Search
Scripture Reading: Phil. 1:19; 1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:6b, 17-18; Gal. 5:22-23; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23-24; Col. 3:10-11; Eph. 2:22; 3:8; Gal. 5:24; Rom. 8:13; 6:6; Gal. 2:20a; Matt. 16:23-24; 1 Cor. 1:18-19; Eph. 2:14-15; Heb. 2:14; Gal. 6:14
In this chapter we will see the most practical factor vital to the recovery of the church life. This is the factor of the operation of the all-inclusive Spirit through the cross in the church life. This is not a doctrinal factor but a practical one. This factor is composed mainly of two elements: the Spirit and the cross. It is the Spirit who operates, and it is the cross that puts to death. The Spirit is the operating element, and the cross is the killing element.
This factor is vital to the recovery of the church life because, although we have been regenerated, we still live in the old man. Moreover, there are many negative things associated with the old man, and all these must be killed. In fact, the Lord Jesus has already crucified all these negative things on the cross. But this is only the objective side. This objective crucifixion must now be applied subjectively to us. This subjective application of the cross of Christ is carried out by the operating Spirit.
In the preceding chapters we have seen that the Bible first unveils four main items: God, Christ, the Spirit, and the divine life. From these four items the believers are produced, and the believers are built together to be the church. Therefore, God, Christ, the Spirit, the divine life, the believers, and the church are the crucial matters revealed in the Bible.
The Bible reveals that God is embodied in Christ. God and Christ are one, and Christ is God Himself embodied. Furthermore, this Christ who is the embodiment of God is realized as the Spirit. We should not consider that Christ is One who is separate from God or that the Spirit is a third One who is separate from Christ. This concept is according to human thought, not according to the Bible. The Bible states clearly that God and Christ are one (John 10:30; 17:22) and that Christ and the Spirit are also one (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17). God is embodied in Christ, and Christ is realized as the Spirit. When God moves, comes to us, and reaches us, He is the Spirit. This Spirit regenerates us, making us the believers, the sons of God, and the members of Christ. By this we see that God, Christ, and the Spirit are now one with the believers. We have God within us (Eph. 4:6), we have Christ within us (2 Cor. 13:5), and we have the Spirit within us (Rom. 8:9). The Triune God is now living in our spirit. As the One living in our spirit, He is our life, not our natural life but the divine life added into our being.
We all need to realize that, as believers in Christ, we are wonderful persons. Each of us is wonderful because we have God in us, we have Christ in us, and we have the Spirit in us. The Triune God today is living in us as our life. Therefore, we are God-men, human beings who have the Triune God in us. This very God who is in us today is Christ, this Christ in us is the Spirit, and this Spirit in us is the divine life. We are human beings, yet we have the divine life in us. This is wonderful, marvelous, and excellent. When we as people who possess the divine life come together, we are the church. In this sense the church is wonderful. The church is a wonderful people who possess God, Christ, the Spirit, and the divine life.
On the other hand, in the church life the situation may not always be so wonderful. For example, in the meetings we may sing Hallelujah, Hallelujah, but at other times we may not be happy with one another, although we are all brothers and sisters in the church. You may even dislike a particular brother so much that when you meet him outside the meeting hall, you turn your face away to avoid looking at him. A sister may not feel happy about her mother-in-law or her sister-in-law. However, all three are sisters in the church. Although they all like to attend the meetings of the church, the sister does not like to see her mother-in-law or her sister-in-law, and she selects a particular seat so that they cannot sit next to her.
This kind of behavior is not at all wonderful; rather, it is very low. In Matthew 10:29-31 the Lord likened the believers to sparrows. Sparrows are small, yet they can fly. But sometimes Christians behave in a way that is more like a turtle creeping than a sparrow flying. Perhaps a sister loves her husband, but feels that her mother-in-law is intolerable. Furthermore, she cannot bear her husband’s younger sister. The sister, her husband, her mother-in-law, and her sister-in-law are all in the church, but they cannot love one another. This may be the situation with some of the families in the church life.
We may have a similar problem with our feelings about the church itself. Perhaps when you came to the church ten years ago, it seemed to you that the church was wonderful. That time was your church life “honeymoon.” You felt that the elders, the sisters, the brothers, the old ones, and the young ones were all wonderful. Everything in the church life was wonderful. However, after some time things began to look not so wonderful. Some of the elders were very peculiar, very strong in their opinions. You could not bear this. Then you began to realize that the older sisters in the church talked too much and criticized others and that the older brothers were not knowledgeable in spiritual things. The young sisters were a little better, but the young brothers were intolerable. Thus, you began to have mixed feelings about the church. In a sense you liked it because its practices were according to the truths of the Bible. Because the church was so scriptural, so much according to the Bible, you felt that you must come to the church meetings. Although the church sometimes seemed to be very good, at other times it seemed to be not so good. The brothers and sisters in the church where you were seemed to behave more like turtles creeping than birds flying. When a problem arose, instead of flying away, they argued and criticized one another. I am familiar with all these things because I have been in the church life for more than fifty-two years. I have passed through many experiences in the church life in many different localities.
All these situations point out why we need another factor, the factor of the operation of the Spirit. In one sense we all are wonderful people because we have the divine life, but in another sense we still live in our old man. We need to realize that none of us is completely holy, because we are still in the old man. We still have our old nature, our bad temper, our likes and dislikes, our emotions, our intentions, our choices, and our peculiarities. Because we still have so many negative elements in us, we are not holy. At most, we are partially holy. This is shown by the fact that a sister who sings and praises the Lord in the meeting may be offended by her husband a short time later and speak to him sharply. Although in the meeting she was singing Hallelujah, in this situation she is unable to say Hallelujah. This shows that we are not holy. Yes, we are wonderful because we have the divine life, but we also still possess our fallen natural life.
This is why we need to take Christ as our sin offering and our trespass offering every time we come to contact God (Heb. 10:19-22). We must confess that we are still sinful, that we are still not pure, and that we need the Lord’s precious blood to cleanse us all the time. Without taking the Lord Jesus as our sin offering and trespass offering, we simply have no way to contact God. This is why 1 John 1:3-7 tells us that in order to remain in the divine fellowship of the divine life, we need the continuous cleansing of the Lord’s blood. Our fellowship with God is often broken by our natural life. Therefore, we need the cleansing blood to restore us to the fellowship of the divine life.
Today in the church life there is the need of much operation by the Spirit. Today the Spirit is continually operating in you, in me, and in all the brothers and sisters. But although we may know this, we often do not care for the Spirit’s operation. For example, perhaps you do not like a particular brother in the church. But the operating Spirit in you tells you that you must love him because he is your brother. Sometimes you may even argue with the operating Spirit, saying that although that brother is indeed a believer, you do not like him because his behavior does not suit you. Nevertheless, the operating Spirit tells you again and again that you must love that brother. Surely you have had experiences like this in which you talked to the operating Spirit within you.
Many sisters have problems getting along with their mothers-in-law. Some sisters have even told me that they argued with the Spirit within them about this matter. I told them that the Lord in His sovereignty gave them such a mother-in-law in order for them to learn some lessons. Although the sisters realized this, they said that they still could not bear their mothers-in-law, and they admitted that they argued with the Holy Spirit about it. This proves that we all have the operating Spirit within us. However, we need the Lord’s mercy and grace to obey this operating Spirit. This Spirit is the realization of Christ, who is the embodiment of God. This Spirit is just God as the divine life living in you. Your destiny as a Christian is to listen to this Spirit. The Triune God is now within you as the all-inclusive Spirit with the bountiful supply. If you would cooperate with Him and listen to Him, He would supply you with His bountiful supply. Nothing is difficult for Him. For you your mother-in-law may be a problem, but by the Spirit your mother-in-law will become a blessing. You cannot bear her, but the Spirit can. Simply commit yourself to the Spirit. Cast yourself upon the Spirit and tell Him, “I want to obey You, I want to trust in You, and I want to be one with You.” Immediately you will enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
The Spirit who is operating in us is the all-inclusive Spirit of Jesus Christ, and He is operating in us in seven ways. First, He is within us imparting His divine life to us (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:6b). He imparts His divine life into our being in the same way that water flows through a garden hose. The more water we use, the more water flows into the hose. There is a bountiful supply of water that flows out without our effort; we simply turn on the water hose. Likewise, in order to receive the supply of the Spirit, we simply need to turn to the operating Spirit. He will flow in us as the divine life and impart life into us.
Second, the Spirit bears in us the fruit of all human and divine virtues. Galatians 5:22-23 says that the Spirit within us is bearing many kinds of divine virtues, such as love, joy, and peace. All these divine and human virtues are brought forth by this life-imparting Spirit.
This Spirit also sets us free from dead letters and from dead knowledge (2 Cor. 3:6, 17). Apart from the Spirit within us we may know many doctrines but in a dead way. The more we learn doctrine in a dead way, the more we become bound by dead knowledge. Only the Spirit can set us free from dead knowledge.
At the same time this life-giving Spirit sets us free from the law of sin and of death (Rom. 8:2). In our sinful nature there is a law, a natural power, of sin and death. By ourselves we are unable to deal with it, but when we give ourselves to the Spirit, the life-giving Spirit sets us free from this binding law of sin.
This Spirit also transforms us into the image of Christ from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18). Whether we are good or bad, our being is still natural. Anything that is natural is of no worth to God. Therefore, we all need to be transformed. To be transformed is not merely to change our character outwardly; it is to be changed in life by the divine element from within us. This is a metabolic change in which the old things are being discharged, and all the new elements are being added. We all are now undergoing this kind of metabolic change. The life-giving Spirit is changing us, transforming us from within, not merely to correct us but to change us metabolically with His divine element. Second Corinthians 3:18 says that we are being transformed into the same image of the Lord from glory to glory, that is, from one level of glory to another. The church life should be filled with this kind of transformation.
The life-giving Spirit is also renewing us. Because we all were born in the old creation, we all are old regardless of our age. Even little children are old. Therefore, we need the divine life, a new life with a new element. This life-giving Spirit is now renewing us with the divine life and with the divine essence (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23-24; Col. 3:10-11).
Finally, the Spirit is building us together to be the dwelling place of God (Eph. 2:22). As we are being transformed and renewed, spontaneously we are being built together to be the dwelling place of God. This dwelling place is the church life. The church life is simply all the saints built up by the renewing Spirit to be God’s dwelling place.
For this sevenfold operation of the Spirit there is always in this Spirit the full, bountiful supply of the unsearchable riches of Christ (Phil. 1:19; Eph. 3:8). We should not say that we cannot make it, that we are weak, or that we have many shortcomings. We should forget about all this and realize what the Spirit is. We are weak, but the Spirit is strong. We are poor, but He is rich. When we cooperate with Him, He supplies us with all His bountiful supply.
However, the Holy Spirit does not work in us by Himself; He works through the cross. We may liken the cross to the scalpel used by a surgeon to operate on a patient. In the church life the Holy Spirit is the Surgeon who operates on us every day by means of the cross. Many things in our being need to be cut off by the Spirit through the cross.
The first item that needs to be crucified is the flesh. Galatians 5:24 says, “They who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts.” Our flesh is full of lusts and passions, sinful desires. Passions are evil, and lusts are sinful. All these need to be cut off. This verse shows that our flesh with its passions and lusts needs to be crucified. We need to put our flesh on the cross through the Spirit.
The next item to be dealt with is the practices of the body. Romans 8:13 says that by the Spirit we must put to death the practices of the body. The practices of the body refer to the activities of our body. For example, our mouth spontaneously talks in a natural way, even in a gossiping way. If two brothers come together, it is difficult for them to sit quietly without speaking for five minutes. Spontaneously, they may begin to discuss the condition of the church in their locality. We may consider this kind of talk to be rather good, but it comes from the natural activity of our mouth. This is the practice, the activity, of the body.
Our eyes also are a problem. Our eyes may be accustomed to looking into department store windows or reading newspapers in an unrestricted way. Through these kinds of things our eyes become contaminated. Therefore, we also need to put to death the practices of our eyes.
Furthermore, we must also by the Spirit put to death the practices of our ears. Perhaps a sister attends a meeting and hears a message concerning Christ as the embodiment of God and the Spirit as the reality of Christ. Although the speaker may repeat these points many times, after the meeting the sister may be unable to remember the content of the message. However, if she overhears some gossip after the meeting regarding a brother and a sister who are engaged to be married, her ears hear this talk clearly, and she cannot forget it. When she returns home, she immediately tells her husband about the young couple who plan to be married. However, she cannot tell him what was spoken in the meeting about Christ as the embodiment of God and the Spirit as the realization of Christ, because she has already forgotten these things. This is because our ears are accustomed to listening to gossip rather than listening to the word of God. We remember the things that are not pleasant to the Lord, and we forget those things that are pleasant to Him. Although we may try our best to remember the word that was spoken in the meeting, we still cannot do it. This again shows the need for us by the Spirit to put to death the practices of the body.
Often our body seems to be too tired to go to the church meetings, but it is full of energy to participate in worldly activities. When we think about going to a church meeting in the evening, we may feel quite tired and may even decide to stay home in order to rest. But when we hear that a particular sporting event will take place the same evening, we may suddenly feel strong enough to attend. Similarly, if we are offered a Life-study message, we may not show any interest in reading it. But if someone gives us a novel, we may be quite eager to read it. Again, these are the practices of the body.
The way we spend our money is also related to the practices of the body. If a husband talks to his wife about offering something to the Lord on the Lord’s Day, she may say that it is not necessary to do it this week, since they made an offering last week. But if she reads in the newspaper about a certain item that is on sale, she may insist that her husband buy it for her immediately. All these activities are the practices of our body. Every part of our body is accustomed to doing things apart from God. Our mouth, eyes, and ears do things apart from God. Even if these things are not sinful, they are nevertheless the practices of the body. Today in the church life we must cooperate with the Spirit to put to death all these practices of the body.
We must also experience the cross crucifying our old man and the self. Romans 6:6 says that our old man has been crucified with Christ. The old man is our created and fallen being. Although the crucifixion of our old man has been accomplished objectively by Christ, we need to experience it subjectively by crucifying our soul life, our self. In Galatians 2:20 Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” This “I” is the self, the self is the expression of the soul-life, and the soul-life is the natural life of the old man. Our old man, the old “I,” has been crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20), and now we need to deny our self (Matt. 16:24) and put aside our soul-life (Luke 9:24). We must put all these things on the cross and leave them on the cross.
On the one hand, many problems in the church life are caused by the activities of the body. We talk too much, we hear too much, we see too much, we act too much, and we go too much. We use our feet, our hands, our ears, our mouth, and our eyes improperly. In the church life we sometimes use all our physical members in a wrong way. All these activities cause trouble. On the other hand, our old man, the self, and the soul-life are also a source of problems in the church life. There are many problems in today’s church life because there is too much of the old man, too much soulish life, and too much self. Many problems come because “I” is first, and “I” is last; “I” is alpha, and “I” is omega. Eventually, “I” is everything. Therefore, this “I” must be cut off. “I” is the greatest cancer in the church life. Therefore, it must be searched out and cut off by the Spirit through the cross.
Furthermore, our opinions need to be annulled by the Spirit through the cross. The old man is the fallen man, the soul-life is the life of the old man, this soul-life is expressed in the self, and the self is expressed in opinions. Opinions are simply the expression of our self, of our soulish life. Therefore, opinions are just the activities of the old man. One day the Lord Jesus told His disciples that He was going to be crucified. Immediately Peter expressed his opinion. He said, “God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You!” (Matt. 16:22). That was Peter’s good, loving opinion. Peter did not want the Lord to be crucified but to be the King on the throne. However, his opinion was the expression of his self. When the Lord heard Peter’s word, He turned to Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (v. 23). This shows that Satan is in the self. The Lord realized that it was not Peter but Satan in Peter who had spoken such a word. Satan was expressed in Peter’s natural life and in his opinion.
In the church life opinions cause many problems. If there is any fighting or dissension in the church life, it is because someone has an opinion. Every opinion has a good outward appearance. Our opinions may seem to be very nice, very much for the church, and very good, but this goodness is a cloak that covers up the true nature of opinion. Opinions are terrible. In order to have a good church life, we all need to condemn our opinions. We should have no opinion but Christ, no opinion but the Spirit, no opinion but the divine life. We should have no opinion, no self, no I, no soulish life, no old man, but only Christ, only the Spirit, and only the divine life.
Furthermore, we need the cross to destroy all the human wisdom and understanding. First Corinthians 1:18 and 19 say that through the cross of Christ God has destroyed the wisdom of the wise and has set aside the understanding of those who understand. In the church there may be those who are wise, clever, and understanding. But as long as our wisdom and understanding are human, they are opposed to God. In the church, do not use your human wisdom, and do not employ your human cleverness. Your wisdom and your cleverness create many problems in the church life. Therefore, we all must condemn human wisdom and understanding. We must cooperate with the Spirit to nail our wisdom and understanding to the cross.
Next, we need to experience the cross to abolish all our ordinances. Ordinances are our habits, customs, ways of doing things, ways of living, and ways of practicing the church life. These ordinances always cause trouble. But Christ as the Peacemaker has put all the ordinances on the cross (Eph. 2:14-15). We need to cooperate with the Spirit to put all our habits and customs to death.
Next, we must experience the Spirit’s operation through the cross destroying Satan, the one who has the might of death (Heb. 2:14). The previous items that we covered—the flesh, the practices of the body, the old man, the self, the opinions, the human wisdom and understanding, and the ordinances—are actually the cloaks that Satan uses to cover himself. Therefore, if we deal with all the foregoing items, we will actually be dealing with Satan himself.
Finally, we need the Spirit’s operation through the cross so that we may set aside the world. In Galatians 6:14 Paul says, “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” John 12:31 tells us that when the Lord Jesus went to the cross, He judged the world and cast out its ruler, Satan. Therefore, in the church life today we must set aside and reject anything worldly. Although today’s Christendom has become a worldly religion and is full of worldly things, in the church life we must stay away from anything worldly. The church should move and act in a heavenly way, not in a worldly way.
If we cooperate with the operating Spirit, all the negative things that we have covered will be cut off. In this way the church will be rescued and preserved, and there will be no problems with anything of the flesh, the practices of the body, the old man, the self, the opinions, the human wisdom, the ordinances, Satan, or the world. Then the church life will be wonderful, marvelous, and excellent because of the Spirit’s operation through the cross.
