One New Man

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Old Way/ New Way

/ livinglywrong
 Old Way New Way
Caring for the meeting Caring for people
Being isolated in my home Opening my home to saints and /or visiting saints in their homes
Only staying in or thinking about my district/locality/state/country Blending, visiting, migration; praying for the Lord’s move all over the Earth; being Body-conscious
Being set, settled, and occupied Being open to migrate
Big meetings Twos and threes
Charismatic speakers Every member functioning
Scheduled activities / special events Everyday activities done together
Big Small
Meeting hall Homes
Individual spirituality Corporate building up
Criticizing the elders and/or other saints Being a pattern of the healthy church life
Spiritual giants Vital groups
Trying to become a five-talented member Investing my one talent
Regulating behavior Growing in the divine life
The principle of the tree: outward display, deeply rooted in the earth, a lodging place for birds (Matt. 13:32) The principle of the mustard seed: small, sojourning, good for food
Having meetings Wanting to be with the saints
Taking care of meetings Taking care of people (saints, new ones, unbelievers)
Hierarchy/clergy-laity Mutuality
One-directional working on a few “promising” ones Mutual caring among all
Top to bottom: having a top-down one-directional organized church structure Bottom to top: everyone actively initiating and functioning
Small to big: making one home meeting bigger and bigger Few to many: multiplying one home into many homes
Meeting once or twice a week Contacting saints regularly throughout the week (because I need them)
Dressing up and putting on a performance for the big meetings Being genuine with one another, getting to really know one another, loving one another
Brothers doing everything, sisters being left out (including husbands and wives) All members especially sisters functioning, couples and families serving together, brothers heading up and covering
Inviting new ones to our meetings and conferences Visiting new ones where they are, especially in their home
Only meeting with saints who are from my cultural background or language Being open to blend with all the saints
The 20% church life The 80% church life
Brothers being 2/3 of the saints Sisters being 2/3 of the saints
Looking to a “pastor” or leading brother to run the home meeting and give a teaching/message Every member functioning in mutuality in the homes, learning by asking and answering questions
Focusing only on college students All saints being cared for
Living to our children Living with the tabernacle (Christ and the church) as our center
Not letting others care for our children Caring for one another’s children so the sisters can make it to the meetings
Barrenness Corporate bearing of remaining fruit
Formulaic meetings (pray-eat-sing-read) Organic functioning of every member, following the leading and flow of the Spirit
Focusing on the Lord’s Day meetings Daily church life
Following our jobs Following the Lamb

How will the one new man come into existence?

/ livinglywrong

“In the new man Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and free man have no place. The renewal is not merely for our behavior. The renewal is…to get rid of our racial ordinances and to get rid of the natural persons….We all need to be renewed for the existence of the one new man.

When the Spirit spreads into our mind, it becomes the spirit of our mind. It is in such a Spirit that we are renewed for our transformation. The Spirit renews, reconstructs, rearranges, our mind. Man is absolutely under the control and direction of his mind. What his mind thinks, he does,…he follows,…[and] he carries out. The director of our being is our mind. Even after you have been regenerated and are loving the Lord, you are still under the direction of your mind.

We need to drink of the one Spirit so that the Spirit can saturate our mind. The renewal of the mind is for the real practice of the new man. The British, the Chinese, and the Americans all have different ordinances related to their culture. This is why we need to have our national mentality renewed. Our national and even natural mentality was educated and built up according to our racial and cultural background. This is the top hindrance to the existence of the new man. Brother Hudson Taylor went to China with a burden to bring the gospel to the Chinese. He was so burdened that he even dressed the way the Chinese did. This was very commendable, but we must go further to see that it is necessary to be renewed in our mentality. Merely to change in an outward way could be a kind of performance and not the renewal in our mind.

We believe that this is the age for the new man to be perfected and to come into existence in a full way. The Lord has arranged the outward environment and situation for the new man to come into being, but the outward situation has to match the inward reality. There is the need of the inward reality in the members of the Body of Christ. Due to the scientific inventions and the political situations on this earth, the many nationalities and cultures have been brought together. Now there is the need of the inward reality, which is the renewal of our mind. Our national, racial mentality, which has been built up through our entire life, must be renewed.

[When I first] came to the United States, the Lord showed me that I had to give up my Chinese mentality. I wanted a mind that cared only for the Lord’s recovery and not for my Chinese way of living. We need the Lord’s mercy and grace for Him to renew our mind. The Lord is going to perform something to bring this one new man into full existence. The Lord is going to do such a marvelous thing with all the different cultures and races. The tendency of this age is pointed toward the Lord’s work for the one new man. But in order for this to happen, we must have a thorough, proper, and adequate renewal of our mind, which has been built up by our nationality. This is why we have to drink of the Spirit. Then our entire being, especially our mind, will be saturated by the Spirit.”

(CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” pp. 516-517, 507-509)