do not contact or experience the Lord the entire week. I believe that you have at least a little experience you can speak about. Do not tell stories or speak your history. You simply need to fellowship the point that you experienced, and it will benefit the entire meeting. Do not bemoan the fact that you can speak only one point and cannot speak a long message. Actually, every point is valuable. The water that we drink is made up of many drops of water collected together. It is too poor that we appoint a brother to give a message every Lord’s Day. Everyone has a portion, and if everyone brings out his portion, the entire meeting will be enriched. I hope that we will do our best to practice this.
The church is not made up of a group of people living in themselves. Whenever we live in ourselves, we are not the church. Only those living in spirit are the church. If there is Spirit, then there is the church; if there is no Spirit, there is no church. If we want the Spirit, we must exercise our spirit. We must learn this lesson. Whenever I speak, I wait at least one second and speak slowly. I have truly learned this secret. Sometimes if you had waited half a minute before speaking, you would not have said what you said. Some sisters very much like to go shopping. When you want to go shopping, you must learn not to make a hasty decision but wait for half a minute to return to your spirit. Once you are in your spirit, you may not go shopping. You must learn to exercise your spirit to first put your body aside and then to stop your soul, including the mind, emotion, and will, for half a minute so that you can return to your spirit and contact the Lord. When you turn to your spirit in this way, you are exercising your spirit, initiating from your spirit, and living and walking from your spirit. By doing this, you will find that your whole experience is totally different, as different as heaven is from earth. If we truly live in spirit, our living will be heavenly; but if we live in ourselves, our living will be earthly. There is a very great difference between the two.
