Scripture Reading: Col. 3:5-11; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; Gal. 3:27-28
In the second chapter of Colossians we see that Christ is the mystery of God (v. 2), the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead (v. 9), and the reality of all positive things (vv. 16-17). As the One who is the very embodiment of God, Christ is the reality of all positive things for our enjoyment. When we enjoy Him in this way, we immediately realize that He is the Head of the Body (v. 19). In 3:4 Paul goes on to say that Christ is our life. In the foregoing message we pointed out that we are one with Christ in position, life, living, destiny, and glory.
We need to give particular attention to the matter of life in 3:4. Paul says that Christ is our life. Nothing is more intimately related to us than our life. Actually our life is we ourselves. If we did not have life, we would cease to be. To say that Christ has become our life means that Christ has become us. If Christ does not become us, how can He be our life? Our life cannot be separated from our person. Since Christ is our life, He cannot be separated from us. Because our life is ourself and because Christ is our life, we may say that Christ has become us. However, to say this is neither to deify ourselves nor to teach “evolution into God.”
We should not stop with the doctrinal knowledge that Christ is our life. Christ must be our life in a practical and experiential way. Day by day, we need to experience Christ as our life. Christ should be our life within, and we should have one life and living with Him.
Human words cannot express adequately what it means for Christ to be our life. This is a matter we can understand, but we are short of utterance concerning it. But even though we cannot define it fully, we can experience it. We are not even able to thoroughly define or describe our physical life. We all have life, but we cannot explain what it is. If even our physical life is mysterious, how much more is this true of Christ as our life! God is the Creator of life, the unique source of life. Although we cannot define life or understand it fully, we certainly can experience it and enjoy it. Just as we cannot deny the fact of our physical life, so we cannot deny the fact that Christ is our life. Hallelujah, I have Christ as my life! Because we have another life — Christ as our life — we can live another kind of life. This life is Christ in us as our hope of glory (1:27). Christ is our life today and our hope of glory for the future.
In 3:10 and 11 Paul goes on to speak of the new man. The new man comes out of Christ as the mystery of God for our enjoyment. When we enjoy Christ as the mystery of God, the embodiment of God, and the reality of all positive things, the issue, the result, is first the Body of Christ. Then we have the realization and experience that Christ is our life and that we are living with Him. Eventually, the outcome is a corporate man — the new man.
Recently, brothers from more than fifty churches met together for fellowship. As we were meeting together, I had the sense that we were one new man, not a society or an organization. We admit that we are still quite short of Christ in our experience. But even the amount of Christ we do have enabled us to have a good enjoyment of the new man. We have a similar experience when brothers from different countries meet together. Even though we speak different languages and need translation in order to communicate, we still have the sense that we are one new man. Even with our present experience of Christ, we have some realization of the corporate new man. This new man is the issue of our experience of Christ as the reality of all positive things, the embodiment of God, and the mystery of God. If there are some among us with no experience of Christ and no enjoyment of Christ, they will be a hindrance to our fellowship. But all of us have some enjoyment of Christ. Our languages may be different, but our enjoyment is the same. It is this enjoyment that enables us to understand one another and to experience the one new man. The enjoyment of Christ issues in the new man.
In Colossians 2 and 3 we have Christ as the mystery of God. This Christ becomes our enjoyment, and this enjoyment results first in the Body and then in the new man. The sequence here corresponds to our experience. When we enjoy Christ as the reality of all positive things, we become Body-conscious. This indicates that the enjoyment of Christ issues in the Body of Christ. Then as we go on to experience Christ as our life and have one living, destiny, and glory with Him, the issue is not just the church as the Body of Christ, but the church as the one new man. To repeat, when we experience Christ as the reality of all our daily necessities, the result is the Body life. But when we experience Christ as our life, the issue is the one new man.
If we enjoy Christ as the reality of all positive things, we shall take Him as our food, drink, clothing, transportation, and housing. If we go on to enjoy and experience Him as the mysterious life within us and live together with Him, we shall seek the things above, the things in heaven, where Christ is interceding, ministering, and administrating God’s economy. Christ in heaven is very active, even more busy than when He was on earth. He is interceding for us, shepherding all His churches, and ministering on behalf of millions of saints. As the High Priest in heaven, He is interceding for us. Because we have such a high priest, we may “come forward with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for timely help” (Heb. 4:16). As He intercedes for us, Christ is ministering the heavenly life supply into us. He is the heavenly Minister ministering in the heavens (Heb. 8:1-2). According to Revelation 5:6, as the Lamb on the throne, Christ is executing God’s universal administration. Because Christ is so active for us in the heavens, we should seek the things that are above and set our mind on them. Yes, we need to enjoy Christ as our food, drink, clothing, and everything for our daily existence. But we must go on to seek the things above.
To seek the things above and to set our mind on them is to live Christ, to have one living with Him. When Christ prays in heaven, we should pray on earth. This means that there is a transmission between the Christ praying in heaven and us praying on earth. By means of this transmission we may pray in oneness with Him. We respond on earth to Christ’s praying in heaven. None of us should be unemployed. We all have the responsibility to respond to Christ’s heavenly transmission. We need to live together with Christ by seeking the things which are above and setting our mind on them. Christ is in heaven interceding, ministering, and administrating, and we are on earth responding to Christ’s activity in heaven.
Young people, do not think that you are too young to cooperate with Christ’s heavenly ministry. Even high school students can seek the things which are above. C. H. Spurgeon began to minister in his village when he was just seventeen, and when he was nineteen he was invited to speak to a Baptist congregation in London. Even as a young man, Spurgeon sought to carry out on earth the work Christ was doing in heaven. If Spurgeon could begin serving the Lord as a young person, the young people in the churches today can do the same.
We all can experience Christ as our daily necessities and also enjoy Him by seeking the things which are above. The more we enjoy Christ as the reality of the positive things in our daily life, the more this enjoyment will bring us into the church life, into the Body life. But we must go on to enjoy Christ as our life and live with Him, having the same living with Christ. Christ today is living in the heavens to intercede for the churches, to minister the heavenly life supply to the saints, and to carry out God’s administration. However, most Christians do not respond to Christ’s living in the heavens. They are like radios that are not turned on and tuned in to receive the transmission of the radio waves in the atmosphere. Although Christ is in heaven ministering and transmitting, many Christians are not responding to His ministry or receiving His transmission. We thank the Lord that a number of those in the local churches today have their receivers open and operating. When they sense that Christ is praying in heaven for a certain matter, they join Him to pray on earth for that very matter. For example, sensing that the Lord is praying for the church in Accra, Ghana, they join in to pray for the church there. To pray together with Christ in this way is to have one living with Him.
Seeking the things above and having one living with Christ issues in the church as the new man. According to the sequence in Colossians 3, we first experience Christ as our life and live together with Him. Then, according to 3:5-9, we put to death our members which are on the earth and put off the old man with his practices. Following this, we put on the new man (v. 10). In verse 5 Paul charges us to “put to death”: in verse 8, to “put away” certain negative things; and in verse 9, to “put off the old man with his practices.” According to verse 5, we are to put to death the lusts of the fallen body. According to verse 8, we are to put away the evil things of the fallen soul. Finally, according to verse 9, we are to put off the old man as a whole. To put off the old man is like putting off an old garment. Only by living together with Christ can we accomplish these things. When we live together with Christ, we can put off the lusts of the flesh, put away the evil aspects of the fallen soul, and put off the totality of our old being. Then, positively, we can put on the new man. By living together with Christ, by experiencing Him as our life and seeking the things which are above, we put away all the negative things and put on the new man. We put on the new man only by living with Christ, by enjoying Him as our life and seeking the things above.
If we seek the things above and have one living with Christ, we shall be wholly occupied with the enterprise of our Master. Our heart will be with Him in heaven, where He is interceding for the churches, supplying the saints, and administrating God’s government. This will be our concern, our desire. If we take Christ as life and seek the things which are above in such a way, the lustful members will be put to death, the evil elements in the fallen soul will be put away, and the old man will be put off. Furthermore, we shall automatically put on the new man.
To us, Colossians should not be only a book of doctrine, but should be a book of experience. Although the Christ revealed in this book is profound, extensive, and all-inclusive, we can still experience Him. We can enjoy Him as our daily necessities, take Him as our life, and live together with Him. Furthermore, we can seek the things which are above and set our mind on them. Do you not aspire to be one with the Lord in the heavenlies and to have a heart that is one with His heart? Do you not long to be one with Him in His priesthood, ministry, and administration? I would encourage all the young people especially to care for God’s purpose by seeking the things which are above and living together with Christ.
We expect that through the enjoyment of Christ the one new man will come forth and be expressed in a practical way. We do not want the new man merely in doctrine, but in reality and in practice. The new man does not come by way of organization. Something organized may be a society or a religion, but it is not the new man. The new man comes forth only by our taking Christ as our life and living together with Him.
It is wonderful to enjoy Christ as the reality of our daily necessities, but it is even more wonderful to take Him as our life and live together with Him. I can testify that the more we live Christ and take His concern as our concern, the happier we are. My only concern is the Lord’s recovery with all the churches and all the saints. My desire is that the saints would experience Christ and grow in life. I have no other burden, no other concern. I am fully occupied with God’s purpose. Because I am filled with Christ’s concern, I am very happy. There is no room in me for negative things. Being occupied with the Lord’s interests makes me very healthy.
I am happy that there are so many young people in the Lord’s recovery. The recovery certainly has a glorious future. We all need to care for the Lord’s interests. While He is praying in heaven, we respond in prayer on earth. Thus, we experience the transmission between Christ and us, a transmission that will make us happy and full of joy. Christ works in the heavens, and we work on earth. In this way, we not only enjoy Christ as the reality of our necessities, but we also take Him as our life and have one living with Him.
Our living with Christ is not aimless; it has a definite purpose. This purpose is to be one with Christ in His intercession for the churches, in His ministry of the heavenly life supply to the saints, and in His administration of God’s government. We have pointed out again and again that the result of living together with the Lord in such a way is the new man. We cannot produce the new man by organization. The new man is the spontaneous issue of our taking Christ as our life and living Him.
The desire of God’s heart is to have the new man. This was His plan in eternity past, and this was the reason He created the universe and accomplished redemption for us in Christ. The preaching of the gospel and the new creation are likewise for the new man. The time has come for God to have the new man expressed on earth. If we take Christ as our life and live together with Him, the new man will come forth to satisfy God’s desire.
In the new man Christ is every member. Concerning this, Paul says in 3:11, “Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all.” This means that in the new man there is no place, no room, for any natural person. There is no place for regional, cultural, or national distinctions. For example, in the new man there cannot be Chinese or Americans, Californians or Texans. Likewise, in the new man there is no room for Jew or Greek, for religious ones or nonreligious ones, for cultured ones or uncultured ones, for freemen or slaves. There is no room for any race, nationality, culture, or social status. In the one new man there is room only for Christ. Christ surely is all the members of the new man.
Perhaps you are wondering how Christ can be all in the new man. For this to be a reality, we must take Christ as our life and live Him, not ourselves. If Christ is the living of all the saints, then only He will be in the new man. Those from America will no longer live an American life, and those from Japan will no longer live a Japanese life. All the saints, whatever their nationality may be, will live Christ. Then in a way that is real and practical, Christ will be all the members of the new man. Christ will be you, and Christ will be me. Because we all live Christ, not ourselves, Christ will be all of us, every member of the new man.
In the local churches we are not concerned with helping others improve their natural life. We would rather help them to crucify their natural person and bury it so that they may live Christ. The death of our natural person will usher us into resurrection, where we can take Christ as life. I can testify that the more I experience crucifixion with Christ, the more I take Christ as my life in resurrection and live Him.
No matter how much opposition we receive from religion, I have the assurance that the new man will come forth. The saints are learning to live Christ, and they are becoming constituted of Him. Meeting after meeting, Christ is being wrought into the saints. I can testify of certain brothers whom I have known for years that they are being gloriously constituted of Christ. They are truly experiencing the Lord’s transformation. Nothing makes me more joyful than to see the saints taking Christ as life, living Him, and seeking the things which are above for the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose.
In 3:11 Paul says not only that Christ is all, but also that He is in all. In other words, on the one hand, Christ is all the members, and on the other hand, He is in all the members. Since Paul says that Christ is all, why is there the need for him to say that Christ is in all? If Paul did not say that Christ is in all, only that He is all, then we may think that in the new man Christ is needed and that we are not needed. We should not think that, because Christ is all the members in the new man, we are nothing and are not needed. On the one hand, the Bible does say that in the new man there is no place for the natural person because Christ is all the members. Yet, on the other hand, Paul says that Christ is in the members. The fact that Christ is in the members of the new man indicates that the members still exist.
When we take Christ as our life and live together with Him, seeking the things which are above, we have the sense deep within that we are one with Christ and that Christ is us. But simultaneously we have an even deeper sense that Christ is in us. Therefore, it is true to say that Christ is both in us and that He is us. We are part of the new man with Christ in us. We continue to exist, but we do not exist without Christ; we are those indwelt by Christ. Now we can rejoice and say to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, when I take You as my life and live together with You, You are me. I am altogether one with You. But, Lord, I am still here, for You are in me. I am here, but I am here with You.” According to our experience, we all can give such a testimony. When we live Christ and are one with Him, we say, “Lord Jesus, this is not me — it is You.” However, at the same time, we have the sense that we are with the Lord and that He is in us.
In the new man Christ is everyone and He is also in everyone. How wonderful! This is to experience Christ not only as the reality of our daily necessities, but to have Him as our life and to be one with Him in the divine enterprise. When we are one with Him in this way, He becomes us, and we live with Him in us. We live, but we live not alone, but with Christ in us. I believe that the Lord’s intention is that day by day we have more experience of this, taking Christ as our life, living together with Him, seeking the things which are above, and coordinating with Him for the carrying out of God’s eternal purpose. Then we shall all be able to say that to us to live is Christ and that Christ lives in us.
