The goal of the Lord’s recovery is to bring forth the one new man, and God has been working in the world throughout the ages culminating in these days for the practical existence of the new man to fulfil His purpose.
We are born in the old man, the first Adam, but through regeneration we are reborn in our spirit to be part of the one new man, the new creation. The question is, however, whether we live in reality in the new man, or do we still live in the differences and ordinances that we accumulate throughout our life.
The old man is scattered and divided, but the new man is gathered and is one.
When we live in the natural man, we are scattered and divided; when we live according to the spirit, we are one with the Lord and with the saints, and there’s no ordinance or difference.
Satan seems to have succeeded in accomplishing his intention of not only corrupting man in his nature, but also dividing and scattering mankind, so that God’s purpose would not be accomplished.
But praise the Lord, God’s purpose can never be put aside or defeated – Christ came as the second man, and through His death He terminated and abolished all the negative things including the ordinances, and in His resurrection He created one new man!
All believers in Christ are part of the one new man created by Christ in Himself; this one new man has only one element – Christ, only one essence – Christ, and only one life and person – Christ.
Christ is everything and everyone in the new man.
We need to realise what the one new man is and practice putting off the old man with its old manner of life, and put on the new man with the church life, so that we may live in the fulfillment of God’s purpose today.
To put off the old man is to put off the divided and scattered man, and to put on the new man is to put on the gathered and one new man.
In the church life we need to be aware of Satan’s trap – he wants to cause us to create more and more ordinances, based on our good Christian practices; these ordinances separate us from others, and they divide the Body.
May we learn to not focus on anything outward but only on Christ; may we take Him as our life and person in our daily life for the church as the one new man!
Christ should be our only Source, our only Prestige, in the Proper Church Life today
We thank and praise the Lord that He has redeemed us and saved us, and He has transferred us into Christ and into the church life; now as we live the church life, we must learn to hate the differences that divide the peoples.
In the world people regard their cultural differences as a mark of prestige; in the church life, however, we have lost this prestige, and our only prestige is Christ and the genuine oneness of the Body.
When it comes to outward practices and things, we need to exercise to go along with others; as long as a certain practice doesn’t involve idolatry or immorality, there’s nothing wrong with it.
We need to be willing to let go of our cultural pride so that the Lord may have a way to have the proper church life.
It is good to see the ground of the church, but it is not adequate; we need to deal with our ordinances because they divide us, and their source is our opinions and practices.
We shouldn’t allow anything of our background or culture to be our source; if we do, we will bring in different ordinances according to our background or culture.
Naturally, it is not possible to avoid this matter of prestige; we all have a little pride in something about our upbringing, our training, and our culture.
In the church life we may even have prestige of our spiritual training or our experience in the local church.
Maybe the Lord had a breakthrough in our locality in the matter of increase, service, the gospel, the young people’s work, caring for the children, or the campus, and this is wonderful, but we need to realise that this is for the whole Body of Christ!
Every breakthrough or increase that takes place in a local church is for the Body of Christ to benefit; it is an “injection point” for this to be infused into the Body and for the whole Body to benefit.
It would be a shame, however, for us to take this blessing or breakthrough as a prestige and boast about it. When we have pride and prestige, we convey to others that they are strangers and sojourners, far off from what we have. Oh Lord Jesus!
May we all be careful not to boast of anything and not to have any prestige, realising that Christ is our only prestige, and the oneness of the Body is what we can stand on.
Having much practical fellowship and prayer together with the saints can save us from our pride and prestige.
If we are willing to let go of our cultural pride, it will be possible for the Lord to have the proper church life; this is possible, for the Lord wants to do it, and He is working in us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure. May we bring this to the Lord and tell Him in all honesty,
Lord Jesus, we are willing to let go of our cultural pride and our prestige; we take You as our only prestige, and we want to keep the oneness of the Body. Oh Lord, You are our only source; our source is not our background, culture, or nationality, but Christ, the life and person of the one new man! Thank You Lord for what You are doing in us and among us; everything that we and all the saints go through, enjoy, and partake of is for the Body to be built up and formed as the one new man! Amen, praise the Lord!
Everything the Lord is doing is to Usher in the Practical Existence of the New Man
The bringing forth of the one new man in practicality is not only a spiritual matter, a spiritual level that we need to attain; it is also confirmed by the outward environment.
Many years ago, when our parents were young, the world was so big, and getting from a country to another country took a lot of time, was very expensive, and was cumbersome.
Nowadays, however, because of the advancement of the technology, transportation, and communication systems, it is easy to both travel and to communicate with saints all around the world.
The situation on earth today has been very much improved, made ready, and ripened for the bringing forth of the new man.
The world situation has been raised up by God, who works all things according to His will, so that the one new man would come into existence.
The old man failed God – he didn’t express and represent God, but God has raised up a new man to replace the old man.
But where is the one new man on earth today? Where can we see a perfect new man on earth to replace the fallen old man?
The Lord is working on earth and in His recovery to bring forth the new man with Himself as its life and person for the fulfillment of God’s purpose; He wants the practical existence of the new man.
What the Lord has been doing and is now doing in His recovery is bringing forth the one new man with Himself as the life and the person for God’s expression (Eph. 3:17-19; Col. 3:4, 10-11).
According to history and according to the Bible, culture always goes along with God’s intention. Even though the fallen human culture is not of God, God is sovereign over all these things. God has brought human culture from the sea to the ocean and above the ocean to the skies for the purpose of perfecting the new man. Everything on this earth is for the perfection of the new man. Today with the world politics, scientific inventions, modern transportation and communication, and our understanding of languages, the world has been condensed into a small sphere. There is nearly no hindrance for the new man to be perfected. Today everything is ripe, ready, and prepared for the new man to come forth. We all have to see where we are. We are at the end time, and this is the most golden time. This is the right time for the Lord’s recovery. Our view must be broadened. There is only one new man, and nothing and no one has any place in this new man, but Christ is all and in all. Witness Lee, The One New Man, ch. 2
The one new man will usher in the kingdom of God and will bring Christ, the King, back to this earth (Rev. 11:15). Now is the time – now, in these days, in our time, before the end of this age – for God to accomplish His purpose to perfect the one new man, who will come into full existence on earth! Amen!
If we look at the world situation, we can testify that everything that the Lord is doing in the present age is to usher in the practical existence of the new man. He has raised up a particular world situation for the goal of the one new man.
Because of the advances in technology, it is possible now that the saints in every locality in their environmental circumstances would become the one new man in reality and in practicality.
The outward situation that the Lord has sovereignly arranged has to be matched by something inward in all of us.
May we have the grace to cooperate with the Lord, to allow Him to grow in us and spread in our inward parts, so that we can be renewed in the spirit of our mind.
When the one new man is perfected, that will be the time for the Lord’s coming, and the perfected new man will be the bride (Rev. 19:7).
Thank You Lord for arranging the whole world situation to usher in the practical existence of the new man in this age. Praise the Lord, everything that God is doing in this present age is to bring in the one new man! Yes, Lord, gain the church as the one new man! We take You as our life and person for the one new man to come into being and express You on the earth! We want to cooperate with You, Lord, for the one man to be brought in and perfected, so that the bride may be prepared and You may return!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ricky Acosta for this week, and portions from, CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” chs. 1, 3-7, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man (2019 fall ITERO), week 3, The Creation and Bringing Forth of the One New Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
– One new man is the Father’s plan; / He redeemed us from the sons of men. / Every kindred, tribe and tongue, / In Himself He called us to be one. / God’s expression on the earth / Now reveals His glorious worth. / One new man is the Father’s plan; / He redeemed us from the sons of men. (Hymns #1230)
– God would have a group of people / Built together in His plan, / Blended, knit, coordinated / As His vessel—one new man. / God would come into this vessel / With His nature, life and ways, / Mingling Spirit with our spirits / For His joy and to His praise. (Hymns #1325)
– Only Christ, our Person, must remain; / From our aims, our goals we must refrain, / Till the church be only Christ Himself / Built up as the one new man, / Thus fulfilling God’s great plan of— / Mingling fully with the human race / To obtain a proper dwelling place, / ’Stablishing His kingdom’s rule and grace; / Over all the earth. (Hymns #1180)
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