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Christ was made man that we might be made God

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Athanasius, one of the early church fathers, said concerning Christ, “He was made man that we might be made God,” and “The Word was made flesh… that we, partaking of His Spirit, might be deified.” This is the principle of God’s move on earth. God’s move is in man and through man. God’s move is to deify man, making man God in life and in nature but not, of course, in the Godhead. (Life-Study of Job, message 24)

“For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” (Saint Athanasius, On the Incarnation)

The divine life is needed for family life

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“Suppose we did not have the divine life within us. This would certainly make family life very difficult, especially in relation to our in-laws, and particularly, to the mother-in-law…. For both a husband and a wife, a mother-in-law can create a difficult situation. For this reason, humanly speaking, it is better that a married couple not have a mother-in-law live with them.”

(Life-study of 1 Peter, pp. 173-174, 182)

God does not want us to be always up or to be always down

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God does not want us to be always up or to be always down. Even in nature the alternating of day and night testifies of this. There is no such thing as an unending day or night. Rather, there is the alternating of day and night, night and day. God did not create us so that we would have a day or night that would last for many years. This may be according to our way, but it is not according to God’s way.

Young people, you must know your rule, your limit. This means that you must know how much God has measured to you, how much He has apportioned to you. This restriction, this limitation, is a very practical dealing with our flesh. Our natural man wants to be without limitation. However, God knows our problem. Therefore, He sets up boundaries and restrictions so that we may stay within the measure that He has apportioned to us.

(Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 444-445)

The Christian’s happiness is not to be found in external things, but in learning to enjoy God Himself in the midst of trial

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“What is the significance of suffering? This, that the devastation it brings to the old creation provides an opportunity for the God of resurrection to impart Himself to His creatures, so that they emerge from the death process with a divine element in their constitution. The primary purpose of suffering in this universe, particularly as it relates to the children of God, is that through it the very nature of God may be wrought into the nature of man. “If indeed our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). Through a process of outward decay an inward process is taking place that is adding a new constituent to our lives.

Beloved brothers and sisters, through hardship and pressure a divine element is being wrought into the very fabric of our beings, so that we cease to be colorless Christians, but have a heavenly hue imparted to our lives that was lacking before. Whatever else suffering may effect in this universe is incidental; this is primary — to bring those whom the living God has made possessors of created life into the uncreated life of the God of resurrection. It is in the death experiences which come through suffering that the life of the creature is blended with the life of the Creator. We may know the living God without such drastic experiences, but only through death can we come to an experiential knowledge of the God of resurrection.

Suffering is the God-appointed lot of the Christian. The Christian’s happiness is not to be found in external things, but in learning to enjoy God Himself in the midst of trial. Paul and Silas could rejoice and sing His praises while they were in prison, because their happiness did not come from outer circumstances, but from an inner enjoyment of God. In Paul’s short letter to the Philippians, written during his imprisonment, there are over a score of references to joy. In deep distress he could still be joyful because in his affliction he was learning to know Christ, to appropriate Him and to enjoy Him. His outward circumstances were all conducive to sorrow, but it was in sorrow that Christ was imparted to him as the source of his joy.”

(The God of Resurrection)

In order to help people, we must have spiritual experiences in addition to love

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“A member must have spiritual experiences in order for his function to be manifested. Without spiritual experiences, there is no spiritual function. For instance, I may be someone who has touched God’s love and who loves the brothers and sisters, but I may not have learned many lessons or have had many spiritual experiences. This will limit the operation of love within me and limit the manifestation of my function. Motivated by love, I may want to fellowship with a brother, but without spiritual experiences, I will not be able to help the brother. Without spiritual experiences, there will be no way to manifest my function according to the operation of love.

…. One day a sister in her fifties came to see me. As soon as she began to speak, she had only critical words for her husband, saying, “Brother Lee, my husband is so mean to me. He never gives me a pleasant look. He is away from home all day long even when he is not at work, and as soon as he gets home, he quarrels with me. I cannot bear this. Please pray that my husband would change.”

As she continued to speak, I was unsure of how to help her at first. However, I did know that this kind of disharmony in a family cannot be attributed to just one person. If her husband needed to be dealt with before the Lord, she did as well. As she spoke, I began to realize that she also had many problems. For example, she was very proud in her husband’s presence, and she was unwilling to bend or obey. If her husband was stubborn, she would be even more stubborn. If her husband was unhappy and had a long face, she would have an even longer face. When her husband came home late, she would wait to open the door and would greet him with an unpleasant expression on her face. In part, her reactions caused her husband to like her less and less and to want to be at home less and less.

After gaining a broader view of the problem, I said, “Sister, I will pray for your husband as you requested, but you must promise me that you will change your attitude toward him. As soon as he comes home in the evening and knocks on the door, you should open the door for him with a pleasant smile on your face. It would also be good if you could prepare a snack for him.” Upon hearing this, the sister said, “I cannot do that.” I responded, saying, “I know that we cannot do it in ourselves, but the Lord can. Is not the Lord in us as our life? Have a time of prayer with the Lord and ask the Lord to supply you in order to do this.”

It is not easy for a person to yield to the Lord, and it is even more difficult to yield to man. Although the sister was very troubled, she had to yield to the Lord in order for there to be any hope that her husband would yield as well. When she went home, she knelt down and wept bitterly in her room, saying, “Lord, I cannot do this. I cannot do this.” In her prayer, however, she was deeply touched by the Lord, and she yielded to Him. Then she inwardly yielded to her husband as well. That evening she dressed neatly, prepared some snacks, and waited for her husband to return. When her husband returned around twelve o’clock and knocked on the door, she immediately opened the door and had a much more agreeable attitude. This went on for several evenings, and soon there was a completely different situation in their house. After the sister yielded in this way, her husband began to yield as well.

In order to help people practically, it is not enough to have merely love; we must have spiritual experiences as well. Once there is experience, various functions will be manifested. We must learn the lessons of touching the authority of the Head, accepting the ruling of the Head, and letting the Lord subdue us in every matter. We can truly help others only in the matters in which we have been subdued. Function is based on experience.”

(Service for the Building Up of the Church, pp. 35-37)

Meeting with the saints is a party

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“First Corinthians 1:9 says that our faithful God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ. The word fellowship includes the thought of enjoyment. Sometimes people may celebrate something by having a party. For us to fellowship together is to have a “party.” A party is a fellowship. The Christian meeting may be considered as a Christian party. Every meeting is a party to us. I am interpreting the word party in a very positive sense. A party is an enjoyment. If we are at a party, you will enjoy me, and I will enjoy you. We will share our joy and feelings with one another. We are so happy when we are meeting with the saints because our meeting, in a positive sense, is a party.

In our hymnal there is a hymn about the church life that says, “I’m so happy in this lovely place” (Hymns, #1237). It is hard to enjoy such a hymn by ourselves. If we were at home alone in our living room, it would be difficult to sing, “I’m so happy in the living room.” But if you are in a small group meeting of ten to fifteen saints, you can declare, “I’m so happy!” because you are having fellowship, a party. This party is not like the parties in the world with sinful and worldly things. It is a party of the Son, Jesus Christ. We are enjoying Him. We are happy with Him and happy because of Him. We are so happy because He is our joy. He is our enjoyment. Our fellowship, our enjoyment, our party, is to partake of, to participate in, the all-inclusive Christ. The faithful God has called us with a purpose. This purpose is that we may participate in His Son, Jesus Christ. This means that God has given us Christ and that He has called us into the enjoyment of Christ.”

(The Excelling Gift for the Building Up of the Church, chapter 1)

God sovereignly arranged everything for you before you were born

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“It is easy to reach the high point in our experience with God, but it is not easy to remain there. Look at the environment that surrounds you on every side. It was sovereignly arranged before you were born. God is sovereign. Although you may consider yourself a small creature, as far as God is concerned, you are a very important person. Before the foundation of the world, God arranged everything for you. He even arranged that you would be reading this message right now. We are under God’s arrangement. Do not try to escape. If you escape to a certain place, you will find that place to be the exact place that God arranged for you. When you reach old age, you will bow down and say, ‘Lord, I am fully convinced that You arranged everything for me before the foundation of the world.’”

(Life Study of Genesis, chp. 42)

Beseeching.org: Prayer for the saints to see the meaning of perfecting

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Day 302: Prayer for the saints to see the meaning of perfecting

“Many saints who have regularly attended church meetings, trainings, and conferences for several years still lack growth or do not function adequately. Others function a great deal, but their functioning is not effective or fruitful. In such cases, we need to find the reason. There may be a hidden sickness or disease undermining a saint’s growth or function. Thus, part of perfecting is healing such sickness so that growth may return, function may become adequate, and there may be the rich production of fruit. Perfecting is to help the saints to grow in a definite way and to function adequately and fruitfully.”

(CWWL 1980, vol. 2, “Fellowship with Serving Ones,” ch. 4, pp. 14-16)

We need revelation to enter the realm of the Body

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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING A MEMBER AND BEING A CHRISTIAN

The New Testament shows us that there is a difference between being a member and being a Christian. Being a Christian is something individualistic, whereas being a member is something corporate. Being a Christian is something one does for himself, whereas being a member is something for the Body. In the Bible there are many terms with opposite meanings, such as purity and uncleanness, holiness and commonness, victory and defeat, the Spirit and the flesh, Christ and Satan, the kingdom and the world, and glory and shame. All of these are opposites. In the same way, the Body is in opposition to the individual. Just as the Father is versus the world, the Spirit is versus the flesh, and the Lord is versus the devil, so also is the Body versus the individual. Once a man sees the Body of Christ, he is free from individualism. He will no longer live for himself but for the Body. Once I am delivered from individualism, I am spontaneously in the Body.

The Body of Christ is not a doctrine; it is a realm. It is not a teaching but a life. Many Christians seek to teach the truth of the Body, but few know the life of the Body. The Body of Christ is an experience in a totally different realm. A man can know the book of Romans without being justified. Similarly, a man can know the book of Ephesians without seeing the Body of Christ. We do not need knowledge; rather, we need revelation to know the reality of the Body of Christ and to enter the realm of the Body. Only a revelation from God will usher us into the realm of the Body, and only then will the Body of Christ become our experience.

In Acts 2 it seems as if Peter was preaching the gospel alone and that three thousand people were saved through him. But we must remember that the other eleven apostles were standing beside him. The Body of Christ was preaching the gospel; it was not the preaching of an individual. If we have the view of the Body, we will see that individualism will not bring us anywhere.

If we realize that a Christian is nothing more than a member, we will no longer be proud. Everything depends on our seeing. Those who see that they are members will surely treasure the Body and honor the other members. They will not see just their own virtues; they will readily see others as being better than themselves.

Every member has a function, and all the functions are for the Body. The function of one member is the function of the whole Body. When one member does something, the whole Body does it. When the mouth speaks, the whole body is speaking. When the hands work, the whole body is working. When the legs walk, the whole body is walking. We cannot divide the members from the body. Therefore, the movement of the members of the Body must be focused around the Body. Everything that the members do should be for the Body. Ephesians 4 says that the Body is growing into a full-grown man. It does not say that individuals are growing into full-grown men. In chapter 3 the ability to know the love of Christ and to apprehend the Lord’s breadth, length, height, and depth is with all the saints. No one can know or apprehend by himself. An individual does not have the time or the capacity to experience the love of Christ in that kind of way.

First Corinthians 12:14 through 27 speaks of two erroneous concepts that members may have: (1) “Because I am not…, I am not of the body” (v. 15). This is to despise oneself and covet the work of others. (2) “I have no need of you” (v. 21). This is to be proud of oneself, thinking that one man can be all-inclusive and despising others. Both concepts are harmful to the Body. We should not imitate other members or be covetous of other members. In this way we will not become discouraged and give up when we find that we cannot be like others. At the same time, we should not despise other members, thinking that we are better and more useful.

THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE BODY

In the church life, we should learn to have the consciousness of the Body. When we are at odds with the brothers and sisters, it means that we are surely at odds with God. Some Christians are like butterflies; they act independently. Others are like bees; they live and move together. The butterfly flies from flower to flower, going its own sweet way, but the bee works for the hive. The butterfly lives and works individually, but the bee has a body consciousness. We should all be like bees, having the consciousness of the Body so that we can live together with other members in the Body of Christ. Wherever there is Body-revelation, there is Body-consciousness, and wherever there is Body-consciousness, individual thought and action are automatically ruled out. Seeing Christ results in deliverance from sin; seeing the Body results in deliverance from individualism. Seeing the Body and deliverance from individualism are not two things but one. As soon as we see the Body, our life and work as individuals cease. It is not a matter of changing our attitude or conduct; revelation does the work. We cannot enter the realm of the Body by anything other than seeing. A real inward seeing settles the whole problem.

(The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 44, “The Mystery of Christ,” pp. 793-797)

The Lord always goes away from religion

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“How can we find Christ? To find Christ is a living matter; it is not by Bible knowledge. Now do not be offended; be patient and you will see what I mean.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem. There is no doubt about this—it is an historical fact. The strange thing, however, is this: far away from the so-called Holy Land, far away from the genuine religion, far away from the temple, far away from the Jewish religious center, far away from the priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, and all the religious people, was a star showing something of Christ in a heathen land. It did not appear to the Jews, but to the Gentiles, the heathen. In all Christianity, all the preachers, ministers, and pastors tell people that they must find Christ and know Christ by the Bible. But the first case of finding Christ in the Scriptures was not by the Bible. The wise men did not have any Bible knowledge—they did not even have a Bible.

Merely to hold the Bible in your hand and read Micah 5:2, saying that Christ will be born in Bethlehem, does not work. You may say after you have read it that you have got it, but you have not seen it. You have got it, but nothing has happened to you. Those chief priests and scribes knew the Bible so well, but the Lord did not go to them. He went far away to a heathen land to reveal this matter to some heathen, not through the Scriptures, but through something which human hands can never touch—a heavenly star. You may have the Bible, yet you may miss the star. To hold the Book in your hand is easy, but to wait and look unto the star is rather difficult. You simply don’t know when and where the star will appear. You may study the Scriptures and obtain a degree in that, and you may learn all that the Bible has to say about Christ, but you simply cannot determine when the star will come. The Book was with the Jewish people, the religious people, but the star appeared to the heathen. Have you seen this? We may think that the star should have appeared to those priests praying in the temple, but it appeared to some pagans far away from the temple.

Oh, we all must see this star. It is not a matter of seeing the Bible, but absolutely of seeing the star. What is the star? The star is the living revelation, the living vision, not the old and dead knowledge of the Scriptures, not the dead knowledge of Micah 5:2. What we need today is not merely Bible knowledge, but the heavenly vision, the instant vision, the living vision, the vision that human concept can never teach.

Let me check with you. What do you have? Do you have the Scripture verses, or do you have the star? Do you have the scriptural knowledge, or do you have the heavenly star? Do you have the old teachings, or do you have the up-to-date, instant vision? Today so many Christian teachers just have the Bible in their hands—they have not seen the star. Merely to have the Bible in our hand is a deadly thing, but to see the star is a living experience. To find Christ according to the principle shown us in Matthew chapter 2 is not according to the Bible. To know Christ today is something living, not according to dead Bible knowledge, but the living, heavenly star.

The Lord always goes away from religion, even the Christian religion. Wherever and whenever we set up a religion, the Lord will certainly go elsewhere. We cannot circumscribe, confine, or restrict the Lord with our religion. We must learn in the church life never to set up a religion. Never say that this method or that way is right. If you say that, the Lord will say: “It is right for you, but I don’t care for it. If you were not so right, I would be with you; but just because you are so right, I will go to those who are wrong.” Whenever we say that we are right and others are wrong, be sure the Lord will leave us and go to the wrong ones. The Pharisees claimed to be so fundamental, so sound, and so scriptural. Yet the Lord Jesus said, “All right, you are so sound, but I will have nothing to do with you; I will go to the publicans and sinners; I will not only go to see them, but feast with them.”‘

(Finding Christ by the Living Star)