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After a Christian has been saved, he should at least have some knowledge concerning several fundamental matters: first, Christ; second, the Bible; third, the church; and fourth, Christians. Besides knowing Christ, the Bible, and the church, a good Christian should also have a clear understanding of what a Christian is, how to be a Christian, and what kind of living a Christian should have. Therefore, we may say that Christ, the Bible, the church, and fellow Christians are four things in a Christian’s possession. All these four items are indispensable.
A Christian possesses these things not just in his mind; rather, he has these four things because he has the Lord Jesus living in him. Many are not clear about this point and thus do not know what a Christian is. A Christian is man plus God. Christians have not only the human element; their element is man plus Christ. Only those who have God added into them are called Christians. The fundamental difference between Christians and non-Christians lies only in the elements within them. A non-Christian is merely human; he is purely a human being. A Christian, however, is not just a human but has Christ, the incarnated One, within him.
We all know that the church as the Body of Christ is the enlargement of the principle of Christ and that Christians are the constituents of the church. Every Christian is a member of the Body, and the Body is the sum total of all the members. Thus, in terms of the Body, its element is the enlargement of Christ; in terms of the members, their element is also Christ. The element of the church is the enlargement of the principle of Christ. The principle of Christ is God being added into man. Therefore, Christians are those who have Christ within them. If a person calls himself a Christian yet does not have Christ as an element in him, then he is a Christian in name but not in reality.
A Christian is one who has Christ in him. The Greek word for Christian is Christianos, a word formed from Latin. The ending ianos, denoting an adherent of someone, was applied to slaves belonging to the great families in the Roman Empire. Later, some began to call the followers of Christ Christianoi (Christians), adherents of Christ. Strictly speaking, Christians are simply “Christ-men”—those who belong to Christ.
Most people think that to be a Christian is to be a disciple of Christ, just as to be a Confucianist is to be a disciple of Confucius and to be a Socratic is to be a disciple of Socrates. Actually, being a disciple of Confucius or Socrates is different from being a disciple of Christ Jesus. All those who desire to follow Christ and be His disciples must have Christ. Only those who have Christ can be disciples of Christ. If we do not have the life of Christ, there is no way to learn Christ. If we have His life, then we can be His disciples and learn from Him. Disciples of Christ are those who have Christ within them as their life, their power, their preferences, and their everything. Such people are the expression of Christ.
Therefore, a Christian is one who contains Christ. If a cup does not contain tea, we cannot call it a cup with tea, and it would be deceiving to call it as such. A Christian is a Christ-man, a man with Christ. During the war I met a French brother who could speak a little Mandarin. On the day we met, the person who introduced us said to me, “This is a French brother.” The brother from France replied immediately, “I am not a Frenchman but a heavenly-kingdom-man.” Of course, a saved person is a person of the heavenly kingdom. However, this is merely objective knowledge. We must know that we are just like cups with tea in them, and we have Christ as the tea in us. When others see us, we are just “cups” outwardly, without any flavor, yet after a few sips of us, they have drunk of Christ as the “tea.”
Anyone who does not have Christ is not a Christ-man. If someone claims that he is a Christ-man yet does not have Christ in him, then he is the greatest deceiver in the world. This is just like a person who is penniless yet exclaims, “I am a wealthy man! I am very rich!” Today, the same thing also happens in Christianity. Many do not have Christ in them yet claim they are Christians. Then how should a person who has Christ within conduct himself, and how should he live? The answer is very simple. In all things he should inquire of the Lord and have fellowship with Him. In particular, the new believers should have such a practice. In your daily contact with others, whether with your spouse or the brothers and sisters in the church, you should often ask, “Lord, are You happy with what I am going to do? Are You pleased with what I am about to say?” These words are simple yet precious.
Since we have been saved and have become Christ-men, we should ask ourselves often in our daily living, “When I say this word, does it please the Christ who is within me? When I do this thing, does it make Christ, who is in me, happy?” Before two people are married, they are independent of each other. Each one can decide according to his or her preference when to wake up, when to go to bed, what to eat, and when to come home. They are free from each other’s control. Once they are married, however, they have to take care of each other’s feeling. The wife has to consider whether her husband will be unhappy about her coming home so late and about the clothes she wears; likewise, the husband has to take his wife into consideration in the same matters. If the marital relationship is such, how much more should our walk and living be, since the Lord has entered into us and become united with us.
First, a person who is a Christian must have Christ. After having Christ, we must always inquire of the Lord, seeking His approval in whatever we do in our daily living. This is because when we have Christ, we represent Him in everything we do. His pleasure and approval are absolutely important and necessary. Please remember that the Lord within us is our great protection and immense wisdom. Real Christians can all testify that many times while they are inquiring of the Lord, they have the inner wisdom, inner enlightenment, and inner presence of the Lord. Many foolish people do foolish things because they neglect the Lord who lives in them and care only for their own preferences and desires. A person is foolish if he acts independently of the Lord and apart from the Lord. A person will obtain wisdom, however, if he is willing to put himself aside and ask the Lord, “Do You want me to do this? Will You be happy if I do not do it?”
In the present crooked generation and during this time when the situation of the church is so dark, a person who desires to properly serve God finds it truly difficult to make a decision whenever he encounters a problem. It seems that almost every day he finds himself at a crossroads or in a dilemma. His only salvation is to pray unceasingly and ask, “Lord, which way do You prefer? Lord, is this what pleases You?” I can testify that sometimes for the whole night, even though I was lying in bed, my heart was before the Lord. In order to deal with a troublesome situation, I was before the Lord all night, asking, “Lord, will You be pleased with this decision? Will You be pleased with a different decision?” Many times the Lord would say, “I am not pleased,” but at other times He would say, “I am pleased.”
Many people find it difficult to believe that God exists, but for us it is even more difficult to believe otherwise. These past few days a brother who is a bricklayer has been repairing my house. One day I asked him, “You have been working like this every day. Is this what you want?” He sighed and said, “I work because I am poor. How blessed it would be if I were rich.” I told him, “You really do not know Christ. Money is not necessarily a blessing. Being wealthy does not necessarily mean being blessed. We are Christians. Only those who have Christ are blessed.” Unfortunately, many people are indeed Christians and have Christ within them, but because they do not have enough of Him, they are just like those who are without Christ. They do not bring any of their problems to the Lord. It is as if there is no difference whether or not they have the Lord.
There was a couple who had just been married, and the husband began to complain about his wife to others, saying, “There is no one like her. She goes wherever she wants and does whatever she desires. She does not care a bit about me.” Many Christians are like this. There is hardly any difference between having Christ and not having Christ. They do whatever they like, completely ignoring Christ’s existence. Although they have Christ in them, they disregard Him. They say things as they like, they play politics as they desire, and they treat others as they wish; they do not care a bit how Christ feels. The only difference between them and the unbelievers is that the unbelievers behave recklessly in a manifest way, while they as Christians care for their faces and thus behave recklessly in a hidden way. However, please remember that we who have Christ should take Christ instead of morality as our standard, because the standard of Christ is higher than that of morality. Many times what morality allows, Christ disallows. Therefore, I hope that we will all learn to inquire of the Lord. Even in choosing what clothes to wear, we should learn to ask the Lord. This is the reality of allowing Christ to reign in us.
Second, a Christian surely has the Bible. Unfortunately, many have the Bible in their hands or on their bookshelves but not in their heart. Some have been saved for many years, but they have read only up to Genesis 20 in the Old Testament and up to Matthew 2 in the New Testament. One day I told some Christians that Matthew 28 says that the Lord Jesus was resurrected, and chapter 29 says that He ascended to the heavens, and they all nodded their heads. So I said, “Alas! Your Bible is different from mine. Yours has twenty-nine chapters, and mine has only twenty-eight.” Then they stared at me dumbfounded. This proves that many Christians do not have the Bible within them because they do not read the Bible.
Besides Christ, Christians must have the Bible, and they must read it diligently. God has shown us mercy by giving us not only His only begotten Son but also the Bible. Thus, in addition to Christ, we have the Bible. In the universe, besides our dear Lord, nothing else is more precious than the Bible. All who are Christ-men should always meditate on the words of the Bible so that they may be wise unto salvation, be preserved, and be protected. I hope that everyone who treasures the Lord’s words will spend time reading the Bible and will learn to check everything with the Bible to see what it says.
A certain co-worker was greatly used by God because when he was young, he consecrated himself to God to do everything absolutely according to the Bible. He said, “From now on I do not belong to the world, nor do I belong to any man. I just want to please God; I will not do anything that does not please Him.” In the Bible he read something about what we should wear but could not find anything about wearing hats. As a result, regardless of how cold the weather was, he would not wear a hat. This may sound like a joke; the principle, though, is correct. However, do not misunderstand and think that I am saying that you should not wear hats. What the brother did was an indication of his absolute respect for the Bible.
The principle of Christian living is not according to what men say but according to what the Bible says. If we find out the principle of Christian living from the examples and patterns set forth in the Bible, we will know how to behave ourselves in our family life and social life. Therefore, in our daily living, in matters great or small, we should search the Bible and find out what it says that we should do. The most blessed and wise people are those who know the Bible. The Bible is the one book in the world that can best enlighten people. We have many problems that we cannot resolve, but once we bring them to the Bible, they are readily resolved.
Third, a Christian has the church. This refers to the church which has been recovered back to the beginning, back to the condition of the early churches where things were not done according to man’s methods but only according to the Bible. A Christian cannot be a Christian by himself alone; he must be in the church and have the church life. If a tree stands alone on a high mountain, it cannot easily remain standing; if it grows in a dense forest, it cannot easily topple. Satan loves to see Christians in isolation. A normal Christian in a locality should take the ground of that locality as the sphere in which to meet and serve with the saints there. As long as those saints are meeting according to the Bible and according to the practice of the early churches, they represent the church in that locality. Therefore, all Christians in that locality must be included. Hence, when we have problems, we should inquire not only of the Lord and of the Bible, but we should also inquire of the saints. We should look into the matters with them to find some solutions either in the church meetings or through private fellowship. This is truly a great protection and a proper help to us.
Sometimes because a church is big, it is not easy for the leading brothers to make decisions in matters related to the brothers and sisters. Normally, when someone has a problem, he likes to seek advice from men of integrity. In the church we are so blessed that the Lord has given us a group of devout believers. If someone in the church in Taipei is thinking about going to Taichung, he should ask where the church in Taichung meets. He should go only to a place where Christ, the Bible, and the church are. The church is a great help to us. Sometimes we may feel that the meetings are too long and boring and do not realize that they are actually a great blessing to us. Other times when we are away from home, we have no opportunity to meet with the saints for fellowship and for breaking of bread, and we feel a void within; we truly miss the saints and long to break bread with them. This kind of feeling is similar to the feeling we have when we are short of food. Every day we take our meals, but we do not realize the preciousness of food until we have been starved for three days. When we are hungry, we are not particular about what we are going to eat; at such a time everything is good to our taste.
If we were put in a place without a church, after one month of not having Christ and two months of not having our fellow Christians, we would eventually have a sense that it is the most miserable place. Sometimes just a simple love feast for fellowship can bring us a sense of sweetness. This is what the church affords us. Perhaps some will say that they can meet in their home by themselves. This may be true, but the taste will be different because the church is missing. Please remember that the church is a great matter and has a tremendous supply. Let me use myself as an illustration. I am a person who speaks for God. If you were to put me in the mountains for a month, when I come down from the mountains, I would no longer have anything to preach. However, in the church after I speak today, I have more to speak tomorrow, and after speaking tomorrow, I have still more to speak the day after tomorrow. I can never exhaust my speaking because in the church there is a rich source.
All those who speak for God know the preciousness of the church. All the riches of the church issue from the church and are transfused back to the church. The newly saved ones may not fully understand this word, but all those saints who have experienced the church life have this kind of experience. Many times we do not know what to say or do, but through the church and through our being joined with the Spirit in us, we have the words and the leading to press forward. Therefore, whenever we touch the church, we touch a great matter; this will affect the way we take for our entire Christian life.
Fourth, in addition to Christ, the Bible, and the church, a Christian must have Christians other than himself. This means that a Christian should have at least one or two other brothers or sisters to be his spiritual companions. As Christians, we should not be independent; rather, we should always have six or seven spiritual companions. Among them, some should be older than we are in physical age and others should be older than we are in spiritual years; they are to be our best friends throughout our life. Our growth before the Lord is due to their help and support. Not long ago an older brother went to be with the Lord. We had known each other for twenty years. However, we were not worldly friends; rather, we lived before the Lord with a love for one another. When he was alive, whenever I had an important matter, I would always consult with him; likewise, he would consult with me about everything. There were many occasions when I would talk things over with him rather than with my wife; and in like manner, he would discuss things with me and not necessarily with his wife. In our consultations with one another, we truly experienced the Lord’s presence and blessing. The Lord can testify for us that a great part of my time before the Lord was spent with this brother.
Every Christian must have spiritual companions. In the church a brother should seek out one or two brothers and a sister should look for one or two sisters to be their spiritual companions. However, we should be wary of such a relationship turning into a mere friendship or social interchange. Love is proper, but intimacy is not. Although intimacy may not be a sin, please remember that intimacy deadens our spirit and causes us to lose the Lord’s presence. Forgive me for saying that the sisters are especially prone to go one step beyond the proper limit in their contact and fellowship with each other and sometimes even to the extent that they lose the simplicity in the Lord. Do not forget that there should be a limit—the cross. Once you go beyond the limit and your relationship with the saints becomes a friendship, then you must reject it. Nevertheless, it is of necessity that a Christian has some fellow Christians as his spiritual companions, just as Moses had Joshua, David had Jonathan, and Daniel had his three companions. In the New Testament, Peter had James, and Paul had Timothy; they all had companions in the Lord. Every Christian should have some spiritual companions in the church. Then he will become a strong, rejoicing, and proper Christian.
