Treasure the Blessings We Have and Lay Hold On the Common Faith (2)


	Treasure the Blessings We Have and Lay Hold On the Common Faith (2) Made Alive, Raised Up, and Seated Together with Christ Our participation in the divine mystical realm is a matter of organic salvation in three stages: union in life, mingling in nature, and incorporation in person. We can see all three stages in Ephesians 2: 5-6: "Even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus." Our participation in the divine mystical realm begins with being made alive together with Christ. To be made alive together with Christ means we have been united with Him in His life. Second, we were raised up together with Christ. This means that His resurrection becomes our reality. This is the stage of being mingled with Him in His nature. Third, we have been seated together with Him in the heavenlies. We sit together with Him, and whoever Christ is, that is who we are. Since He is sitting and ruling in the heavenlies, we are also! This is to be incorporated with Him in person. As we are united with Christ in life, we realize that the church life must always be a place of feeding. Even in the initial stage of human life, what is most needed is to be loved and fed. If there is a church where the saints are not nourished and fully satisfied, then the church life there is in trouble. The saints in the church life have been made alive together with Christ. Therefore, all the saints have two basic needs: "Feed me" and "Love me." Thus we should serve them by nourishing them and cherishing them. Yet in the church life these two elements are often what is most lacking. We all know how to attend the meetings and behave. However, because the saints have been made alive, what they are desperate for is to be loved and nourished. Our serving responsibility is not to care for the meetings, but to feed and to love the saints. Nourishing and cherishing the saints are the most crucial necessities in the church life. Not only are we made alive, however, but we are also mingled with Christ. This means that the life within us begins to operate according to the law of life. Are Christians allowed to smoke cigarettes? We must answer, "There is no legality prohibiting it, but please refrain from smoking in the church meetings as this would damage the lungs of the other saints." We see that in the church life, however, there are many ex-smokers. How did they become ex-smokers? The life in them began to operate and regulate them within. As the life within us grows, we begin to realize that there are many things we can no longer do. There is no legality requiring Christians to quit smoking, but there is a life within that empowers us to drop such habits. Once I lived in a locality where one of the elders smoked cigarettes. He did his best to hide this bad habit, but all the saints could smell the odor of smoke on him. The first day I smelled smoke on him, I thought it was from some secondary source. After I noticed it again and again, I began to worry. I thought, "We are in trouble if even one of our elders smokes." Then one day he gave a message in which he said, "You never know how powerful even a little three-inch cigarette can be." When I heard this I knew that the operation of life with its nature had changed him. I thanked the Lord, because I sensed the issue was taken care of. What had happened? The divine nature had worked in him, causing him to be one with Christ. Through our experience of union with Christ in life and mingling with Christ in nature, we are seated together with Him. This is the stage of being incorporated with Christ in His person. To be incorporated with Christ means that we execute what He purposes. Our participation in the divine mystical realm begins with growth in life, continues in our exercise in the divine nature, and culminates in our incorporation with the divine person of Christ. Incorporation does not simply mean you have become a God-man, and you have figured out how to walk as a God-man. Being seated with Christ means more than living a godly life. It means you, having been filled with God's life and God's nature, become one carrying out what God is carrying out. According to Ephesians 2:6, we have been seated with Christ already, but many are still just babes, having no idea or ability to operate in such a way. We need to participate in the divine life and divine nature to the point that we enter into the divine execution of His economy! He is a life-dispensing God, so we should become His life-dispensing people. He is for Christ and the church, so our life should likewise be sold out for Christ and the church. The experience of being seated with Christ means God is able to flow through us, because we exercise to dispense life for Christ and the church. The Age of this World Ephesians 2:2 tells us that we once walked according to the age of this world. This means that we are no longer sons of disobedience who walk according to the age of this world. What is the age of the world? The three aspects of the world are the physical world, the material world and the religious world. In the physical world there exists fame, health and power. In the psychological, material world there exists all kinds of enjoyment. In the religious world is found many, many things to replace Christ Himself. The world in all three aspects is composed of ages. The songs of the younger generation are different from the songs of our generation, which were different from those of the generation before ours. They are all according to the age of the world. Young people like to say, "You older folks don't understand us!" And the older ones feel, as a Chinese proverb says, "The grains of salt I have eaten are more than the grains of rice you have eaten, and the number of bridges I have crossed is greater than the number of roads you have walked upon!" In other words, "Listen to me because I am much more experienced than you!" The Bible reveals that in every age of the world, the ruler of the authority of the air works differently. For instance, the tunes that attracted the youth of the 1970's now put young people to sleep. Instead, they like to sing, "JESUS! JESUS! JESUS!" in a rhythm without almost any tune. That is today's age, and the next age will be different again. In every age the world does something different. However, when you participate in the divine mystical realm through the experience of being made alive with Christ, raised up with Christ, and seated with Christ in the heavenlies, you are delivered out of the age of this world. The Lord came as a man through incarnation and lived as a man in the midst of men of that age. We cannot say that we should remove ourselves from the world. We need to be among the people in the world, and yet we ourselves should not be of it (John 17:14-16). Christ came into the world, yet He declared, "The ruler of this world has nothing in Me" (John 14:30). John also declared, "They are of the world...you are of God" (1 John 4:4,5). We should be careful in dealing with this generation. Our reaction may be to say, "What the young people are doing is wrong," but the Lord must give us wisdom as to how to bring the young saints into His presence. When I observe the way that they exercise and sing, I sometimes wonder, "Does their exercise to enter into the presence of the Lord truly require so much expenditure of energy? " I do not, however, say their singing or exercise is wrong. If this is a way for them to into the experience of the divine mystical realm, we should not prevent them. But I do caution the young saints not to anticipate to continue in such an exercise as they go on. At the very least, the body after a certain age could not handle it! We all must realize that we are not of this world. God's Masterpiece Through our participation in the divine mystical realm, we become God's masterpiece, God's poiema, created in Christ Jesus for good works. In his footnote on Ephesians 2:10, Brother Lee writes that this means we are God's artwork. Isn't this marvelous? The Lord is writing a poem. Poetry is romantic, and there is nothing religious about it. Our life in the divine mystical realm is a long, romantic process, which is a poem with many stanzas. The Lord may gain a young sister, then through her a family, and eventually many prevailing young brothers and sisters will be raised up because she was gained. But in the process, she went through so many experiences, both troublesome and sweet. Sometimes she is so thankful to the Lord for her husband, at other times she prays, "Lord, are You sure You picked the right husband for me? It seems You made a mistake." The Christian life is extremely romantic, for we are God's masterpiece. Hallelujah, the Lord is writing a poem about you and creating a poem through us all in Christ Jesus. This is the church. The Lord does not make this masterpiece; He creates it. This is important, because creation means to produce something from nothing. Our ability, talent, and skill are not part of this poem, because that would mean God would be making the poem out of something that was already in existence. No, He is creating it in Christ Jesus, not out of us. Remember this when you serve in the church life. It makes no difference if your experience is marvelous or discouraging. In the creation of the new man, everything is of Christ and not of us. There is nothing of ourselves in this masterpiece that we can boast in. Only when you know sadness can you know the real joy. Only when your situation is impossible can you know the mighty creating power of our God. This new man is created not of us but of the very Christ. This masterpiece created in Christ Jesus is for good works. As God's masterpiece we walk in good works prepared for us by God beforehand. A person's walk is the exhibition of his being. Aggressive people walk energetically with big strides, while timid people shuffle along slowly. They walk a certain way because of who they are. We are seated in the heavens enjoying the surpassing riches of His grace; therefore a heavenly walk is automatically produced in us. Within each one of us, there is an ability to preach the gospel. Within us there is a life to preach the gospel and a drive to be in the gospel. We walk in the gospel, because this is who we are. Within us there is a buoyant desire to proclaim to others that Jesus is the Savior, so the gospel becomes our walk. We walk in the heavenlies according to our union in life, mingling in nature, and incorporation in person with Christ. Our walk is according to good works that have eternal value, relating to Christ and the church. The Exercise of the Divine Mystical Realm Our experience in the divine mystical realm depends upon our ability to appreciate the one new man, the stewardship of the grace of God, the oneness of the Spirit, the measure of the gift given to each of us, holding to the truth in love, the putting on of the new man, and the vitality of the Spirit. These are what we must focus on as we serve and take the lead in the local church life. Appreciating The New Man The first item we must appreciate is the one new man. The church is one man who is new in nature. There are two Greek words for new in the New Testament. One denotes newness in time, and the other denotes newness in nature. The one new man is new in nature. If it were only new in time, sooner or later it would become old. But it is new in nature, which means that the God who makes all things new is the content of the church. How do we appreciate this new man? It is too easy to bring old things into our church life, so we must realize that there is no longer any middle wall of partition and no enmity. Also, in the one, new man there is peace and reconciliation. If you want to check your appreciation of the new man, ask yourself whether you have any wall or any enmity against some saints. This middle wall doesn't refer to differences in disposition or temperament but to the things related to Christ. The enmity is related to teachings. The Jewish believers might say, "We have the law." The Gentile believers might respond, "Yes, but not us!" Quickly within the church two classes are formed. In the church life there should be no such wall, no such enmity. Because the middle wall has been broken down, we have real peace. This peace is the reality of the gospel and it is our testimony. When people hear the gospel they also observe how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in oneness. To maintain this peace we refuse to make an issue of anything that isn't Christ. Do not make issues in the church life. Simply hold to the common belief, the common faith. If there is any issue, it shows that we exalt something other than Christ Himself. If we only care for Christ we will enjoy a peaceful church life. In the new man we are all fellow citizens and members of the household of God. In Christ, everyone is good, and everyone should be considered lovely. We all are in Christ. He is real and prevailing. May the Lord have mercy that we all may be fellow citizens enjoying this one new man. "Fellow" means that we are together. You only have Christ, and I only have Christ. You only care for Christ, and I also care only for Christ. When we have such a reality, then we are truly living in the new man. In the church life, all the races blend together. When people from different backgrounds blend together, many issues can arise. For example, Chinese saints may say that chicken cooked in the American style is inedible. And American saints may retort that American fried chicken is clearly superior to chopped-up chicken cooked with soy sauce. From such an issue, two groups may form. But the new man is composed only of Christ. All these issues that have nothing to do with Christ are not part of the church. Don't make anything else an issue. Endeavor to pursue the riches of the ministry, but realize that we are the church of Christ. Appreciating the Stewardship of the Grace of God Next, we must appreciate that there is a stewardship of the grace of God. Stewardship means that God has an operation through His servants, whose operation is one with the divine operation. This stewardship is related to the mystery of Christ, which is the church. The stewards care only for Christ and His unsearchable riches. Appreciating the Oneness of the Spirit To exercise in the divine mystical realm we must appreciate the oneness of the Spirit. This is both easy and difficult to do. It is easy, because God has provided it for us, but hard because we aren't happy with what God has arranged for us. When we are in our spirit, the oneness of the Spirit is automatically there. You may have a problem dealing with a certain brother, but when you are in spirit, he is lovely. The moment we are in spirit, we are in the oneness. A person in spirit has no hatred toward man, nor any disagreement or conflict with man, for in the Spirit there is oneness. The Spirit is the totality of the reality of the divine mystical realm. If you want to be in this realm, partake of the Spirit. A person who is in spirit is a person enjoying the divine mystical realm. If we want to maintain this oneness we must walk in lowliness and meekness, and we must learn to bear one another. No person who is higher than others can be one with others. The oneness comes from being low. Lowliness is toward yourself, and meekness is toward others. We need to have high teachings, but we ourselves must be very low. When you are low, you never insist on anything or make any issues. If we make issues it shows we makes ourselves high and think we know what is right. But the secret is to be very low. We must exercise meekness in our dealings with others. The secret of oneness is not to exercise authoritatively, not to assume and insist that you know what is correct. All our Bible knowledge and spiritual experiences can cause us to feel we are higher than others, but instead of being so high we must exercise meekness toward others. We also must bear one another with long-suffering. The church life is a long-suffering life. If we practice lowliness, meekness, and bearing with one another, and avoid making issues, the church life will be a very peaceful life indeed.