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Scripture Reading: Col. 2:9-10; Eph. 3:19
Colossians 2:9-10 says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you have been made full in Him, who is the Head of all rule and authority.” These two verses say first that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ. Then they say that we are made full in this Christ. We are made full through the fullness of the Godhead which dwells in Christ. Because the fullness is in Christ, we can be made full in Him.
Ephesians 3:19 says, “To know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.” For us to be filled unto all the fullness of God means that we are filled to overflowing with all the riches of Christ (v. 8). To be filled unto all the fullness of God is to be filled with the riches of Christ to the point that we express His riches. The expression of the riches is the fullness. This verse and the aforementioned verses in Colossians speak concerning the same matter.
In this chapter we come to a matter for which I have been heavily burdened for some time. As Christians, we must realize that we are not perfect—full and complete—by creation. For this reason we need to be regenerated. The Scriptures tell us that we are vessels made to contain God (Rom. 9:23; cf. Gen. 1:26). A vessel of any kind can never be perfect or complete by itself. Until a vessel is filled with the content for which it was made, it will not be perfect. Although a cup may seem perfect by itself, as long as it is empty, it is not perfect. We are vessels, and as such, we are not perfect by ourselves.
Many of us pay too much attention to the negative side of the Christian life and neglect the positive side. We talk too much about how to overcome sins and the world while neglecting the positive matters. One of the main positive matters of the Christian life is that of being filled unto all the fullness of God. The normal Christian life is one of being filled with Christ and His riches. We must be saturated and permeated by Christ so that we can have the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). Even if we are victorious over sin and the world yet are not filled with Christ and do not have His image, we as vessels are empty and thus not perfect. If we pay attention to the positive side of the Christian life, the negative matters will naturally, automatically, and spontaneously be taken care of. If we are filled with Christ, we will overcome sin and the world. Let us therefore stress the positive side and pay less attention to the negative side.
We need to be perfected; that is, we need to be filled unto all the fullness of God. Our main problem today is not sin and the world but the fact that we are short of Christ. If we are short of Christ, we will experience many troubles. We can liken this to being malnourished. If we are short of vitamins, germs will be able to trouble us. If, on the other hand, we are full of vitamins, we can be assured that the germs’ effect will be nullified. When it comes to health, we would do well to not be overly anxious about germs and simply increase our intake of vitamins. In the same way, when it comes to our Christian life, let us not stress sins, the world, and our weaknesses. Let us instead set our eyes on the heavenly Christ and be filled with His unsearchable riches.
We need Christ. However, I am afraid that we have the wrong concept of what it means to need Christ. We may think that we need Christ primarily to comfort and help us. While that may be true, in a deeper and more important sense, we need Christ to fill us until we are full of Him. Until we are full of Him, we are short of something and therefore empty and not perfect. For this reason, we need to be filled with Christ. We have to have a revelation concerning Christ. The concept that we have of Christ is too narrow and limited. If the Lord would open our eyes and give us the heavenly vision in full, we would realize that Christ is our perfection and completeness. We have to realize that we are empty vessels—containers without content. In this state, we can never be complete, full, and perfect. Our need is not victory over sin, deliverance from the world, hope, or peace; our need is Christ. We need nothing but Christ. Even if we as vessels are clean, pure, and entirely victorious over sins and the world, if we are devoid of Christ, we are still empty. We need to experience Christ so that we are made perfect, complete, and full in Him.
We all need to be deeply impressed with the fact that we need Christ. Some may say that we need sanctification, holiness, and other spiritual matters. However, the sanctification and holiness that we need are actually just Christ Himself (1 Cor. 1:30). Others may tell us that we need strength, energy, and power. In actuality, however, the strength, energy, and power that we need are Christ (Isa. 12:2; 1 Cor. 1:24). At heart, our need is not for various things, regardless of how spiritual they may be; our need is simply Christ. I was a Christian for over fifteen years before I realized this. One day God opened my eyes and gave me the revelation that I need nothing but Christ. We may think that we are short of many things, but we are short only of Christ. Even if we have no sin, as long as we are empty, we are not perfect. By creation itself, we are not perfect and are still short of something. We were made as vessels to be filled with Christ. Until Christ fills us, we are lacking and are not perfected. We need to realize deeply, clearly, and definitely that we are but empty vessels. No matter how good, pure, clean, and beautiful we are, we are still empty if Christ does not fill us. I repeat this again and again: we need Christ. Without Him, we are empty vessels.
Not only do we need to see that we are empty vessels; we also need to see what kind of vessel we are in the first place. A teacup is a vessel, although it is a very simple one, for it has only one part. Once a teacup is filled with tea, it is full and complete. We, too, are vessels. Our glorious and mysterious God needs a vessel. However, the vessel He needs is not as simple as a teacup. The most complicated matter in God’s creation is the human being. In Psalm 51 David says, “Behold, You delight in truth in the inward parts; / And in the hidden part You would make known wisdom to me” (v. 6). According to this verse, we have both the inward parts and the hidden part. The inward parts must be the parts of the soul—the mind, the emotion, and the will (Heb. 8:10; Jer. 31:33; cf. 1 Thes. 5:23). Likewise, the hidden part must be the spirit—composed of the conscience, fellowship, and intuition (Rom. 9:1; 8:16; Eph. 6:18; 1 Cor. 2:11; Mark 2:8)—for it is the most hidden part within us. The heart, being a composition of the inward parts and the hidden part, is composed of the three parts of the soul plus the conscience in the spirit. As human beings, therefore, we are very complicated vessels.
As we vessels consider our complicated being, we must ask ourselves how much Christ is in our inward parts. In the Bible we are told that we should have the mind of Christ and that Christ should make His home in our hearts (1 Cor. 2:16; Eph. 3:17). But how much is Christ in our mind and in our heart? How much is Christ in the parts of our soul? Any part that is not full of Christ is not perfect. If we do not have enough Christ in our mind, our mind has yet to be perfected. If we do not have enough Christ in our emotion, our emotion is not perfect. Likewise with the will—if Christ does not permeate our will, then our will is not perfect. The converse is also true. The perfect mind is a mind that is full of Christ, the perfect emotion is an emotion that is full of Christ, and the perfect will is a will that is full of Christ. Hence, the parts of our vessel can be made perfect only by Christ. Christ Himself is the perfection of our mind, emotion, and will. The heart that is full of Christ is a perfect heart. If it is without Christ, our heart—though it may be pure, clean, right, and good—is short of Christ and is thus empty and not perfect.
My burden is not to give you much doctrine. My burden is to help you realize that Christ is our completeness, perfection, and that we are made full in Him. If you are short of Christ in any part, you are not complete. Your entire inner being—the inward parts and the hidden part—have to be filled with Christ in order for you to be made complete. You only need Christ. You must forget about all other things.
Today many people misinterpret the Bible. They take the Bible as a book of proper behavior and morality. Although the Bible does speak of morality, we must realize that the Bible’s central point is Christ, who fills us and in whom we are made full. The Bible tells us that we have to love one another (1 John 4:7). Real love, however, is not simply human affection. Genuine love is the overflow of Christ as love from within us to others. Many verses also tell us that we have to be humble (Matt. 23:12; 1 Pet. 5:5-6). To be humble is to be full of Christ and to have this Christ flow out of us (5, cf. Phil. 2:8). Consequently, when we are full of Christ, we will be very humble. The Bible also tells us that Christians must obey their parents. Ephesians 6:1 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” When reading this verse, we generally forget the little phrase in the Lord. We have to obey our parents, but we must do it in the Lord. This simply means that we need to be filled with Christ. Only then will we be able to obey our parents. The obedience that we render to our parents is actually the overflow of Christ from within our being. In the Scriptures we are also told that we have to sacrifice, that is, give up, everything we have (Rom. 12:1; 2 Cor. 12:15). The sacrifice about which the Bible speaks is the overflow of Christ. It is because we have been filled with Christ and are full of Christ that we spontaneously give up all things. It should be clear that the Bible speaks mainly of Christ filling us, making us full of Him, and then flowing out of us. Our need is to be filled with and to overflow Christ.
In 1937 I was preaching the gospel to some learned students in Nanking, China. On one such occasion, a very well-educated and intelligent young woman came to me and said, “I appreciate your preaching very much and would like to receive it. However, I am fond of watching movies. I am wondering whether or not I will be allowed to go to movies if I become a Christian.” Her question had the potential of being somewhat troublesome. On the one hand, I dared not tell her that after she became a Christian she could go to the movies as she liked. On the other hand, I could not tell her that she would no longer be allowed to attend movies. This young woman loved the movies so much simply because she was empty. If she were filled with Christ, she would not have any room in her being for movies. I illustrated this principle to her in the following way. I said, “Let us say that there is a child here with a very sharp knife in his hand. Of course, we realize the danger that the knife poses to the child. What would you do to get the knife out of this child’s hand?” The woman replied, “Mr. Lee, this is quite easy. We simply place several pieces of fruit or candy on the floor. When the child sees the treats, he will put down the knife and take them up instead. Both of his hands will be full of the treats. Then, even if we ask him to take up the knife again, he would reply that since his hands are full of better things, he would not.” When this young woman had finished answering, I said to her, “You are right. When you are full of Christ, you will no longer need movies. This is the Christian faith. Being a Christian is not a matter of giving up movies or many other things. Being a Christian is simply a matter of being filled with Christ.” We all must realize this. Being a Christian is simply a matter of being filled with Christ.
How then can we be filled with Christ? To answer this, we must have a further realization. On the one hand, we are empty vessels. On the other hand, we are occupied vessels. If we are full of Christ, that is wonderful. However, if we are occupied by something other than Christ, we have a great need. It is because we are not filled with Christ but are filled with other matters that we stand in need of the present message. Too many things other than Christ occupy our mind, emotion, will, and heart. Each of us knows what occupies us. It is pitiful that we are filled with things other than Christ. When we find that this is our case, we simply have to come to Christ and tell Him that we are full of things other than Him. This is not so much confession as it is simply telling Him our case. How we need to go to Christ to tell Him how much we have been filled with other things! Our need, I must repeat, is to simply tell Him how much our mind has been occupied by things other than Him.
Many Christians pray largely in vain. This is due mainly to the fact that they do not speak the truth to the Lord. Even though they are occupied with many things other than the Lord, they never admit this to the Lord. Although they may tell the Lord many other things, such as how weak they are and how much they need strengthening and power, these prayers are for the most part vain because they are not sincere. Sincere prayer is prayer in which we go to the Lord and tell Him how much we have been occupied in the past and how much we continue to be occupied at present. We need to tell the Lord the truth. We must tell Him, “Lord, I am still occupied by these things in my mind and by those things in my emotion and will.” This is sincere prayer. If we pray in this way, the more we tell the Lord, the more the Lord will occupy our mind, emotion, and will. The more we pray to the Lord in this way, the more He will occupy our entire heart and make our heart a home for Himself.
If we take this way, everything will be wonderful and glorious. If there is the need to love others, the overflow of Christ from within our being will be the love toward others. If there is the need to be humble, the overflow of Christ from within will be the humility. Christ Himself will fill us and meet our need. This is the right way to be a Christian. I know many saints who have been troubled by the enemy tempting them by saying, “You say that you love the Lord. Therefore, you should be able to be humble and love others.” If we give in to Satan’s temptation of being humble and loving in ourselves, we will be defeated by him immediately. Whenever the enemy challenges us in such a way, we should tell him, “I do not know whether I can be humble or love others. But one thing I know: I want to be filled with Christ. I do not know anything else. The only thing that I want is to be filled with Christ. Christ is my perfection. Christ is my completeness. Christ is my fullness. He will take care of everything else for me.”
We need to learn to be filled with Christ by praying to the Lord genuinely and honestly. Christ is the Spirit, and as such He is in our spirit (2 Cor. 3:17; 2 Tim. 4:22). Christ is so real in our spirit. The way for us to be filled with Christ is to simply go to Him with a sincere heart, open our spirit to Him, and tell Him how much we are occupied in our mind, emotion, will, and heart with things other than Him. Let us tell Him the truth. Let us tell Him the real situation from our heart. Then we will be filled with Him. Day by day, we need to pray in such a way.
Question: Many Christians speak of living by the Holy Spirit with power. Is this synonymous with being filled with Christ?
The current teaching in much of Christianity concerning the Holy Spirit frustrates our ability to see clearly the matter of being filled with Christ. We have to realize that in the New Testament age there are two aspects concerning the Holy Spirit. The first aspect of the Holy Spirit is that the Spirit is the Spirit of life. We find this term in Romans 8:2: “The law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” The second aspect of the Holy Spirit is that the Spirit is the Spirit of power. Regarding the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of life, the New Testament uses the prepositions in or within (Rom. 8:9, 11; 1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Tim. 1:14). Regarding the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of power, the New Testament uses the prepositions on or upon (Acts 1:8; 10:44; 19:6). As the Spirit of life, the Spirit is within us; as the Spirit of power, the Spirit is upon us. John 14:17 says, “Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.” Because we know that the Gospel of John deals much with life, the Spirit mentioned in this book must be the Spirit of life. Hence, this verse tells us that the Spirit—the Spirit of life—is in us. Again, John 7:37-39 says, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” From this passage, we can realize that the Spirit mentioned here is the living water, which we can drink and which can be within us. Whereas John speaks of the Spirit being in us and being likened to water that we can drink, Luke 24:49 speaks of the other aspect of the Spirit: “Behold, I send forth the promise of My Father upon you; but as for you, stay in the city until you put on power from on high.” Some translations render put on as “are clothed.” To be clothed with power refers to the Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples as the Spirit of power in Acts 1:8. For this reason, the word clothed is used here (clothing being upon the wearer).
In these verses we can see two symbols of the Spirit. On one hand, the Spirit is the living water; on the other hand, this Spirit is clothing. As the living water, we drink Him; as the clothing, we put Him on. We must take in the Spirit of life and put on the Spirit of power. The endowment of power, that is, of the Spirit of power, is the Holy Spirit outside of us. This outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us is like rain and is something that takes place outside of us. The Spirit of life, however, must be taken in by us.
We can see this in many other portions of the Bible as well. On the evening of His resurrection, Jesus came to the disciples and breathed into them, telling them to receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). Then on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down upon the disciples as a wind and filled the whole house (Acts 2:2). Here we see two more symbols—breath and wind. The breath is for life, and the wind is for power. On the day of the Lord’s resurrection, the disciples received the Spirit of life as breath into them. Fifty days later, the Spirit of power came upon them as wind. The symbols of the living water and the breath are both spoken of in the Gospel of John, which deals with the matter of life. In the Gospel of John, in which the Spirit is mainly the Spirit of life, the symbols of the Spirit of life are living water and breath. In the books by Luke, however—the Gospel of Luke and Acts—the Spirit as the Spirit of power is symbolized by wind and clothing. These two symbols represent the Spirit’s inner aspect of life and outer aspect of power. These are the two aspects of the one Spirit. It is important to realize that when we say that we need to be filled with Christ, we are referring to the inner aspect of the Spirit, the Spirit of life. In order to be filled with Christ, we need to be filled with the Spirit of life. It is not sufficient to be clothed by the Spirit of power; our desperate need is to be filled with the Spirit of life.
We can see these two aspects of the Spirit with the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18, 20). Hence, even before He was baptized with water, He was filled with the Holy Spirit. However, after He was baptized with water, the Holy Spirit came down upon Him (3:16; John 1:32). From the verses related to His birth, we know this does not mean that before His water baptism He did not have the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit and filled with the Holy Spirit, yet after He was baptized with water, the Holy Spirit came down upon Him. Within, He had already been filled with the Holy Spirit, yet in order to minister, He needed to be endowed with the Spirit of power without.
Today we have to realize that we need the two aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit—the inner aspect and the outer aspect. The inner aspect is to be filled with the Spirit of life, and the outer aspect is to be endowed with the Spirit of power.
Question: Colossians 3:1 tells us to seek the things which are above. What are some of those things?
The things which are above are the heavenly things, including the ascended Christ and all things pertaining to Him. This verse tells us to seek the things which are above; however, if we are not filled with Christ, we will not have the power to seek those things. After creating man, the first thing God did in relation to man was not to take care of man’s work but to take care of man’s eating. God knows that if man does not eat, he cannot work. For example, we must eat breakfast before we can work in the morning, eat lunch before we can work in the afternoon, and eat dinner before we can come to the meeting in the evening. Because we can do nothing without first eating, eating is of primary importance and must consequently be our first priority. Spiritually speaking, to eat is to be filled with Christ as our spiritual food. After God created man, He took care of everything so that man could eat the proper food. God’s intention was that man would eat God in Christ as the tree of life (Gen. 2:9; John 15:1; 11:25). His intention remains the same today. In John 6:57 the Lord Jesus said, “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.” Only when we eat Christ, are filled by Him, and are satisfied with Him are we able to do many things. If we are starving to death, we can do nothing, regardless of what we intend or declare. When we are filled and satisfied with Christ, we have the energy to work. Hence, our primary concern and our first need is to be filled with Christ. Let us forget about sins, the world, our deeds, and our works, and simply be filled with Christ. Only then will we be able to seek the things which are above.
