We Have Received the Necessity of a New Living (2)

Introduction

Now we will cover more aspects of Christ. Christ is not only a living person for us to enjoy, He is also the supply to meet our daily needs. In the Gospel of John we see that Christ is life to us.

1. Enjoying Christ as Life

Our first need is the life of Christ. If we don't enjoy Christ as our very life, then we can't have Christ as anything else in our experience. We must first enjoy Christ as life to us. Only then will we be able to experience Him as all the following items. The enjoyment of Christ as life is the foundation for all our other enjoyment.

2. Enjoying Christ as the Bread of Life

Christ is the bread of life to be the strength of our daily living. "As the living Father has sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me" (John 6:57). It is by eating Christ as the bread of life that we are constantly made alive. When we eat the bread of life, we live because of Him.

3. Enjoying Christ as the Water of Life

We also need to enjoy Christ as the water of life to quench our thirst. "Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37-38). In our human life we need to eat, and we also need to drink. That means we need to be strengthened, and we also need to be refreshed.

"Grace is the enjoyment of Christ Himself."

4. Enjoying Christ as the Light of Life

We also need to enjoy Christ as the light of life. "Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). When we enjoy Christ this way, we know how to walk rightly. We are no longer in darkness. We realize what is right and what is wrong. Christ as the light of life shines within us for our daily walk.

5. Enjoying Christ as the Word of Life

We also have Christ as the word of life. The Lord Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life" (John 5:39-40). This means that the Bible itself should be the word of life for us to enjoy. It is not just a book called "the Bible" - that is too objective. When we say that the Bible is the word of life for us, that means it is very subjective. Every word in the Bible is a word of life!

6. Enjoying Christ as Grace

We should also experience Christ as grace. "And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality" (John 1:14). We have spoken of our need to enjoy Christ. This is actually the definition of grace. Grace is the enjoyment of Christ Himself.

7. Enjoying Christ as Reality

John 1:14 says that Christ is "full of grace and reality." When we enjoy Christ as grace, then we also have Him as reality. Without Christ as reality, our life is empty. But when we have Christ as reality, then we don't want anything else. We realize that everything else is false, and everything else is vain. The only reality in this universe is Christ Himself.

"The Lord, who is the 'good wine,' is better than all the wine, or satisfaction, that the world can offer."

8. Enjoying Christ as Satisfaction

There is a well-known description of the Lord changing water into wine at a wedding feast. The wine there signifies Christ as satisfaction. After the Lord changed water into wine, the master of the wedding feast told the bridegroom, "Every man sets out the good wine first, and when they have drunk freely, then that which is worse; you have kept the good wine until now" (John 2:10). The Lord, who is the "good wine," is better than all the wine, or satisfaction, that the world can offer.

9. Enjoying Christ as Freedom

Christ is also the true freedom. "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32). "If therefore the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). How can the truth make us free? This truth is not a matter of knowing things doctrinally. A doctrinal knowledge can never set us free. It is when we enjoy Christ as grace, reality, and satisfaction that we are set free.

10. Enjoying Christ as the Resurrection

Christ said, "I am the resurrection" (John 11:25). Those who enjoy Christ as life are also in resurrection. When we enjoy Christ, we are above everything. We are above the small things, like our concerns for how we look. We are above the big things, like all our concerns for the future. We are above all our problems, anxieties, and situations. When we are in resurrection, we don't care for anything else.

11. Enjoying Christ as the True Vine

Christ is not only the vine tree itself, He is also the very life of the vine. There is a true union between us, who are the branches, and Christ, who is the life of the vine. "I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). As the branches, we receive the life of the vine and express all the riches of the vine tree. When we were born again, we received the life of the vine and became part of the vine tree. Now we are one with Christ as the branches in the true vine.

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