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Scripture Reading: John 1:1, 14; 14:9-10, 16-18; Eph. 3:17a, 19b; Phil. 2:13; 1 John 3:24
Christians should seek to gain God more than any other matter or thing. In this chapter we will consider the meaning of gaining God and how God enters into man and operates in man.
To gain God is deeper and more subjective than merely to believe in His existence or to fear Him. Many thoughtful people believe that God exists and even fear Him, but God is not in them. To believe in God is not merely to believe that He exists, nor is it merely to fear Him. To believe in God is to gain Him subjectively in one’s spirit. When a person believes in God, he opens his heart to receive God and to let God enter into him and dwell in his spirit. Hence, he can be joined and mingled with God, and God can become his element. When we let God enter into us to be our life and nature and even our being, we are joined to Him as one. This is the meaning of being a Christian. Every Christian should know that God desires man to gain Him.
Let us use a glass of water as an example. Merely believing that this glass contains water cannot quench your thirst, nor can you receive the water merely by holding the glass in your hand. The water must enter into you and become a part of you. The way to receive, to gain, the water is to drink it, that is, to let the water enter into you, mingle with you, and become a part of you. This principle also applies to food. We must take food in by eating it so that it can become a part of us. The food that we eat is not separate from us. This is the way to receive food.
Similarly, to gain God does not refer merely to believing in Him or fearing Him objectively. To gain God is to receive Him into us subjectively, that is, to let Him be our life and nature and to let Him mingle with us until He becomes our element. Then His thoughts will be our thoughts, His emotions will be our emotions, His preferences will be our preferences, and His inclinations will be our inclinations. This is what it means to gain God.
Some people say that Christianity is elusive and impractical because it speaks only of heaven and hell, which are in the future. My response to these people is that most preachers are inaccurate in their preaching of the gospel because they do not tell people that the gospel is for people to gain God. God came out of eternity and entered into time to be our life so that He and we can live together as one in reality. Religion is not more practical than the Christian faith, nor is philosophy more real than God’s salvation.
If we know God and His salvation, we will know that He wants to enter into us so that He can supply us as our life and power. We do not have the power to resist sins, to do good deeds, to honor our parents, or to love our spouse. He is in us to be our power to resist sins, to do good deeds, to honor our parents, and to love our spouse. He is the power that bears us, not merely for us to be excellent persons but to be persons who are filled with God, that is, to be God-men. Then the people whom we contact will sense not only goodness; they will sense God. When they contact us, they will have an indescribable feeling of comfort and sweetness, which is God as our element. This is what it means for a Christian to gain God.
How does man gain God, and how does God enter into man? How can the noble, great, glorious, and holy God enter into a lowly, small, and filthy man?
In order for God to enter into man, the Word became flesh. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” and verse 14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” The Word is God. At a certain point in time the Word, who is God, became flesh and tabernacled among men. The person who was incarnated is the Lord. He is the Word who became flesh. He became a man with the purpose of bringing God to man.
Not only did God dwell in Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ was God. The people who touched, contacted, and received the Lord Jesus touched, contacted, and received God, because Jesus Christ is God. God became a man and tabernacled in this man. Hence, those who believe in Jesus Christ and receive Him also receive God. God gives Himself to men in the person of the Lord Jesus.
If I want to give a brother some water to drink, I cannot carry the water in my two palms to him. I must use a glass as a means to contain the water. When the brother receives the glass, he receives the water. God cannot enter into us directly. In order for us to receive Him, He must give Himself to us in and through Christ. Hence, God became flesh and is embodied in Christ. When we receive Christ, we gain Him, and at the same time we also gain God, because Christ is God. This is what it means to believe in Jesus Christ.
Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is to receive Him and to obtain God. When we receive Christ, we gain God because God is in Christ. God can enter into us, and we can gain Him through Christ.
Some people say that it is not possible for us to touch the incarnated God, because He became flesh two thousand years ago in the land of Judah. His incarnation is far away from us in both time and space.
God’s salvation is wonderful because it includes not only God, who is the Word becoming flesh, but also Christ, the incarnated God, who passed through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). God is in Christ, and Christ is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). This Spirit is omnipresent, just as electromagnetic waves are everywhere. Regardless of his location, a person who receives Christ will contact the Spirit. For example, there are electromagnetic waves in the air; hence, any radio that is turned on, regardless of when or where, will receive electromagnetic waves. Likewise, the life-giving Spirit is omnipresent and will enter into any person who believes in the Lord Jesus and receives Him. When the Spirit enters into a person, Christ enters into that person because the Lord is the Spirit. That person also receives God, because God is in Christ.
We need to remember these three ins: God is in Christ, Christ is in the Spirit, and the Spirit is in us. The center and the secret of our Christian faith depend on these three ins. God is in Christ, Christ is in the Spirit, and the Spirit is in us. This is our Christian faith.
The life-giving Spirit being in us is Christ being in us, and Christ being in us is God being in us. A believer who has the Spirit abiding in him also has Christ and God abiding in him. Hence, the Bible says, “In this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave to us” (1 John 3:24). Some people say that the Bible does not have much content, because it only says, “And you in Me,” and “I in you” (John 14:20). However, we must realize that the secret of our salvation lies in these ins.
God was incarnated and is embodied in Jesus Christ, who died and resurrected from the dead to become the life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit now abides in all those who believe in the Lord. The Spirit’s abiding in the believers means that Christ and God abide in the believers. The Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — abides in every believer. God the Father abides in every believer, because He is embodied in Christ who is now the Spirit.
It is not enough for God to enter into us. He wants to operate in us so that He can daily gain more ground in our being. This means that we should gain more of God daily. Formerly, we were human beings without God; our thoughts, concepts, preferences, and inclinations were merely human. However, even though God has entered into us, we still may not have the element of God in our thoughts, concepts, preferences, and inclinations. We have received the Triune God into us, but it is possible that we have not allowed Him to enter into our thoughts, concepts, preferences, and inclinations. This means that we have not allowed Him into our being. As a result, our considerations and our views are still the same as they were before we were saved; they do not have the element of God. Hence, our emotions have not changed.
Some believers do not change much after their salvation. Some are a little different, because they no longer engage in the sinful activities of their past. Nevertheless, their thoughts, concepts, preferences, and inclinations have not changed. Before they were saved, their thoughts, concepts, preferences, and inclinations did not have the element of God, but they still do not have the element of God, even after they are saved. God is in these believers, but He has not entered into every part of their thoughts, concepts, preferences, or inclinations. Such believers can be likened to a person who eats a meal, but the food stays in his stomach and is not digested or absorbed into his body. Although that person may eat a good meal, he is emaciated and malnourished.
This is the situation of many brothers and sisters. They are saved and God is in them, but He is restricted in them and does not have the freedom or the way to spread. They do not let Him enter into their thoughts, concepts, preferences, or inclinations; that is, they do not let God enter into their whole being. As a result, although they are saved, they have not changed. God is in them, but He cannot become their supply or power. Merely eating food does not benefit a person. The food that we eat needs to be digested and absorbed into our body in order for it to become our supply and power.
Believing in the Lord and receiving Him can be likened to eating a meal. We still need to give God the opportunity to be digested into our being. If the food we eat is not digested, we will have a big problem. Similarly, if we receive God but do not let Him operate in us, it is a big problem. After we receive God, we must give Him the opportunity to operate in us so that He can enter into every part of our being to become our element.
The word operate is in the Bible. Philippians 2:13 says, “It is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.” When God operates within us, we are “digesting” Him. Hence, we must always let Him operate in us and gain more ground in us. If He cannot operate in us, we cannot gain more of Him, nor can we be filled with Him.
God has entered into us, and He dwells in us, but how does He operate in us? A brother may argue with his wife in the morning. While he is arguing with her, does he have any feeling within? The more he argues, the more he wants to argue. If the wife raises her voice slightly, the brother will raise his voice even higher. Some couples can argue from eight o’clock in the morning until eight o’clock at night. However, a genuine Christian will have a feeling within if he argues with his wife. If he does not have any feeling, I doubt that he is saved or is a genuine Christian. If he is a genuine Christian, as soon as he raises his voice, he will have a feeling within. He will have a sense that God is not pleased with him.
Not only so, when he prays after the argument, he will sense that there is a problem and that he should not have argued. Even the next day he will still sense that there is a problem; there will be an inexplicable feeling within him. This feeling can be compared to having indigestion after a meal. He wants to pray, but he cannot pray. He may want to fellowship with a brother, but he does not have anything to say. He does not want to miss a meeting, but he cannot sit still when he is in the meeting, nor can he receive the message. He feels miserable within because he knows that he should reconcile with his wife, but he cannot bring himself to do it. Hence, he is unable to pray or read the Bible. This feeling of discomfort is not related to being angry with his wife. This is the feeling of a genuine Christian. Such feelings are God’s operation within us. When God cannot get through in us, we will feel as if we have “indigestion.”
This feeling of struggle proves that we have the divine life and that we also have a problem within. If we did not have any feeling, it would indicate that we do not have the divine life, that we are dead. A person who is not saved may not be bothered when he argues with his wife, even if the argument continues for a whole day. He may stomp his feet in anger but not feel condemned. However, a person who is saved is alive within. Hence, as soon as he begins to argue with his wife, God will operate within him, causing him to feel bothered. If he does not allow God to operate, there will be a barrier between him and God, and he will feel uncomfortable and bothered.
A proper Christian responds to God’s operation. When he is about to argue with his wife and senses God’s operation, he should obey and stop the argument. There was a brother who was about to argue with his wife, but he had a sense not to argue with her. He immediately stopped, went into the bedroom, shut the door, and prayed. Although he had tears, he felt joy within and began to praise God. Later, when his wife was angry and careless with her words, he was not provoked. At such a time he was not merely human; he was one with God. He let God reign within him so that even when his wife yelled at him and scolded him, he was able to rejoice and praise God. This brother expressed the God who filled him.
If this brother learns this lesson well, he will begin to check with God before he does something. Every time he considers a matter, he will ask, “Lord, what do You think about this?” He will also ask the Lord concerning his decisions. This shows that he has learned the lesson not to take his own thoughts, views, ways, or decisions. Instead, he will put himself aside and let God have the ground in him. Then God’s thoughts, views, ways, and decisions will become his. As a result, his thoughts will be God’s thoughts, his views will be God’s views, his actions will be God’s actions, and his decisions will be God’s decisions. His speech, attitude, behavior, and actions will be out of God and will express God. Such a brother has “digested” God. Hence, his thoughts, emotions, preferences, opinions, and decisions are filled with God. God is not only in him; God is operating in him and being expressed through him.
If we want to gain God, we must let Him operate in us. To gain God does not depend on how zealous we are for Him, nor does it depend on how many things we have done for Him. To gain God depends on our letting Him operate in us and on our being willing to respond to His operation within us. We often are willing to be zealous for God, but we are not willing to respond to God’s operation in us. We often are willing to do a great work for Him, but we are not willing to respond to His operation within us by confessing our mistakes. Our zeal and our work are often filled with our own element: our preferences, our interests, our opinions, and our inclinations. We are willing to be zealous for God, but we are not willing to let Him deal with our preferences and interests. We are willing to work for Him, but we are not willing to let Him deal with our opinions and inclinations. Our preferences and opinions in our zeal and work usurp not only the ground that God should have but also His rule in us; hence, He cannot get through in us. We follow our preferences and opinions instead of responding to His operation in us. Our preferences and opinions are our self. Hence, it is the self who rules and reigns in our zeal and our work. We are not willing to put aside the self and let God have the ground in us so that He can be expressed. Only when we are willing to drop everything else and care for God’s operation in us, can we gain Him and be filled with Him. When we are willing to live, act, and work according to His operation, He will gain more ground in us, spread in us, and be expressed through us.
If we are willing to put ourselves aside and let God spread and operate freely in us, we will be filled with the riches of God unto the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19b). This is the way to gain God.
