Weekly Ministry (Nov 8 – Nov 14, 2021)

HWMR – Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Week 11)

Boaz and Ruth Typifying Christ and the Church

Ruth 4:10 Furthermore Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I acquire as my own wife so that I may raise up the dead man’s name upon his inheritance and the dead man’s name may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.

The book of Ruth tells us that Boaz redeemed Ruth; he also redeemed the birthright for her. This means that Christ, as our real Boaz, has redeemed both us and the birthright.

Boaz redeemed his kinsman’s inheritance and married the man’s widow (Ruth 4:1-17); hence, he became a notable forefather of Christ, a great associate of Christ. As a brother and a Boaz, you should take care of others’ birthright of Christ….In other words, you should not only take care of your own enjoyment of Christ, but also others’ enjoyment of Christ.

Ruth and Naomi had lost the enjoyment, the birthright, but according to God’s regulation there was a way to restore the birthright, to redeem it. But it had to be redeemed by someone else. The principle is the same in the church life today….Quite often, some dear ones lose their enjoyment of Christ. In a sense, they become Naomi or Ruth. If so, you need to be a Boaz, able to redeem the lost birthright and marry the redeemed one.

To lose the husband means to lose the enjoyment of the birthright….Thus, I need you, as my brother, to redeem my birthright. But you need to be somewhat richer in Christ….Then you pay the price to regain my birthright, and you also marry me. This means that you become involved with me. This kind of spiritual involvement will produce Obed, the grandfather of David. Boaz became one of the great forefathers of Christ. In a spiritual sense, he was the one who enjoyed the largest and richest portion of Christ. If a brother becomes a Boaz to me, he will be the one with the greatest enjoyment of Christ. Because he redeemed my birthright and became so involved with me, our involvement in the Lord will eventually bring forth the full enjoyment of Christ.

In the church life today we need to have a number of Boazes….Some brothers should take care of me, the poor Ruth, but they are selfish in the spiritual enjoyment of Christ. Even in the spiritual enjoyment of Christ it is quite possible to be selfish. However, a Boaz will be generous and pay the price to redeem my birthright. All this indicates that we should take care of not only our own birthright, but also others’ birthright. Day by day we should take care of others’ enjoyment of Christ. The more we do this, the better. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 32-33)

Life-study of Colossians (Message 55)

Not Defrauded of Your Prize of the Enjoyment of Christ

Col. 2:18 Let no one defraud you by judging you unworthy of your prize, in self-chosen lowliness and the worship of the angels, dwelling on the things which he has seen, vainly puffed up by his mind set on the flesh,

In our daily living it is easy for us to be more concerned about our behavior than about the enjoyment of Christ. As those who love the Lord and seek Him, we have a natural desire to uplift our behavior. We earnestly desire to have an upright daily life. Whenever we fail the Lord in our daily walk, we are full of regret and we confess to the Lord and ask Him to forgive us and cleanse us. Although we may be very exercised in matters like this, we may not care adequately for the enjoyment of Christ. Oh, we need to enjoy Christ in our daily living!

We have seen that we need to enjoy Christ in the daily matters of eating and drinking. The fact that we eat and drink a number of times during the day indicates that we should not be content to enjoy Christ just once a day. Eating and drinking are shadows. If we eat and drink more than once a day, then we should also enjoy Christ more than once a day. We should experience Christ not only daily, but many times throughout every day.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul says, “Pray without ceasing.” To pray in a genuine way is to enjoy Christ. I regret to say that much of our prayer is not genuine, for we often do not enjoy Christ as we pray. Whenever we pray properly in the spirit, we enjoy Christ. To pray unceasingly actually means to enjoy Christ without ceasing. We need to enjoy Christ continually. However, not many of us have been helped to live a spiritual life in the way of constantly enjoying Christ. For this we need to pray that the Lord would grant us the grace to enjoy Him daily and throughout every day.

In Paul’s word about shadows we have a hint as to how we may enjoy Christ in a practical way. Since such things as eating and drinking are shadows of which Christ is the substance and reality, we need to be reminded whenever we eat and drink that the real food and the real drink are Christ. When you eat your food, you should simultaneously eat Christ. When you drink some beverage, you should also drink Christ. As you put on your clothing, you should be reminded that Christ is the real clothing, and you should experience Him as such. As you put on your material clothing, you should also put on Christ. It is easy to enjoy Christ in this way. Whatever we do day by day should remind us of Christ as the reality of that thing. Even our breathing should remind us of the necessity of breathing Christ spiritually.

If we follow the practice of taking Christ as the reality of all the material things in our daily life, our daily walk will be revolutionized and transformed. It will be full of Christ. When we eat and drink, we shall take Christ as our spiritual food and drink. Everything we do will remind us to contact Christ, to enjoy Christ, to experience Christ, and to have Christ as our everything. To practice this day by day is truly to enjoy Christ.

Life-study of Colossians (Message 56)

Holding the Head, Out from Whom All the Body Grows with Growth of God

Col. 2:19 And not holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.

To understand properly what it means to hold the Head, we need to consider 2:16 and 17, where Paul tells us that Christ is the body, the substance, the reality, of all the shadows. Eating, drinking, Sabbaths, new moons, and feasts are all shadows of things to come, whereas Christ is the body, the reality, of these shadows. Based upon this fact, Paul warns us not to allow anyone to purposely defraud us of our prize. His warning in 2:18 and 19 is based upon the fact, revealed in verses 16 and 17, that Christ is the reality of all positive things. Those who seek to defraud us are the ones who stand on things which they have seen and who do not hold the Head. Thus, there is a connection between Christ as the body of the shadows and holding the Head. In other words, the very Christ who is the reality of all positive things is the One who is the Head of the Body. If we would know what it means to hold the Head, we must know what it is to enjoy Christ as the reality of all positive things. Without enjoying Christ in this way, we cannot experientially hold Him as the Head. With this as the background, we can now say that to hold the Head is simply to enjoy Christ as the reality of all positive things.

The genuine Christian life is a life of enjoying Christ. We need to enjoy the Lord all day long. We have seen that in speaking of eating, drinking, Sabbaths, new moons, and feasts Paul refers to matters of daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly enjoyment. Actually, we eat and drink several times a day. In Paul’s use of illustrations in 2:16, he covers the whole span from the hourly enjoyment of Christ to the yearly enjoyment of Him. This indicates that we should enjoy Christ continually. When I drink a glass of water, I should remember to drink Christ. When I eat my food, I should enjoy Christ as the real food. Whenever we enjoy Christ in this way, we automatically hold Him as the Head. Thus, the best way to hold Christ as the Head is to enjoy Him. There is no better way to hold Christ than to eat Him. Just as we hold food by taking it into us and eating it, so we hold Christ by eating Him.

In 2:16-19, Paul takes a great leap, from Christ as everything for our enjoyment, which is on the ground floor, to Christ as the Head, which is the top floor of our experience. As we enjoy Christ as food, drink, air, and everything to us, we are uplifted by a divine elevator to the very height, where we hold Christ as the Head. But if we stop enjoying Christ, we immediately stop holding Him as the Head. Only when we enjoy Him do we also hold Him. This is not a doctrine learned from theology books. It is a fact of Christian experience. From my experience throughout the years I have learned that to hold the Head is to enjoy Christ continually. We are vessels made to contain Him, and we hold Him by eating, drinking, and breathing Him. By this we see that holding Christ as the Head is a very subjective matter.

In 2:17 Paul says that the body is of Christ, but in verse 19 he speaks not of Christ, but of holding the Head. The reason for the change in terminology from Christ to the Head is that our enjoyment of the Lord causes us to become conscious of the Body. If we are those who enjoy Christ continually, we shall not continue to be individualistic. The saints who are individualistic are those who do not consistently enjoy the Lord. The more we enjoy Christ, the more we become Body-conscious. We should touch the Lord in the morning, but in the evening we should come to the church meetings. It is not normal to enjoy the Lord during the day and neglect the meetings of the church, which is His Body. Even if your environment does not allow you to attend all the meetings, inwardly you should have the sense that your whole inner being is with the saints in the church meeting. This consciousness of the Body comes from the enjoyment of Christ.

What we enjoy of Christ day by day is actually something of Him as the Head. This is the reason that when we enjoy Christ, He causes us to become conscious of the Body. According to our experience, we know that the more we enjoy Christ, the more intense is our desire for the Body. However, if we fail to contact the Lord for a period of time, we shall automatically neglect the church life or lose interest in the meetings. The less we contact the Lord, the more critical we become of the church or of the saints. We have an eye for the faults and shortcomings of others. This shortage of the enjoyment of Christ opens the door for the enemy, Satan, to come in to make us critical of other members of the Body. But if we begin again to enjoy the Lord, the door will gradually close. Eventually, if we are constant in our enjoyment of Christ, the door will be completely shut. Then, instead of criticizing the church, we shall praise the Lord for the church life, and we shall testify how much we love it. What brings about such a change is not admonition or correction, but the recovery of the enjoyment of Christ.

The dear, precious One whom we enjoy as our food, drink, and breath, is the Head of the Body. Because Paul had a thorough realization of this, he could leap from Christ as the reality of all positive things for our enjoyment to the matter of Christ as the Head. Since the Christ we enjoy as our everything is the Head of the Body, the more we enjoy Him, the more we become Body-conscious. This indicates that the enjoyment of Christ is not an individualistic matter. It is a Body matter. We need to enjoy Christ as members of the Body in a corporate way.

Weekly Ministry (Nov 1 – Nov 7, 2021)

HWMR – Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Week 10)

Ruth’s Choosing for Her Goal, Exercising Her Right, Seeking for Her Rest, and Receiving a Reward for God’s Economy

Key Point – The book of Ruth portrays the way, the position, the qualification, and the right of sinners to participate in Christ and to enjoy Christ;

Col. 1:12 Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.

Ruth, as one who had returned to God from her heathen background, exercised her right to partake of the rich produce of the inheritance of God’s elect. Ruth, a Moabitess, had come to the good land as a sojourner. According to her threefold status as a sojourner, a poor one, and a widow, she exercised her right to glean the harvest. Although she was poor, she never became a beggar. Her gleaning was not her begging; it was her right.

The book of Ruth portrays the way, the position, the qualification, and the right of sinners to participate in Christ and to enjoy Christ. According to God’s ordination, we have been qualified and positioned to claim our right to enjoy Christ. This means that today we do not need to beg God to save us. We can go to God to claim His salvation for ourselves. We have the position, the qualification, and the right to claim salvation from God. This is the highest standard of receiving the gospel.

As a narration, the book of Ruth is lovely, touching, convincing, and subduing. In the aromatic story in chapter 2, four types are implied. Boaz, rich in wealth (2:1), typifies Christ, who is rich in the divine grace (2 Cor. 12:9). The field of the God-promised good land (Ruth 2:2-3) typifies the all-inclusive Christ, who is the source of all the spiritual and divine products for the life supply to God’s elect (Phil. 1:19b). Barley and wheat (Ruth 2:23) typify Christ as the material for making food for both God and His people (Lev. 2; John 6:9, 33, 35). Ruth, a Moabitess (Deut. 23:3), a heathen sinner, alienated from God’s promises (Eph. 2:12), given the right to partake of the gleaning of the harvest of God’s elect typifies the “ Gentile dogs” who are privileged to partake of the crumbs under the table of the portion of God’s elect children (Col. 1:12; Matt. 15:25-28). (Life-study of Ruth, pp. 14-15)

Life-study of Colossians (Message 53)

In Christ Made Full, Circumcised, Raised, and Made Alive Together with Him

Col. 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,

Col. 2:10 And you have been made full in Him, who is the Head of all rule and authority.

The section of Colossians which includes 2:8-15 is rather complicated. It contains a number of important points. Many of these points are related to Christ as the good land, as the rich soil in which we have been rooted. The expression “having been rooted” in verse 7 implies that there is soil. Verses 8 through 15 are a full description of Christ as the soil in which we have been rooted. Having been rooted in the soil, we grow with the elements we absorb from the soil. We know that Christ as the soil is in our spirit. Now we must go on to see, from verses 8 through 15, a description of the very soil in which we have been rooted. These verses present a full description and definition of the soil.

The first aspect of this very special soil is found in verse 9: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” We have been rooted in the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. We should not allow anyone to carry us away from such a soil. To be carried away from this soil is to be uprooted from it. When the book of Colossians was written, some were trying to uproot the believers from Christ. The believers had been rooted in Christ as the good land, as the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells. Instead of allowing anyone to carry us away from this soil, we must stay rooted in it.

In 2:10 Paul continues, “And you in Him are made full, Who is the Head of all rule and authority.” Here we see more concerning the substance of Christ as the soil. One aspect of the soil is that of the fullness of the Godhead; another aspect is that Christ is the Head of all rule and authority. In Christ as the good land we have a number of different elements. The first element is all the fullness of the Godhead, and the second is the Head of all rule and authority.

In verses 11 through 15 we find more elements. Verse 11 says, “In Whom also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ.” The soil also includes the circumcision of Christ, which denotes cutting and killing. In the soil there is, therefore, a killing element. Verse 12, which says that we were buried together with Christ in baptism, indicates that the soil also contains the element of burial. In Christ as the soil there is a substance which causes us to be buried. After burial, we are raised up. In verse 12 Paul speaks of God who raised Christ from among the dead. This expression indicates that in Christ as the soil there is an element which causes us to be raised up. According to verse 13, we also are made alive. There is an element in the soil which gives us life, enlivens us. In 1 Corinthians 15:45 Paul speaks of the life-giving Spirit. In Colossians 2:13 he uses the same Greek term for life-giving, only in the past tense. As the soil, Christ has made us alive; He has given us life.

In verses 14 and 15 Paul continues, “Wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us, which was contrary to us; and He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. Stripping off the rulers and the authorities, He made a display of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” Here we have more elements that are found in Christ as the soil. The wiping out of the handwriting in ordinances is an element in the soil. The same is true of the stripping off of the rulers and the authorities, the making of a display of them openly, and the triumphing over them in the cross. As the soil, Christ includes all these marvelous elements. Praise Him that He is such a rich soil! We have been rooted in this soil. Day by day, our roots need to sink deeper into Christ as the unique soil.

Life-study of Colossians (Message 54)

In Christ and According to Christ

Rom. 8:4 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

The commandment to walk according to spirit is all-inclusive. It includes what the Bible says about husbands loving their wives, about wives submitting to their husbands, about children honoring their parents, and about parents caring for their children. All the necessary virtues, such as humility, kindness, honesty, faithfulness, and love, are included in the walk according to the spirit. God does not want us to endeavor to be virtuous, loving or submissive. He only wants us to walk according to the spirit. Oh, it is crucial for us to see this!

The book of Colossians reveals that Christ is all-inclusive and extensive. In Him we have everything, for in Him we are made full, perfect, and complete, and we are supplied and satisfied. Now we must go on to see that, for our practical experience, this all-inclusive and extensive Christ is the Spirit. Those who do not care for the experience of Christ will deny that Christ is the Spirit. But we who care for the experience of Christ must see that the New Testament reveals clearly that the Lord is now the Spirit. As the Spirit, the Lord is in our spirit. Thus, we know what the Lord is—the Spirit—and we know where He is—in our spirit. The Lord wants us to be able to locate Him. Knowing that He is the Spirit in our spirit, it is easy for us to contact Him. Should someone ask you where is the Christ about whom you talk so much, you should answer that He dwells in your spirit.

We need to apply the matter of walking according to spirit in every aspect of our daily living. For example, the brothers who live together need to apply this to their conversation with one another. One brother may be accustomed to speaking according to his mind, whereas another brother may talk according to his emotion. Both brothers must learn to talk according to the spirit. When they rise up early in the morning, they should exercise to talk not from the mind or from the emotion, but from the spirit. The brothers should pray, “Lord, grant me the grace to speak from my spirit.” However, instead of doing this, the brothers may live according to the tradition of men and the elements of the world. Although they may not quarrel with each other, they may live according to their humanity which has been refined by the church life and not live according to Christ.

A very important area in which to walk according to our spirit is our married life. It is difficult for husbands to remain in the spirit with their wives. It is easy for them to be either in the mind, the emotion, or the will. One of the most difficult things for a brother to do is to turn to his spirit in the presence of his wife. But we brothers need to learn to walk according to spirit in relating to our wives. If a brother’s wife treats him well, he may be happy. But if she is not pleasant to him, he may be offended. Instead of turning to the spirit, he may choose to stay in his emotion. But whether our wives are kind or unkind, we need to stay in our spirit. If your wife rebukes you, stay in the spirit. If she speaks well of you, stay in the spirit. If you stay in the spirit, you will walk according to Christ in your married life.

Wives also need to learn to be in the spirit when they are with their husbands. This is even more difficult than for a husband to be in spirit with his wife. Many sisters can be in the spirit with almost anyone except their husbands. When they are with their husbands, they are usually in the emotion, not in the spirit. We need the Lord’s mercy and grace to be in the spirit with our husband or wife. We must confess that, to a large degree, our married life is not according to Christ. Let us look to the Lord that He would grant us the mercy and grace to have our married life according to the spirit. This is basic and crucial for the church life. The married life is the foundation of the family life, the family life is the basis of our daily life, and our daily life is the basis of the church life. This shows the crucial importance of our married life. If we can live according to our spirit in our married life, a great many difficulties will disappear.

It is vital that we learn to behave according to our spirit at home. A brother may be careful to be in spirit with the saints, but not with his children. Actually, we should be more exercised to be in spirit with our children than with the brothers and sisters. If in our daily life at home we are exercised to live, walk, and have our being according to the spirit, our living will be according to Christ, not according to the tradition of men or the elements of the world. If our daily walk is according to the spirit, we shall spontaneously know what to say and what to do. There will be no need for regulations or a code of behavior. The Spirit in our spirit will be our unique, living regulation. When we walk according to the divine Spirit mingled with our human spirit, we shall have our being according to Christ. Then not only shall we be in Christ, but we shall also be according to Christ. May the Lord grant us the grace to go on from simply being in Christ to living according to Christ. Praise the Lord that we are in Him. Now He is waiting for us to satisfy the desire of His heart by walking according to Him.

Weekly Ministry (Oct 25 – Oct 31, 2021)

HWMR – Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Week 9)

The Children of Israel Not Having a King and Everyone Doing What Was Right in His Own Eyes

Key Point – We need to realize that Christ is our King reigning in our hearts and recognize the kingship of Christ in the local churches, where we live under His kingship

1 Tim. 1:17 Now to the King of the ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

In 1 Timothy 1:17…“ages” actually means eternity. This word needs to be understood in relation to the decline of the church. When Paul was in prison, the churches began to decline, and the situation was very disappointing. Many were discouraged. Even some of Paul’s co-workers left him. But he had a strong faith with an absolute assurance that the very God in whom he believed, the One who had entrusted him with the gospel of glory, is the King of the ages, the One with the absolute authority for eternity, who never changes. No earthly king can be called the King of the ages….The God whom Paul served truly is the King of the ages, the King of eternity. The One whom we serve and who is being dispensed into us is the King of the ages. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 51-52)

We have to realize that, according to Hebrews 6:5, the age of grace, the New Testament age, is a foretaste of the coming age….Thus, what we are enjoying today is a foretaste of the coming kingdom in the age of restoration. Thus, today we have to realize that Christ is our King. He reigns not only in our hearts but also in the tent of David. In the Old Testament, when the tent of David was set up, when David’s kingdom was fully established, that was a great consolation and joy to the Israelites. In the coming age, when Christ reigns in the tent of David, that will be a greater consolation to Israel. Christ reigning in the tent of David signifies consolation, encouragement, and restoration….For Him to reign in us in the tent of David means that He reigns in us with a kingdom. [Isaiah 16:5 says that] Christ’s throne will be established in lovingkindness. Lovingkindness means tender affection. All of us can approach His throne because lovingkindness is there.

Christ sits upon His throne in truth. Truth here means truthfulness and faithfulness. Christ is not only loving and kind but also truthful and faithful. He is the worthy One. As the One sitting upon the throne in the tent of David, He is the real David. He judges and pursues justice. To judge is to adjust and correct in order to make peace. Christ is the unique Judge in the whole universe. In our natural being, we do not treat others justly. The husbands do not treat the wives in justice, nor do the wives treat the husbands in justice. But Christ is perfectly just with everyone and pursues justice in all of His judgments. He is also the One hastening righteousness.

Isaiah 16:5 shows that with Christ there is lovingkindness, truthfulness, faithfulness, justice, and righteousness. Today Christ reigns in us in the tent of David, bringing in the kingdom with lovingkindness, truthfulness, faithfulness, justice, and righteousness. If we are under His ruling, His reigning, we will be the same as He is in these virtues. When Christ reigns in the millennium, even the brightest things “will be ashamed” [Isa. 24:23]. But even today we can enjoy Christ reigning in us as a foretaste of His reign in the coming age. (Life-study of Isaiah, pp. 283-285)

Life-study of Colossians (Message 51)

Have Been Rooted in Christ and Being Built Up in Him (1)

Col. 2:7 Having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Having been rooted in Christ and being built up in Christ are both related to walking in Christ (2:6). If we would walk in Christ, we must meet two conditions: we must be rooted in Him, and we must be in the process of being built up in Him. On the one hand, we have already been rooted in Christ; on the other hand, we are being built up in Him. When these conditions are met, we shall be able to walk in Christ. In experience we all need to know what it means to be rooted in Christ and to be built up in Him.

As a result of being rooted in Christ and absorbing His riches into us, we grow in Him, just as trees grow by absorbing nourishment from the soil. In order for a tree to grow, it must receive some substantial nourishment. The nourishment in the soil becomes the substance by which a tree grows.

Not many of today’s Christians realize what genuine growth is. True growth is not the result of acquiring more doctrinal knowledge. It is the result of turning to the spirit, remaining in the spirit, and absorbing the nourishing element of Christ. Only by assimilating this element can we grow spiritually. The more this rich element is added into our being, the more we grow.

Colossians 2:19 says that by holding the Head the Body “grows with the growth of God.” To grow with the growth of God is to grow by having God Himself added into us. This takes place only when we are rooted in Christ as the soil. God Himself with His element and substance is the rich nourishment in Christ. If we remain rooted in our spirit, we absorb this element, and this causes us to grow with the growth of God. We grow with the addition, the increase, of God into us. This is altogether a matter of the genuine experience of Christ in our daily life.

We have seen that if we would walk in Christ, we must be planted and rooted in Christ, the divine Spirit in our spirit, and remain in Him. Whenever we find ourselves out of the spirit, we need to turn back to the spirit and stay there. By remaining in the spirit, we are rooted in Christ in a practical way and thereby absorb the rich nourishment into our spirit. As this nourishment flows into our inner being, it causes us to grow with the growth of God. Growth takes place as God is added into us, for the rich nourishment in Christ is actually God Himself. From our experience we know that as we are rooted in Christ, we grow and, spontaneously, we then walk in Him.

It is important to see that if we have not been built up individually, we shall not be able to be built up with others corporately. The building of the meeting hall in Anaheim illustrates this. The material used in the construction of the hall was first built up in itself; then it was used with other pieces of material to form the meeting hall. Redwood, for example, was used in the exterior. But a tender sprout of a redwood tree could not be used for this, could it? The redwood trees first had to grow and be built up in themselves by absorbing the riches from the soil. Only then could they become the proper building material. The same is true of us. We need to remain in our spirit absorbing the rich nourishment of Christ. As we absorb this element, we shall grow, and by this growth we shall then be built up. Then it will be possible for us to be built up with others in the Body.

If we would walk in Christ, we need to absorb His riches by being rooted in Him and to be built up as individual members of the Body. We need to sink our roots into Christ deeper and deeper so that we may absorb more of His riches. Then we shall grow and be built up in Him. Having fulfilled these two conditions, we shall then be able to walk in Christ.

Life-study of Colossians (Message 52)

Have Been Rooted in Christ and Being Built Up in Him (2)

Col. 2:19 And not holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.

In 2:19 Paul says that the Body “grows with the growth of God.” With God Himself there can be no growth, for He is complete and perfect eternally. Nevertheless, the Body still needs to grow with the growth, the increase, of God in us. The more God is added into us, the more we grow. This is what it means to grow with the growth of God.

In order for any living organism to grow, there must be some element which causes it to grow. We must have something with which and by which to grow. For example, if children do not eat, they cannot grow. The way we grow spiritually is to have God added into us. This means that we grow with the addition, with the increase, of God, by having God added into our very being.

The little word “with” in 2:19 is important. With what does the Body grow? Does it grow with doctrine or Bible knowledge? No, the Body grows with the growth of God. We grow with the increase of God within us. God in Himself is perfect and complete, but there is still the need for Him to increase within us.

As I was praying over 2:19, the Lord showed me that although He is eternally perfect and complete, I did not have that much of Him within me. I realized my need for God to grow in me, to have Him added into me. At that time I was enlightened to see the meaning of Paul’s expression in 2:19, “grows with the growth of God.” We all need God to be added into us more and more. We need to have Him grow in us, to increase in us.

As we consider 2:19, we must realize that the word God is not merely a term, and God Himself is not simply the object of our worship. God is rich in every way. He is rich in glory and in all the divine attributes. He is rich in love, kindness, mercy, light, life, power, and strength. Oh, God’s riches are endless! Now this rich God is adding Himself into us. This is implied by the phrase, “grows with the growth of God.” God’s riches are the element and substance by which we grow.

In 3:10 and 11 Paul speaks of the new man, where there “cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all.” In the new man Christ is all the members, and He is in all the members. There is no room for the natural man. There is no room for Americans or Chinese, for British or French, for you or me. In the new man Christ is all. In the church as the new man, Christ is everything. This implies that He is every brother and every sister. This also implies that every brother and sister must be constituted of Christ. In the new man there cannot be Jewish members and Gentile members; there can only be Christ-members. If we would be constituted of Christ, Christ must be added into us more and more. We must be permeated with Christ, saturated with Christ, and have Christ organically wrought into our being. Eventually, we shall be replaced by Christ. Then, in reality, He will be all and in all. He will be every member, every part, of the new man.

The new man does not come into existence by taking Christians from various countries and bringing them together. That would be a new organization, not the new man. The new man comes into being as we are saturated, filled, and permeated with Christ and replaced by Him through an organic process. The new man is Christ in all the saints permeating us and replacing us until all natural distinctions have been eliminated and everyone is constituted of Christ.

Christ as all and in all in the new man should not be mere doctrine. Rather, the rich, substantial Christ must actually be wrought into us organically until He replaces our natural being with Himself. This can take place only as we remain rooted in Him and absorb His riches into us. These riches will then become the substance, the element, which will saturate us organically. Then Christ will become us, and we shall become constituted of Christ. This is not only to grow with Christ, but it is also to be built up in Christ.

Both the growth and the building depend on being rooted. This is why Paul uses the perfect tense to say “having been rooted.” Christ, the good land, is the portion, the allotment, of the saints. As the good land, He Himself is the rich, fertile soil. Having been rooted in Him, we must daily absorb the rich nourishment of Christ into us to be the element that causes us to grow. All day long tender roots should absorb the riches of Christ as the soil. The more we absorb these riches, the more we shall be saturated by Christ and organically replaced by Him. This is to grow and to be built up in Christ.

Weekly Ministry (Oct 18 – Oct 24, 2021)

HWMR – Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Week 8)

The Intrinsic Significance of Gideon as God’s Valiant Warrior

Key Point – God gave Gideon three hundred men and made them one body, signified by a “round loaf of barley bread” tumbling through the camp of the Midianites for their defeat and God’s victory

1 Cor. 10:17 Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body; for we all partake of the one bread.

God gave Gideon three hundred men and made them one body. Individual victory is not proper. Gideon and those three hundred men moved together and acted in one accord. All of their flesh was cut off, so they could be one. This is the oneness in the Spirit and a living in the Body. (CWWN, vol. 11, p. 774)

A barley loaf…is a loaf of the resurrected Christ who can never be limited….You say that you cannot meet the situation. This is right. You surely cannot. But there is One who can—the One who is the barley. A barley loaf is within you; a little bit of the resurrected Christ is in you—that is good enough. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” p. 236)

Paul’s thought of the church being one bread [1 Cor. 10:17] was not his own invention; rather, it was taken from the Old Testament. The meal offering in Leviticus 2:4 consisted of cakes made of fine flour mingled with oil. Every part of the flour was mixed, or mingled, with the oil. That is blending. Paul tells us that the church is a bread, a cake, made of fine flour….John 12:24 says that Christ is the one grain of wheat who fell into the earth and died and grew up in resurrection to produce many grains, which are we, His believers. We are the many grains so that we may be ground into fine flour for making the cake, the bread, of the church. Here we can see the thought of blending in the Bible.

[First Corinthians 12:24] says clearly that God has blended all the believers together. But where is the blending in the recovery? We may think that the coordination in the church is the reality of the blending. However, I must tell you that even the coordination in the church is not the reality of the Body of Christ.

To be in the reality of the Body of Christ, we need to be absolutely in the resurrection life of Christ. We do have some good coordination in the local churches. However, I would ask, “Is this kind of coordination carried out by the natural life or in resurrection?” To be in resurrection means that our natural life is crucified, and then the God-created part of our being is uplifted in resurrection to be one with Christ in resurrection. It is common today that in the local churches what we can see is mostly the “church” in its meetings, activities, works, and services. But we cannot see much of the reality of the Body of Christ in resurrection, that is, in the Spirit, in the pneumatic Christ, and in the consummated God. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “The Practical Points concerning Blending,” pp. 112-113)

Life-study of Colossians (Message 49)

Full Grown in Christ

Col. 1:27 To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,

We have pointed out that we should neither hate our natural being nor treasure it. To hate our being is to practice asceticism, a form of suicide. Instead of trying to hate the natural being, we should follow the Lord’s word to deny ourselves. To deny the self is to ignore the self, to forget it, to pay no attention to it. Suppose as you are walking down the sidewalk, someone stops you and begs you for money. Again and again, he pleads with you to give him money. You should neither hate this person nor love him. Rather you should pay no attention to his request. Eventually, realizing that he can get nothing from you, he will go away. This illustrates the attitude we should have toward the self. The self is greedy, always begging for things. Instead of either hating the self or loving it, we should simply refuse to pay attention to it.

However, if we would keep from paying attention to the self, we must concentrate on something better than the self. This is the reason we need a vision of the extensiveness of Christ, the vision presented in the book of Colossians. If we see this vision, we shall concentrate our entire being on the extensive Christ, who will then fill us and occupy us. Because we are filled with the extensive Christ, we shall have no need of Judaism, Gnosticism, mysticism, or asceticism. Our being will be occupied with the vast, unsearchably rich, extensive Christ. Spontaneously this Christ will come in to replace every aspect of our natural human life with Himself.

The book of Colossians presents a vision of the wonderful, extensive, all-inclusive Christ. Once we see this vision, our entire being will be attracted by this Christ and will be possessed by Christ and occupied with Him. Then gradually the extensive Christ who occupies our attention will replace every element of our natural human life. He will even replace with Himself our kindness, our humility, and our love for our parents. At best, our natural virtues can be compared to polished copper, but Christ is gold. He far surpasses in value anything we possess by nature. The more we experience the Christ who exceeds everything and replaces everything in our natural life with Himself, the more we shall be able to declare, “To me to live is Christ.” We shall not live humility, kindness, or patience. To us to live will be the Christ who has taken full possession of us and who occupies us and fills us with Himself. That such a Christ should replace all the elements of our natural human life is the message of the book of Colossians. If we understand this underlying concept, Colossians will be an open book to us.

If we have the full assurance of understanding concerning the extensive Christ replacing every aspect of our natural life, we shall realize what it means to become full grown in Christ. In 1:25 Paul says that he became a minister according to the stewardship of God. The goal of Paul’s stewardship was to dispense the extensive Christ into God’s chosen people. This extensive Christ is a mystery, especially to the Gentiles. In 1:27 Paul says, “God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” This mystery is full of glory, and this glory has riches. The glorious mystery full of riches is Christ in us.

Life-study of Colossians (Message 50)

Christ Replaced in Every Way

Col. 2:2 That their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ,

Recently in a meeting a brother stood up to declare that he intended to drop his culture. Later I pointed out that the attempt to drop our culture will only produce another type of culture—a culture-dropping culture. There is no need for us to drop our culture. What we need to see is that culture is a replacement for Christ and that we should live Christ. The more we live Christ, the more our culture will be replaced by Christ. Formerly our culture was a replacement for Christ. But now as we live Christ, Christ replaces our culture with Himself.

There can be no doubt that Christ is fully revealed in the Bible. But who among the Lord’s people truly lives Christ? We need to ask ourselves how much we live Christ. Sometimes the saints talk about the best way to have the church meetings. However, our concern should not be with the way of meeting; it should be with the living of Christ. Do we care to live Christ in a genuine way, or do we just want to have a certain kind of meeting? The meetings of the church should not be a performance, but should be an exhibition of our daily living.

We thank the Lord for all He has shown us concerning the revelation of Christ in Colossians. Now we must go on to experience Christ and to live Him. What we need is not more doctrine, but more experience of Christ. Again and again, we need to be encouraged to live Christ day by day. Wherever we are, at home, at school, or at work, we need to live Christ. Paul could say, “To me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). How many of us can give such a testimony? When we are tested by the Lord concerning this, we need to humble ourselves and confess that we do not live very much by Christ. How we need to receive grace to live Christ day by day! If we live Him consistently and adequately, all the replacements for Christ will be gone.

If we have light concerning how Christ is replaced in our daily living, we shall confess to the Lord that instead of living Him we live so many other things. We may say to Him, “Lord, I confess that I have not lived very much by You. I live a clean life, even a pure life, but I do not live Christ. Although I have been careful not to sin and not to be wrong with others, I have not lived You.” Years ago, I spent much time to confess my failures and wrongdoings; however, at that time I did not confess my lack in living Christ. But recently most of my confession has concerned one thing—my shortage in living Christ. We all need to make such a confession to the Lord.

In the New Testament there is a unique commandment to unbelievers: Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus. Those who perish will perish because they do not believe in the Lord. Just as there is a unique commandment for unbelievers, so there is a unique commandment for believers: To live Christ. If you are not a believer, you need to repent and believe in Christ. But if you are a believer in Christ, you now need to live Christ. Unbelievers do many different things in place of believing in Christ. Likewise, believers may do many things instead of living Christ. The unique sin of unbelievers is their unbelief, their not believing in Christ. But the unique sin of believers is their failure to live Christ. We need to confess this sin and condemn it. We may be humble, honest, sincere, faithful, diligent, and, in many respects, very scriptural. However, if we do not live Christ, we are still under God’s condemnation. God does not want honest, sincere people—He wants us to be Christ-people, those who live Christ. A genuine Christian should be a Christ-man, not merely a virtuous man.

It is crucial for us to see that in our living there should be no replacements for Christ. In particular, we see from Colossians that Christ should not be replaced by any kind of culture. We all have a strong culture, both the culture we have inherited and the culture we have made and imposed on ourselves. To live by this culture is to live by something other than Christ Himself. When we live by our culture, we may not do anything sinful. On the contrary, our living may be very good, but it is not Christ. We must condemn the practice of living by such things as humility, love, and diligence instead of Christ. God’s desire is that we live Christ.

Weekly Ministry (Oct 11 – Oct 17, 2021)

HWMR – Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Week 7)

God’s Raising Up of Deborah as Judge of Israel and as a Mother in Israel Who Practiced the Female Submission to the Man in Order to Keep God’s Ordination and Bring All of Israel into a Proper Order under God’s Kingship and Headship

Key Point – The first and greatest function of the sisters in the church is to be submissive; if the sisters can learn this lesson, the church will be strong, enriched, and renewed.

1 Pet. 3:5 For in this manner formerly the holy women also, who hoped in God, adorned themselves, being subject to their own husbands,

The first function of the sisters is to be submissive. This does not involve the doing of any kind of work, but it is a real function. Being submissive is much greater than any kind of doing. If the sisters are submissive, they are doing the greatest thing in the world. This is the greatest function on the side of the sisters.

First Corinthians 11:3 says, “Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.” In this verse we can see the divine order. However, in the entire world today, in every country, in all the schools, and in all the homes, what we see is not order and submission but rebellion upon rebellion. The entire world is rebellious toward God. The world is like a stormy ocean full of the winds of rebellion. In the church the situation should not be like this. The church is God’s chosen vessel to bear a testimony to the universe that is absolutely different from the world. The church is sanctified, separated from the course of the world and from the current of the age. As the church we are not in the flow of the world but in the flow of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 22:1). In the local churches as the local expressions of the Body of Christ, there should be genuine submission.

To be submissive requires the supply of life, the enjoyment of grace, the working of the cross, and the denial of the self. We should never try to be submissive by our self. We should consecrate ourselves to the Lord not to do a work for the Lord but simply to be submissive. If the sisters take care of this one matter of being submissive, the church will be strengthened, enriched, and renewed. If the sisters in a local church are submissive, the church will be strong, living, rich, and prevailing. It is much more prevailing for the sisters to be submissive than for them to do any kind of work. This is the first lesson the sisters need to learn. This does not mean that there is no need for the sisters to fellowship with the church, but the sisters must know that their position and standing are to be submissive. (CWWL, 1968, vol. 1, pp. 83-85)

Life-study of Colossians (Message 47)

Rooted and Built Up in Christ with the Processed God

Col. 2:7 Having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Paul’s use of the words “being built up” in 2:7 do not refer in a direct way to the building up of the Body of Christ. Rather, this expression denotes an increase in our spiritual stature, which can be compared to a person’s increase in stature as he grows physically. The only way a child can grow physically is by assimilating nourishing food. In the same way, we grow spiritually by assimilating the rich nourishment of Christ. This is what it means to be built up in Christ, as mentioned in 2:7. First Paul tells us that we have been rooted in Christ. Then he goes on to say that we are being built up in Christ. No tree can grow up without first being rooted. The growing up of the tree is also the building up of the tree.

If we are lacking in spiritual stature, it is of no avail to speak of the building up of the Body. In Ephesians 4:13 Paul says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” The Body of Christ has a stature, and this stature has a full measure. We all need to grow until we arrive at the full measure of the stature of the Body of Christ. For us to be built up does not first mean that we are built up as the church, the Body. It means that we are built up in the Lord and experience an increase of stature. Hence, in Colossians 2:7 to be built up actually means to grow up. First we are rooted into Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit, and then we grow up in Him. We build ourselves up by growing up. Our being built up depends on our assimilating into our being the riches of Christ as the soil. Having assimilated these riches into us, we shall grow and be built up. When we are fully grown, we shall be built up. Therefore, to be built up simply means to grow up. In order to grow, we need nourishment. Our growth depends on how much nourishment we assimilate into us by being rooted in Christ. Because we are rooted in Him, we absorb into us the riches of the all-inclusive Spirit. Then we grow with the nourishment we derive from these riches.

According to 2:19, by holding the Head we grow with the growth of God. Out from the Head, the Body grows with the growth of God. God here is the processed Triune God, as in Matthew 28:19. Out from the processed Triune God as our source, the Body grows by absorbing the riches from the Head. The Body does not grow with biblical knowledge, but grows with the growth of God. In Himself, God is infinite, perfect, and complete. Therefore, in Himself God cannot grow. But in us God can grow and He needs to grow. We grow by the growth of God in us. Because we have so little of the Triune God within us, we need the addition of God for our spiritual growth. We grow with what we absorb from the Head.

The vital and crucial point is that we grow by absorbing the riches of Christ. In order to absorb His riches, we must be rooted into Him as the all-inclusive Spirit. Remember that this Spirit dwells in our spirit. The soil is not our mind, emotion, or will; it is the all-inclusive, processed Triune God dwelling in our spirit. The source of the riches we need for our growth is the processed Triune God in our spirit. Just as we go to a faucet to get water, so we must turn to our spirit to get the riches of the Triune God.

In order to become more deeply rooted into the processed Triune God, we need to exercise our spirit, not our mind, emotion, or will. However, our environment does not favor the exercise of the spirit. On the contrary, everything in our environment works to keep us away from the spirit. For example, throughout most of the Lord’s Day, a brother’s wife may be very pleasant to him. But just before the Lord’s table meeting, she may speak an unkind word to him. In his reaction to her unkindness, he is immediately drawn away from the spirit. In the midst of such a situation, the brother needs to exercise his spirit and call on the name of the Lord Jesus. By this exercise of the spirit, he will become more deeply rooted into Christ as the soil and automatically absorb more of the riches of the all-inclusive Spirit. This will produce more growth.

We need to continually exercise our spirit. This is the reason that toward the end of the book of Colossians, Paul charges us to persevere in prayer (4:2). However, if, instead of exercising our spirit, we exercise our mind, emotion, and will, Satan will keep us from enjoying the all-inclusive Spirit in our spirit. Satan, the subtle, evil one, uses the environment to keep us out of the spirit. Thus, we need to exercise our spirit continually by calling on the name of the Lord in order to become more deeply rooted into the all-inclusive Spirit. Then we shall absorb the riches of Christ, grow in Christ, and spontaneously be built up in Christ. As a result, we shall walk in Him. If we understand this, we shall know what it means to walk in Christ by absorbing His riches and by being built up with what we have absorbed. This is the practical experience of Christ we all need.

Life-study of Colossians (Message 48)

The Receiving of Christ

Col. 2:6 As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him,

We thank the Lord that we all have received Christ initially. As we have indicated, this receiving is also continual; it is much more than once for all. Just as we breathe continually, we need to receive Christ continually, even for eternity.

In a previous message we pointed out that one condition for walking in Christ is to be rooted in Him. Being rooted in Christ is equal to receiving Christ. A large tree absorbs moisture through tiny root hairs. Absorption depends on being rooted; it depends on receiving. Do not try to receive too much of Christ at one time. What we need is a continual receiving. In principle, it is correct to say that the more we receive of Christ, the better it is. But in practice we should not try to receive too much at once. We eat our food a little at a time. In like manner, we receive Christ also a little at a time.

We have seen that the Christ we receive is the mystery of God and history of God. Probably, in our initial stage of receiving Christ we did not have this realization concerning Christ. But as we go on with the Lord, we realize that Christ is all we need. Since He is everything to us, we should continue to receive Him without ceasing.

Now we come to the extremely important matter of how to receive Christ. Receiving Christ requires the exercise of our spirit. In order for a transistor radio to receive radio waves, the receiver must be working properly. Likewise, although it is good to improve our behavior, the important thing is that we tune, or adjust, our spirit. Our spirit must be clean, open, and properly adjusted.

The unique way to exercise our spirit is to pray. As we exercise our spirit in prayer, our aim should be to contact the Lord, not first to pray for certain people or things. Simply contact the Lord and allow Him to burden you to pray for certain ones. Do not go to the Lord with your mind filled with things to pray for. If you try to contact the Lord in this way, you will close your spirit. We should come to the Lord with a spirit fully open, worshipping Him, praising Him, and thanking Him. Then we shall know what to pray for, and we shall have much to utter to the Lord in prayer.

As we receive such a heavenly transmission from the Lord, we not only receive the riches of Christ, but we also experience His fullness. This means we are filled to the brim. The fullness is related to the riches. However, we may have the riches without the fullness. Whether or not the riches of Christ become the fullness to us depends on whether or not we are filled with these riches to the limit of our capacity. If the riches exceed the demand, the riches are the fullness. But if they are less than the demand, they obviously are not the fullness. The riches of Christ, being universally extensive, are never less than the demand. Whatever may be our capacity to receive, the riches of Christ will exceed our capacity. The riches are always able to fill us to overflowing. A certain man may be very rich, even a billionaire. But if his wealth is only sufficient to give one dollar to every person on earth, his riches cannot be regarded as fullness. He does not have sufficient riches to make everyone abundantly wealthy. The riches of Christ, however, are universally extensive. They are sufficient to fill everyone to his capacity.

John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh, full of grace and reality. According to John 1:16, we all have received of His fullness grace upon grace. According to John 1, the One whom we have received is the eternal Word, the Word who was with God and who was God, the Word through whom everything came into being. In this Word is life. One day, this Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace. This is part of God’s history, an aspect of His mystery. The mystery of God is Christ, who is full of grace. No demand can exhaust His fullness; no capacity to receive of Him can exhaust His supply. Christ’s fullness can never be diminished by our need or by our capacity. The Christ we have received is a Christ of fullness. Therefore, we need to keep on receiving Him by exercising our spirit to have direct contact with Him. As we pray from our open, adjusted spirit, we shall receive the unlimited source as our supply. Then we shall have the fullness, and in this fullness we shall be rooted and built up. Then we shall walk in Him.

Weekly Ministry (Oct 4 – Oct 10, 2021)

HWMR – Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Week 6)

The Intrinsic Significance of the Book of Judges and the Apostasy of Israel in the Worshipping of God

Key Point – Whereas Joshua is the book of Israel’s history full of marvelous victories over the inhabitants of Canaan in the presence of Jehovah, Judges is the book of Israel’s history full of miserable defeats under their enemies in the forsaking of Jehovah.

Judg 1:2 And Jehovah said, Judah shall go up. I have now given the land into his hand.

In writing the books of history, Samuel put Judges after Joshua to show us what kind of life Israel lived toward her Husband. For some reason, she did not have a heart to be the wife of Jehovah. As a wife, she forgot her Husband, left her Husband, and acted according to her own desires. Eventually, Israel became a harlot. At the time of Hosea, Israel was a harlot in the eyes of God (Hosea 1:2; 2:2). Having fallen into the sin of adultery, she did not have a definite husband. In addition to Jehovah as her Husband, she had many other men….In the book of Judges there is a terrible picture of a wife forsaking her Husband and not even acknowledging His existence. This is an ugly picture of a harlot, a wife who forsook her Husband and went after idols. In the beginning Israel had a bridal love toward God, but after her marriage she lost her position as a chaste wife to her husband. She forsook God and went to idols. Every idol was a “man,” and Israel became full of idols. Jeremiah 11:13 says that according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem the people had set up altars to burn incense to their idols. Ezekiel 16:24 tells us that Israel made “an elevation in every open square.”

In the book of Judges, a particular saying is repeated a number of times: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did that which was right in his own eyes” (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). But God was the King! According to the principle in the Bible, the husband is the head of the marriage and the head of the family. In creation God ordained that the man would have this authority; therefore, he also has the kingship. In typology and in figure, God is the unique man. We all are females because we, the church, are the corporate wife to Christ. Since God is our Creator and our Lord, He should also be our King.

Joshua is the book of Israel’s history full of the marvelous victories over the inhabitants of Canaan in the presence of Jehovah. Judges, on the contrary, is the book of Israel’s history full of miserable defeats under their enemies in the forsaking of Jehovah. (Life-study of Judges, pp. 1-3)

Life-study of Colossians (Message 45)

The Extensive Revelation of the All-Inclusive Christ

Col. 3:11 Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.

What kind of Christ can replace our culture? The Christ who replaces culture is the extensive Christ, not the limited Christ known by most Christians. All real Christians believe that Christ is God incarnated as a man, that He died on the cross for our sins, that He was resurrected, that He ascended to the heavens where He is now sitting as the Lord of lords and King of kings, and that He will return to earth and establish His kingdom with the believers as co-kings. Although all this is true, it is a narrow, limited view of Christ. Such a limited Christ will not in actual experience become the replacement for our culture. Can such a Christ become our food, clothing, and dwelling? The Christ who can replace our culture and become everything to us is the all-inclusive, extensive Christ.

Recently, after hearing a message on how culture replaces Christ in our experience, a brother testified strongly that he wanted to drop all his culture. However, it is not possible for us to do this. If we try to do it, we shall simply develop another type of culture, a culture-dropping culture. But should someone say that there is no need to drop culture, this concept will lead to yet another type of culture. Instead of trying to deal with our culture, we should simply live Christ.

Just as culture has become the replacement for God, so Christ can become the replacement for culture. We have seen that after man lost God through the fall, man’s culture replaced God in his life. Christ’s redemption not only redeems us from so many negative things, but also redeems us from culture. Instead of trying to be free from our culture, we should simply be reconciled to Christ and take Him as the factor which gives our life meaning and purpose. We should pray, “Lord Jesus, from now on I will take nothing other than You as my goal and purpose. Lord, You only are my standard and the factor which gives my existence meaning and purpose. I don’t want to live out anything other than Yourself. Lord, I want to live You and You alone.” When we live Christ, we are spontaneously delivered from culture, and automatically the Christ by whom we live replaces culture. This is the revelation in the book of Colossians.

We must admit that even we in the Lord’s recovery, who love the Lord very much and seek Him, actually live much more by our culture than by Christ. For example, certain sisters may refrain from using makeup not because they are living Christ, but because they are conforming to the common practice in the church life. Some may claim that they do not use makeup because of their love for Christ and the church. This may be true. However, to love the Lord Jesus is one thing, and to live Christ is another. We may do many things because we love the Lord and yet, in those very things, we may not actually live Him.

In the church life it is possible to live by certain habits or customs, in other words, by a certain culture developed in the church, instead of by Christ. For example, a certain brother may feel that he should not attend movies. However, what keeps him from going to the movie theater is not that he is living Christ; it is that he is living according to a certain practice common in the church life. We need to have the assurance that our reason for not doing certain things is that we live Christ. We need not have a rule about staying away from movies. We should simply have the experience of living Christ in the church. If we truly live Christ in the church, then when we refrain from doing a certain thing, it will not be because we regard that thing as wrong; it will be because we are living Christ. Our need today is not only to love Him, but also to live Him.

Life-study of Colossians (Message 46)

Walk in Christ, Having Been Rooted and Being Built Up in Him

Col. 2:6 As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him,

Col. 2:7 Having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

If the saints contact the Lord and spend time in the Word with much prayer, they will become deeply rooted in Christ. If a sister does this for a period of time, her shopping will be done in Christ, not in something other than Christ. I do not have any confidence in a change of behavior which results from making a decision after hearing a message. My confidence is in what issues from becoming deeply rooted in Christ through contacting the Lord and spending time in the Word with much prayer. When we are rooted in Christ, there is no need for us to make up our minds about certain things, for spontaneously we shall walk in Him.

In a previous message we raised the question of how plants can walk. Colossians 2:7 speaks of being rooted. This refers to plants. But 2:6 speaks of walking. This refers to persons. Then are we considered plants or persons? The answer is that for our daily living, we are persons, but for our being rooted in Christ, we are plants. In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul says that we are God’s farm, God’s husbandry (v. 9, Gk.). Furthermore, Paul says that he planted and Apollos watered, but God gives the growth (v. 6, Gk.). Thus, in the matter of growth, we are like plants. But in our daily walk we, of course, are not like plants; we are people. We may say that we are people-plants: people in walking and plants in being rooted in Christ.

The only way to become deeply rooted in Christ as the soil is to contact Him as the soil and to daily absorb the water in the Word. The more we contact the soil and absorb the water, the more we shall grow. First we grow downward, then upward. After we have grown downward for a period of time, we shall automatically cease to walk in things other than Christ. Instead, because we have been deeply rooted in Christ, we shall live, walk, act, and have our being in Christ.

Paul’s concept is that Christ, the all-inclusive and extensive One, must become the replacement for every factor and element in our human living. Therefore, we must walk in Christ. But walking in Him requires that we be rooted in Him. Just as we have been rooted in culture, we must now become rooted in Christ. Having been rooted in Him, we shall spontaneously walk in Him. While we walk in Him, the expression of Christ will be built up in us. Eventually, this expression will become the Body, the corporate church life, the habitation of God in spirit on earth today. If we claim to be walking in Christ but lack the expression of Christ, our claim is false. Walking in Christ requires that we be in the process of being built up in Christ. This means that while we are walking in Him, the expression of Christ must be built up in us.

According to our experience, we know that when we contact the Lord and daily get into the Word with much prayer, we fulfill the condition of walking in Christ, for we are rooted in Him. Then as we walk in Him, daily the expression of Christ is built up in us. This makes it possible for others to see Christ lived out of us. Eventually this living out of Christ will produce the corporate expression of Christ, the church life. This is the proper way to have the Christian life.

Weekly Ministry (Sept 27 – Oct 3, 2021)

HWMR – Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Week 5)

The Produce of the Land of Canaan and the Intrinsic Significance of the Allotment of the Good Land

Key Point – To reach the goal of God’s economy, we need to progress until we enter into the highest stage of eating Christ as the rich produce of the good land so that we may overcome the spiritual enemies, be built up to be God’s dwelling place, and establish God’s kingdom on earth.

Deut 8:7 For Jehovah your God is bringing you to a good land, a land of waterbrooks, of springs and of fountains, flowing forth in valleys and in mountains;

Deut 8:8 A land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees with oil and of honey;

Consider what you are eating today. Are you eating the Lamb, the manna, or the rich produce of the good land?…In your Christian life, the eating of Christ must progress from the Lamb and the manna to the solid food of the good land. You need to eat the wheat, the barley, and all the other foodstuffs that have the minerals to make you strong stones, iron, and copper for God’s building and for the fighting of the battle. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 1, “The Kernel of the Bible,” p. 206)

We must build the temple and fight the battle so that God may have the kingdom. This is what God needs today. The tabernacle is not adequate. God needs a temple with a city in a kingdom with the kingship and the fighting capability. The Lamb energizes us to leave Egypt, and the manna nourishes us and constitutes us with the heavenly element. Although both of these items are good, they are not good for fighting. No one would fight a battle with a lamb or with manna. We need solid food with minerals in it. We need to be rocks, not wafers. We need weapons made out of iron and copper. Oh, we need stones, iron, and copper to build up the temple, to establish the kingdom, to fight the battle, and to defeat the enemy!…As His people eat the solid food and take in the minerals that make them stones, iron, and copper, God has His kingdom. These minerals make us rocks for God’s building so that the kingdom may be established, and they make us iron and copper to fight the battle to subdue the enemy.

Once we are in the good land, we shall no longer eat manna, for our supply is the rich produce of the land. In order to eat this rich produce, we must first live in the good land….In the wilderness there is no wheat, no barley, no grapes, and no figs; there is just manna. Second, we need to labor on the good land. We need to till the ground, sow the seed, water the seed, cultivate the soil, and then reap the harvest. The good land in which we are living is Christ. Day by day we need to work on Christ. Morning watch, prayer, and dealing with the Lord are all aspects of working on Christ. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 1, “The Kernel of the Bible,” pp. 206-208)

Life-study of Colossians (Message 43)

Identified with Christ by Being Grafted Into Him

Col. 1:27 To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,

Col. 1:28 Whom we announce, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ;

In Romans 6:5 Paul goes on to say, “For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.” We have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death, that is, in the baptism mentioned in verse 4. Now we see that we shall also grow in the likeness of His resurrection, that is, in the newness of life, also mentioned in verse 4. The important point is that to be baptized is to grow. One who has been baptized has grown in the likeness of Christ’s death and now is growing in the likeness of His resurrection.

The growth in Romans 6:5 can be illustrated by the grafting of a branch from one tree into another tree. Through grafting, two lives become one. Hence, the process of grafting signifies our spiritual identification with Christ. We are identified with Christ, made one with Him, by being grafted into Him.

In Romans 11 Paul uses the example of branches from a wild olive tree grafted into a cultivated olive tree (vv. 17, 24). In order for grafting to take place, both trees must experience cutting. This cutting signifies the experience of being put to death. Apart from this cutting, grafting cannot take place. In His crucifixion, Christ was cut, and He still bears the marks of this cutting. This means that within the being of the resurrected Christ, there is an opening into which we, the wild olive branches, can be grafted. However, if we would be grafted into Him, we also must be cut. Then we are joined to Him at the very place where both He and we have been cut. In a sense, the two cuts embrace each other. Through such an embrace, the grafting is accomplished, and the two trees become one.

Immediately after the process of grafting has been completed, the branch from the wild olive tree begins to grow in oneness with the cultivated olive tree. Furthermore, the cultivated olive tree grows with the branch from the wild olive tree. Both trees grow together as one tree with one life and one living. The life in this tree is a new life in which two natures have been mingled together.

To be baptized is to be grafted into Christ. This baptism involves growth. After a person repents and believes in the Lord Jesus, he grows with Christ first in the likeness of His death and then in the likeness of His resurrection. By the growth which takes place in baptism we get into Christ.

Now that we are in Christ, we are growing in Him. In Colossians 1:28 Paul speaks of presenting every man full-grown in Christ. By warning others and teaching them in all wisdom, Paul helped them to grow. We should do the same thing in the church life today. After a person has been baptized, he needs to be nourished in order to grow to maturity.

Because we are in Christ, Christ is also in us. This fact is also illustrated by grafting. After the branch from a wild olive tree is grafted into a cultivated olive tree, it is part of the cultivated olive tree, and it grows in it. The life juice from the cultivated olive tree enters into the branch from the wild olive tree. In this way, the cultivated olive tree grows in the branch from the wild olive tree. In like manner, since we have been grafted into Christ, He now dwells in us and is growing in us.

Life-study of Colossians (Message 44)

Having Been Rooted in Christ to Grow with the Growth of God

Col. 2:6 As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him,

Col. 2:7 Having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

In the book of Colossians there are implications that believers are to grow like plants rooted in the soil. In order to understand the Bible, we need to understand both the direct meaning of the words and also the implications. Sometimes the revelation expressed through the implications of a verse is deeper than that conveyed in the direct statements. This is true of Colossians 2:6 and 7. Verse 7 speaks of our “having been rooted” in Christ. This implies that, in God’s eyes, we are plants. Those who have been baptized into Christ are plants rooted in Christ.

The phrase “having been rooted and being built up in Him” is related to those who are walking in the preceding verse. We are to walk in Christ, having been rooted and being built up in Him. This means that we are to walk by having been rooted in Christ. If we have not been rooted in Him, we cannot walk in Him. As living plants, we are walking plants. We walk by being rooted in Christ. What wonderful, mysterious plants Christians are! We are plants who both walk and grow.

Some may think that it is not logical to say, on the one hand, that we can be rooted and, on the other hand, that we walk. How can one who has been rooted in Christ also walk in Him? The answer is that the land in which we are rooted is a living land. Since we have been rooted in a living, moving land, we live and move in Him. Hence, it is not actually that we do the walking, but it is the land which moves. Praise the Lord that we are rooted in Christ who is the living land! Because the land moves, we can move also. According to the implication of these verses, it is proper to speak in this way.

We should not think that we are the ones walking in the land. If we try to walk, we shall stumble and fall. Then we may be defeated by Satan and led astray. We should regard ourselves as plants rooted in Christ as our living land. As those who have been rooted in Him, we walk as He moves. This is to walk in Him.

Colossians 2:6 says to walk in Him. This adverbial phrase modifies the word walk. It indicates that we cannot walk in Christ unless we have been rooted in Him. Thus, we walk in the living land in which we have been rooted.

As we consider 2:6 and 7, we see that to grow in Christ is to walk in Him. We have pointed out that “having been rooted and being built up in Him” is related to the word walk. This phrase gives us the meaning of walking in Christ. Because we have been rooted in the moving Christ, we walk in Him.

The fact that walking in Christ is a matter of growing is indicated by the word rooted. Plants are rooted in the soil for the purpose of growth. If a tree is to grow, it must be properly rooted. Without roots, a tree will die, for it has no way to absorb moisture from the soil. A tree is able to grow, however, when it absorbs moisture through its roots.

Although the rooting is for the growing, 2:6 does not speak of growing, but of walking in Christ. However, the implied significance of these terms is that genuine growth consists of our walking in Christ. We do not grow by walking in ourselves; we grow by walking in Christ. We have seen that if we would walk in Him, we must first be rooted in Him as the living land. Then we walk as He moves and acts. Such a walk is genuine growth.

Weekly Ministry (Sept 20 – Sept 26, 2021)

HWMR – Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Week 4)

The Need for God’s People to Seek the Lord’s Direction and have the Lord’s Presence to Display His Victory for the Building Up of His Body and the Spreading of His Kingdom

Key Point – The presence of the Lord, the smile of the Lord, is the governing principle; His precious presence is the power for us to possess the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land flowing with milk and honey.

Psa. 27:8 When You say, Seek My face, to You my heart says, Your face, O Jehovah, will I seek.

If we would go on to possess the land, we must do so by the presence of the Lord. If the presence of the Lord goes with us, we can enter and enjoy the land. You remember how the Lord promised Moses, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exo. 33:14). This means that He would bring the people into the possession of the land by His presence. So Moses said to the Lord, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here” (v. 15). Moses demanded that the Lord’s presence must go with them; otherwise, he would not go.

One time, four or five of us who were serving the Lord together were going to a certain place….One brother at that time, however, was not happy with us, yet he had no choice but to go. We all traveled on the same train: all but this one brother sat in car number one, and he sat by himself in car number two….He left with us, he traveled with us, and he arrived with us, but his presence was not with us.

Although it may be with tears in our eyes, we must say day by day, “Lord, nothing but Your smiling presence will satisfy me. I do not want anything but the smile of Your glorious face. As long as I have this, I care not whether the heaven comes down or the earth falls apart. The whole world may rise against me, but as long as I have Your smile upon me, I can praise You, and everything is well.” The Lord said, “My presence shall go with you.” What a treasure! The presence, the smile, of the Lord is the governing principle. We must be fearful of receiving anything from the Lord yet losing His presence….The Lord Himself may very well give you something, and yet that very thing will rob you of His presence….We must learn to be kept, to be ruled, to be governed, to be guided simply by the presence of the Lord….We do not want His presence secondhand….Try to be governed by the direct, firsthand presence of the Lord.

This is not only a requirement and a qualification but also a power for you to go on to possess the land. The firsthand presence of the Lord will strengthen you with might to obtain the fullness, the all-inclusiveness of Christ. What a strength, what a power, is in the direct presence of the Lord! (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” pp. 294-296)

Life-study of Colossians (Message 41)

Self-made and Self-imposed Culture as a Substitute for Christ

Col. 3:11 Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.

By the Lord’s mercy and grace, we in the Lord’s recovery do not care for our culture. Some may think that they are free from culture. But without exception every one of us has his personal and individual culture, a self-made and self-imposed culture. Furthermore, those who have been in the church life for a number of years may have a local church culture. After they came into the recovery and began to meet with the saints in the church, some spontaneously began to conform to the church life. Some refrained from using makeup or going to movies, not because they were living Christ, but because they were conforming to the church life. Some may cut their hair in a certain way for the same reason. Others may testify that they do certain things because they love Christ and the church. However, it is one thing to love Christ and another thing to live Christ. It is possible to cut your hair because you love Christ without living Christ in this matter. Probably very few saints in the Lord’s recovery attend movies. Why is it that they do not go to movies? Is it because they love Christ and the church, or is it because they live Christ? We should be able to say, “The reason I do not go to movies is that I live Christ. Because Christ does not do this, I do not do it either. Christ is my life within and my living without. I live by Christ, not by conforming to the church life.” We all should be able to declare that we do not have any regulation or conformity—we only have Christ. We should contact Him unceasingly and live in oneness with Him. He lives in us, and we live in Him. In this way we and Christ are one. We do certain things or refrain from doing certain things not merely because we love the Lord, but because we are living Him.

Even those who love the Lord very much and seek Him live much more by culture than by Christ. If you analyze your daily living, you will probably discover that most of the time you live not by Christ, but by culture. Some may not pray at all for a period of weeks. However, because they love Christ and the church, they still come to the meetings. Is this a kind of living that is the living by Christ? Surely not. Such a living is according to culture, perhaps even local church culture, but not according to Christ.

It is quite possible that the most cultured and refined people are those in the local churches. Many have become very refined through their years in the church life. The church life is the best cultural refinery. I have no doubt that the best husbands and wives are to be found in the local churches. Many can testify that their married life has been greatly helped by their years in the church life. However, even our good married life may be due much more to the church life than to living Christ.

The matter of losing our temper may be used to illustrate how the church life may refine us. Perhaps you are a person with a quick temper. But after you have been in the church for a number of years, you may find it much more difficult to lose your temper. The reason is that the atmosphere of the church does not encourage anyone to lose his temper. Thus, you are kept from losing your temper by the atmosphere of the church life, not by your living Christ.

The Lord Jesus now wants to confront the hidden frustration caused by our culture. We must admit that we do not live Christ very much. We are frustrated from living Christ not mainly by sin or the world, but by our virtues and our refined human living. The very refinement of our human life hinders us from living Christ. Day by day we live much more by our refinement than by Christ. The Apostle Paul could say, “To me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). We, however, cannot say this as long as we live mainly by our culture, including the culture of the church life, and not by Christ. The church life culture has pervaded the local churches.

Life-study of Colossians (Message 42)

The Experience of Christ

Col. 1:27 To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,

On the one hand, Christ is in us; on the other hand, we are in Christ. Consider the air in the atmosphere as an illustration. We are in the air, and the air is in us. Both are necessary if we are to remain alive. Today the processed Triune God as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit is our air. This air is in us, and we are in this air and even walk in this air. Moreover, we can be people according to this air who grow in this air with the growth of God. The all-inclusive Christ is, therefore, the experiential Christ. He is a Christ who can be in us, and a Christ in whom we can walk. We can live, walk, move, and have our being in Him.

In all that we do, we should be according to Christ. We should not be according to philosophy, ethics, culture, or religion. We should not in any way be according to the old man. Rather, we are here to be according to the processed, all-inclusive life-giving Triune God. This, however, should not be a mere doctrine. For example, a brother should not deal with his wife according to culture; he should deal with her according to Christ, according to the processed Triune God.

If we would live, behave, and have our being according to the all-inclusive, life-giving, processed Triune God, we would all be like Paul the apostle. Paul became a person who was not according to his forefathers, the law, tradition, Judaism, or the teaching of Gamaliel. He became a person who was absolutely according to the processed Triune God. His Epistles were written not according to anything other than the all-inclusive, life-giving, processed Triune God. How different are Paul’s writings from today’s Christian writings!

Our daily walk should be according to the processed Triune God. For example, when a brother gets a haircut, he should do so not according to any particular standard, but according to the processed Triune God.

Do you know where the all-inclusive, life-giving, processed Triune God is today? He is in our spirit. In our spirit He is the all-inclusive One, the life-giving One. In our spirit He is the processed Triune God. If we live according to the processed Triune God in our spirit, every type of culture will be gone. Only the all-inclusive life-giving Triune God will remain. The Christian life and the church life are without culture, but according to the processed Triune God. If we live according to the processed Triune God, there will be no need for us to try to drop our culture. Culture will be gone automatically.

With the all-inclusive life-giving Triune God we have the experience of dying with Christ and of being made alive together with Him. Here we experience being members of the Body, living in oneness with Him and holding Him as the One out from whom we receive the supply to grow with the growth of God. This is the Christian life and the church life. This is the life that overcomes sin and that brings us the reality of holiness, spirituality, and victory. Here we have all we need: patience, humility, righteousness, love, kindness, holiness, life, light, power, strength, might, and every other positive thing. All the divine attributes and all the human virtues are in this life. Christ as the all-inclusive, life-giving, processed Triune God is everything to us. When we have Him and live according to Him, we do not need regulations. We have the extensive Christ who, in our experience, is everything to us.

Weekly Ministry (Sept 13 – Sept 19, 2021)

HWMR – Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Week 3)

Crossing the Jordan River and Being Prepared for Battle

Key Point – God put the priests in the place of death so that the Israelites would have a way to the land of life

2 Cor. 4:12 So then death operates in us, but life in you.

God put the priests in the place of death so that the Israelites would have a way to the land of life. The priests were the first ones to go into the water and the last ones to come up out of the water. They were the overcomers of God. Today God is seeking for a group of people who, like the priests of old, step into the water, that is, walk into death first. They are willing to be dealt with by the cross first, to stand in the place of death in order that the church will find the way of life. God must first put us in the place of death before others can receive life. The overcomers of God are the pioneers of God. (CWWN, vol. 11, p. 764)

Before they could come out, they waited at the bottom of the river for all of God’s people to cross over. We cannot come out of death before the kingdom comes. Eventually,…our triumphant Joshua will tell us to come up out of the water [cf. Josh. 4:17]. This will happen at the beginning of the kingdom. Many people are not disobedient; they are merely not obedient enough….Without going through the cross, one cannot reach Gethsemane. Without dealing with the cross, one cannot say, “Your will be done.” Many people like the calling of Abraham, yet they do not like the consecration on Mount Moriah. God has put us at the river bottom in order that we would be His overcomers. He put us in chains in order that others can receive the gospel. Death works in me but life in others. This is the only channel of life….The Lord’s death first fills us with life, and then this life flows to others (2 Cor. 4:10-12). The work of God’s overcomer is to stand upon Christ’s death so that others can gain life….His overcomers first see a truth and confirm such truth before He gains some others to obey this truth. (CWWN, vol. 11, pp. 764-766)

Life-study of Colossians (Message 39)

To Live Christ

Col 3:3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

If we would experience Christ and live Him, we need to remain in an atmosphere of prayer. Many of us can testify that by prayer we are brought into the spirit, where we are one with the Lord and take Him as our life. This experience is so precious that when we are enjoying it, we do not want it to end. We like to remain in spirit to be one with the Lord. However, as soon as our time of prayer is over, most of the time we revert to our natural way of living. We are no longer in an atmosphere of prayer. Automatically we begin to try once again to be holy, spiritual, and victorious. Whenever we fail, we repent, confess to the Lord, and resolve to try again. This is not the way to live the Christian life. On the contrary, our daily living should be the same as our experience in genuine prayer. When we pray ourselves into the spirit, we are one with the Lord, we enjoy His presence, and we spontaneously live Him. Without exerting any effort, we are holy, spiritual, and victorious. We have no problems and no anxieties. I believe we all have had experiences like this in prayer.

These experiences of genuine prayer should be the model for our daily experience with the Lord. This means that our experience in our daily life should be the same as that in prayer. However, most of the time we live according to the natural life, not according to Christ. To live Christ it is necessary to persevere in prayer, to pray without ceasing. We need to stay in the atmosphere of prayer. Here we are one spirit with the Lord. He is our life, we live Him, and we are spontaneously holy, spiritual, and victorious. We have no thought of balancing ourselves. Instead of standards, principles, and regulations, we have Christ experientially and in a practical way. Whenever we are in such an atmosphere of prayer, we are one with Christ, and He is our life. This is what it means to live Christ.

My burden in this message is that our eyes would be opened to see that what God wants is Christ lived out from within us. His concern is not that we be balanced, but that we be one with Christ and live Christ. God wants us to live Christ. You may be a young person, but you should live Christ, not the life of a typical young person. To be balanced, subdued, or refined is not the way to live Christ. The way to live Christ is in prayer to contact Christ as the life-giving Spirit within us. As we pray ourselves into an atmosphere of genuine prayer, we shall live Christ spontaneously. I can testify that this is real and that we all can experience it.

The way to experience the indwelling Christ is to pray in a genuine way. We do not need to pray for a better job or home. That kind of prayer hinders us from experiencing Christ. We need the kind of prayer which brings us into contact with the Lord, prayer that causes us to be one with Him in our spirit. If we pray in this way, we shall enjoy Christ, experience Him as our life, and live Him.

Life-study of Colossians (Message 40)

Objective Revelation, Subjective Ministry, and Practical Experience

Col 2:8 Beware that no one carries you off as spoil through his philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ;

In 2:8, 18, and 20, Paul mentions a number of matters: philosophy, tradition, elements of the world, humility, angel worship, and ordinances. Actually, all these items can be summed up in one word—culture. Philosophy is one of the highest products of man’s culture. Tradition also is related to culture. In fact, tradition comes from culture, and culture is embodied in tradition. If there is no culture, there is no tradition; and if there is no tradition, there can be no culture. Furthermore, the elements of the world, which are rudimentary principles of basic teachings, are also aspects of culture. Humility is a virtue found among the most cultured of people. The more refined and cultured a person is, the more humble he is. But the more uncultured and barbarous a person is, the less humble he is. Thus, humility is intimately related to cultural refinement. Furthermore, the worship of angels is found among people of high culture. Those with a rather low culture may worship beasts, but those who are more highly cultured may worship angels. The worship of angels is actually a refined form of idolatry, a practice still to be found in today’s Catholicism. Some people may even justify the worship of angels by arguing that it is better than the worship of animals. Finally, man’s ordinances are related to his culture. Ordinances are rules related to our way of living. For example, table manners are ordinances. The more cultured people are, the more ordinances they have. The more cultured a person is, the more he will say, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.”

Although the word culture is not found in Colossians, actually this book was written to deal with culture, a real enemy to our experience and enjoyment of Christ. All people appreciate their culture and value it. For this reason, it is a hindrance to the experience of Christ.

In the section of Colossians dealing with the practical experience of Christ, Paul lists many things that frustrate this experience. The items mentioned in Colossians are very different from those listed in 1 Corinthians, where Paul deals with division, jealousy, fornication, and lawsuits. In Galatians Paul deals with the law as a frustration to the experience of Christ. But in Colossians he comes to the deeply hidden and subtle matter of culture. Christians condemn fornication and divisiveness and for the most part realize that the law is over. But who repudiates culture as a hindrance to the enjoyment of Christ? Even among us there are very few who condemn culture for this reason.

The church in Colosse had been invaded by a mixture of Jewish and Greek culture. Elements of Gnosticism and asceticism had made inroads into the church life. Both Gnosticism and asceticism are products of highly-developed cultures. Those who practice asceticism, the severe treatment of the body, are usually refined, cultured people.

We need to keep in mind that the book of Colossians was written not to deal with sin or the law, but to deal with culture. The Christ revealed in Colossians cannot be experienced unless the cultural hindrances have been exposed and dealt with. We may hold on to our culture and experience the Christ revealed in other New Testament books. But the experience of the all-inclusive Christ unfolded in Colossians requires that we repudiate the frustration presented by our culture.

In Colossians Paul first presents the objective revelation and then the subjective ministry. Coming to the practical experience of Christ in chapter two, he points out that the most subtle hindrance to the enjoyment of Christ is our culture. Concerning the objective revelation of Christ, the book of Colossians gives us the highest revelation. In the same principle, concerning the practical experience of Christ, this book points out the most subtle frustration. May we all be impressed with the fact that if we would have the practical experience of the all-inclusive Christ, we must deal with our culture.

Some of those who see the importance of laying aside culture may claim that they have already done so. The American saints may claim to have dropped their American culture, and the Chinese believers may claim to have dropped their Chinese culture. Nevertheless, they may not have dropped their self-made culture, the culture they themselves have developed. Actually, by dropping our culture we may simply devise another culture—a culture-dropping culture. In such a case, we replace our culture, not with Christ, but with a non-culture culture. The crucial point is not that we drop our culture—it is that we live Christ. The issue is not culture versus no culture; it is culture versus Christ. We need to care for Christ and live by Him. Therefore, the important thing is not that we attempt to drop our culture negatively; it is that we live Christ positively.

Weekly Ministry (Sept 6 – Sept 12, 2021)

HWMR – Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (Week 2)

Possessing the Land of Canaan by Defeating the Satanic Forces

Key Point – If we would possess the good land for the fulfillment of God’s purpose, we must engage in spiritual warfare to defeat the satanic forces

Eph. 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil,

We must also remember that there are evil powers in the heavenlies. We must fight the battle with the enemy. We are enjoying a portion of the all-inclusive Christ, yet the enemy and his evil forces in the heavenlies are still usurping and occupying the land. You and I have to fight the battle to take possession of the entire land. Brothers and sisters, as soon as we enjoy Christ in such a way, we realize in our spirit the reality of the evil forces in the heavenlies. These evil forces are veiling the all-inclusiveness of Christ from the Lord’s children. Very few of the Lord’s people can realize the all-inclusiveness of Christ simply because of the accusations of the evil powers in the heavenlies. To this very day the evil forces are still veiling the all-inclusiveness of Christ. Therefore, we must fight the battle. There is an exceedingly real spiritual warfare in which we must engage. By enjoying something of the all-inclusive Christ, we will be burdened for this fighting; we will be burdened for this battle. That is why we have been formed as an army. The conflict is before us. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” p. 336)

Life-study of Colossians (Message 37)

Christ in You

Col. 1:27 To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,

It is crucial for us to see that God wants nothing but Christ. If we see this vision, we shall set aside our standard and aspire to be one with the Lord in our spirit moment by moment. The all-inclusive Christ is now in our spirit. First Corinthians 6:17 tells us that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. In 2 Timothy 4:22 Paul says, “The Lord be with thy spirit” (Gk.). Our standard should not be the culture we have inherited or the culture we ourselves have made. Our standard should be the oneness with the Lord in our spirit. Do not try to be a good wife or husband. Instead, simply be one spirit with the Lord. Then you will live Christ because Christ will actually be living in you.

God has placed us into Christ. If we see that our culture frustrates us from experiencing the indwelling Christ, we shall realize that as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, the Lord indwells our spirit and that we are one spirit with Him. We need to live by this mingled spirit as the standard. If we allow Christ to live in us day by day, we shall spontaneously live by Him. In this way, Christ will replace our culture.

The problem with the saints at Colosse was that most of them had been deluded and carried off from Christ to philosophy and religious observances. They set up this philosophy and these observances as their standard and lived by it. This standard kept them from the enjoyment of Christ and the experience of Christ. This was the reason Paul charged them to let no one purposely defraud them of their prize (2:18).

The principle is the same today. The enemy within us is subtle. We have certain standards, either the standards we have inherited or those we have made for ourselves. Because these standards are good, we do not condemn them. Nevertheless, these good standards are not Christ Himself. God does not want something good produced by us; He wants Christ and Christ alone. In the eyes of God, only Christ counts for anything. God’s intention is to work Christ into us so that we may have the full enjoyment of Him. When Christ has the free course within us to become our enjoyment and experience, our culture will be dealt with.

The time has come for all of us in the churches to hear this message, to see this vision, and to condemn our cultural standards. Then we shall realize that what God wants is Christ and that Christ today is the life-giving Spirit mingled with our spirit. Instead of living according to a certain standard, we should simply live by the Christ who dwells in our spirit. As we live in the spirit, we should let Christ have a free course throughout our whole being. Then we shall enjoy Him, experience Him, and be delivered from our culture.

Life-study of Colossians (Message 38)

Christ Lives in Me

Col. 3:4 When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.

We need to see the heavenly vision that in His economy, God wants nothing except Christ. Christ is wonderful. As the One who is God and man, He has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement. All that Christ is and all that He has obtained and attained have been compounded into the all-inclusive Spirit. Now as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, He lives in us. How foolish not to give all the ground in our living to Him! Although we may love Him, we may still limit and restrict Him by our efforts to be good Christian husbands or wives. In ourselves, we still try to be humble, patient, kind, and loving. As long as we do this, there is no way for Christ to live in us.

In John 14, the Lord Jesus spoke of His death and resurrection. Speaking of the disciples’ experience after His resurrection, He says in verse 19, “Because I live, you shall live also.” It was after His resurrection that the Lord could live in His disciples and they could live by Him, according to Galatians 2:20.

Christ wants to live in us. When He lives in us, we live by Him. But where are the Christians today who give Christ the free course to live in them? Very few Christians do this. Even we in the Lord’s recovery do not give Christ the sufficient ground to live in us. Instead, we try to be humble and loving. We try to be a good husband or wife, a good brother or sister. Thus, the ground within us is occupied by ourselves and by our self-effort. Although we may fail in our efforts, we repent, pray, ask for the Lord’s cleansing, and then try once again. We may even welcome the opportunity for a new beginning afforded by a new day, week, month, or year so that we may try once again to be a proper Christian. We may comfort ourselves at the end of the day with the thought that in the morning we shall have a fresh opportunity to try again. We may do the same thing at the end of a week, month, or year. Especially at the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year, we may promise ourselves to have a new beginning. We may thoroughly clear the past, regret our shortcomings, repent for our mistakes, ask the Lord’s forgiveness for our wrongdoings, and then try to have a new beginning. We may say, “Let the past be the past. With the new year I can have a new beginning.” Nevertheless, before long we find that our best efforts still result in failure.

Because we all have this tendency, I am burdened that we would see that God does not want us to try to be proper Christians—He only wants us to live Christ. We should forget about trying to be a good husband or wife and care only to live Christ. Let us love Him, contact Him, and be one with Him. How near and available He is! He is within us and is one spirit with us, waiting to be given the opportunity to live in us. If we would give Christ the ground to live in us, we should cease from all our efforts. Instead of asking the Lord to help us in our efforts, we should pray, “Lord Jesus, I can do nothing apart from You. How foolish I have been in trying so hard! Now, Lord, I see the vision that I cannot do anything without You. Lord, I thank You that You dwell in me. I ask You, Lord, to work within me. Lord, I praise You that You are my life and that You are waiting for the opportunity to live in me. Lord, I thank You that I am in You. Now I am willing to give You all the ground to do everything and to be everything in me.” This is what it means for Christ to live in us.

After praying to the Lord in this way, we should turn to Satan and tell him to no longer tempt us to try to do anything apart from Christ. Say to him, “Satan, don’t tempt me in this way anymore. I assure you that I cannot do anything apart from Christ. Don’t try to get me to do anything.”