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Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:6; 14:17, John 14:20; 15:5; Rom. 8:11; John 14:23; Gal. 2:20; Rom. 8:2; Gal. 5:25; Rom. 8:4; 1 Cor. 6:17
Before we fellowship concerning the proper way for believers to meet and to serve, we must consider how the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—is life to the believers. Without the Triune God as life, the believers have no way to meet or to serve. The Triune God being life to the believers is the greatest topic in the New Testament, and the way for believers to meet and to serve is a great matter in our practice of the new way. Christians have had different opinions and views concerning the way to meet and to serve. Hence, we must come back to the Bible and see what is revealed in it.
Religions teach man to fear God and adjust his behavior according to his fear of God. The philosophy of Confucius and Mencius teaches moral principles that require people to practice self-cultivation in their character and relationships. Such principles become the standard for their human living. However, as far as the Christian life is concerned, our living, our meeting, and our serving are not governed by religion or by moral teachings. Our meeting and serving depend on the Triune God in whom we believe and who has come to be our life.
How do the gospel and salvation differ from religion and philosophy? Religion teaches people about a God who is just outside of man. What is taught in religion concerning God is erroneous and false. Judaism and Islam both speak of the one true God who created the universe, but their God is outside of man. He is high above in the heavens and deserves to be obeyed and worshipped by all men. According to the New Testament, however, the God whom Christians worship is not only the Creator and the sovereign Lord of the universe. He has regenerated us, His believers, and has entered into us to be our life. He does not want to be the Lord who is merely worshipped, feared, and served outwardly by us. Rather, He wants to enter into us to be our life and be joined and mingled with us so that He can be one with us. This far exceeds the general teaching in religion.
Although we are fallen descendants of Adam, we all have a desire to do good. Whether we can do good is another matter. We consider that honoring our parents is good, commendable, and something to be proud of, but most of the time we fail, just as Paul says, “To will is present with me, but to work out the good is not” (Rom. 7:18). No one likes to steal; everyone thinks that stealing is a shame. Everyone likes to be proper and decent. We would prefer to give to others and to help them, rather than to steal. Everyone has the desire to do good, but no one has the ability to carry out this desire. The highest goal of religion and philosophy is to stir up within man the desire to do good.
The gospel and salvation are neither religion nor philosophy; they are God Himself. God is not content with being outside of us. He desires to enter into us. The New Testament reveals that the deepest part of our being is our spirit. Man is of three parts: a spirit, a soul, and a body (1 Thes. 5:23). Everyone has a physical body, which the Bible calls the outer man (2 Cor. 4:16). Our physical body is for us to contact the material world. Within our body is our psychological being, which the Bible refers to as our soul. The functions of the soul include thinking and remembering, loving and hating, and making judgments and decisions. In addition to our body and our soul we also have a spirit, which is our deepest part. The pursuit of human life is to gain satisfaction in these three parts. Our body needs food and clothing. After we are fed and warm, our soul needs amusement. Pursuing knowledge, listening to music, and so forth are for the satisfaction of our soul. Nevertheless, even after gaining such things, there is still a thirst, a longing, in man’s deepest part, which is deeper than his body and his soul. This part is represented mainly by the conscience, which is a part of the human spirit.
Our spirit is the innermost part of our being. Only God can satisfy the longing in our spirit. As soon as we believe in the Lord Jesus, He enters into our spirit to be our satisfaction. God is Spirit, and we also have a spirit (John 4:24). Hence, these two spirits match each other and can respond to each other. The chorus of hymn #450 in the Chinese hymnal says, “Spirit begets spirit.” This means that God the Spirit enters into our spirit and gives birth to, or begets, our spirit. Formerly, our spirit was inactive, asleep, dormant, and deadened. However, when we believed in the Lord Jesus and were washed by His precious blood, the Spirit entered into our spirit to awaken and enliven our dormant and deadened spirit thereby regenerating our spirit (3:3-8).
After entering into us, the Spirit remains in us to be with our spirit and even becomes one spirit with us. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” As soon as we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were joined to Him and became one with Him. God is not only outside of us as our Lord for us to worship; He is the Spirit and has entered into our spirit to be joined to us and mingled with us as one spirit. He is in us as our life. From the day that we believed in the Lord, He has been living in us. Hence, as believers, we have our natural life and also the life that we received from God when we were regenerated. This life is the Spirit, and this life is God.
God’s salvation, which is God as our life, is far superior to religion and philosophy. A person who is not saved may be very proper in his conduct and in the way he deals with things. When he does a good deed, he is pleased with what he has done. He might say, “I am charitable and honest. I may tell a little lie if necessary, but I would never tell a big lie. Not only so, I am humble and not boastful.” Such a person does not know himself. It is easier for a person to lie and boast than it is to drink water and breathe air. A person can lie and not be conscious of the fact that he has sinned, and he can easily boast of his intelligence. Man is born with the ability to lie. The Bible says that man is born a liar because he is a child of the devil (John 8:44). Hence, man lies automatically. If a person raises his hand to say that he does not lie, his hand is lying.
When such a person hears the gospel and repents, his conscience is enlightened, and he realizes that he is sinful, proud, and full of lies. The conscience is an important part of the human spirit. The gospel of God speaks concerning sin, the law of God, and His righteousness in order to touch man’s conscience. When man’s conscience is touched, his spirit begins to operate. Before a person steals, he might think, “There is an unbalanced distribution of wealth in society. The rich are very rich, and I have been poor for many years. Since the rich do not share their wealth with me, I will take it myself.” This illustrates the functions of his soul: first, he likes money; second, he considers that it is reasonable to steal; and third, he decides to steal when the circumstance allows it. While he is having these thoughts, a voice deep within him says, “Do not steal; it is not right to steal.” This voice is his conscience in operation. If the desire in his soul is very strong and overpowers his conscience, he will steal. While he is stealing, he is afraid not only of the police but also of his conscience within him. Therefore, he must hide from the police and suppress the inner accusation of his conscience.
We thank the Lord that regardless of race and nationality, the law of good operates among mankind. A person who does something bad is afraid of the law of good. The God of this universe put the law of good in man. This law operates in man. This is the difference between humans and animals. A dog that does something bad, such as biting someone or stealing food, will not lose its sleep or its appetite, because it lacks the operation of the law of good. Only humans can have such a reaction, because only humans have the law of good within them. When my children were young, I would tell them not to play with water. They would nod their heads submissively, indicating that they would obey. However, the moment I stepped out of the room, they would play with water. When they heard me open the door, they would immediately hide their hands behind their backs because their conscience told them that they had done something wrong. Every person knows that it is wrong to steal, because the law of good is operating in man’s conscience.
As a result of man’s fall, the function of his conscience was weakened. A person senses the accusation of his conscience when he does something very bad, but he does not feel anything when he does something that is not so bad. A person might have considered himself a gentleman before he was saved; he was not disturbed that he told white lies. However, after hearing the gospel and being enlightened, his conscience is activated, and he repents and confesses his sins. Initially, he does not think that he has committed many sins, but the more he confesses, the more he realizes that his sins are numerous. This indicates that the function of his conscience has been uplifted. Many who believe in Jesus are brought to tears when they repent and confess their sins. After a person receives Jesus as his Savior, he has peace and joy within and is able to praise Him for dying on the cross for him and for shedding His precious blood for his cleansing. This new believer will not be able to tell a white lie when he is tempted by Satan, because a believer has not only a keen conscience within him but also the Lord, who does not lie and does not cooperate with telling lies. It is as if an invisible hand bridles his tongue, making it impossible for him to lie. Every believer has had such an experience. These experiences prove that he is saved. Those who have not had such an experience might not be saved. Actually, it is not a hand that bridles a believer’s tongue; it is a living person, the Lord Jesus, who bridles his tongue. Such experiences prove that not only is a person’s spirit enlivened when he is saved but that God enters into his enlivened spirit.
Both men and women buy things when they go shopping. There is a sister who, before being saved, would look for sales in the newspaper every Saturday and then go shopping. If she saw a nice yet inexpensive piece of fabric, she would buy it. The only thing that prohibited her from buying things was insufficient funds in her bank account. After she was saved, she still liked to read the sale advertisements on Saturdays and buy discounted items. However, she began to feel uneasy within while reading the advertisements and had to stop. Although she had an inner feeling not to go shopping, she somehow found herself on her way to the department store. At the store she would select a dress, but a voice within her would say, “Put it down; do not buy it.” She would argue with the voice, saying, “This item is very nice. I must not miss this opportunity.” But the inner voice would keep saying, “Put it down; go home!” Eventually, she would have to put the dress down and go home. Many sisters have had similar experiences. God dwells in us and causes all sorts of trouble. This tremendous matter proves that we are saved, that our spirit has been enlivened, and that the living God is living in us. This is an experience of God being life to His believers.
Philippians 2:13-14 says, “It is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and reasonings.” This is how God’s salvation differs from religion and philosophy. Neither exhortation nor endurance can cause a believer to refrain from murmuring and reasoning. It is possible for a believer to refrain from murmuring and reasoning because God is operating in him.
As long as we have a family, schoolmates, colleagues, or companions, it is not possible to escape arguments. A newlywed couple may not argue during the first two days of their honeymoon, but some couples quarrel within the first few hours after they are married. The longer they remain as a couple, the more competent they are at arguing. When they become parents, they have even more arguments with their children. Who can say that he has never murmured? Husbands murmur to their wives, wives murmur to their husbands, children murmur to their parents, and siblings murmur among themselves. It is impossible for a person to escape arguing and murmuring. A person who can restrain himself from lying is holy, a person who can restrain himself from arguing is holier, and a person who can restrain himself from murmuring is an angel. But such a person does not exist on earth. Everyone lies, argues, and murmurs. Moreover, people like not only to argue but also to reason. They do their best to argue and reason in order to justify themselves.
Although we are saved, the old man, who likes to reason, is still with us. Therefore, the more we argue, the more we think that we are right. However, the moment we begin to argue, a voice within us tells us to stop arguing and to confess and pray. This is God being our life and disapproving of our arguing. Many believers have had such experiences. These experiences are different from religion and philosophy.
Philosophy with its ethics is for self-improvement. A person who practices self-improvement might become better, but he is still a human being. A believer, however, can say, “I am better, not because of myself but because the living God lives in me. I know that He lives in me because He prevents me from shopping, He prevents me from quarreling with my spouse, and He prevents me from venting my anger. He is operating in me. The true and living God lives within me, and He is becoming one with me.” This is a fact. We should respond and say, “Amen! Hallelujah! God is living, and He is living in my spirit.”
Do not think that since I can give this message, I do not get angry. However, when I want to voice my resentment, a voice within me says, “Why are you angry? James 1:20 says that ‘the wrath of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God.’” I occasionally reason with God, saying, “Even so, this person has made me angry. Lord, let me be angry just this time.” But He says, “Calm down and pray,” and I have no choice but to kneel down and pray. Sometimes I am at a loss and can only say, “Lord, I am really angry.” This is a prayer. Do not think that such a prayer is poor. This kind of prayer can often lead me to be enlightened and repent to the Lord, saying, “Lord, be merciful to me and forgive me. I need the cleansing of Your precious blood.” After such a confession, the fellowship within is restored, and I am able to enjoy the Lord again.
Believers are very different from unbelievers because the living God has been added into the believers. When an unbeliever gets angry, his anger can last a week. Sometimes when an unbelieving couple quarrels, the husband and wife will not speak to one another for an entire week. However, when genuine believers get angry, they can calm themselves down quickly. This is what the Bible means when it says, “Be angry, yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your indignation” (Eph. 4:26). Once the sun sets, our anger should be dispelled. It is not easy to do this, but it is easy if we have the Lord. If we harbor some resentment, our anger will dissipate when we pray. Some Christians are short of grace, so it can take them six hours to calm down. Other Christians have more grace, so their anger dissipates quickly, and they can apologize to their spouse. Apologizing to our spouse is not as easy as apologizing to others. The brothers in particular need grace to humble themselves in order to apologize to their wife. This is an experience of God being our life.
As genuine Christians, we can do what ordinary people cannot do, we can endure what ordinary people cannot endure, we can suffer hardships that ordinary people cannot suffer, and we can bear accusations that ordinary people cannot bear. This is because God is in us. When we read the four Gospels, we appreciate the living of the Lord Jesus. This same Jesus is living in us today. He is the Triune God living in us as our life. For this reason He said, “Learn from Me” (Matt. 11:29). I would be foolish to tell a monkey, “You should imitate me and learn from me.” How can a monkey learn from a human? Monkeys have one life, and humans have another life. The Lord Jesus is not only our life; He also lives in us so that He may live out of us. This is the difference between believers and people in religion or philosophy. We do not try to cultivate or improve ourselves. Rather, we have the living God who created the universe and who died for us on the cross. He is the life-giving Spirit in our spirit so that we may live out His life. This is the distinctive feature of the believers.
It is regrettable that this distinctive feature has been neglected in Christianity. Preachers mainly tell people, “You are sinful and have made mistakes, so you need Jesus. The heavenly Father loves you and has sent Jesus to be your Savior. If you believe in Him, you will be saved.” After they lead people to believe in the Lord, they say, “Because you have believed in the Lord, you should improve yourself and conduct yourself in a proper way; otherwise, you will not glorify God.” This kind of speaking is not right, but we repeatedly have this same mistaken concept. We pray, “Lord, I was wrong yesterday. I lost my temper, and I lied. I ask You to give me grace. Help me not to lose my temper with my wife and not to lie again. Lord, I want to be a new husband.” Praying in this way is a huge mistake.
We must realize that making resolutions following repentance is futile. Our failures themselves prove that we are unable to fulfill our resolutions. Only the One who is in us is able. Therefore, instead of making resolutions, we should say, “Lord, I made a grave mistake, and I can make the same mistake again. Only by Your life supplying and bearing me can I be delivered from making such a mistake. I am like a garment. Lord, put me on, and let me put You on as well and live You out.” This is what the Bible means when it says that we are in the Lord and that the Lord is in us (John 15:4-5). When we are in the Lord, we have put on the Lord, and when the Lord is in us, He has put us on. The Lord Jesus is the Spirit. When we were baptized into Him, we put Him on (Rom. 13:14; Gal. 3:27), and when He entered into our spirit, He put us on. Now He is our life to be expressed through us; that is, He lives Himself out of us. This is what Paul says in Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”
The characteristic of Christians is that the Triune God has entered into us to regenerate us, and He is living in us as our life so that He can live out of us. Hence, we can meet and serve together. Christian meetings are not based on the Chinese life, on the American life, or on an individual life. Our meetings are based on the Triune God as life in us. This is also the basis of our service.
Concerning the Triune God dwelling in us as life, we must see that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit dwell in us. This is neither a saying nor a doctrine; it is the clear revelation of the Bible. Ephesians 4:6 says, “One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” The Father is over the believers, passes through the believers, and dwells, remains, in the believers. This proves that the Father dwells in us. John 14:20 says, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you,” and 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him...” Just as the branches abide in the vine, and the vine abides in the branches, so also the Son dwells in us and we in Him. Furthermore, 14:17 says, “The Spirit of reality...abides with you and shall be in you,” and Romans 8:11 says, “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life...through His Spirit who indwells you.” These verses prove that the Spirit dwells in us.
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are not three Gods; God is one. God the Father dwells in unapproachable light, God the Son came forth and was manifested among men, and God the Spirit reaches and enters into man. The Father is not separate from the Son, and the Son is not separate from the Spirit. Our spirit is the organ that we use to receive God. In order to receive something, we must use the proper organ. Our stomach is the organ for receiving food, our ears are for receiving sound, and our eyes are for receiving light and seeing colors. Only our eyes can perceive colors. The Triune God is the Spirit; hence, in order to receive Him, we must use our spirit. The divine Spirit has entered into our human spirit. This is mysterious yet real.
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit, that is, the three in the Godhead, dwell in us as our life. In John 14:23 the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” Galatians 2:20 says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Romans 8:2 says that the Spirit is the Spirit of life. The Spirit of life dwells in the believers. Hence, the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—dwells in the believers as their life.
Our experience as believers also proves that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit dwell in us as our life. When we call “O Lord Jesus,” we are calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, but we feel that the Spirit is dwelling in us and that the Father who regenerated us is wonderful. When we call on the Lord Jesus, we receive the Spirit and sense the sweetness of the Father. When I was a new believer, I found it confusing to pray. I wondered whether I should address God as Father, Lord, or Spirit. At that time some brothers said, “You should pray to the heavenly Father. Every once in a while you can pray to the Son, but you should never pray to the Spirit.” However, when I prayed to the Father, I would unconsciously begin praying to the Son and say, “Lord Jesus.” Moreover, because I touched the Spirit, I also addressed the Spirit. After some consideration I would repent and confess this mistake. Soon I was completely confused, not knowing whether I should call on the Father, the Son, or the Spirit. Eventually, I realized that it is not a problem to address either the Father, the Son, or the Spirit in prayer. For example, depending on the situation, we may address Brother Yueh as Mr. Yueh, Brother Yueh, Professor Yueh, or Classmate Yueh.
The Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—dwells in us as our life. Hence, we need to live and walk by the Triune God who is our life. For this reason Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” However, this is not an easy matter to practice. When I lived in Yantai over forty years ago, very few homes used electric lights; most homes used kerosene lamps. From the time that I was a young boy until I became an adult, I replenished the kerosene and wiped the lamps. Later, a brother installed electric lights in my home. Initially, when I returned home after a busy day, I would light the kerosene lamps, and my children would make fun of me. I would say to myself, “Why am I so foolish? It is not necessary for me to light the kerosene lamps. I only need to turn on the switch, and the electric lights will shine.” However, it still took several months before I was accustomed to using electric lights.
Using this illustration, we may say that before we were saved, we were kerosene lamps that frequently smoked. Now that we are saved and God lives in us, we can say that electricity has been installed in us. In spite of this, we are accustomed to lighting our kerosene lamp; that is, we still like to live by our self. When we are provoked to anger, we still exert much effort in order to endure. However, we no longer need to light our kerosene lamp. We can turn on the electric lights instead. We do not need to live by our self any longer. Instead, we should “switch on” by calling “O Lord Jesus!” This is to live by the Spirit.
I began serving the Lord when I was still young. People often asked me to tell them the most effective method to stop losing their temper. In those days I had not experienced calling on the Lord’s name; hence, I would say, “When you are about to lose your temper, you should say to yourself, ‘Do not rush.’ This is good, because it is according to James 1:19. Moreover, when you are about to lose your temper, you should go pray.” Being slow to anger and quick to pray is a very good practice, but it does not work.
Today I have learned the lesson. We have a “switch” that is always in us. The moment we call “O Lord Jesus,” divine electricity comes. Sometimes I travel out of town and stay in others’ homes. My host usually shows me to my room and leaves immediately. Thus, I often need to spend a long time searching for the switch. We thank the Lord that He is our switch, and He will stoop down to reach us; we do not have to search for a long time. It is very convenient to turn on this switch. When we are about to get angry, we simply call “O Lord Jesus!” and electricity flows immediately. This way is very effective. Over twenty years ago someone said that this practice was merely psychological. However, calling “O Washington!” will not make an American feel happy, nor will something happen when a Chinese calls “O Confucius! O Confucius the sage!” But the Lord Jesus comes and fills us immediately when we believers call “O Lord Jesus!” and we experience Him. This is to let the Triune God be our life.
The Triune God being our life is the basis of our meetings and our service. The proper way for believers to meet and to serve is for them to take the Triune God as their life. We must be persons who live by the Triune God. For us to live is the Triune God; that is, for us to live is Christ. Only then can our meetings and our service be proper. It is not sufficient to meet or to serve according to the letter of the Bible. We must also live according to the Triune God as our life. When we live by Him, we are qualified to meet with the saints and to serve Him. Otherwise, we are not qualified to do anything. May we put this into practice.
