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Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:4-5; John 1:12-13; 3:6b; Gal. 4:4-6; Rom. 8:14-16, 29
The Bible reveals that God wants to have many sons. Ephesians 1:4-5 says, “Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love, predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” In eternity past, before we were created or born, God selected us. God was able to do this because He has infinite foresight. In eternity past God selected us because He foresaw us, foreknew us, and loved us. The reason each one of us is a believer in the church life today is that in eternity past, before the universe was created, God chose us.
Following His selection, God predestinated us. In Greek predestinate means “to mark out beforehand.” God put a mark on us. Then one day after we were born, God laid hold of us. We may have tried to avoid God for a long time, but eventually, we had to follow Him because He had already selected us and marked us out. No matter how often we may stray from God, we must always come back to Him because we were selected before the foundation of the world and predestinated, marked out.
God is a purposeful God; He does everything with a purpose. God selected us and predestinated us with a definite purpose—sonship. The goal of God’s choosing and predestinating us is to make us sons of God. To accomplish this purpose, God first created us. We need to realize that we are living on the earth today not because of our intention but because God created us. Among all the created items, none is as wonderful as man. Not only is man’s mind higher than that of the animals, but also man has a spirit, which the animals do not have. With our spirit we may know, contact, receive, possess, contain, enjoy, eat, and drink God. Animals hunger only for physical food, but we hunger for God, because we have an organ that the animals do not have—a spirit. Having a spirit is what distinguishes man from the animals. When we consider the way God created us, we will marvel at how wonderful and valuable we are. Simply to be a man is great, but as believers we have something more. We have been predestinated to be made sons of God. We are not only men but also children of God.
Our Father is God, and we are children of God. We have millions of brothers. The most wonderful thing in the universe is that men can be sons of God. Regrettably, the gospel that most Christians preach today concerns only forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation. This gospel is too shallow and too low. The goal of the gospel is sonship—to make sinners sons of God.
In order for us, who are God’s creatures, to become God’s sons, we must be born of God. For this reason, the New Testament emphasizes regeneration, which is to be born again. John 1:12-13 says, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” To be born of God is the divine birth. God is divine; He is a divine Father. Therefore, to be born of God is not a birth of blood and flesh but of the divine Spirit, not a physical, human birth but a spiritual, divine birth. Just as a physical birth produces a physical babe, a spiritual birth brings forth a spiritual child. This living, spiritual child is in our spirit. It is spiritual, for it is born of the divine Spirit in our human spirit. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (3:6b).
To be born of God is not merely a theological teaching but a fact and our experience. Every genuine believer has experienced the divine birth—a birth of the divine Spirit in the human spirit. Because we have been born of God, we are children of God. We should rejoice at seeing this wonderful fact. If we were given a precious diamond, received a great sum of money, or earned a high academic degree, we would be happy for at least several days. However, we should be more joyful at being born of God. We have the most precious, valuable thing, yet we do not value it as we should. This shows that we do not have a clear vision of what we have gained. The divine birth is much more valuable than any diamond, sum of money, or degree. Such things cannot compare to the divine birth. We need to look to the Lord to show us what a birth we have received.
The divine birth is altogether related to the two spirits, for it is a birth by and of the divine Spirit in our spirit. After experiencing this birth, we have three divine things in our spirit—the divine Spirit, the divine life, and the divine nature. Some Christian teachers think that it is blasphemous to say that we are divine. However, as those who are born of God, who is divine, we must be divine sons. Just as it is not wrong to say that whatever is born of a dog is canine, so also it is not wrong to say that those who are born of God are divine. Because we have been born of God, we have the divine life and nature and the divine Spirit. We are therefore humanly divine and divinely human. We are still human, yet something within us is divine.
We may compare our becoming divine to the process of making tea. When tea is added to water, the water is “teaified” and becomes tea-water. Before we were born of God, we were only human, like a glass of plain water. However, when we believed and called on the Lord’s name, He came into us like tea being added to water, and we were teaified, made divine. Receiving the divine life and nature in regeneration is not a mere theological doctrine but a Christian experience. As believers, we know that something has been added into our being. Furthermore, once the Lord comes in, He never leaves. Many of us can testify that we may temporarily leave the Lord, but He will never leave us. Eventually, He always brings us back to Himself. Because we have been reborn of God, we have the divine life and nature and the divine Spirit. All these divine things are in our spirit. For this reason, Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” Thus, God has accomplished His intention and eternal purpose to have many sons. When God looks at us, He is joyful to see His sons.
We need to realize that we are no longer merely human, for something divine has been added into us. Just as water becomes tea-water when tea is added to it, so we become divinely human when God is added into us. We are still human, but we are no longer merely human, because the divine life and nature with the divine Spirit have been added into us. We are human yet also divine. Therefore, the proper Christian living is not merely a human living but a divine-human living. We should not try to live like an angel but should live as a man divinely. What is on my heart is to share what it means to live a divine-human life.
In the church life we should live a life that is divinely human. Suppose a newly saved sister moves into a sisters’ house because of her desire to pursue the Lord. There will certainly be differences in the way each sister lives. The new sister may decide in advance to behave herself in an attempt to be nice and not make trouble. Thus, after moving in, she may be the first to wash the dishes after every meal. However, her behavior is not something by the divine Spirit in her human spirit. She may have a high human living yet have nothing divine in her living. Such a living is a religious performance based on a strong mind with a strong will but without life or the spirit. God wants us to live not by our self but by the mingled spirit. We need only to walk according to our mingled spirit.
Our mingled spirit within may lead us to pray. However, we often pray religiously and naturally. If we pray in a complaining or accusing way concerning another saint, we are praying a natural prayer. Such a prayer is not according to the mingled spirit but according to our concept. It is not easy for us to leave our natural, cultural, ethical, religious, and habitual background. Our nature, culture, ethics, religion, and habits are in our blood. Even after we have been born of God, we still do not spontaneously live God. Instead, we often live according to our nature, culture, ethics, religion, and habits. We need to realize that the Lord wants us to live according to the mingled spirit.
The local churches do not have regulations, nor do we have an unwritten code. However, some saints may behave according to such a code based on their concepts. As a young boy I loved to play soccer. After I was saved, I went to play soccer one day, but when the ball came to me, something deep within told me, “This is all. You should not touch the ball anymore.” I found that I could not use my foot to touch the ball. I stopped playing and left the field. Others were shocked and could not understand what happened to me. I simply could not play. Since that day more than fifty years ago, I have never returned to play soccer. However, to not play soccer is not my teaching or a church regulation. Rather, it is something of the Spirit in my spirit.
Although many sisters in the church life dress in a certain way and do not wear make-up, these are not church teachings or regulations. Nevertheless, some new sisters follow these practices as a kind of unwritten code. This is not something by the divine Spirit in our spirit. Whatever is genuine in the church life must be by the Spirit in our spirit. Our dressing should not be according to a certain code or style but only according to the spirit.
Some may feel that although they are doctrinally clear about walking according to the spirit and want to do it, they cannot make it. Perhaps when their temper rises up, they cannot control it. Such ones may wonder what they should do. We do not need to do anything. We need to forget about our temper and simply live and walk according to the spirit. Romans 8:14-15 says, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery bringing you into fear again, but you have received a spirit of sonship in which we cry, Abba, Father!” We may not know how to control our temper, but we have a spirit of sonship in which we can cry, “Abba, Father!” When we cry, “Abba, Father!” we are walking according to the spirit. When we cry, “Abba, Father!” we will spontaneously exercise our spirit, and our temper will cool down.
To cry, “Abba, Father!” or to call, “O Lord Jesus!” is to walk according to our spirit. As believers, we must remember that we have capital within. Our capital within is the divine life, the divine nature, and the divine Spirit. We do not need to rely on our natural self, for something divine has been dispensed into our being—the divine life and nature and the Spirit are in our spirit. We may say that we cannot overcome certain negative habits or behaviors because they are in our natural life. However, our spirit is deeper than our natural life and more real. We must learn to cry, “Abba, Father!” and call, “O Lord Jesus!” If we practice this, our spirit will become burning, and our natural life will calm down.
To practice being led by the Spirit of God as sons of God, we need to cry, “Abba, Father!” We do not need to know how to pray, for we can simply cry. It is important for a newborn baby to cry to begin breathing. Crying shows that the baby is alive. Likewise, to cry, “Abba, Father!” is strong evidence that we are genuine, living believers and have received a spirit of sonship. Romans 8:23 says, “We ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan in ourselves, eagerly awaiting sonship, the redemption of our body.” Verse 26 says, “In like manner the Spirit also joins in to help us in our weakness, for we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” We may not know how to pray, but we can cry and groan to the Lord. In many cases the best prayer may be to cry or to groan. Everyone can cry, and it does not take long to learn to groan. To cry or to groan is to exercise our spirit of sonship.
In our daily walk, in big things and small things, we all need to learn how to walk according to the spirit of sonship, because we are sons of God and have received such a spirit. As believers, we are no longer only human but also possess the divine life, the divine nature, and the divine Spirit as the capital in our being. The way to use our divine capital is simply to cry or to groan. We do not need to behave or act by our self, our nature, or our culture. When we cry or groan, we exercise our spirit of sonship. In this way, we will be led by the Spirit of God as sons of God.
