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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 15:8-10, 58
The verses in the Scripture Reading are all from the book of 1 Corinthians. In particular, they are all from the fifteenth chapter. We have seen that chapters 14 and 15 are two very meaningful chapters. Chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians speaks mainly about prophesying. Only prophesying builds the church. Immediately after 1 Corinthians 14 Paul deals with the question of resurrection in chapter 15. This shows us that the prophesying in chapter 14 must be done in resurrection. In our natural being we can speak only ordinary words; there is no possibility for us to speak for the Lord. For this reason we have to learn to remain in resurrection so that we can speak for God and speak forth God.
The reason that we condemn the old way is that it keeps us in the natural realm. We do not know how to apply the power of resurrection, nor is there the need to do so in our environment. As a result, we continue on in the old way in our natural being. Whatever we need to do in the new way, we cannot do in our natural being. To preach the gospel according to the way ordained in the New Testament, we have to contact and visit people directly in order that they may be saved from their environment and that we may offer them up to God as sacrifices. However, this is something that the natural man cannot accomplish. Only by the resurrection power can this be achieved.
We know that the Holy Spirit is the reality of resurrection. When we are in the Holy Spirit, we are in resurrection. Although resurrection and the Holy Spirit are closely related, in our subjective experience resurrection is even more closely tied to death. Our natural being with its natural strength and natural views must pass through death before we can enter into resurrection. Hymns, #279 says, “First the blood, and then the ointment, / Cleansing, then anointing comes; / If we pass not thru Golgotha, / Ne’er to Pentecost we’ll come.” If we do not pass through the death on the cross, we can never receive the Spirit at Pentecost because the Spirit at Pentecost is the reality of resurrection. In order to have the reality of resurrection, we need to pass through Golgotha.
Today we have seen this new way as revealed in the Bible. We also have seen that to take this way there is the need to pass through death and resurrection at every step. I would especially like to show the brothers who are serving as elders in the church that to lead the brothers and sisters on in this new way requires us to be persons who live in resurrection. We must go through death. Then we can enter into resurrection and into the reality of the Holy Spirit.
When Paul speaks of the resurrection of Christ in 1 Corinthians 15, he does not treat it merely as a subject of defense against the heresy in the church. Rather, he applies resurrection to himself. In verse 5 he begins by mentioning the Lord’s appearing after His resurrection. Verse 8 says, “And last of all He appeared to me also, as it were to one born prematurely.” Then Paul goes on to say, “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle” (v. 9). “But by the grace of God I am what I am;...I labored more abundantly than all of them” (v. 10). This shows us that the apostle had one outstanding feature — his labor. The more you labor, the more you are an apostle. Because Paul labored more than all the apostles, he was an apostle among the apostles. But then he says, “Yet not I but the grace of God which is with me” (v. 10). It was the grace of God that constituted him the kind of person that he was.
John 1:1 says, “The Word was God.” Then verse 14 says, “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality.” Verse 17 continues, “The law was given through Moses; grace and reality came through Jesus Christ.” Grace came through Jesus Christ. This shows us that grace is just Jesus Christ, the embodiment and expression of the Triune God. He has passed through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit. Today He can enter into our spirit to be our enjoyment. Hence, the consummation of this Triune God, the life-giving Spirit, is now grace.
Also 2 Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Grace, love, and fellowship are not three separate things; rather, they are three aspects of one thing. Love is the source. When love is expressed, it becomes grace. When grace comes to us, it becomes fellowship, and this fellowship is the Holy Spirit. Hence, the Holy Spirit is the coming to us of the Triune God.
By this we see that grace is the consummated Spirit of the processed Triune God coming into us to be our everything. When this grace came to Paul in resurrection, it made him an apostle among apostles. He became a person that he could not otherwise have been. Therefore, he says, “Yet not I but the grace of God which is with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).
At the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15 Paul applies the grace of resurrection to himself. In the last verse he exhorts the brothers, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (v. 58). To abound in the work of the Lord means that we are filled with the work of the Lord.
If we do not have the work of the Lord with us today, it shows that we are not in grace or in resurrection. Rather, we are in the natural realm. The natural life comes from Adam, but the resurrection life is received at regeneration. In the new way that the Lord has recovered today, no one can meet the need by their natural life. Especially those brothers who are taking the lead in the churches should realize that such work cannot be accomplished by the natural man. Only by remaining in the grace of resurrection can we abound in the work of the Lord for the furtherance of the new way.
The new way today is not a term that we have invented. It is mentioned specifically in the New Testament. Hebrews 10:20 says, “Which entrance He initiated for us as a new and living way through the veil, that is, His flesh.” Through His crucifixion the Lord has opened up this new way for us. His flesh was crucified on the cross that the veil of the old creation might be removed. Through His blood He has brought us before God that we might become a new creation to take the new way.
Furthermore, this new way which the Bible speaks of is not new in method but in nature. The old way, which is in opposition to the new way, is the way of the law in the Old Testament. It is a way taken according to the old creation. The new way is in the New Testament and is taken according to the new creation. It is not a change in method but a change in inward nature. For example, when we preach the gospel now, we encourage the saints to visit people by knocking on doors. This, however, is not a change from an old method to a new method. Because the light from the Lord has become stronger recently and because we have seen that gospel preaching in which one speaks and all listen is contrary to the nature of the new creation in the New Testament, we are reluctant to return to the old way. We want to have a change in nature to preach the gospel and serve God according to God’s desire and the pattern set forth in the Bible.
We see from the Bible that the turn from the Old Testament to the New Testament occurred with John the Baptist. His father was a chief priest at that time. Hence, John was born a priest. But as far as God is concerned, he was the last priest of the Old Testament.
When John grew up, he became strong in his spirit and lived in the wilderness (Luke 1:80). He did not live in the temple nor did he live in a priest’s home. Rather, he lived in the wilderness. This shows that the age had changed. When he came to fulfill his ministry, he did not eat the priestly food nor did he wear the priestly garments. Matthew 3:4 says, “John had his garment of camel’s hair and a leather girdle around his loins, and his food was locusts and wild honey.” This shows that John had forsaken human culture and religion. He preached in the wilderness, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (v. 2). If a man repented and was willing to confess his sins, John would baptize him in the Jordan River (v. 6). All of this shows that John fulfilled his ministry in a “wild” way. He did not abide by the old regulations. This means that the old way of worshipping God according to the Old Testament was annulled. A new way was to be introduced.
The Old Testament priests offered up bulls and goats as sacrifices to God. In the New Testament the first sacrifice that the priests must offer is the saved sinners. Paul says in Romans 15:16 that he was “a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable.” This is the first and basic offering in the New Testament. Other than this, there is the offering of our praises, the offering of good works, and the offering of material goods (Heb. 13:15-16). This is like the heave offering and the drink offering in the Old Testament, which are in addition to the five basic offerings.
The offerings in the Old Testament are a type of Christ. In the New Testament we save the sinners who were in Adam, put them into Christ, and offer them up to God. After this we have to help them get into Romans 12, exhorting them to present themselves a living sacrifice to God (v. 1). That is not all. Paul says that we should be “admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ” (Col. 1:28).
The New Testament priesthood is universal; it is not just for a minority of people. This means that every saved person is a priest. Everyone needs to offer up sinners as sacrifices. Although in the past we were in one accord to arouse the whole church to preach the gospel, most of the brothers and sisters were not priests of the gospel. They were only there serving as Levites. They served only in ushering, inviting, cleaning, and chair arranging. Only the few brothers who delivered messages were the priests. Hence, the old way of preaching the gospel kills the universal priesthood of the New Testament.
Today when we help all the brothers and sisters to be priests, we have to help them all to preach the gospel. Everyone has to go out to save people directly. No one can replace anyone else. This is what is illustrated in John 15. The Lord is the true vine, and we are branches of that vine. Those branches that do not bear fruit are cut off (vv. 1-2). The cutting off here does not refer to eternal perdition. Rather, it refers to the loss of the rich enjoyment in Christ.
Hence, we have to see that today the need is not to change the method of gospel preaching. Because the gospel preaching in the old way kills the priesthood of the saints and replaces the universal priesthood with a few priests, we have to turn from such error. This is an error in the system and in nature. In order for us to recover the universal priesthood of believers in the New Testament, everyone has to go preach the gospel and be a priest. The first offering that we have to offer in Christ is the saved sinner. Only by doing so can we be the New Testament priests of the gospel.
I mentioned in the conference in Kaohsiung last week the reason why we must annul the gatherings of one man speaking and all listening and must have the small group gatherings instead. I would like to repeat this matter based on the New Testament.
John 4 records the Lord’s conversation with a dishonorable Samaritan woman (vv. 5-26). The woman was very clever. When the Lord touched the matter of her sins, she immediately turned the conversation from the five husbands to the matter of religious worship. She said, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, yet you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men must worship” (v. 20). The Lord answered her, saying, “An hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father...The true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truthfulness” (vv. 21-23). The Lord was revealing to her that the worship in the Old Testament was a matter of a physical place, but now the New Testament has come. The New Testament worship is a matter of the human spirit. Only when we are in spirit and in truthfulness can God gain the true worship. Regrettably, Christianity has become degraded; those in it have not worshipped and served in the spirit. Hence, we have to recover the New Testament worship.
We have received light from the Lord to see that the New Testament worship is not a matter of religious service. It should not have any set time or place and should have no set program or procedures. Paul says in Philippians 3:3 that we serve in Christ by the Spirit of God.
Our coming together is not just for a worship service, nor is it merely a meeting. We are coming by the Spirit of God. We have to exercise our spirit to sing, praise, pray, and speak for the Lord. Strictly speaking, our meeting should not begin at the scheduled time. Rather, it should begin from the time that we leave our home for the meeting. It should even begin from the time of our morning revival. During the whole day we should live in this condition of praise, revival, and renewal. In the evening when we come to the meeting and even before we come to the meeting, we begin to sing and praise. When the brothers and sisters gradually arrive, some sooner and others later, they all begin to exercise their spirits. This kind of serving by the Spirit of God is not a worship service. Rather, it is the proper way to worship according to the New Testament.
The reason that we have to change the system today is not merely to change a method and replace the big meetings with small meetings. Rather, it is because the big meetings with one speaker do not match the nature of God’s New Testament economy. This is why we have to change the system. God’s economy in the New Testament is for everyone to be saved, regenerated, and enlivened in his spirit. From the day that one is saved, he should be a revived person, praising and singing all the time. When he comes to the meeting, he should be able to exercise his spirit and serve by the Spirit of God.
In the small group meeting, every one of us should either sing or pray. Some should also spontaneously give some testimonies. Some can raise questions for discussion so that one another’s needs can be met. There should be fellowship and prayer for one another, which include shepherding and care. In this way it will not be just a meeting but a communal living of the Christians. It will not be a big community but a small community. Only then will we be truly delivered from the religious system to realize God’s desire.
Our big gospel meetings in the past, with their numbers of responses and baptisms, were quite impressive. But as far as the nature of the New Testament is concerned, they have killed the function of most of the saints. In other words, they have killed the universal priesthood of the New Testament and have caused a few to become the super-clergy. In principle, this is an offense to the Lord because it has fully annulled God’s New Testament economy. We must realize today that it is absolutely not a matter of a change in method. We need a thorough repentance, and we need to drop all the ways that are not according to God’s New Testament economy.
The old way offends God. When God sovereignly works in a circumstance, He may gather many people together, just as He did on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-41). However, even at that time after three thousand were saved, they began to break bread, fellowship, teach the truth, and preach the gospel from house to house. This shows us that other than on special occasions, all the brothers and sisters should bear fruit directly in their daily lives. They should be priests of God’s gospel directly, offering up the gospel sacrifices, which are the saved sinners. If they do not do this, they are acting contrary to God’s economy.
There is grace for us in the New Testament. If we want to enjoy the grace of the New Testament, we have to meet the requirements of the New Testament. We also have to see that the requirements and demands of the New Testament can never be fulfilled by our natural man. Hence, the New Testament shows us a way; we have to be in Christ. We have to die with Him and resurrect with Him. When we experience death and resurrection, it will no longer be I but Christ living in us.
In Galatians 2:20 Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” He also says in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “By the grace of God I am what I am;...yet not I but the grace of God which is with me.” Hence, the grace of God is just Christ. Christ is the grace of God.
Only by being in Christ and sharing in His death and resurrection can we possibly live a life of true consecration. Only this is true revival. Today the church in Taipei, including all the co-workers and elders, needs such a revival. We have studied the framework of the new way thoroughly. What we need now is to be enriched in content. In other words, the inward essence has to be changed. To change a man not only involves changing his outward attire. It involves a change in his being. Today the man in the old creation has to be changed into a man in the new creation, one who is in resurrection.
I hope that starting from tonight everyone would go to the Lord and have a thorough prayer. We should pray to the Lord, “Lord, I am still under Your grace and mercy. I am still partaking of the eldership here. I do want to follow You in the way ordained and revealed by You, the way that matches Your economy in resurrection. You have now shown us this way. But I know that I am helpless. I give myself to You. Keep me in Your resurrection.” If we pray this way, the Spirit of the Lord will surely be with us abundantly. This is a true revival. Moreover, daily we should renew this revival; this is like the rising of the sun. In this way we will truly be living in the Lord’s resurrection, and there will be power from on high to supply us. We will be able to meet the demands of the New Testament and testify that we are those who have truly received abundant grace from the Lord.
What we have mentioned tonight are items that the Lord has not yet recovered throughout the years. These are crucial items in the recovery. The two passages in 1 Corinthians 14 and Ephesians 4 have never been fulfilled. In addition, there are the two points of the universal priesthood, in which every saint preaches the gospel and brings sinners to God, and of the way of worship in the New Testament, which is not a matter of a physical place but of our spirit. Moreover, there should not be any forms in our worship; rather, we serve by the Spirit of God. Only this kind of living in the spirit with all the saints will match God’s New Testament economy. In this way the Body of Christ will be built up, and God’s economy will be fulfilled among us. As we said before, all of these matters have not been realized throughout the centuries.
I believe that God is sovereignly speaking these things to us today. If we do not go on faithfully, we will surely delay His timing. However, God must accomplish this eventually. Today, God is reiterating His words in the Bible. His words never fail. They will surely be accomplished on earth. May we be those who receive grace in these matters.
