THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The God-man Living
Message Two—The Pattern of the God-man Living
Scripture Reading: Gal. 2:20; 6:17; Phil. 1:19-21a; 3:8-10; 4:4-9, 11-13; 1 Tim. 1:16
I. The book of Acts reveals that the apostle Paul lived the life of a God-man, a life with the highest standard of human virtues expressing the most excellent divine attributes—Acts 27:1—28:10; note 1 on 28:9: (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
A. This was Jesus living again on the earth in His divinely enriched humanity. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
B. This was the wonderful, excellent, and mysterious God-man, who lived in the Gospels, continuing to live through one of His many members. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
C. This was a living witness of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and God-exalted Christ—Phil. 1:20-21a. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
II. The Epistles reveal that Christ lived within Paul as Paul’s life and Paul lived Christ, taking Christ as his living—Gal. 2:20; 6:17: (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
A. Paul lived the life of a God-man by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ to live Christ for His magnification—Phil. 1:19-21a: (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
1. Not living by his natural human life but by the divine life of Christ in resurrection—v. 21a; Col. 3:4. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
2. Living Christ to magnify Him to participate in the salvation of Christ in life—Rom. 5:10. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
3. Experiencing a continual salvation by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ and the operation of the indwelling God—Phil. 1:19-21a; 2:12-16. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
B. Paul lived the life of a God-man, being found by others to be in Christ and having the righteousness of God through faith in Christ—3:7-9; Gal. 2:19-20: (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
1. Aspiring to have his whole being immersed in and saturated with Christ that all who observed him might find him fully in Christ—Phil. 3:9a. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
2. Not living in his own righteousness but in the righteousness of God, and being found in such a transcendent condition expressing God by living Christ, not by keeping the law—v. 9b. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
3. As such a person, Paul was not a man in culture, religion, philosophy, ethics, or morality but one who was absolutely in Christ and who lived God as his daily life. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
C. Paul lived the life of a God-man, gaining Christ by experiencing the power of resurrection—vv. 10-16; Rom. 1:4; 8:11: (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
1. Pursuing to know and experience not merely the excellency of Christ but the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings—Phil. 3:10. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
2. Being conformed to the mold of Christ’s death, dying to his human life to live the divine life—v. 10. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
D. Paul lived the life of a God-man, being full of forbearance and without anxiety—4:4-7; 1 Thes. 5:16-18; 2 Cor. 12:7-9: (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
1. Forbearance being reasonableness, considerateness, and consideration in dealing with others, the sum total of a life that lives Christ. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
2. Being one with the Lord, Paul was not anxious about anything, for he was not only under the Lord’s sovereign hand but was in the Lord Himself. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
E. Paul lived the life of a God-man, manifesting the excellent virtues of the humanity of Christ—Phil. 4:8: (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
1. Christ being true, dignified, righteous, pure, lovely, well spoken of; He is the reality of these praiseworthy virtues. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
2. Christian humanity being a life lived out through the mingling of the divine attributes and the human virtues with the proper human flavor. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
F. Paul lived the life of a God-man, having learned to take Christ as his secret and power—vv. 11-13: (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
1. Learning how to take Christ as life, how to live Christ, how to magnify Christ, and how to gain Christ in every matter and in all circumstances. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
2. Being able to do all things in Christ through the empowering of Christ within him. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
III. We are the Body; yet at the same time, we are the members; we have to maintain our life as members and also maintain the Body life; we have to pay attention to the corporate life and also pay attention to the individual life; if we pay attention to one aspect only, we will become an unturned cake—Hosea 7:8; 2 Cor. 5:13: (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 1, Vol. 19: Notes on Scriptural Messages (3), ch. 2)
A. “Whether we were beside ourselves, it was to God; or whether we are sober-minded, it is for you”—2 Cor. 5:13: (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 1, Vol. 19: Notes on Scriptural Messages (3), ch. 2)
1. Being beside ourselves is being crazy; we do this to God; but we are sober-minded for others; on one hand, this is very personal; on the other hand, this is very corporate; being beside ourselves is a personal matter; being sober-minded is a corporate matter. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 1, Vol. 19: Notes on Scriptural Messages (3), ch. 2)
2. I hope that you will take care of both sides; on one hand, we should be lively before God; on the other hand, we should be very normal before men. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 1, Vol. 19: Notes on Scriptural Messages (3), ch. 2)
B. Being subject to God and subject to one another—James 4:7; Eph. 5:21: (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 1, Vol. 19: Notes on Scriptural Messages (3), ch. 2)
1. James 4:7 tells us to be subject to God, and Ephesians 5:21 tells us to be subject one to another. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 1, Vol. 19: Notes on Scriptural Messages (3), ch. 2)
2. Here are two sides once again; on one hand, we have to be subject to God, and on the other hand, we have to be subject to one another; being subject to God is a personal matter, but being subject to one another is something that we should practice among the brothers. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 1, Vol. 19: Notes on Scriptural Messages (3), ch. 2)
C. “That there would be no division in the body”—1 Cor. 12:25: (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 1, Vol. 19: Notes on Scriptural Messages (3), ch. 2)
1. In studying the book of 1 Corinthians in the past, we have seen the Body of Christ; we can advance individually, but no growth is independent of the Body. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 1, Vol. 19: Notes on Scriptural Messages (3), ch. 2)
2. May God bless us so that we know the preciousness of the individual life as well as of the corporate life; may we not annul the corporate life by our individual life, and may we not annul the individual life by our corporate life. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 1, Vol. 19: Notes on Scriptural Messages (3), ch. 2)
IV. Paul was shown mercy and was graced by the Lord that he might be a pattern to those who are to believe on Him—1 Tim. 1:16 and note 2: (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
A. We should practice the things that we have learned, received, heard, and seen in the apostle—Phil. 4:9 and note 3. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)
B. Because Paul was an imitator of Christ, we should imitate him that we may also become imitators of Christ and a pattern to all the believers—1 Thes. 1:7 and note 1; 2 Thes. 3:7-9 and note 1 on 3:7. (2001 ICSC, msg. 3)