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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 1:8-9, 12, 17-22
Our God is always going on. For this reason, we should not remain in yesterday or try to live in tomorrow. We should live in today. Proper Christians do not have a yesterday, and they do not yet have tomorrow. We only have today. Therefore, the Bible says, “As long as it is called today” (Heb. 3:13). God is not the God of yesterday or the God of tomorrow; He is the God of today. Every day God is advancing, moving on. Therefore, we need to be open to God’s speaking today. God’s speaking is His going on.
The title of this message is “A Pattern of Living Christ for the Church.” How marvelous it is to live Christ for the church! I do not believe that before 1980 any of us knew this expression “live Christ for the church.” This saying has come forth only recently. However, we are concerned not simply with living Christ for the church, but with seeing a pattern of living Christ for the church. Paul is a pattern of living Christ for the church.
In 1 Corinthians we see the matter of living Christ for the church, but it is only in 2 Corinthians that we have the pattern of living Christ for the church. I would ask you to consider what is revealed in the sixteen chapters of 1 Corinthians. These chapters reveal how to enjoy Christ, how to take Christ as our life, how to live Christ so that we may have the church and that He may have the Body to fulfill God’s eternal purpose. Not many readers of the Bible have seen that 1 Corinthians is a book on living Christ for the church.
In the Life-study of 1 Corinthians I pointed out that 1 Corinthians deals with many problems. These problems are of two categories: the problems in the realm of human life and the problems in the realm of the divine administration. It is very important to have a proper human life. Of course, the divine administration is very crucial. We certainly need to have a proper human life to carry out God’s administration. But how can we have such a human life, and how can we carry out God’s administration? By what kind of life can we have a proper human life, and by what means, by what instrument, can we carry out the divine administration? Christ is the factor for solving the problems in the realm of human life, and the church is the factor for solving the problems related to the divine administration.
Christ is a heavenly, divine antibiotic which kills the negative germs within us. Because of the fall, these germs have come into our family life and also into the church life. First Corinthians reveals that the church at Corinth had been invaded by these negative germs. The result was ruin and corruption. Christ is the only “antibiotic” that can effectively deal with these germs. Thus, in the first ten chapters of 1 Corinthians we see Christ as the factor, the element, the “medicine,” to heal all the problems in human life and to cure the diseases in the church life.
The church at Corinth was indeed sick. The saints suffered spiritually from such illnesses as divisiveness, the claiming of rights, fornication, and the abuse of God-given rights in eating and in marriage. What could cure the believers of these diseases? The only cure was Christ, the divine medicine.
Let us review what is covered in chapters one through ten of 1 Corinthians concerning Christ as the antibiotic to cure all the diseases in the church. First, Christ is our unique portion, the One into whose fellowship we have been called by God (1 Cor. 1:2, 9). First Corinthians 1:2 says that Christ is “theirs and ours.” Verse 9 says, “God is faithful, through Whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Because God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, the Son is now our portion.
In 1 Corinthians 1:30 we see certain aspects of this portion: “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, Who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24). As wisdom to us from God, Christ becomes our daily righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Daily we may enjoy Christ as our righteousness. If we enjoy Him in this way, we can declare, “Angels and demons, and all human beings, I am right with God and man. I am right with my family and with all the brothers and sisters in the church. This is my testimony because daily Christ is my righteousness.”
We can also testify that Christ is our daily sanctification and holiness. Day by day we enjoy Him as such a portion to us. Therefore, we can expect the angels and demons to confirm the fact that we are sanctified. We can say, “Angels and demons, you must realize that I am holy. I ask you to confirm the fact of my holiness in Christ. The Son of God, who is both the wisdom of God and the power of God, is becoming my daily holiness and sanctification.”
Holiness is the substance, whereas sanctification is the activity of being made holy. Day by day we have not only holiness, the element, but we also have sanctification, the process. The Christ who is our portion for our enjoyment is sanctifying us daily.
A married couple can experience Christ as their righteousness and sanctification in their married life. Suppose a husband is unhappy with his wife and gives her a difficult time. If the sister calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, she will gain Him as righteousness and also as sanctification. She will experience the Lord sanctifying her from within. The Lord’s moving inwardly will keep her from losing her temper with her husband. Otherwise, she may be offended and begin to argue with her husband.
Simply by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, we experience something mysterious and wonderful within us sanctifying us and keeping us from losing our temper. Eventually, this sanctification becomes our holiness. Furthermore, this holiness is a Person, the Son of God, the unique portion into which God has called us. God has called us into the fellowship of Christ. Now, daily and hourly, we need to enjoy Him, first as righteousness, then as sanctification, and then as redemption.
In 1 Corinthians chapter two we see that Christ, the mysterious One, is the deep things of God. In order to discern Him and realize Him, we must be a spiritual person, a person who exercises the spirit and lives in the spirit. If we are soulish, those who live in the soul, we shall not be able to know Him. Only by living in the spirit and exercising our spirit can we know Christ in order to experience Him.
According to Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 3, Christ is a living foundation, a foundation that grows. In this chapter Paul says that he planted, that Apollos watered, and that God gives the growth. To give the growth is a matter of growing Christ. The Christ who grows within us is the unique foundation. Hence, it is a living, growing foundation.
As the foundation grows in us, this growth produces gold, silver, and precious stones, the materials needed for the building up of the church. This is to experience Christ, to enjoy Christ, and to partake of Christ so that we may be transformed for the building. In this way we have the precious materials for the building up of the Body. This is to live Christ for the church.
In 1 Corinthians 5:8 we have Christ as our feast. Christ is not merely our Passover; He is our Passover feast. Now we are feasting on Him and enjoying Him as the unleavened bread. As our portion, Christ is our unleavened enjoyment. When we enjoy this portion, we are cleansed from every kind of leaven. Enjoying Christ as the unleavened bread causes us to become unleavened. This purification from every kind of leaven is not a suffering. It is not the result of being placed on a surgical table; it comes from sitting at a table of feasting where we enjoy Christ as unleavened bread.
In chapter six we see that Christ is the Spirit and that we are one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). Eventually the Spirit will saturate us and cause even our physical bodies to become the members of Christ. This means that not only is our spirit organically united with Him, but even our bodies become Christ’s members. Even our body is grafted into Christ.
We often think of our physical body as being the flesh, full of lusts. This is true when the body is viewed from the standpoint of the fall. But according to Christ’s full salvation, which includes metabolic transformation, our body is grafted into Christ and becomes a member of Christ. When I saw this, I was very happy and said, “O Lord Jesus, hallelujah! Not only am I a member of You in my spirit, but even my body is Your member. My body is part of You, a member of Christ!” Do you believe that your body is a member of Christ? We all must believe this. The more you believe it, the more the indwelling Spirit will saturate your body and cause it to be organically united with Christ.
Furthermore, our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. We often say that it is our spirit which is the habitation of God. Ordinarily we say that God’s temple is in our spirit. But 1 Corinthians 6:19 definitely indicates that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
How can our body be a member of Christ on the one hand and the temple of the Holy Spirit on the other hand? The answer is found in 1 Corinthians 6:17: “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Because we are one spirit with the Lord, our body becomes a member of Christ. Furthermore, because we are one spirit with Him, our body even becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is more than redemption or holiness. This means that our entire being is joined to God and made His temple. Our whole being is joined to Christ, and our body becomes a member of Christ.
First Corinthians 6:15-20 involves the Triune God and the tripartite man. In our whole being — spirit, soul, and body — we are united with the Triune God. Now the Triune God is involved with our tripartite being. This is Christ as the factor to heal us of all spiritual diseases. When we experience the Triune God becoming involved with the three parts of our being, we become genuine saints. We become even more holy than the angels.
If we would understand Paul’s writing, we must know Paul’s spirit and touch the burden in his spirit. We must also touch Paul’s deep concept. Paul’s Epistles are always related to his concept, his burden, and his spirit. In 1 Corinthians he had some concepts regarding the church in Corinth. Moreover, in his spirit there was a burden to write to the church there. In chapter six Paul’s concept was that the Corinthian believers must know that they are one spirit with the Lord and that their body should be permeated and saturated by the Spirit and thereby become the members of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit. Paul was burdened that the entire being of the Corinthians would be taken over and possessed by the Triune God. This was Paul’s burden in 1 Corinthians 6.
Chapter ten reveals that the very Christ who is our portion, who is our daily righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, who is so one with us that He is making our bodies His members and the temple of the Holy Spirit, has given Himself to us for our eating and drinking. Christ’s giving of Himself to us for our eating and drinking is for our enjoyment of Him.
The way Christ gave Himself to us was through death. The fact that the blood is separated from the body shows the way of death. Whenever the blood is separated from the body, that indicates death. Christ died on the cross, shedding His blood and sacrificing His body, not only for the purpose of redeeming us, but also for the purpose of giving Himself to us. Now when we come to the Lord’s table, we eat Him and drink Him. Eating and drinking denote receiving. Whenever we drink something or eat something, we receive that thing, we take it into us. Christ has given Himself, and now we are receiving Him. Hallelujah for this enjoyment of Christ!
The rich Christ revealed in 1 Corinthians is the unique factor to solve all the problems in human life. If we enjoy this Christ to a full extent, we shall not have any problems. Every problem will be solved, for we shall have the unique solution to all problems. The second Epistle to the Corinthians indicates that the diseases among the Corinthians were healed by the “medicine” ministered by Paul in his first Epistle. In chapter after chapter, Paul “injected” them with Christ. As a result, the Corinthians began to live a proper human life. Such a human life is a life that lives Christ.
If we do not live Christ, we cannot have a proper human life. We can have such a life only by receiving Christ and living Him. This kind of living is for the church. We need to live Christ for the church.
The divine administration is carried out by means of the church under the headship of Christ and of God. Under this headship, the members of the body function with their gifts. This is the operation which carries out God’s administration. This can be done only in resurrection life. In the realm of the divine administration first we have the headship, then the body, then the functions of the members by the gifts, and then resurrection life.
Resurrection is Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit. This Spirit, the reality of the resurrected Christ, is resurrection. Before His crucifixion and resurrection, the Lord Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Resurrection, therefore, is a living Person, the wonderful Christ. In this resurrection the Body functions under the headship to carry out God’s administration.
The last matter dealt with in 1 Corinthians is the collection for the needy saints. As Paul says, the offerings were given on the first day of every week. The first day of the week, the Lord’s day, was a sign, a symbol, of the resurrected Christ. The Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, was a sign of God as the Creator. Now the first day is a sign that the Triune God has been processed in resurrection to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit.
Today our God is not the God of the seventh day. That is the Jewish God. Our God is the God of the first day of the week. This means that He is God not only in creation, but, much more, He is God in resurrection. Now we have God not only in creation, but also in resurrection. God in creation is for our worship, but God in resurrection is not only for worship, but also for our enjoyment. The Jews know only how to worship God as the Creator. However, we enjoy our Triune God as the life-giving Spirit. The God in resurrection is for enjoyment.
Everything we do in the church life in principle must be on the first day of the week. This means that everything must be done in resurrection. If we live Christ and enjoy Him, experiencing Him, every day He will be resurrection to us. Then every day will be the first day of the week.
The first day does not symbolize a day; it symbolizes the Triune God who, having been processed, has become an enjoyable, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit. Now we may enjoy this Spirit. By enjoying the Spirit we are on the first day of the week. This is for God’s administration.
I can testify that in my experience I am in the first day of the week. I am in resurrection enjoying the all-inclusive Spirit, the One who is the processed God to be my portion. Hallelujah for such a portion! In our meetings we may now carry out the divine administration in resurrection on the first day of the week, participating in the processed Triune God as the life-giving Spirit. Whenever I come to this point, inwardly I am beside myself with joy. Praise the Lord for the marvelous revelation in 1 Corinthians!
First Corinthians is a book that speaks of living Christ for the church, a book that tells us how to live Christ for the church. Throughout the centuries, the Lord’s people have not realized that 1 Corinthians tells us to live Christ for the church. Believers have not had this language because they have not had the spiritual experience that gives rise to it. Language with its words and terms meets the needs of experience. For example, many years ago there was not such a word as computer. But after the invention of a computer, there was the need for a term to describe it. Hallelujah for our new spiritual experience! According to this experience we need to live Christ for the church. I can testify that my entire being is occupied with this. I do not have room for anything else. Every one of my messages issues from this experience. Outwardly I may do many different things, but inwardly I am always occupied with living Christ for the church.
I can testify that before giving this message, I was not clear what I should speak. I prayed like this: “Lord, we are open to You. We have made no decision concerning this message. Lord, we don’t know what You want us to say. Lead us and guide us, Lord. Infuse us with Your thought and feeling.” Then deep within I began to sense that I should speak on the subject of a pattern of living Christ for the church life.
We have emphasized that 1 Corinthians reveals that we should live Christ for the church. But it is in 2 Corinthians that we have the pattern of living Christ for the church. The wonderful and marvelous revelation in 1 Corinthians needs the pattern presented in 2 Corinthians. Therefore, after the first Epistle, Paul wrote the second Epistle for the purpose of showing the believers at Corinth a pattern of one who lives Christ for the church. In the following message we shall consider the details of this pattern.
