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Scripture Reading: 1 Thes. 1:1; 2:12; 3:12; 4:7; 5:23-24; 2 Thes. 1:3, 5, 10; 2:13-14, 16; Col. 3:10-11; Rev. 1:11-12
According to both 1 Thessalonians 1:1 and 2 Thessalonians 1:1, the church is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In the foregoing message we pointed out that for the church to be in Christ is to be in resurrection life. This resurrection life is Christ Himself in resurrection as the life-giving Spirit. What we need is not self-improvement but the growth of this resurrection life within us.
In John 14 we have a further indication that we the believers are in God the Father. According to the traditional religious understanding, this chapter speaks of heavenly mansions. However, what John 14 speaks about is not heavenly mansions; rather, it speaks of abodes, abiding places, in a divine Person, in God the Father. In verses 2 and 3 the Lord Jesus says, “In My Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, that where I am you also may be.” The Lord Jesus was telling His disciples that through His death and resurrection He would prepare the way to bring them into the Father.
The Lord Jesus is in the Father (John 14:10-11). He wanted His disciples also to be in the Father, as revealed in John 17:21. Through His death and resurrection, He brought His disciples into Himself. Since He is in the Father, they are also in the Father by being in Him. Hence, where the Lord Jesus is, there the disciples are also. Where is the Lord Jesus? He is in the Father. Therefore, for us to be where He is means that we also are in the Father.
It is actually superstitious to believe that John 14:2 and 3 mean that the Lord is building a heavenly mansion and that He will come back only after this work of building is complete. Some Christian teachers claim that the fact the Lord Jesus has not come back indicates that the building of the heavenly mansion is not yet finished. I was told this by a Christian teacher when I was very young. In their talk about the heavenly mansion, some have said, “How marvelous the heavenly mansion will be! The Lord Jesus has been there for more than nineteen hundred years, and still He hasn’t finished the building of this mansion. The Lord said that after He prepares a place for us, He will come back and receive us to Himself. We know from the fact that He has not yet come back that He is still building the heavenly mansion.”
While I was in England in 1958, I was enlightened to see from the Bible that John 14 has nothing to do with a heavenly mansion. The use of the word mansion in the King James translation of John 14:2 is not accurate. This verse speaks of abodes, not of mansions. The word used in Greek is a noun form of the verb abide. Here the Lord Jesus seems to be saying, “I am your abode, and you shall abide in Me. You are My abode, and I shall abide in you. I am going to prepare an abode in God the Father. The Father wants to receive you all. However, because you are sinful and unrighteous and He is holy and righteous, you cannot enter into Him unless I die on the cross to take away your sins. My death will open up the way for you to come into the Father. After I have prepared a place for you in the Father through My death and resurrection, I shall come again.” Praise the Lord that in this sense the Lord Jesus has already returned! He has already come back, and He has brought us into the Father. Now as members of the church we can declare that we are in God the Father. The church, including all of us, is where the Lord Jesus is, that is, in God the Father. Hallelujah, where the Lord Jesus Christ is, there we are also! We are in the same abode as the Lord Jesus is. How wonderful!
When I began to teach that John 14 speaks not of heavenly mansions but of abodes in God the Father, I was criticized and condemned. Some accused me of taking away their heavenly mansion and complained that at a funeral they could no longer tell people that there is a heavenly mansion for the dead believers.
I have also been accused of teaching heresy for saying, according to the Bible, that Christ today is the life-giving Spirit. We should not regard the life-giving Spirit as a Person separate from the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord was in the flesh, He was Jesus. But in resurrection He has become the life-giving Spirit. We are not the only ones who have seen this fact and teach it. A number of other Christian writers have said that, in Christian experience, Christ is identical to the Spirit. In doctrine or in theology it is very difficult to explain how the second of the Trinity, the Son, can be identical to the third, the Spirit. Nevertheless, in Christian experience the resurrected Christ is identical to the Spirit. Second Corinthians 3:17 says explicitly, “The Lord is the Spirit.” First Corinthians 15:45, a confirming verse, says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Although it is according to the Bible to say that Christ is the Spirit, I have been condemned as heretical for teaching this.
The Bible reveals that the resurrected Christ, the very Christ in resurrection, is the life-giving Spirit. This can be confirmed by our experience. We have Christ within us, and we also have the Spirit within us. But in your experience do you have two in you, Christ and the Spirit, or do you have one? Although both Christ and the Spirit are in us, in experience we have one in us, not two, for Christ today in resurrection is identical to the Spirit.
In resurrection the Christ who dwells within us is a wonderful Spirit. This Spirit is life, power, holiness, love, righteousness, might, strength, wisdom, grace, kindness, mercy. Oh, this Spirit is everything! This is why we say that this Spirit, who is God and Christ, is all-inclusive.
In particular I wish to point out that this Spirit contains the effectiveness of Christ’s death. The Spirit certainly does not contain death, but it does include the effectiveness of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus.
In the New Testament we are commanded to walk according to the Spirit. For example, Galatians 5:16 says, “Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh.” In Galatians 5:25 Paul says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Referring to the mingled spirit, the Spirit mingled with our regenerated human spirit, Romans 8:4 says, “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh, but according to spirit.” Therefore, we should simply walk according to the Spirit. There is no need for us to do anything else.
Married brothers and sisters may be concerned about how to have a good marriage or how to be a proper husband or wife. If a brother were to ask me how to be a proper husband or how to have a good married life, I would give just one answer: Walk according to the Spirit. This word applies to brothers and sisters, to husbands and wives. Today many books have been written by Christians on how to have a good family life or how to avoid divorce. There is no need for us to read those books. Do you want to be a good husband or wife? Walk according to Spirit. Do you want to have a good marriage? The answer is the same — walk according to Spirit. Because the Spirit is all-inclusive, it is sufficient for us to walk according to Spirit.
Our problem is that we are not faithful always to walk according to Spirit. Of the approximately sixteen waking hours of each day, how much do you walk according to Spirit? If daily we walk according to Spirit for even one hour and a half, we would be an outstanding saint. Even in the church meetings we may fail to be in the Spirit. For example, you may not sing according to Spirit. Instead, you may sing according to your emotion. If you are excited, you sing in a certain way according to your emotion. But perhaps at the next meeting, you may be very cold in your emotion. Nothing can stir you up because you care for your emotion, not for the Spirit. Your coldness in the meeting may be due to the fact that someone has offended you. Because you have been offended, you will not allow anything to stir you in the meeting. You may be low for several days, until something happens to stir you up again or to cause you to be excited. Then in the meeting you may praise the Lord in a loud way. However, in that kind of situation your praise is according to emotion, not according to Spirit.
We all must see that the church is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We have pointed out that to be in Jesus Christ means that everything negative and everything of the old creation has been terminated. This means that our natural emotion and our self should be terminated. If this is your situation, you will not be offended by others. How can a dead person be offended by anything or anyone? It is impossible. No matter what you may say or do to a dead person, he will not be offended. To be in Jesus Christ is to be terminated and buried, for to be in Christ is to be in His death. If we truly are the church in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall not function in the meeting according to our emotion, but we shall function according to the Spirit.
We have seen that to be in Christ is to be in the spiritual air, in the life-giving Spirit. If in our experience we are in this spiritual air, we shall not be offended by others. The more others give us a difficult time, the more we shall be able to praise the Lord. This is the church in Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
The reality of the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit is far beyond our ability to describe. Power, strength, might, authority, the throne, holiness, righteousness — all the divine virtues are involved with this resurrected Christ. Thus, when we are in Him, we have all these virtues. We have patience, endurance, and all that Christ is. Christ is the reality of the divine attributes and the human virtues. If in our practical living we are in Him, we shall be humble, kind, and enduring. We shall be those in resurrection, in the resurrected Christ.
We have placed a strong emphasis on the fact that, according to 1:1, the church is an entity in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let us go on to consider 2:12: “That you should walk worthily of God, Who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” What does it mean to walk worthily of God? To walk worthily of God is to have a life in the Lord Jesus Christ. First Thessalonians 2:12 is an explanation of 1:1. What does it mean for the church to be in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ? For the church to be in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ in a practical way is for there to be a company of human beings who walk worthily of God.
What can compare with God? What can match Him? The answer to these questions is that only God Himself can compare with God or match Him. This indicates that to walk worthily of God actually means to live God. Our daily life must actually be God Himself, since only God can be worthy of God, match God, or compare with God. Therefore, in our living we must express God.
Because we have God’s life, we can live God. A dog obviously has a dog’s life and therefore lives a dog. In the same principle, we have God’s life and therefore we can live God. Hallelujah, God is our Father, and we are His children! As God’s children with His life, it is possible for us to live Him.
Whereas 1:1 speaks of the church in God the Father, many Christians instead speak of the church in God the Almighty. In Christian services often that hymn is sung which begins, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.” To you, is God only the Almighty, or is He also your Father? Because we have been born of Him, God is now our Father. As the Almighty, God does not have any life relationship with you, and you may not have anything to do with Him. You may be apart from Him and outside of Him. But if God has become your Father, you now have a life relationship with Him, and you are in Him.
Whom do you love more, the President of the United States, or your own father? The President may be wealthy, and your father may be poor, but certainly you love your father more than you love the President. In a far deeper way, we love God more as our Father than as merely the Almighty. Hallelujah, because we are children of God we can live God! We all should declare boldly, “Because I have God’s life, I can live Him.”
Now we see what it means to walk worthily of God. Only God can be worthy of Himself, and only God can match Himself or be compared with Himself. Therefore, to walk worthily of God is to live God. Praise the Lord that we have God’s life and that we can walk worthily of Him by living Him!
