THE FORTH PART: THE PATHWAY OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY
God-Ordained Way
Message Four—Building Up a Model of the Corporate God-man Living
Scripture Reading: Acts 26:16, 19; Rom. 8:29; 14:17; 1 Pet. 2:21; Rom. 8:4, 1:9; Gal. 5:16, 25; Phil. 3:3; Rev. 19:7-8
I. God needs a corporate people to be raised up by His grace through the high peak of the divine revelation to live a life according to this revelation, and to be discipled from being a natural man to being a God-man to live the kingdom life, the church life—Acts 26:16, 19; Rom. 14:17; Rev. 21:10-11, 22:
A. If we practice living the life of a God-man, which is the reality of the Body of Christ, spontaneously a corporate model will be built up, a model living in the economy of God—John 14:6b; Eph. 4:20-24; Gal. 2:20.
B. The corporate God-man living, the living of the many God-men as reproductions of the first God-man, is the genuine church life—the testimony of Jesus—1 Cor. 1:2; 12:27; Rev. 1:2, 11, 20.
C. The corporate living of the God-men—a living that is the reality of the Body of Christ—will end this age and will bring Christ back to the take, possess, and rule over the earth with these God-men in the kingdom age—11:15; 20:6.
II. The Lord’s God-man living constituted a prototype to His believers; this prototype is for the reproduction of the God-man in the believers—Rom. 8:29; 1 Pet. 2:21:
A. In His human living, the Lord Jesus expressed the divine attributes in His human virtues; this was the life of the first God-man as a prototype—John 14:9.
B. Originally, such a life was in an individual man, Jesus Christ; now this life is being repeated in many men who have been redeemed and regenerated and who possess the divine life—1 Pet. 1:18, 23; 1 John 5:11-12.
C. The only life that is pleasing to God is the life that is a repetition of the life Christ lived on earth; to follow Jesus is to be a Xerox copy of the first God-man—2 Cor. 5:9; Heb. 13:21; 1 John 3:22; 1 Pet. 2:21.
III. In order to carry out God’s economy according to the highest peak of the divine revelation, we must live the life of a God-man in the reality of the Body of Christ by walking, living, and having our being in and according to the mingled spirit—Rom. 8:4; 1:9; Gal. 5:16, 25; Phil. 3:3:
A. Our unique need is the processed and consummated Triune God as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit; the Spirit is all that we need.
B. The Spirit is mingled with our spirit to be one spirit; we are not merely one with the Spirit, but we and the Spirit are one—1 Cor. 6:17.
C. Only the processed and consummated Triune God living in us as the all-inclusive Spirit can be a Christian and an overcomer; instead of doing things in ourselves, we should simply enjoy His living and His working by continually talking to and rejoicing in Him—Gal. 2:20; 1 Cor. 15:10; Phil. 4:4-6.
D. Only our spirit can respond to God’s Spirit; if we are a person in the spirit, then we will be in the spirit to meet God, to see God, and to stay with God; there is no other way to be a lover of God, to be a seeker of Christ, or to be an overcomer than to be in spirit-Rom. 1:9; Rev. 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10.
IV. The way to walk, live, and have our being in and according to the mingled spirit (the way to bring in a new revival by living the life of a God-man) is by the following practices—Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16, 25:
A. We must call on the name of the Lord. It is God’s commandment (Psa. 50:15; Jer. 29:12) and His desire (Psa. 91:15; Zeph. 3:9; Zech. 13:9) that His people call on Him. Paul charged us to pursue Christ as righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart—Gen. 4:26; 2 Tim. 2:22.
B. We must pray-read His word as the Spirit; the more we take in the word with its killing power, the more our self with its pride and all the negative elements within us are put to death; pray-reading is a practical way to kill the negative elements within us—Eph. 6:17-18.
C. We must always rejoice, unceasingly pray, and give thanks in everything; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us—1 Thes. 5:16-18.
D. We must not quench the Spirit. The Spirit causes our spirit to be burning and our gifts to be flaming; hence, we should not quench Him—1 Thes. 5:19; Rom. 12:11; 2 Tim. 1:6-7.
E. We must not despise or ignore prophesying but highly regard and respect it; we must live a prophesying life for the building up of the Body of Christ; we have to practice pray-reading, studying, reciting, and prophesying—we should prophesy with what we can recite—1 Thes. 5:20; 1 Cor. 14:4b, 31:
1. We need a revival every morning; morning revival is the time for us to see the Lord—Prov. 4:18; Lam. 3:22-24; Psa. 119: 147-148; Matt. 5:8; Psa. 27:4, 8.
2. We must live an overcoming life every day; to live an overcoming life is to live a prophesying life by loving the Lord to the uttermost (1 Cor. 2:9), fellowshipping with Him moment by moment (cf. 1 John 1:6), walking according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4b), and speaking the word of the Lord in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2a).
V. We need to become a corporate model, the reality of the Body, a people who live the life of a God-man; such a model will be the greatest revival in the history of the church to bring the Lord back—Matt. 16:18; Rev. 19:7-8:
A. We need a model; I do not mean that only some individuals should become a model; I mean that we need a corporate model, a Body, a people who live the life of a God-man—Rom. 12:4-5; 14:17.
B. Since we have seen such a high peak of the divine revelation, we need to put into practice what we have seen; our practice will have a success, and that success will be a new revival—the highest revival, and probably the last revival before the Lord’s coming back.
Ministry Excerpts:
LIVING THE LIFE OF A GOD-MAN ACCORDING TO
THE HIGH PEAK OF THE DIVINE REVELATION
Building Up a Model of the Corporate God-man Living
According to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation
Since we have seen such a high peak of the divine revelation, we need to put into practice what we have seen. Our practice will have a success, and that success will be a new revival—the highest revival, and probably the last revival before the Lord’s coming back. As I said in the previous chapter, we need a model. I do not mean that only some individuals should become a model. I mean that we need a corporate model, a Body, a people who live the life of a God-man. From today our practice should be to live the life of a God-man by realizing the power of the resurrection of Christ to take His cross as He did, to be crucified, to be conformed to His death, every day to live another One’s life (Phil. 3:10; 1:21; Gal. 2:20). Our life, our self, our flesh, our natural man, and our everything were already brought to the cross by Him. Now we are living Him, so we should remain in His crucifixion to be conformed to the mold of His death every moment in every part of our life. That will cause us to spontaneously live Him as the resurrection (John 11:25). This is the living of a God-man.
This should be and this must be our church practice from today onward. If not, we are practicing something in vain. Our practice is not merely to have a church life in which everything is according to the Bible, a church life in which we baptize people by immersion, forsake the denominations, practice head covering, and have the Lord’s table, absolutely according to the Bible. Some have come into the recovery because of these practices. They appreciate our family life, the church meetings, and the way we train our young people. However, these things should not be the goal of our practice. The goal of our practice should be to live the life of a God-man. This is the goal we should reach.
Our practice is not to live the life of any kind of natural man, good or bad. Our practice is to live the life of a God-man. A God-man is a man who is regenerated and transformed to be one with God, taking God as his life, his person, and his everything. Eventually, this one becomes God in His life and His nature, but not in His Godhead. This is a God-man. In the recovery today we should practice to live the life of such a God-man. This life is a life of crucifixion by and in and with resurrection. It is a life in which I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live but He who lives in me (Gal. 2:20). Yet when He lives in me, He lives with me, with the result that I live with Him (John 14:19). He lives with me, and I live with Him. We two live together in the way of mingling, a mingling of God and man.
The highest family life, marriage life, and social life come out of such a life. This life is the life of the church and the life of the Body of Christ. Such a life is the reality of the Body of Christ. Such a life, like that of Jesus Christ in His thirty-three and a half years on the earth, saves us from all negative things, from small things and big things. In our marriage life it saves us from separation and divorce. In the church it saves us from opinion, division, despising, criticizing, and murmuring. In this life there is no criticism, no despising, no partiality, no division, no dissension, no opinion. In such a life we live the life of a God-man. With Him everything is new, everything is heavenly, and everything is divine, divinity mingled with humanity.
Wherever there is division, there is spiritual fornication, idolatry, self-glorification, and self-exaltation. Without self-exaltation, there could be no division. Living the life of a God-man saves us from all these negative things. To live such a life is to live Christ (Phil. 1:21), the very model of the God-man life.
Dear saints, this is my burden. We all need to live such a life—the older ones and the young ones, the brothers and the sisters, the elders and the common saints. If we do, we are faithful to what we have heard. Then the Lord will have not a model only by individuals but a model by a group of us. This is the model that the Lord needs to show to today’s Christianity, a model of what His church should be.
If we live such a life, surely we will go out to contact people for the preaching of the gospel. A vital group is a group of this kind of people. The vital groups should not be practiced as a formality; they should be groups of people who live such a life. Our living the life of a God-man will save people, edify others, and build up the local churches even to the building up of the Body of Christ.
If we practice what we have heard, spontaneously a model will be built up. This model will be the greatest revival in the history of the church. I believe that this revival will bring the Lord back.
In conclusion, I would encourage you to try faithfully to practice living a God-man’s life by contacting Him through calling on His name, pray-reading His living word, praying unceasingly, not quenching the Spirit, and not despising prophesying. May the Lord bless us with Himself as the life-giving Spirit that we may touch Him in the mingled spirit by these life practices. (The Practical Way to Live a Life According to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation in the Holy Scriptures , msg. 5)
THE MINGLED SPIRIT
The mingled spirit is a mystery. Paul purposely composed Romans 8 in a simple way so that we could understand his utterance, yet the reality that he describes is mysterious and abstract to the uttermost. Even our physical body and the life within it are mysterious. Our psychological being, including our heart, mind, emotion, and will, is even more mysterious. We cannot physically locate these parts, yet we know that they are within us. We also have a human spirit, which is abstract and mysterious. Now that we are saved, we have something more mysterious within us—the Triune God as the Spirit mingling Himself with our spirit to be one mingled spirit.
Romans 8:4 says, “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.” Bible translators have had difficulty discerning whether the spirit mentioned in this verse is the divine Spirit or the human spirit. We need to see that in Romans 8, the Spirit is no longer merely the Spirit of God, as He was in creation (Gen. 1:2), but also the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of the resurrecting One. Furthermore, this all-inclusive Spirit is mingled with our spirit. Romans 8:16, which says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit,” mentions the two spirits together. Thus, the spirit in verse 4 refers not merely to the divine Spirit or the human spirit but to these two spirits mingled together as one spirit. Every believer has such a mingled spirit.
WALKING ACCORDING TO THE MINGLED SPIRIT
According to Romans 8:4, we should walk not according to scriptural doctrines or regulations but according to the mingled spirit that is within us and is even a part of our being. The Greek word for walk in verse 4 refers to the general walk in our daily living, including our eating, dressing, marriage life, family life, school life, job life, and church life. We must have our being according to the mingled spirit.
We do not need to try to fully understand what or where the mingled spirit is. We cannot fully understand our psychological heart, yet we know that we have such a heart because of the feelings it gives us. In the same principle, we know that we have a mingled spirit within because we sense its function. Perhaps when we are speaking with our spouse, something within us does not agree with us. When we are considering whether to buy a certain item, something within us may say, “Do not buy it. Do not consider it any further.” Before we were saved, we did not have this kind of experience. Whenever we wanted to do something, such as go shopping, we would simply do it and would not be bothered. However, since being saved, we often sense a speaking within. This is the mingled spirit. Instead of trying to fully understand the mingled spirit, we simply need to believe that we have a mingled spirit and walk according to the mingled spirit in every area of our life. We need to have every corner and avenue of our being according to this spirit.
The mingled spirit is very close to the anointing. Romans is part of Paul’s completing ministry. After the time of Paul, when different teachings had damaged the church, John brought in the mending ministry. In his mending ministry John speaks of the anointing (1 John 2:20, 27). When electricity moves, it becomes a current. Just as the current of electricity is electricity in motion, the anointing is the mingled spirit functioning. When the mingled spirit functions in us, it becomes the anointing. Therefore, to obey the anointing is to walk according to the spirit.
NOT LIVING ACCORDING TO OUR NATURE,
CULTURE, ETHICS, RELIGION, OR HABIT
Though we love the Lord, are in the church, and want to have a good testimony, we unconsciously and spontaneously live, walk, and have our being according to our nature, culture, ethics, religion, and habit. This is altogether wrong. We may understand the teachings of living Christ and practicing to be one spirit with the Lord, but these teachings must become our daily walk, living, and being. Our walk should be to daily live Christ, and we should have our being by practicing to be one spirit with the Lord.
We need to constantly live according to the spirit. Whatever we say or do must be according to the spirit. Before we say something to our spouse, we should consider whether it is according to the spirit. We are too loose in our home life. We are careful in the meetings, but we become loose as soon as we go home. We may want to relax and feel free at home, but we must not forget to walk according to the spirit. We should live a life that is according to the spirit at every time and in every place. This means that we even dress and groom ourselves according to the spirit.
WALKING ACCORDING TO THE MINGLED SPIRIT ISSUING IN THE BODY OF CHRIST, PREPARING THE BRIDE, AND BRINGING THE LORD BACK
If we walk according to the spirit, Christ will come forth. A daily walk according to the spirit will issue in the Body of Christ, the fullness of God, the new man, and the house of God. Walking according to the spirit will cause the bride to be prepared and will eventually usher us into eternity by bringing the Lord back. Hence, Romans 8 is practical, crucial, and central.
WALKING ACCORDING TO THE MINGLED SPIRIT
CAUSING THE MEETINGS TO BE A NORMAL EXHIBITION
OF OUR DAILY LIFE
The meetings should be an exhibition of our daily life. If we do not walk and have our being according to the spirit in our daily life, our exercise of the spirit in the meetings will be a performance. We should come together to meet in the same way that we live and walk. Our calling on the name of the Lord when we meet should be a result of our calling during the day. Our praying when we come together should be a result of our praying unceasingly throughout the day. The meetings are not a performance but a normal, ordinary continuation and exhibition of our daily life.
We need to practice to live and have our being every moment according to the mingled spirit. It is not adequate even to live according to the Bible. The spirit’s requirement is higher than the letter of the Bible. We must reject our nature, culture, ethics, religion, and habit and take the mingled spirit as the standard of our living. (The Two Spirits in Romans, ch. 7)