When we Experience the Crucified Christ, we’re Terminated and Christ Lives in us

When we experience the crucified Christ, He becomes to us the power of God for us to accomplish His will and the wisdom of God to take God’s way in doing His will; when we experience the crucified Christ by calling on the name of the Lord, we are terminated and Christ can live in us. Amen!

Praise the Lord for the crucified Christ who is the power of God and the wisdom of God!

We may think that, since God created all things by His word, it is His word that is the most powerful thing; though this is true, Paul says in 1 Cor. 1:23-24 that Christ crucified is the power of God and the wisdom of God to us who believe.

What does it mean for the crucified Christ to be the power of God and the wisdom of God to us?

When people in the world look at Christ, they appreciate His words and His miracles, and they admire His virtues and especially His self-sacrifice, even His death on the cross for us.

But they may not appreciate the crucified Christ, and if they do, they may have a physical image of the crucified Christ.

But Paul did not preach a physical image of the crucified Christ; he preached the person of Christ who was crucified, and he realized that this crucified Christ is the power of God.

If we look at the crucified Christ, we may think that He was the most powerless and unwise person when He was on the cross.

He was the Son of God, so He could have saved Himself, and He was the wisest one, so He could have gotten a good lawyer to get Himself out of such a death.

The Gentiles view the crucified Christ as being foolishness, for they are looking for a wise person, one who can take care of himself and doesn’t allow others to kill Him, especially in an unrighteous way.

The Jews view the crucified Christ as a stumbling block, for they had great expectations of the Messiah, hoping that He would be great and powerful, do miracles, and save Himself and them also.

However, here is the crucified Christ, who was seemingly being terminated, and this One is the power of God and the wisdom of God to us who believe.

Hallelujah, we are those who believe, the believers in Christ, and to us Christ crucified is the power of God and the wisdom of God!

May the Lord enlighten the eyes of our heart for us to see the crucified Christ and may we cooperate with the Lord to experience the crucified Christ today in our daily living so that we also may be terminated in our natural man and have Christ live in us in all things!

The Crucified Christ as God’s Wisdom is Related to God’s Plan and His Way to Fulfill His Will

We need to not only know the crucified Christ and appreciate Him; we also need to experience the crucified Christ.

When we experience the crucified Christ, He becomes to us not only the power of God but also the wisdom of God (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20).

We think we are smart and wise, but our wisdom is of this earth, which is worldly and demonic; what we need is to experience the crucified Christ as the wisdom of God to us.

The crucified Christ as God’s wisdom is related to God’s deep and profound plan according to His good pleasure and according to God’s way to fulfill His will (Eph. 1:9; 3:11).

God made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself.

This is God’s wisdom, which is the crucified Christ. God works out all things according to the counsel of His will.

When we experience the crucified Christ, we enjoy the wisdom of God related to His plan and His way to fulfil His will.

We may be zealous for the Lord and we may have some ability to do something for Him, and when we see a vision of His economy, we may be inspired to do this or that for Him.

But what God wants is for us to experience the crucified Christ, be terminated in our natural man, and have this crucified Christ as God’s wisdom to us.

This is a profound matter and it can be applied to our experience today.

What is God’s deep and profound plan?

The Bible reveals to us that God in His economy desires to dispense Christ and work Him into us to be our life and everything so that we may become His Body, the organism of the Triune God for His corporate expression in the universe.

This is God’s desire, His deep and profound plan, according to His good pleasure. For this, He has a way to fulfill His will.

In His economy, God created man in His image and according to His likeness (Gen. 1:26), and He brought man to the tree of life so that this created man would take God in as life (2:9).

God wanted man to take in God as life so that man would live by God as his life to become the expression of God on the earth, expressing Him and representing Him.

But man fell due to Satan’s seduction and deceit, and because of the fall, now man seeks to make or take things to satisfy himself.

God used to be everything to man, but when man lost God, man turned to himself to depend on himself and rely on himself for his existence, his pleasure, and his protection. Oh Lord!

However, Christ came as God incarnate to be the model, the prototype; in the thirty-three and a half years of His life on earth, Christ lived a crucified life.

He didn’t do His own will but the will of God. He didn’t speak His own word but the word of God. He did not seek His own glory but the glory of the One who sent Him.

Everything He did, said, or worked was not in and of Himself but of the Father and His work was by the Holy Spirit.

This One, the perfect God-man who lived a crucified life, went to the cross and died physically, and then He resurrected to be the life-giving Spirit to come into those who believe into Him.

Now we as believers in Christ are His reproduction, his mass duplication, for us to also live a crucified life, one with Him.

Paul testified of this in Gal. 2:20 where he said that he is crucified with Christ and it is no longer he who lives but Christ who lives in him, and the life he lived was in faith, the faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave Himself up for him.

No longer I but Christ. This is God’s wisdom.

When we experience the crucified Christ and live a crucified life, Christ as God’s wisdom becomes ours, and we have a way to fulfil God’s economy.

When we experience the crucified Christ, he becomes to us the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Since we have the crucified Christ as God’s wisdom to us, we don’t need to seek a way to carry out God’s will; we simply experience the crucified Christ and spontaneously have a way to do God’s will. Amen!

As long as we experience the crucified Christ, Christ will become to us the wisdom of God to fulfill His plan; we will have the wisdom of God to do His will (Col. 1:9).

We will become very wise in doing the will of God (4:2). We can become wise in doing the will of God when we experience the crucified Christ.

Many Christians today pray for the will of God to be done and for them to know what is God’s will for their life.

It seems that the more we pray for God’s will to be done, the less God’s will is accomplished.

It’s not by our praying or trying but by our experiencing the crucified Christ that we have Christ as the wisdom of God to us for us to fulfill His plan and carry out His will.

We can testify that, after some time of enjoying and experiencing the crucified Christ, when we look back, we realize that we had the wisdom of God in carrying out His plan according to His will.

It was not our natural wisdom but the crucified Christ as the wisdom of God. Amen!

We can then do all things in Christ who empowers us (Phil. 4:13).

Lord Jesus, we want to experience the crucified Christ in our daily life so that we may have the wisdom of God to us! Amen, Lord, unveil us to see that the crucified Christ is the wisdom of God to those who believe. Fill us with the full knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Reveal to us and make known to us the mystery of Your will according to Your good pleasure, which You purposed in Yourself. Oh Lord, we come to You as we are; we just want to experience the crucified Christ by calling on the name of the Lord and living in spirit today! Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to do Your will; may we experience the crucified Christ to have this One as the wisdom of God in doing God’s will! Work out Your will in us and through us, Lord Jesus! May we experience the crucified Christ to have the wisdom of God to accomplish His will and carry out His purpose! Praise the Lord, the crucified Christ is the wisdom of God to us who believe for us to carry out God’s economy in His way!

When we Experience the Crucified Christ by Calling on His Name, we are Terminated and Christ Lives in us

On the one hand, when we experience the crucified Christ, He is the wisdom of God to us; on the other hand, He is the power of God to us.

We may think that Christ is God’s wisdom for us to be smarter, wiser, and knowledgeable, for us to do things and arrange things.

But in 1 Cor. 1:27-29 we see that God chose the foolish things of the world that He might shame those who are wise.

God’s wisdom to us is for us to accomplish God’s will, but at the same time, His wisdom shames the things of this world that are strong, causing the low-born things of the world and even the despised things to rise up and be useful to Him.

If we look at ourselves as Christians, we are like foolish people, for we believe into and love a Person we have never seen with our eyes or met physically.

We contact someone we have never seen, touched, or heard with our physical senses.

God chose the weak things of this world, not the strong ones; there are many who are strong in politics, commerce, and business, but God chose us, the weak ones, so that He might shame the things that are strong.

We would have chosen the strong ones, the smart ones, and the good ones, but God chose the weak ones, even the ones who are not, so that He may bring to nought the things which are.

Rom. 11:33 says, Oh, the depths and the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how untraceable are His ways!

We cannot figure out why God does this, but this is His wisdom.

The top philosophers and thinkers cannot figure out God’s ways, but we can experience the crucified Christ and have Christ as our wisdom and power from God.

As long as we experience the crucified Christ, He becomes wisdom and power from God to us.

In particular, when we experience the crucified Christ, we are terminated (Gal. 2:20).

All that we are, all that we have, and all that we can do – everything is completely terminated. Amen!

God wants to carry out His economy, and He gives us the crucified Christ as God’s power and wisdom to us, but He does not want or need us with our wisdom and power; rather, He terminates us and causes us to be filled with Christ so that Christ may live in us.

When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, as we are experiencing and enjoying Him, His crucifixion terminates us.

We can testify that it is impossible for us to crucify ourselves; we cannot put ourselves to death.

We cannot terminate ourselves. We cannot stop our natural man, our self, our flesh, and our natural being.

However, we can call on the name of the Lord and be saved (Acts 2:21).

When we call on the name of the Lord and enjoy Him in our spirit, and our natural being is terminated.

When we call on the name of the Lord and remain in the calling of the Lord, our self is denied, our flesh is put to death, and our natural man is terminated.

On the positive side, we enjoy and experience Christ, and on the negative side, we are terminated.

The way for us to be delivered from the flesh, the natural life, and the old creation is crucifixion.

We need to arrive at Paul’s experience as detailed in Gal. 2:20, where we realize that we are crucified with Christ and it is no longer us who lives but Christ who lives in us.

When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, when we enjoy and experience the crucified Christ, His crucifixion terminates us.

We can be delivered from all the negative things by the power of God, which is the crucified Christ.

We should not try to subdue our temper, stop our self from expressing ourselves, or deal with the flesh in our natural power; rather, we should simply call on the name of the Lord to enjoy and experience the crucified Christ.

Thank and praise the Lord that today we are in the process of being saved by experiencing the crucified Christ!

On the negative side, the crucified Christ terminates the flesh, the natural man, and the self, with anything of the old creation.

On the positive side, Christ as the power of God strengthens us with a dynamic power, supplying and sustaining us in what we are and what we do.

Every day, we are confronted with many problems related to persons, matters, and things.

What is the way to handle all these things? How can we navigate in the midst of this mess?

We need to experience the crucified Christ.

Many times, we don’t know how to do something, how to answer a person, and how to get out of the web of messy situations we’re in.

We can only call on the name of the Lord from deep within, Oh Lord Jesus! We don’t even dare to say, Lord, be my wisdom.

God will not give us a burst of wisdom just to make us wiser and help us solve the problem.

We just admit before the Lord that we have no way, but He is our way, He is our wisdom, and He knows how to handle this situation and answer that one.

We don’t know and are not assured that we know what we’re doing, but we contact the Lord, we do our best to be one with Him, and we trust in Him to bring us through.

Many of us have such an experience.

It’s not that God’s mighty power came upon us and delivered us and His wisdom made us wise beyond the normal; it is simply that we depend on the Lord, we are terminated, and He lives in us.

Step by step, He has a way to manifest the wisdom of God to us and in us, and He shows His power in us.

Lord Jesus, we come to You with our situation and with all our problems. We open to You. We don’t know what to do. We don’t even dare to say that You are our wisdom; we just want to touch You. Oh Lord Jesus, we call on Your name! Keep us calling on Your name until we are one with You. May we experience the crucified Christ and have this One as God’s wisdom and God’s power to us. We confess, Lord, that we cannot make it, we cannot be it, and we cannot do it; we trust in You and we thrust ourselves upon You. We have no way, but we take You as our way. We depend on You. We call on Your name to experience the crucified Christ and be terminated in our natural man, our flesh, and our self. Oh Lord, we need You. We depend on You. We just want to remain in the organic union with You so that we may do all things in You, with You, and by You. Live in us today. Express Yourself through us. We are incapable and untrustworthy, but we keep calling on Your name. Have Your way to manifest Your ways to be the wisdom of God and the power of God to us!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 8 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2) (2024 December Training), week 15, God’s Power and God’s Wisdom.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Christ is Our Life and We Live Him, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Everything of the old creation having been crucified with Christ, a portion from, The Crucified Christ, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – How Can Christ’s Crucified Life Become Our Pattern? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The key to experiencing Christ – the human spirit, a portion from, The Key to Experiencing Christ–the Human Spirit, Chapter 1.
  – What Does God Want? More via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Crucified with Christ – a personal experience with a corporate goal and result, article by James Fite via, Affirmation and Critique.
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  – 1 Corinthians (Program #7) – Christ Crucified, God’s Power and God’s Wisdom (2), via, Bible study radio.
  – Christ being the expression of God and the cross being the termination of man, a portion from, The Crucified Christ, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – The Good Warfare and the Good Fight || Week 11 – Solid Ground Spr25 || CSOC UT Austin, via, CSOC UT Austin: Christian Students on Campus youtube channel.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Save me from myself, my Father, / From each subtle form of pride; / Lead me now with Christ to Calvary, / Show me I with Him have died. / No more let it be my working, / Nor my wisdom, love, or power, / But the life of Jesus only, / Passing through me hour by hour. (Hymns #283 stanzas 4-5)
  – Thy way, not mine, O Lord, / However dark it be; / Lead me by Thine own hand, / Choose out the Path for me… / Not mine, not mine the choice, / In things both great and small; / Be Thou my guide, my strength, / My wisdom and my all. (Hymns #393 stanzas 1 nd 6)
  – He is Thy wisdom, Father God, / In Thine economy; / For Him we offer praise to Thee / With all humility. / Thy wisdom we have seen in Him, / So rich and so profound; / Yet richer, deeper, in Thy way, / By us will it be found. (Hymns #24 stanzas 4-5)